Hello everyone. There's a note at the end of the chapter.
Welcome to a new chapter of What Makes Us Strong-Echo.
Here we go! Hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: Any Naruto, High School DxD, or X-anime franchise character that appears, or will appear in this story is not my property. They belong to their corresponding authors, companies, etc. I only own the plot of the story and some invented things. Some things will be inspired by different things. My mother language is Spanish, not English, as I am from South America.
Warning: Some parts will suddenly depict character deaths, deep introspection, erotic things, limes, smut, or full-blown-out sex. If these things are not your cup of tea or you can't stand them, please do not proceed to read this story.
"Normal talking"
"Internal Thinking/talking"
" Summons/ Bijuu/ Sealed entities talking"
"Summons/Bijuu/ Sealed entities thinking"
'Attacks/Spells/Jutsus'
Remember. If you see a (º), this means there will be an explanation on the notifications at the end. If you see a (#) around or in the sentences, this means, you should (not obliged to) hear the song posted as a recommendation while reading such part until you see the (#) again.
Regarding the music too. To try not to break too much of the flow of the story. If you see a song and no number. Then, you should play the song suggested from the beginning and keep repeating it if you want. If you see different songs. Obviously. Listen to the songs in order or however, you want.
"WHAT MAKES US STRONG - ECHO"
Chapter 11: The Future… Pt. 1
Atom Music Audio - Natures Call - Lisa Van Hal
Eternal Eclipse - The Last Funeral (1)
Elephant Music – Freedom of Thought (2)
Her eyelids opened wide, and her deep dark eyes were seen thanks to that. A deep breath was taken, and her brain and lungs thanked the rush of oxygenation they took.
"Where? Where am I?"
Up, centre, down, front, back, sideways, everywhere she turned, all she could see was white.
No.
Not only white but colours. A myriad of colours everywhere in this vast white place too.
The last thing she remembers.
"I… What?"
Her dark eyes started moving frantically.
Her mind tried to process everything at the same time, trying to remember something, anything.
This place.
Her limbs moved frantically, trying to grasp anything in this place. Her hair whipped wildly.
This damned place was not like her home!
"Wait…"
She stopped.
"Home?"
Images started filling her brain.
No.
Memories.
Yes.
Memories.
Her memories.
Slowly.
A wide place.
A silent place.
Somewhere she could always be in serene tranquillity.
Years went by. She took different forms.
Man, woman. Children, young, old. It didn't matter to her.
She was in peace, and that's all that mattered.
Her home.
Her void.
Then, a roar in the distance of her quiet home was heard one day. As she looked upon the enemy, she knew her peaceful days were over.
At first, she tried (read demanded) to make the entity leave her home. It was a futile endeavour.
When that didn't work, she tried to use force. The enemy won. Time and time again, the same result happened.
She became annoyed and remembered that weaker beings gathered in large groups to take down stronger enemies when she was on Earth. So, she started gathering people to take it down.
She gave them her power in exchange for their help.
She left them alone because she didn't care what they did as long as they helped to take down Great Red, as she called it.
A little group of them pledged their undying loyalty to her. They called themselves Team Valve or something like that.
A white-haired male.
A black-haired female.
A blonde-haired female.
A blond-haired male.
A red-haired male.
Not that it mattered much to her. They were all kids in her eyes.
They helped her to gather more people faster. She could commend them on that.
Everything was going as planned, just some more time and different beings joining her. Then, Great Red would be taken down, and she would recover her home.
Team Vali was on a reunion of all the different groups that had joined her throughout time. Something about things to do, chores, she guessed. Nothing that she cared much about, as she said. As long as they helped her to defeat Great Red, she would let them do whatever they wanted.
Suddenly, things changed. A massive collision of energies ensued in her home. She knew that one energy belonged to Great Red, and the other was foreign to her. And as it suddenly happened, it stopped.
She got curious and decided to wait before teleporting to where she felt team Vali was.
Once there, she couldn't hide her momentary surprise due to the impossible sight her brain tried to process, thanks to her eyes.
"Impossible. Great Red, down."
She demanded a report.
Attack, energies, everything they could describe.
Her factions remained stoic as she turned her face towards the other members. She asked for the names of the unconscious ones, and they couldn't satisfy her with their answers. It didn't matter. She would thank them later.
Then, her blonde subordinate told her that Great Red wasn't dead and it was her chance. She was willing to take it.
"We got attacked by a foreign energy that didn't belong to this dimension when I tried to accomplish my goal."
"And now, here I am."
Ophis looked around herself. No matter what she tried, she could not make sense of this place.
"This place is so different from the void."
"That's because this place isn't a void but a mental space."
That made Ophis stiffen and look up at where the voice came from.
"More specifically a shared mental space. So, no. Attacks you try to use here won't work."
The young woman crossed her arms under her bust as she looked at the lying down with her face up infinite dragon.
"Who are you?"
Those blue eyes, those whiskers on the cheeks. She remembers her.
"Wait. You are the one from before I passed out."
The nod was all she needed as an answer.
"Why are we here?"
Ophis' body started moving on its own until they finally could see each other face to face.
The young woman has mid-back length dark indigo hair. Two whisker marks on each cheek that made her resemble a fox, and deep blue eyes that were looking at her in a calculative manner.
Her fair skin was covered thanks to a yellow jacket that sported soft lavender stripes from the shoulders to the forearms. The red Uzumaki spiral was emblazoned on the back of it. Under it, she wore an orange T-shirt which had a big sunflower picture in the middle.
Her womanly legs and child-bearing hips were covered by soft-pink tight pants that reached just above her ankles and had soft lavender stripes on the sides. A pair of black leather open-toed boots covered her feet.
"For your first question. My name is Uzumaki Himawari. Daughter of the Seventh Hokage and Uzumaki Matriarch, Uzumaki Naruto and Hinata."
Her arms uncrossed and landed on either side of her hips, making her bust jiggle.
"As for your second question. It is because we need your help…"
Different females started appearing behind her.
Ophis looked with impassive features as each new female that kept appearing behind Himawari was powerful on their own.
The last female appeared, and Ophis 'landed' on the floor of the mental space.
"Need my help?"
Ophis' head tilts to the right, feeling curious.
"Yes, we are-"
"HEY! Are you sure she's the one that will be able to help us? Shion?
She looks no older than a 13-year-old kid."
A blonde-haired and fair-skinned young woman who looked to be in her 18s interrupted Himawari.
Her hair was styled in a frontal bang and a ponytail that reached the middle of her back. The frontal hair bang covered the right side of her face and hid one of her beautiful aquamarine eyes.
She wore a two-piece purple outfit. The top fitted her in a way that her squishable big breasts jiggled with every movement she took.
The little piece of cloth allowed her flat stomach, belly button and well-defined V-hips to be seen.
The lower part of the outfit was a cut-in-the-middle long skirt that rested at just the perfect angle between her belly button and her hips. She wore the typical shinobi sandals of their world.
This beautiful woman is Ino Yamanaka, a Jonin and a tracking specialist who worked as a defence surveillant of the village hidden in the leaves under the direct orders of the seventh hokage Uzumaki Naruto.
She crossed her arms under her breasts, making them look more prominent, while her head turned to the left side where 'Shion' was.
"For the nth time Ino-chan. Yes, she is the one. Remember that my eyes haven't failed us until now."
The pale blonde hair young woman, who looked to be in her 19s, shook her head while she gazed to her right where Ino was. Her hair was styled in a middle-back length hime cut style.
She wore a tight-fit white crop sports top that hugged her milky breasts and allowed them to jiggle enticingly with every minimum movement. It allowed her flat stomach, belly button and well-defined V-hips to be seen.
Her pink middle-knee-length shorts covered her long luscious legs, hips and tight ass. She wore simple black sandals that covered her feet.
This other beautiful woman is Shion, head and leader of the former demon country of the elemental nations. She had established good relationships with the village hidden in the leaves due to the intervention of one Uzumaki Naruto. He was the most relevant element in the defeat of the ancient demon Moryo which had been tormenting countless generations of her family.
"Seriously, you two need to tone it down. We are trying to get the most help here."
The reprimanding tone made the two women turn their heads towards the fair-skinned woman of average height with an athletic yet curvaceous build behind them. She looked to be in her 19s.
She is a woman with waist-length black hair styled in a hime cut tied in a high ponytail with short bangs and chin-length strands that frame her face. Her face was set in a stern feature as her green eyes bore into them.
Her arms were crossed under her beautiful bust, making it look bigger.
She is wearing her village's form-fitting kunoichi uniform, which is grey-coloured with a right shoulder guard, grey gloves, and an opening in her shirt, which reveals some of her sizeable cleavage.
This woman is Nadeshiko Shizuka, kunoichi and the former leader of the no-longer-existent Nadeshiko Village.
"Oh yeah?!"
Ino and Shion looked at Shizuka, who looked back without flinching.
"Well, what happens if we don't want to tone it down?"
"It's simple, we need cooperation, as you all know. We've had this discussion more than a thousand times already…"
A sigh of exasperation left Himawari's pink lips while she covered her face with her right hand, and her left hand rested on her left hip. She walked from side to side relentlessly as the three women started quarrelling.
"I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't."
She muttered repeatedly, trying and failing spectacularly to try and suppress her frustration.
It was stupid.
No, seriously.
Utterly, freakishly, unimaginably stupid that these women were once revered as the 'elite' of their world.
But now… Here they were, discussing as if they were teenagers.
"Which, if we are technical. Then yes, we all are teenagers… WHATEVER!"
"You three, stop your quarrel right now!"
That single sentence made the women stop and feel a cold shiver run down their spines. They turned around and looked at pale grey vein-surrounded eyes.
They knew Himawari was a sweet girl. But, a combination of the things that happened to her and discovering that all they knew was a lie before the near-total annihilation of the shinobi race and her Uzumaki-Hyuuga blood made for a terrifying combination everyone knew not to mess with.
"Hima-Chan, please calm down."
Turning her head around, the young Uzumaki saw from the left side of her face her beautiful aunt Hyuuga Hanabi looking at her in something akin to patience.
Hyuuga Hanabi, ex-leader of the long-deceased Hyuuga clan of the no-longer-existent village hidden in the leaves of the decimated fire country, is the sister of Uzumaki Hinata and sister-in-law of Uzumaki Naruto.
She is a fair-skin maiden wearing a modified miko outfit. The upper part is orange-coloured and covers her flat stomach and teardrop-shaped breasts. The under part is the typical red Miko pants that cover her long luscious legs and tight kneadable ass. She wears no underwear under the clothes to be comfortable and avoid sweating.
This doesn't mean that she isn't deadly. She is the one who helped Himawari reach the level she is, thanks to the constant harsh training she put her body through.
"I understand, Hanabi-sensei…"
Himawari bows in respect towards Hanabi and follows her advice. Turning around, she looks at the three women again and sighs tiredly.
"Please, Ino-San, Shion-San, Shizuka-San. Let's calm down."
They look at each other.
"I apologize, Hima-Chan, Hanabi-Sama. We've been trapped here so long that having a way out got me too excited."
Ino bows towards them, knowing she acted unladylike because of the circumstances.
"Yes, I have to admit that I got excited too. The possibility of finally being free is just too nerve-wracking."
Shizuka nods and turns around, knowing the conversation is done.
"I have nothing to apologize about. I was the wronged one here."
Shion turns around with her arms crossed and a pout adorning her face.
All these random interactions between all these females she didn't know made Ophis blink her eyes impassively while still floating on in front of them all.
Indigo black hair, blonde hair, dark hair, brown hair. Different and unique features women but, as she said before, powerful. They had a new power she couldn't describe. It differed from the energy courting through her very being and the beings in her dimension.
"Maybe they can help take Great Red down."
She looked at them calculatively.
"That won't be possible Ophis-Sama. Great Red is needed."
Himawari looked at her, which made her eyes open wide.
"Is she reading my mind?"
That made her feel vulnerable in some way. It was a new sensation.
"Not only her. We all can hear your thoughts. The same goes on the inverse."
Ino shakes her head negatively as she crosses her arms under her bust.
"If we think things, you'll hear them."
Hanabi puts her arms on her hips, taking a relaxed stance.
"How…?"
Ophis couldn't believe it. It was the first time she felt so 'exposed'.
"As I said earlier, we are in a shared mental space. It means that all our minds are connected."
Himawari nods and then crosses her arms over her bust again.
"You sure like to cross and uncross your arms a lot."
Ophis tilts her head, not knowing why they keep doing that.
"It's an involuntary reaction we have because of our anxiousness."
Hanabi crosses her arms under her bust for emphasis.
"I see…"
Ophis couldn't understand it, but it wasn't like it was that important.
"Yes."
Feeling satisfied with the answer, Ophis nods and waits patiently.
The five women turned their heads and looked at each other for some time.
As one, they nodded and looked at Ophis, which made her tilt her head.
"…"
"As I said before the sudden interruption Ophis-Sama"
Ino bopped her head and stuck her tongue out in a playful manner when Himawari looked at her.
"We need you and Great Red to help us."
Himawari turns her head back and looks at Ophis expectantly.
"Why should I?"
Why should she bother with them if they wouldn't help in her only goal?
"It's simple really." (1)
A long, thin, dark rift appeared in the mental space some distance from them. It made Ophis and three of the five kunoichis turn their heads in its direction.
Himawari didn't turn her head. Instead, she looked down and closed her eyes while a sigh of tiredness left her lips.
Shion looked forward with a vacant expression while her purple eyes glowed ominously.
The rift opened and expanded, showing a myriad of colours inside of it. Then, the colours shifted until an image appeared.
"W-Why…"
Ophis' eyes widened in disbelief when she saw herself being lifted and choked by the right hand of a tall black-hood individual. His ominous silver-glowing sickles hung on his hips' right and left sides.
"Nothing personal Loli Dragon. Just pure pleasure!"
The Ophis watching the image froze in fear when she saw the individual's mouth open wide and bite her right arm off, making the Ophis in the 'screen' scream in pure agony.
Ophis shivered and took an involuntary step back when she saw her arm was not regenerating. The individual then devoured her arm with an expression of pure bliss while the Ophis in the 'screen' continued to scream.
After some seconds, the individual took another bite, and another, and another. He was devouring her alive while he enjoyed her screams.
The background showed fire and brimstone with different beings all around it.
Great Red, missing its wings, tail and head.
The leader of the Yōkai faction in her Kyuubi form alongside her race, missing their paws, eyes, tails, etc.
The leaders of the devil faction and thousands of their race were missing body parts and even their heads.
The leader of the fallen angels and hundreds of their race slayed, their body parts scattered everywhere.
The leader of the angels, thousands of humans, and angels, all a simple blood smear on the ground. Their bodies were sullied and desecrated.
Different leaders of different factions, alongside their followers and races, weren't spared.
The place looked like a big-scale fight happened, and all of them were toyed with.
Behind the gruesome cannibalism spectacle, Naruto and Hinata were resting on their knees, looking forward with vacant expressions. A red-hood individual stands on their right side, watching impassively with his head tilted to the right.
Then, with the last shred of life remaining, Ophis' eyes widened when she saw how a massive shadow befell all of them. A hand, humanoid-looking, was coming down on all of them. But the black and red hood individuals didn't look fazed at all.
Suddenly, the 'screen' turned black.
"It looks like this dimension is another failure… Death Reapers dimension… Interesting."
A single red dot appeared in the middle of the 'screen', and the rift collapsed.
The sound of knees crashing against the floor reverberated ominously in the white space.
Tears fell from her open in disbelief eyes.
She was crying in desperation, something she never thought she would do.
"W-Wha…"
Even her voice betrayed her, breaking and getting stuck in her throat.
True fear.
A concept she was not accustomed to. But it was the first time she felt fear grip her whole being.
"…"
She turned her head towards Himawari's general direction when she heard said teen sigh in tiredness.
"Ow… I hate when that happens…"
Shion gripped the right side of her head as she sat with the help of Shizuka, who had come to her side the moment the future vision ended.
"How much time do we have until we need to replace the others from the seal matrix?"
Himawari looks at her aunt, who looks up while touching her lower lip with her right index finger in contemplation.
"I'd say another five days or so. Enough for us to have replenished enough chakra."
Ino sighs, sits cross-legged on the floor, and meditates to replenish her chakra faster.
Shion, Shizuka, and Hanabi follow suit.
Meanwhile, Himawari allows herself to relax her position, turn her head, close her eyes, and meditate while standing.
"…"
Ophis looks at them with eyes open in disbelief.
Her mouth opens and closes continuously, trying futilely to form words.
"Y…"
Her throat closes on itself again, and her whole body shakes, refusing to acknowledge her brain commands.
"OBEY ME!"
She yells inside her mind, but nothing.
"I HAVE TO SAY SOMETHING! ANYTHING!"
Her mind and body have a titanic fight, one trying to reign over the other.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
She hugs herself tightly, making the nails on her hands break the skin of her forearms. Her constant yelling makes her throat sore until she forces her whole being to answer her commands.
"WHY?!"
She looks at them angrily, but the women keep their quiet semblance with eyes closed and steady breathing.
"ANSWER ME!"
Nothing, not even a twitch from the girls. They kept their eyes closed and steady breathing as if they were sleeping.
"YOU!"
"That was one of the possible futures of this dimension…"
Himawari's voice interrupts Ophis' anger-fueled tirade. Her black orbs look attentively towards the teen.
"That future we saw is the answer to the question you asked."
Her eyelids open, and her icy blue eyes lock on deep black eyes, not wavering a bit.
"…" (2)
"That future is not set in stone though… That is just one possible future of many."
After those words, different 'screens' started appearing all around them. Images appeared, each of them showing different scenarios due to the decisions.
Ophis' eyes widened when she saw herself appear in each of them.
Winning, losing, laughing, smiling, crying, mourning.
In some of those images, the girls in front of her appeared.
In others, they didn't appear, at all.
"What is this…?"
"Those are the things that could or couldn't happen because of a decision."
Himawari closes her eyes again and takes a deep breath.
"Because each being can or can't choose a path."
"They are allowed to choose."
"Those choices are what makes them what they are."
"Not everyone is handled a good life."
"Not everyone is handled a bad life."
"The path to hell is carved with good intentions."
"The path to true happiness is filled with thorns."
"Not all decisions should be made with feelings."
"Not all decisions should be made with pure logic."
"No one knows what evil is until good is shown."
"No one knows what good is until evil is shown."
"Evil people create hard times."
"Hard times create good people."
"Good people create peaceful times."
"Peaceful times create good and evil people."
"The cycle repeats itself indefinitely."
Multiple voices, no, not multiple voices but her voice at different moments. Ophis couldn't believe it.
"…"
"Those are the most basic things of understanding that each being knows to the most basic level."
Opening her eyes again, Himawari locks her now tranquil gaze with Ophis'.
"But they are not just the most basic things of comprehension. Those are what make a being strong. Decisions."
Ophis' eyes widen again.
"But… what happens when the freedom of choice is taken from you?"
The 'screens' shifted and showed multiple images again. But, these images were of different places, different beings, and different times.
Happiness, bliss, confidence, fights, struggles, shattered happiness, and darkness. Over and over, it kept repeating. It was all a convoluted mess. But, something was constant.
Two persons. Blond hair, tanned peach skin, whisker marks on each cheek, sky blue eyes. Indigo black hair, regal porcelain skin, pale lavender eyes.
"Those are the dimensions my parents have been in…"
"…"
"Each dimension, destroyed and reduced to darkness…"
Then, all the screens 'fused' into a single big screen. It showed the red hood individual from before covered in shadows. His right hand was lifted and on top of his palm rested a transparent sphere in which Naruto and Hinata were hugging and sleeping peacefully.
Then a sudden crack appeared on the sphere, making the hooded individual frown.
"Don't worry, I will find the place. The perfect place where you two will no longer have to suffer because of idiotic beings. Even if I have to destroy all of creation itself, and remake it to my will…"
His palm gripped the sphere firmly, and the crack on it regenerated, then the image disappeared along with his voice.
"We were lucky to some degree."
All the meditating women opened their eyes and looked at Ophis.
"We don't know why he does what he does…"
"Or why he wants what he wants…"
"But we do know that he cares a lot about my parents. To the degree that it looks like he is obsessed with them."
"If it was anyone else, that being could have made them and us suffer just for their sick pleasure. But he's not doing it for pleasure like his subordinate does."
"…"
"The thing is… They have been destroying dimensions as they please. And the first one was our dimension. Millions of lives disappeared because of his will. And a million more will continue to disappear if whatever standards he has are not met."
"That's why we need your help to free my parents. Because we believe we know what he has been looking for and maybe we can use that to our advantage."
"We've been struggling for thousands of years, but we were able to finally allow them to get their memories back to some degree."
"And it's all thanks to them…"
Different women appeared on the screen.
"Sadly we weren't able to interact with them because of the seal on my parent's wedding rings."
"But now… Slowly but surely we have been able to wrestle our way."
"And we will make sure to win!"
"…"
Ophis looks at them.
"What makes you so sure that everything will be different now?"
She didn't know why, but she wanted to believe them.
"Because he made a crucial mistake."
"Which is?"
"He sealed us in here to power up the seal."
"I see…"
"Yes…"
"So, you mean that if you get freed from here then you will be able to win?"
"Yes…"
"I have a lot of questions and a lot of things crossing my mind."
"We know."
"But… What do you need me to do?"
That made the kunoichis smile.
"First, you need to wake up and then, we will need these three."
Asia, Irina and Xenovia appeared on the screen.
"Humans?"
"Yes."
"I see, where can I find them?"
"They are in a forest at this moment."
"To make things more believable here."
Ino used hand signs and memories of jutsu flooded Ophis' mind.
"When you wake up use those Jutsus and the rest will be a piece of cake."
Ophis started to disappear from the mental space.
"One last thing Ophis-sama."
"…"
"Good luck."
She disappeared completely.
"…"
"OK, let's continue meditating. We need to replace the other 5 from the seal in some time."
"Hai."
Hello everyone! I'm back! Kinda…
Yeah, I've been really busy and that's why I haven't been able to update a new chapter until now.
I apologize for taking so much time. I wanted this chapter to be longer. But I decided to divide it into two parts.
Anyways, you guys know the deal comments and constructive criticism is welcomed.
Everything else will be ignored.
Next chapter hopefully I'll have it ready soon and not take so much time like this one.
You people know, real life kept me busy and no money = no funds. No funds = less time on writing, but oh well I kind of did some jobs here and there.
Anyways. You know the deal. You can check my social media on my profile. I'll try to update it soon too.
See you soon in the next chapter. Peace and RickVT out.
