A/N: Sorry for such a late update.

November 10th 2008:

The shadows within an isolated alleyway of the endless city of Tokyo were illuminated by a pair of vermillion-coloured eyes. Blood was scattered across the cold concrete. A Kappa held a severed arm.

Naruto Uzumaki stepped into the alleyway and glanced down at the aggressive creature in front of him. Letting out a low screech of righteous fury, the Kappa gathered green particles into its mouth.

These green particles morphed themselves into the form of a luminous sphere of brilliant light. Naruto stretched his hand forward. His claws glinted beneath the beautiful moonlight of the heavens.

The Kappa released a powerful orb of concentrated energy in Naruto's direction. Naruto tilted his head, rolled his crimson eyes, and slashed right through the sphere of green molecules. He raised an eye-brow.

Another ferocious screech leaked out from the Kappa's blood-covered lips before it was slapped in the cheek by a chakra-enhanced palm. Naruto back-handed the Kappa, knocking it down onto the ground.

The Kappa climbed to its feet—but was stopped by a vicious punch to the jaw. Green particles gathered themselves into its hands. Naruto struck a second palm into its nose and watched the Yo-Kai stumble.

A ruthless elbow to the collar-bone rendered the unhinged Kappa unconscious on the blood-caked concrete. Naruto squinted his eyes forward, discerning the corpse of a teenager deeper in the alleyway.

"Damn." Naruto clicked his teeth in unconcealed frustration. Crimson abysses twisted themselves into blue eyes. "I was too late."

Naruto summoned a Shadow-Clone—this Shadow-Clone constructed a meager Lava-Style: Rasenshuriken onto its palm. Turning his back to the vicious and semi-conscious Kappa, he heard the Yo-Kai screech.

"You were more angry than usual." Inside of Naruto's head, Kurama yawned. "You must be stressed by this Izanami situation, huh?"

"I guess." Naruto grunted into his head. Annoyance coloured his somewhat casual tone. "All of this crap is giving me a headache."

Kurama scoffed in blatant amusement. "You must really be irritated. Maybe it's time for you to take another break. How about a vacation?"

"I don't have time for a vacation, Kurama." Naruto chuckled and shook his head. "Izanami is a pretty big threat to our pantheon, you fur-ball."

"If she is resurrected…" Kurama trailed off before he produced a guttural yawn from his mouth. "It will be worse than Kaguya herself."

"I could beat Kaguya without any trouble at all!" Naruto yelled to himself—a childish inflection within his soprano. "You underestimate me."

"You underestimate your own stupidity." Kurama laughed at his most trusted partner. "Whatever, I'm sure you'll have this handled soon."

(-)

November 15th 2008:

Naruto walked into the sequestered building of Sasuke Uchiha's elusive exorcism business. Entering a minimalistic office, Naruto was met by the sight of Sasuke: who was fast asleep. Kurama laughed.

Slipping his calloused hands into his pockets, Naruto seated himself down on a wooden-chair and pulled a phone out from one of his pockets. Humour glistened in the sapphire depths of his gaze. "Hah!"

Sasuke raised his head, tapped his palm against the temple of his head, shook himself, grunted, and glared at the source of the amused sound. The Uchiha grouched. "Stop barging into my office, you pest."

"Whatever." Naruto slouched his shoulders and pointed a finger towards Sasuke: who grunted once more. "I want an update."

"On the Izanami situation?" Sasuke rubbed his visible eye for a short minute. "There isn't much to say on it."

"Damn." Naruto leaned his head back, frustrated. "Izanami keeps eluding all of us. Susanoo can't even sense her presence anymore."

"Susanoo is one of the best sensors in the pantheon." Sasuke touched his chin in contemplation. "She won't be our problem for a while."

"Huh?" Confusion illuminated Naruto's whiskered features. "I thought you told me about how Amaterasu is relying on us to stop her."

"If Izanami transports herself to this dimension." Sasuke responded. "If Amaterasu and her siblings find her first, then they will handle her."

A low chuckle of mischief rolled out of the depths of Naruto's mouth. "I'm pretty confident I would defeat Izanami, but would you beat her?"

"Get back to work, dumbass." Sasuke scoffed and rubbed his eye for a second time in exhaustion. "Don't you still have more work to do?"

"Nope." Naruto smirked at his best friend. His smirk widened itself into a nonchalant grin. "I already took care of all the Yo-Kai in Sector-Three."

"Good job." Sasuke gave the Uzumaki a sardonic round of applause. "Then you have the rest of the day off. Have fun, you dumbass."

(-)

November 20th 2008:

Naruto emerged from the entrance of a rather secluded cafe and planted his sun-glasses down onto his face. The atmosphere around him was cold and unwarm. Wind buffeted itself against his skin.

Walking through one of the less populated areas inside of Tokyo, Naruto vanished within a crimson blur. The Uzumaki appeared on the balcony of his apartment and slid the door open. "Man. I'm tired."

He stretched his arms in unveiled fatigue and let loose a loud yawn. Exhaustion was evident in his blue-coloured eyes. Naruto sank onto his sofa, laid his head on its arm-rest, and flicked his television on.

The programme presented on his television was about a mundane teenager: who found his life meaningless—the show was about this teenager's journey finding some type of purpose in his monotonous life.

Naruto drifted off to sleep while this dramatic programme played on his television. Ten hours had passed—until he was woken up when he sensed a foreign presence within the living-room of his apartment.

He shot out of his sofa in a blur and scanned his immediate vicinity. A wrinkled visage revealed itself to him from the shadows of the room. Omoikane touched his shaved beard. "You must be Naruto Uzumaki."

Crouching down into the stance of an unhinged boxer, Naruto glared at the suspicious individual across from him in the enclosed space. Omoikane raised both of his wrinkle-covered hands. "Stay calm."

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto's blue eyes twisted themselves into vermillion voids of hostility. "I'm not in the mood for any riddles."

Omoikane kept his hands within the sleeves of his robe and sighed. "Believe me, Naruto Uzumaki. I have no intention of riddling you."

"What are you planning, then?" Aggression marred Naruto's otherwise skeptical baritone. "I'm not feeling really trusting of anyone right now."

"People told me you were more civil than most Shinobi." Omoikane scratched his well-maintained mustache. "I have valuable intel."

"Why would I give a crap about any of your valuable intel?" Naruto channelled chakra throughout his muscles. "Who are you?"

"I forgot to introduce myself." The Shinto deity of wisdom huffed to himself in shame. "My name is Omoikane—a god of intelligence."

"Wait a second." Naruto clicked his sharpened teeth. Realization twinkled in the azure pits of his gaze. "I've heard your name."

"Indeed." Omoikane gave Naruto a nod of confirmation. "Sasuke Uchiha assigned you the task of checking for me in my tavern."

The Shinto god scowled for the briefest of seconds. "You did a good job in destroying half of my furniture. But that isn't important."

"I had one of my undetectable puppets keep watch over my tavern." Omoikane explained. "He told me about your presence in my tavern."

"Okay?" Naruto lifted an unbothered eye-brow. "How does any of this relate to you sneaking into my damn living-room, mustache-man?"

"Interesting nickname." Omoikane released a hollow chuckle of amusement. "The intel I have is related to the biggest threat to us."

"Izanami." Naruto murmured to himself in another bout of realization. "How the hell would you have information on Izanami of all people?"

"Are you dumb?" Kurama's growl was an unimpressed one. "Remember that Susanoo told us Omoikane had joined her army."

"Oh, yeah." Naruto spoke aloud and snapped his fingers. "Susanoo told Sasuke and I that you had joined Izanami's army."

"That is the undeniable truth." An abundance of sweat had gathered itself onto Omoikane's forehead. "I have my reasons for joining her."

Omoikane opened his mouth to elaborate on his claim—but was stopped as Naruto activated his combination of Kyuubi-Chakra-Mode and Sage-Mode. Pure power rolled off of Naruto's body in droves.

"Please." Omoikane removed his hands from the sleeves of his robes and raised them. "Will you at least listen to me, Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Such tremendous amounts of chakra." Omoikane pondered to himself, amazed. "No wonder he was capable of sealing Izanami."

"Fine." Naruto scowled and deactivated his aureate chakra-cloak. "I'm not in the most patient of moods. So talk, mustache-man."

Omoikane lowered his hands and returned them to the sleeves of his intricate robe. "Izanami has found a method to weaken your power."

"Weaken my power?" Naruto pressed a calloused palm against his mouth before he yawned. "How the hell would she weaken me?"

"Not just you, Naruto Uzumaki." Omoikane refuted him. He shook his head. "She has found a method to weaken you and Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto crossed his arms. Curiosity glinted inside of the sapphire depths of his gaze. "What part of me would she weaken, huh?"

"She shall rob you of the form you call Sage-Of-Six-Paths-Mode." Omoikane answered. "And she shall take the Uchiha's Rinnegan."

"You can't really take that from us." Naruto grunted, confused. "What type of method is she gonna use to take those parts of our power?"

"She plans to use Izanagi's divine spear to remove all traces of your powers." Omoikane elucidated. "That weapon is Ame-No-Nu-Hoko."

"Impossible." Kurama widened his crimson-coloured eyes in concealed anger and growled. "Naruto, give me control of your body."

"Yeah, sure." Naruto rubbed the bottom of his palm onto his exhausted eyes. "You can handle this situation. I'll be relaxing in the seal."

Blue eyes of somewhat high suspicion morphed themselves into crimson voids of endless ferocity. Naruto's mouth opened—but a much more guttural voice leaked out from his vocal-cords. "Tell me…"

Omoikane stepped three feet backwards out of pure prudence for his safety. Shock decorated his wrinkled face. "This is the Kyuubi…"

"His natural presence is much more demonic in nature than Naruto Uzumaki's presence." Omoikane mused. "What a terrifying creature."

"How can I help you?" A polite smile was plastered across Omoikane's shocked face. "If you want information about Izanami, then I can—..."

Kurama stretched his arm forward and covered his clawed hand in a layer of crimson-coloured molecules. "Has Izanami taken the spear?"

"Are you asking me if she is already in possession of Ame-No-Nu-Hoko?" Omoikane queried. "If so, the answer is yes."

"That is impossible." Kurama growled. "Izanagi would never let Ame-No-Nu-Hoko out of his sight. How has Izanami stolen it?"

"Once the Divine-War ended, Izanagi sealed Ame-No-Nu-Hoko into his own temple. However, Izanami has unsealed and stolen it."

"This information is rather valuable." Kurama dispelled the molecules of vermilion-tinted chakra gathered on his hand. "What do you plan?"

"I have my own plans, of course." Omoikane turned around and gazed out of an unopened window. "But I plan to monitor Izanami more."

Omoikane dissolved himself into a hurricane of yellow-coloured particles and disappeared. Kurama relinquished control of the body back to Naruto: who yawned. "So. That spear can weaken me?"

"Not fully." Kurama stretched his neck out until he heard an audible pop. "Izanami will have to undergo a ritual to weaken your power."

"What type of ritual?"

"I am not so sure about that." The Kyuubi grunted in response. "The old man wasn't so willing to divulge information about his friends."

"I can tell you this much, though." Kurama buried himself into the fur spread across his arms. "Izanami can weaken you without any effort."

"Once she completes that ritual, she can indirectly steal the power the old man bestowed upon you." Kurama growled. "It can happen anytime."

"But—she must sacrifice something of equal value."

"Ominous." Naruto let out a sardonic chuckle and stepped into his bed-room. "I'll worry about that when it happens. I'm pretty tired."

"Sleep well, you damn brat."

"Whatever, you lazy fur-ball."

(-)

November 30th 2008:

Naruto and Sasuke stepped into an unpopulated cafe within one of the more sequestered sectors of the city. They gave the waiter their orders, leaned back in their wooden-seats, and waited for their meals.

Pulling his phone out from his pocket, Sasuke tapped his fingers on its screen while Naruto propped his knuckles underneath his chin. Sasuke presented an article to the Uzumaki: who hummed.

"More random disappearances in Sector-Five and Sector-Seven?" Naruto read the article on the screen. "I'm guessing it's Yo-Kai?"

"It could be related to Izanami somehow too." Sasuke clicked his phone off and groused. "Though, I do doubt it is connected to her."

"I'll send someone else to take care of this issue." Sasuke watched the waiter plant their plates down onto the table. "Let's enjoy our food."

"Thanks for the food!" Naruto yelled and took an impolite sip of coffee from the cold rim of his mug. "This place has the best coffee, I swear!"

"I suppose." Sasuke drank some of the tea from his cup. "I think the tea this cafe produces has much more flavor than its coffee."

"Who cares?" Naruto rolled his vibrant and blue eyes. "Remember the encounter between Omoikane and I that I told you about?!

"Indeed." Sasuke sipped more of his tea. "Trust me, I intend to track down Omoikane to learn more about Izanami's secret plans."

"I'm pretty confident he'll visit one of us sooner or later." Naruto shrugged. "You worried about losing your Rinnegan, though?"

"I'll have to wait to see if she has the capability to take it." Sasuke stood up from his chair and left the cafe. "I'm going to check up on my sources."

"I still wonder who the heck those sources of his are." Naruto sipped the last granules of coffee from his cup. "This coffee is good."

(-)

December 10th 2008:

Sasuke planted his chakra-enhanced fist against Naruto's abdomen and hurtled him backwards. Naruto gritted his teeth, bent his knees, summoned a Giant-Rasengan, and disappeared in a meager blur.

An indiscernible distortion appeared behind Sasuke: who activated his Eternal-Mangekyo-Sharingan. Rolling back and dispelling his Giant-Rasengan, Naruto squinted his blue eyes in suspicion.

Naruto sensed Sasuke in front of him before he blocked a powerful punch. Roundhouse kicking the Uchiha right in the nose, Naruto cartwheeled to the left. Ebony-tinted flames covered the ground.

Summoning three Shadow-Clones, Naruto watched them flick multiple punches into Sasuke's solar-plexus. A little amount of blood streamed out from Sasuke's lips. Naruto gave him an amicable smirk.

Another roundhouse kick to the nose propelled Sasuke downwards. Gathering chakra into the cavern of his mouth, he let loose a flame-constructed dragon. Naruto stretched a calloused palm out.

A Giant-Rasengan cleaved through the fire-crafted dragon and dispelled it into nothing more than thirty particles of fire. Naruto crouched down, vanishing within a crimson outline of pure movement.

Sasuke smiled and raised his knee to parry one of Naruto's ferocious punches. Slamming his knuckles into Naruto's chest, the Uchiha gathered electricity onto his hand. Naruto back-flipped to create distance.

Powerful granules of electricity engulfed the cold atmosphere around them. Sasuke dispelled his Chidori-Spear and chuckled. "How about we call this spar a draw this time? We've been fighting for a while."

"Sure." Naruto stretched his legs and slipped his calloused hands into his pockets. "I'll beat your ass later when we fight again, bastard."

"You're welcome to try, loser." Sasuke smirked before he left the training-area within the isolated building. "I have some work to complete."

Naruto followed behind Sasuke and stepped out of the building through its back-entrance while the Uchiha walked out through the front-entrance. He folded his arms. "I have nothing to do right now."

"How about shutting up?" Kurama suggested to his vessel and smirked. "I'm sure everyone would appreciate some good silence."

Naruto transmitted an annoyed grunt into his head. "How about you shut up and go back to sleep, you sloucher of a fur-ball?"

The Uzumaki and the Kyuubi laughed at each other in amiable amusement. Returning to his apartment, Naruto seated himself down onto his bed and glanced at his book-shelf—it had five novels in total.

He leaned into his head and stared at a poster plastered across the wall in the corner of his bed-room. Turning his phone on, Naruto scrolled onto a website to check out the latest of news in the area.

Naruto closed his eyes for the briefest of seconds—but fell asleep. Four hours had passed before an unfamiliar presence tickled his senses. He unveiled his crimson irises to the intruder in his room.

"Why the hell do people keep coming into my apartment when I'm trying to sleep? I'm getting pretty annoyed by all of this crap."

Ikutsuhikone was shrouded in a shroud of insubstantial flames before he dispelled his cloak of incredible heat. An amused smile decorated his pale features. He gave Naruto a sardonic bow. "What a pleasure!"

"I've heard many rumours and tales about your strength, Naruto Uzumaki." Ikutsuhikone shook his head. "I have come to warn you."

"Izanami has ordered me to tell you this." Ikutsuhikone smirked. "She has uncovered a method that shall allow her to steal your power."

"That is all." Ikutsuhikone bowed for a second time and disappeared in a hurricane of intangible flames. "It truly was not a pleasure to meet you."

"What the hell was that all about?" Naruto gritted his teeth in annoyance and sighed. "These people keep waking me up!"

"He spoke about what Omoikane told us Izanami was planning." Kurama grunted, interested. "This is becoming fun, isn't it?"

Naruto stepped out onto his balcony and felt the cold touch of the metal-fence beneath his calloused palm. "This crap really is annoying."

(-)

December 15th 2008:

Naruto slipped his unsmooth hands into his pockets and body-flickered in front of the entrance to Camp Half-Blood—where Charles Beckendorf waited for him, an expensive phone in his hand.

"Ah, Naruto." Charles' voice possessed a familiar—but deep—inflection. "I haven't seen you in a while! How have you been?"

"Pretty good." Naruto smiled and tilted his head in curiosity. "I thought demi-gods couldn't use electronics because they amplify their scent?"

"This is a special project." Charles explained. "The Hecate-Cabin have imbued magical-repellents into the phones."

Charles presented the expensive mobile to Naruto and clicked on the screen. "This is the prototype design that I've been tasked to test out."

"Sick!" The smile on Naruto's whiskered features transmuted itself into a nonchalant grin. "I guess soon you'll be able to use real devices?"

"Maybe." Charles shrugged and slid the phone into one of his pockets. "According to Lou Ellen, there is a chance this project could fail."

Charles gave him a polite bow before he disappeared into the distance of Camp Half-Blood. Sauntering down into the sequestered forests of the camp, Naruto let out a somewhat low hum. "Hm…"

Naruto had walked rather deep into the forests of Camp Half-Blood and sensed a warm presence of heat. Leo Valdez emerged from the bushes behind him. A small grin covered his face. "Mr. Blondie!"

"Yo." Naruto directed a casual peace-sign at Leo and leaned himself against the thick-trunk of an ancient oak-tree. "How have you been?"

"Pretty good!" Leo grinned, stretching his arms out in excitement. "Guess what, Naruto Uzumaki! I have created the ultimate device!"

Naruto raised an impressed eye-brow. "The ultimate device, huh?" He chuckled. "You've got me interested! What is this device of yours?"

The child of Hephaestus pointed his finger towards the entrance of the secluded forests, disappearing within a violent hurricane of flames. Naruto grunted to himself, cracked his neck, and vanished in a blur.

They reappeared at the front-door to the local forges of Camp Half-Blood. Leo kicked open the entrance as he and Naruto walked over to his arts-and-crafts-station. "Behold, my latest invention!"

Naruto gazed down at the gauntlets planted on the top of the wooden-desk and detected the residuals of mana within the metal of these powerful weapons. "What did you do to these gauntlets?"

"Charles must have told you about those magic-repellent phones, right?!" Leo raised a fist in triumph. "I decided to create something better!"

"He did tell me about them when I got to camp, yeah." Naruto's nod was one of casual confirmation. "What's special about your weapons?"

"I had some members of the Hecate-Cabin imprint two powerful runes onto these gauntlets." Leo laughed. "Let me break it down for you."

"These gauntlets' runes convert stamina into mana." Leo explained. "That mana can then be used to enhance the user's physical strength!"

"They were supposed to be brass-knuckles, but whatever..."

"Interesting." Naruto murmured to himself in blatant curiosity. He picked up one of the gauntlets. "How many have you created?"

"Only these two." Leo nodded at the gauntlet in Naruto's calloused hand and the one on the wooden-table. "I'm going to create more."

"These gauntlets are good." Naruto hummed before he planted the steel-constructed glove down onto the table. "Anything else new?"

"Nothing really." Leo shook his head, tapped his chin, and shrugged. "Except for those monster-repellent phones and my new gauntlets."

"I've been training a lot for that prophecy next year." Leo clenched a resolved fist. "I ain't gonna let civilization be destroyed by them."

"You'll have to get stronger than you are right now." Naruto slipped his hands into his pockets. "You are strong, but gain even more strength."

Leo crossed his arms and grinned. "That's the plan! Get real powerful, learn how to control my flames better, and fight some monsters!"

"Good." Naruto had a somewhat pleased smile on his whiskered features. "I have some crap to take care of. See you later, alright?"

(-)

December 18th 2008:

Naruto sauntered through the isolated streets within the enormous city of Tokyo. Granules of cold snow covered his shoulders. He gazed into an alley-way, sensing the familiar and electrical presence of a Yo-Kai.

Bending his knees and grunting to himself in blatant annoyance, Naruto body-flickered into the alley-way before he embedded his elbow into a Raiju's snout—this Raiju let loose a pain-filled growl.

Blue eyes were illuminated by the silver flecks of moonlight from the obsidian-coloured skies. An expression of endless annoyance danced on Naruto's face. Frustration laced his baritone. "Rasengan…"

Sapphire motes of chakra materialized onto Naruto's calloused palm and morphed themselves into the form of a chakra-constructed sphere. The Raiju screeched as a Rasengan was drilled into its skull.

Disintegrating into azure-tinted particles of energy, the Raiju produced one more scornful cry from its mouth and crumbled. Naruto stared down at the remains of the Yo-Kai, sighing. "I have to calm down."

"You have been more irritable lately." Kurama grunted in response, unimpressed. "You really have to get a reign on your anger soon."

Naruto slid his hands into his pockets and disappeared in a vibrant distortion of an iridescent vermillion. Landing on the roof-top of an enormous sky-scraper, the Uzumaki sat down onto its surface.

"Whatever…" Naruto transmitted into his head and closed his eyes. "I'm pretty tired of everything that's been going on. How about you?"

Kurama huffed. Amusement coloured his guttural voice. "I don't care about anything that doesn't involve either you or myself."

Naruto smiled and climbed back up to his feet, vanishing in another indiscernible distortion of crimson. Reappearing on the balcony of his apartment, he stepped into his living-room and stretched his legs.

(-)

December 22th 2008:

Sasuke stood within the middle of an isolated room in the basement of one of the countless buildings owned by the Uchiha-Clan. Applying some chakra into his Transportation-Seal, he crumbled into particles.

His body rematerialized itself on the concrete of the streets of Yomi. Numerous spirits and Yo-Kai inundated the area around him. Sasuke body-flickered forward and reached the sector of a secluded mansion.

The Uchiha glanced at the spectral guards: who opened the door once they detected his powerful presence. Entering the front-garden of the mansion, Sasuke walked through a stone-constructed path.

Obsidian eyes of perpetual amounts of vigilance gazed at the outline of the Shinto deity of death—Shinigami. Sasuke gave him a somewhat nonchalant smirk. "I'm glad to see you are in good health."

"Thank you for your kind words." Shinigami let loose a guttural rasp and nodded. "We have much to discuss about Omoikane and Izanami."

Sasuke slipped a single hand into his pocket in concealed amusement. "Indeed we do. Omoikane told Naruto about her plans."

"I set some of my familiars around Tokyo." Shinigami grouched. "One of them reported to me that Ikutsuhikone visited Naruto at his home."

"Interesting." Sasuke raised a fascinated eye-brow. Pale fingers tapped his chin. "How was the conversation between those two?"

"The conversation confirmed that Omoikane's intel was accurate." Shinigami hummed. "There is a chance this was all set up by Izanami."

"I suppose." Sasuke chuckled to himself and turned around to face the gates of the enormous—but hidden—mansion. "I shall see you later."

Shinigami disappeared into the entrance of his mansion. "Farewell for now, Sasuke Uchiha. You and your friend shall meet many foes."

(-)

January 2nd 2009:

Izanami walked through the beautiful garden of an isolated dimension and harvested a flower from the ground. At the touch of her death-infected fingers, the petals of the flower crumbled into ashes.

Omoikane stood behind the Shinto goddess of death—wrinkled hands clasped behind his back. Curiosity shimmered inside of the pits of his ancient gaze as Izanami glanced in his direction. "Omoikane."

"My lady." Omoikane closed his eyes and lowered his head in endless rivers of reverence. "How may I be of assistance to you and your army?"

Izanami produced a maniacal cackle of insanity from the cavern of her mouth. "There is nothing I desire from you, Omoikane. Be silent."

She directed a hollow grin at Omoikane: whose mind was flooded by the presence of death and despair itself. Sinking down to a knee in mental fatigue, Omoikane grunted. "My apologies, lady Izanami."

Summoning the divine-spear of creation into her pale hand of demise, Izanami twirled it around for the briefest of minutes. Excitement illuminated her ebony-tinted irises. "I haven't felt such power in years!"

Omoikane ignored the hysterical voice from the goddess of the Shinto pantheon and grabbed the back of his head. Rubbing it to soothe his mental exhaustion, he let out a weak chuckle. "That is good for you."

Izanami cackled for a second time before she concealed an elated smile behind her pale palm. "You can leave for now, Omoikane."

The Shinto god of intelligence teleported himself into Izanami's enormous and sequestered mansion. Prudence coloured Omoikane's smooth baritone. "This is bad. She is close to regaining her full power."

Clasping his wrinkled hands and murmuring an unrecognizable incantation, Omoikane's body unleashed an incredible amount of divine-energy into the atmosphere of his office. "I must escape now."

Crimson flames manifested themselves from the cold concrete beneath his feet, manipulating themselves into the forms of spikes. Omoikane separated his hands and stumbled back in pure surprise.

Ikutsuhikone stepped into the room and snapped his fingers without even speaking. Another barrage of flames materialized themselves in front of Omoikane in the shape of a dagger, slashing at his nose.

Omoikane pressed a calloused hand down to the ground. Flecks of divine-energy leaked from his palm. Ikutsuhikone clicked his teeth, squinted his eyes, and gasped when his body became immobile.

Multitudinous symbols and runes revealed themselves on the walls and the surface of the room. Omoikane lifted an unimpressed eye-brow. "Did you really think you could ambush me of all deities?"

"This office of mine is surrounded by a barricade." Omoikane explained. "A barricade that won't let Izanami sense our divine-energies."

"I had also implemented a Paralysis-Seal into the ground." Omoikane smiled and hummed. "I'm more shocked you thought you'd win."

"You are powerful since you are a child of Amaterasu." The god of intelligence murmured. "But you are not an infallible being in my eyes."

"YOU BASTARD!" Ikutsuhikone yelled—true anger hidden beneath the aggressive layers of his voice. "Why did you join Izanami, then?!"

Omoikane glared at Ikutsuhikone, unimpressed. "I wanted to learn about her plans, of course. Lord Susanoo assigned me this task."

"I cannot let you tell Izanami about any of this." Omoikane coated his fingers in brown motes of divine-energy. "A Silence-Seal shall do."

Ikutsuhikone shouted out nonsensical and vicious words at Omoikane until the Silence-Seal materialized itself on his mouth. All that he could grunt out were muffled sounds. Omoikane chuckled. "This is perfect."

Omoikane clicked his fingers and summoned himself a brown-coloured portal. Vanishing into the ripple within the atmosphere, the god of intelligence returned to his run-down and hidden tavern.

Susanoo was seated down on a wooden-chair within the tavern, sipping a cup of a somewhat sour beer. Amusement filled his azure-tinted eyes at the sight of Omoikane: who bowed down.

"The mission was a success, my lord." Omoikane mumbled. "I have retrieved the scrolls that Izanami had stolen from Izanagi's mansion."

"Good." Susanoo drank more from his bottle of sour beer. "My father has sealed a number of weapons and techniques within these scrolls."

Omoikane climbed back up to his feet and unsealed the scrolls out from his satchel. Susanoo picked one up from the wooden-table in front of him, gazing down at its contents. "What type of ritual is this?"

"I must ask you one more question, Omoikane." Susanoo discarded his bottle of beer. "Why were you so frantic in your escape from her realm?"

Omoikane possessed a rather fear-filled expression on his wrinkled features. "She is close to regaining her full power. In a few months."

"We have nothing to fear." Susanoo smirked and stood up from his wooden-chair. "Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, and I shall handle her."

"I also understand why you left her realm. If Izanami learned that you took those scrolls back, then the situation would have turned dire." Susanoo grunted. "Her full power will create countless ripples throughout this pantheon."

"Can lord Izanagi not seal her back into Yomi himself?" Omoikane queried. "Izanagi, you, and your two siblings could handle her."

"My father is still recovering from the corruption he received in the Divine-War." Susanoo responded. "That is all I can tell you for now."

"My lord." Omoikane seated himself down on a leather-chair in the back of the tavern's room. "What about the Uzumaki and the Uchiha?"

"Those two?" Susanoo chuckled before he grinned. "Those brats are our last back-up if all else fails. They sealed her into Yomi last time."

"I have faith that—if all of Amaterasu's other contingency strategies fail—Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha shall succeed."

Susanoo left the building. Silence overtook the sector.

A/N: Thanks for reading.