A black vastness of space. Darkness only of the natural variety surrounded five figures floating in the vacuum and staring at the spectacle of destruction that transpired in front of them. Planets devolving into molten burning hunks of rock, where once was life now laid only destruction and endless death of all that was alive in the universe. Stars going out and exploding, both close and far away however the eyes of these godlike figures saw it all, they saw stars going out both close and far. Soon there’d be no life left in the universe, nothing left there to rule but ashes.
“We came here to rule but they declared war upon us” the man in the middle declared. His speech was rather sad about the events that transpired but he was not riddled with guilt for this upcoming end of the entire universe, his voice just would have felt confused to anyone who was still alive in this sinking ship of a universe to hear it. He was the largest of the five, he may have been at least three to four meters tall, his hands were as buff and large as buses alone and his chest didn’t look like it needed much armor to protect it from harm as it was pumped enough to tear any fabric worn around it.
“They always do. They always will” another man spoke, looking over the destruction and floating in the vastness of space, surrounded by stars and systems going out. This man wore a similar plated armor of elite craftsmanship, composed of emerald colored plates with blades on several pieces, namely the wrist and the shoulder pieces. “As Gods it is our responsibility to snuff these rebellions out without ruining our dominion. It appears we have failed this time, as we did the last time, as we will the next time”
“I can fix it” a raven haired woman declared, she didn’t wear any armor and was the only one to do so. Instead she wore a long and majestic purple cloak with golden engravings and diamonds all over it. “I can reshape reality as if this war never happened, so that this planet shall not die so that we don’t remain the ruined rulers of nothing. I can put thoughts of obedience into these peoples’ minds. We can fix this, there is nothing impossible for me, the Goddess of Reality”
“No!” the large armored figure in the middle declared. “If we wished to rule a bunch of stupid puppets we’d have created our own subjects but a God who has no followers of their own free will is a pitiful God. We shall do as we have done for eight thousand years and travel the Omniverse looking for a universe where we find people willing to serve us, to praise us and pray to us. In return we will give them us ruling over them”
“I believe what sparked this conflict was when I used this universe’s star reactor formula to boost my speed…” a short and scrawny fellow in an armor plated mask scratched his oversized hairdo. “Then again, it’s tough to say, they always hated us”
“And yet, to hate us so that they would rather fuel the destruction of their own universe than surrender it to us…” the fifth figure “ an armored woman with twelve arms and a myriad of weapons around her back gasped fearfully at the destruction transpiring in front of her.
“Which one of us shall do it?” the second man asked.
“I believe it is my turn, Mind, observe the universe for memories of its nature, we shall not allow it to go into oblivion entirely” the leading brute in the middle sighed sadly.
The man leaned back a clenched fist and disappeared, the “God” was known as Power amongst his pantheon of five. These people were travelers, coming from a universe of their own they long since forgot the way back to, it was eight thousand years ago when these men and women dumped their old identities and began travelling the complicated web of the infinite universes called the Omniverse and began looking for power, resources and knowledge. After a while of leeching what every universe had to offer each one of them became infinitely powerful. Maddened by their power these people declared themselves Gods and embarked on a quest to find an obedient universe that’d praise them, pray to them and so that they could rule it as the Gods that they were.
The middle one, the leader, called himself the God of Power, or Power, needless to say his pantheon of Gods were not short on power themselves but as far as the physical strength and physicality went, Power was unmatched. The second one, a normal looking armored bald man, with glowing indigo ripples as if his head had cracked in multiple spots was known as the God of Mind, or Mind. He had the abilities of omniscience, knowing all there was, is and even will be to know. The third one, an armored and quite physical woman of twelve arms, ten of which were made of refined solid star core alloy that shined brightly like gold, was known as the Goddess of Technique or Technique. She was the most amazing warrior and skilled combatant of all. A true goddess of battle, but also of every other skill one could learn in existence. She was a handy ally to have by one’s side in more ways than one.
The other two may have appeared lesser and weaker than the almighty three, for they looked much smaller and scrawnier but they may have held the greatest amount of power in their hands. The cloaked woman with dark hair and glowing eyes was known as the Goddess of Reality or Reality. Reality could reshape everything around her to her whim, she could do anything she could’ve imagined to be done, she was omnipotent but her imagination and mind were quite human making her often require Mind’s help to do her godly deeds. The woman acquired this power from an advanced civilization that could manipulate subatomic and even molecular matter as they pleased in a universe they’ve long since destroyed after it ruined itself much like their current one.
The last one, the scrawny little guy close to Reality was the God of Speed or Speed. As much as Power was strong, Speed was fast. Power often told to those he wished to subjugate that Speed’s ability didn’t make any sense as he could outrun the silliest and seemingly most impossible things. He could outrun time, space, any other being in existence, even Reality when she willed herself to be in another place when the two raced, one time Speed even outran a social label when the local inhabitants of a planet in another universe labeled them “False Gods”. Speed ran so fast that he outran the social label and when he stopped he was actually praised as God in that universe. However this praise was a false and unclean one. Power could not stand it and destroyed that universe on the spot.
A bright vortex of light, larger than any human mind could comprehend spun in the center of that universe. Had any human had the ability to survive the incalculable heat and radiation of that place they’d have first went blind in negative time, breaking all known laws of physics and rules of how reality functioned. Such would have happened due to the immense booming of light and radiation, granted, if they didn’t they’d have gone insane of the unimaginable size of the construct in front of them. Power turned at Mind for a consult.
“It is a supermassive… No… A terramassive white hole expelling energy and radiation out of it at an unimaginable rate. This flow of pure energy is so immense that it pushes the surrounding universe away, this must be what causes the universal expansion” Mind scratched his chin observing the whirling spacial construct.
“It is the center of this universe then?” Power asked to which Mind nodded.
“Why did we come here? I could’ve made the point we were in the center of the universe, Speed could’ve moved to the center of the universe in a negative time mark, you can destroy a universe from any point and place in time and space…” Reality began to mewl to which Power responded by slowly moving into the object, completely unaffected and unrestrained by its massive output of power and punching it.
A loud crackling sound was sent emanating from the white hole, it was like the entire universe was just a surface of a lake in which a pebble was thrown, no, a large boulder sending crashing and tearing waves so immense that they tore the reality itself apart and destroyed every moon, planet or a star, galaxy or a cluster or even a speck of space dust that it came into contact with. The pressure and sheer destruction were so powerful that they were actually emitting sound in the middle of a vacuum as the universe was collapsing, in its final agony the universe began breaking its own laws of reality and physics. Nothing was law in these final dying moments.
And then there was nothing. Nothing except the five Gods floating in nothingness.
And then from nothing began something once again. A loud and immensely powerful expansive burst of energy almost pushed Power backwards as it emanated pushing space dust and pure radiation backwards, beginning the expulsion process over and over again before settling down. A ruined universe turned into nothing which then turned into a newborn universe. Confused the Gods all turned at Mind for explanation.
“It is an anti-matter universe, we’ve seen some before. Nothing in this universe is not actual nothing but anti-matter. It is likely that this universe began when a wormhole was opened from another universe to here, which caused a large amount of matter to spill into this nothingness of anti-matter causing the birth of this universe due to the violent chain reaction. You’ve destroyed the universe but we are made of matter and so our matter caused another Big Bang…” Mind casually explained tending to his slightly crisped and scratched emerald colored armor.
“I see” Power closed his eyes and sighed. “Reality, can you make us all made of anti-matter once I destroy the universe?”
“It might cause a very violent and unpredictable reaction, the destruction of a universe is an unstable process, it was never meant to happen like this. We don’t know what effect a reality shift in the middle of a destroyed universe would do to the Omniverse. Have you forgotten that damage to the fabric of reality that came two years ago from a universe at the edge of the Omniverse? That forced us to stay in absolute nothing for a while until you pulled the torn straps of reality and tied them together” Mind objected.
“You know I can just blink this universe and all of the Omniverse, if need be, out of existence, right?” Reality once again complained.
“No. As a father of our pantheon I must do this myself. I have failed those that were to sing me praise, I was not the God they wanted me to be” Power clenched his fist and punched at nothing. The universe roared in pain as tears and cracks began to glow brightly, it was like the entire universe was a big panel of glass which was hit by a rock but not yet broken, only cracked. And then it all went to Hell in shatters. Reality sighed and blinked her eye, a needless gesture as she needed no actions, just her will to use her immense power but she made the pantheon made of anti-matter so that they did not trigger another Big Bang and reset the universe they meant to leave destroyed.
Power thrust his fist forward breaking through the nothing and out into the Omniverse. Reality willed their existences to once again be made of matter but Mind shouted in regret. Something was wrong “ that inconceivable small moment of existence that they had as anti-matter beings inside the complex out of universe bounds and inside the Omniverse caused the complicated structure to shift. Countless glass bubbles that were actually little universes began to burst spilling azure and magma colored rays of light as they disappeared.
Mind slapped his own forehead, “Told you, we’ve just destroyed over two hundred universes… One of these could’ve been a universe we were looking for”
Speed bit his fingernails creepily and looked at Power and Mind, “I can run back in time and…”
“No!” Power roared out angrily. “We have made mistakes as Gods. We must face them and fix them. What other effects did my persistence cause?” he asked Mind.
“It’s a long story to tell. Countless universes altered, cataclysms transpired in others. At least three and a half million universes were affected in some way, do you wish to hear a detailed report?” Mind squinted at Power.
“Reality could make this whole time while you explain it last only a second in real time. Very well, begin…” Power closed his eyes and sat down in a meditative position listening in on Mind’s report.
*****
“Baaaaaah!” Meiko bleated standing on all fours in the middle of the training grounds as the girl in her own mind was a sheep.
Mana giggled into her fist for a brief moment before cancelling the genjutsu. Ever since she had regained the control of her chakra she could now be more efficient at training Meiko to defend against genjutsu and other mental attacks since some assaults on one’s mind were so different from how a ninjutsu worked that they couldn’t even be called that by any stretch of the mind. After having her fair share of laughs the magician cancelled her technique.
“Aw man… I’ve got a mouthful of grass!” Meiko mumbled out spitting a bunch of grass and dirt out. “Plus I felt having shit stuck on my ass, is that a sheep problem? How would I know it was?”
Mana smiled, “Maybe you’ve read it somewhere or worked on a farm in the Fire Country at some point during your childhood? Anyways, I’m sorry, my illusions have surpassed the common genjutsu, maybe they’re too powerful for your early stages. I’ve adapted them to what I’ve seen those bug predators use in the desert ruins, instead of attacking your chakra flow and manipulating it, I attack your brain centers instead. It makes for a much more powerful and harder to defend against illusion”
Meiko fixed her messed up armor plates and took a defensive stance. “No, it’s because of those insects that I’ve asked you to teach me that, it only makes sense to use empowered techniques based on their way of using illusions. It’s just… It was so fast… One moment I saw your hand seals flashing and the next and I had a craving for grass…”
Mana proudly crossed her hands on her chest, “Well, don’t snooze then, I’m no longer that weak and dependent little civilian you lead to the Box of Ultimate Bliss. I’m a ninja now and I’ve learned a lot from the experience. Don’t look down or hold back on me or you’ll end up consuming more grass than an actual sheep today”
Just before Meiko could initiate her assault, right as the blacksmith reached behind her to pull out some ninja tools a booming explosion sent her down, it was like air itself tore itself apart and in her shocking horror Meiko witnessed her own friend splattered all over the area in a bloody stain and her own hands and legs torn apart and shredded by the destructive force of the tearing of reality above her. Then in a booming howl both Meiko’s limbs and Mana’s body reassembled as a powerful stream of light pulled Mana in and the magician ended up disappearing into the void of reality that had just opened and closed again.
“Okay…” Meiko blinked a couple of times before standing up and cleaning her clothes. She never overthought anything too much so it was much easier to accept for her that her friend had just been swallowed by a hole in reality which initially almost decimated the entire training grounds. “The Hokage probably would like to hear about that…” the blacksmith thought to herself scratching her chin and rushing at a casual pace towards the village. Just what kind of mess could Mana have gotten into this time? Was the outside edges of reality itself capable of sustaining human life? What if Mana died right after being flung onto the other side? Maybe Meiko needed to call for some smarter people to figure out where the Box of Ultimate Bliss was again? Then again, having in mind what happened to the last person who made the wish with it…
*****
Mana couldn’t understand what was happening. Her very essence felt being torn apart and only her chakra augmentation allowed her body to withstand the immensely crushing and tearing gravity of the experience. By all means she shouldn’t have survived that but somehow she did. Was this maybe what “chakra over matter” meant? Mana remembered reading about those immensely powerful beings having those extraordinary and legendary adventures during the times of the First People that she never really questioned how they could’ve done it. Maybe the “chakra over matter” principle meant that exactly “ chakra could’ve only been overcome by a higher concentration of chakra, not a chakra-less force?
Another boom made Mana scream in pain and cover her ears as finally her sight returned to her. The experience of losing her senses was one that Mana had previously and not too long ago. That could’ve only meant that she had returned home, but where “home” exactly? Was this Fire Country, Wind Country, Water Country? The magician looked around and stood back up on her feet, she felt a little tired having just passed through what appeared to be a wormhole of realities in a way. She was in a forest, very similar to those of the Fire Country. So she didn’t travel that far, it appears. Well, that certainly was a fun experience. One she’ll enjoy greatly telling the others about…
“Who are you? What are you doing so far outside the village, kid?” a voice reached her ears as the girl turned around and faced a grown man, a very vagabond-like looking young adult man. He had shoulder long black hair and a hat that was wrapped in bandages and wore a black ragged coat. “You have the Konoha headband so are you on a mission? Where is your team, girl?” the man insisted on continuously asking Mana questions.
“Ummm… Actually…” Mana opened her mouth to answer but then her mouth opened wide, she finally put two on two together “ the black hair and the pitch black eyes that didn’t appear to differentiate the pupil from the iris “ this man was an Uchiha! Mana wasn’t aware that her village had such well trained and combat hardened Uchiha left.
“You’re a weird kid… Wait…” suddenly the man’s right eye opened up, Mana’s jaw gapped even wider open when she couldn’t really pinpoint the strange manner of this man’s Sharingan. If it even was a Sharingan in the first place, it was completely crimson colored, just like the eye would normally be and the pupil was so stick-thin and centered meanwhile the iris was covered in circles with straight tomoe that surrounded it. It did possess the tomoe typical to the Sharingan but it wasn’t the appearance matching the one Mana remembered reading about it being.
“Your chakra level…” the man uttered, Mana felt a strike to the face sending her down, she saw it coming from a mile away but she didn’t expect this man to attack her so close to the village, the girl just rolled back and jumped back on her feet.
“Hey! How dare you attack me so close to the village!?” Mana screamed out jumping up on her feet, her chakra augmentation saving her from the immense damage that the attack could’ve caused, the man appeared to blink rapidly in surprise for a while.
“I hit you pretty hard and yet you just bounced back on your feet, any genin or a ninja your age would’ve been dead but I saw your chakra level, you’re not even human so what are you?” the man angrily grunted grabbing the hilt of his blade.
“You’re not wearing the Konoha headband, I’d rather first hear your explanation…” Mana angrily squinted at the man who had lost all of her friendship points once he decided to attack her.
“Tsk…” the man just annoyingly exclaimed as his body blurred, Mana effortlessly leaned to the side, weaved forward and backwards, to the sides as well, avoiding each and every sword strike. This man was really slow by her standards but he possessed that strange ability to predict where she’d be, where she’d counter and when so he was able to somewhat keep up with her counters. Not that Mana tried very hard to hit him. Then the man extended his palm and grunted “Almighty Push!”
Some powerful force hit Mana straight in the chest and gut, then her face pushing her away, like gravity itself hit her and send her tumbling backwards. This man wasn’t that powerful by any means, not judging by the standards of the enemies Mana had faced before but… He had those strange abilities that simply defied anything Mana had seen before. His Sharingan allowed the man to keep up with Mana’s lazier attacks despite there being no reason he should’ve been able to. The magician grunted and stood up off the ground, she was getting sick of being tossed around.
Mana’s arms flashed through handseals, the man’s eyes opened wide but it was too late, her inhuman hand seal weaving speed made him fall to the ground and writhe like a snake which he was for attacking her. Mana walked up to the writhing man but then fell to the ground herself. Suddenly she herself started feeling like a snake and writhing foolishly on the ground.
“Genjutsu Reverse… A Sharingan technique, it was foolish to attack a Sharingan user with a genjutsu” the man remarked placing his sword to Mana’s throat. A mad burst of chakra from Mana’s system broke her own illusion. The violent shockwave sent the man dashing backwards and clenching his blade. As the man’s right eye activated again. A giant purple avatar of armor began covering the man and rising into the sky. Suddenly the man just flew up into the air and stood surrounded by a giant purple glowing suit of armor that appeared larger than the most colossal mountain ranges.
“You can’t attack in that, you’ll destroy the village! Everyone will die!” Mana pleaded with a scream aimed at the giant armor that then slowly began to diminish down.
“I see, so you are a kind soul then, worried about the lives of the villagers?” the man wondered as he walked out of the dissolving armor that disappeared in snuffed out purple flames as fast as it rose from the ground.
“I care about them more than I care about my own life…” Mana admitted lowering her head in shame like there was something to be ashamed of, she only felt bad because she just admitted her weakness to this strange man with lacking power and speed but impressive range of abilities.
“Why? Your chakra it’s… Literally everywhere, it’s larger than the Tailed Beasts’ and yet you seem to think you’re from Konoha, what’s going on here?” the man wondered sheathing his sword and closing both of his eye techniques making his eyes return to the complete blackness that he once wore.
“I am from Konoha and… No, my chakra isn’t like the Tailed Beasts’ I’ve seen the power of the Tailed Beasts, even a weakened Nine Tails could’ve decimated all of my team in moments” Mana spoke.
“A dimensional traveler perhaps?” the man wondered, he removed a piece of paper from his large bag that he carried around his back. He drew a simplistic looking human shape with a small internal fire burning inside of them.
Mana squinted angrily, “I’m not an idiot, I don’t need to be explained things by drawing, you can just tell me!” she shouted out.
“Sorry, a habit one acquires by training a dolt son of an even dumber dolt…” the man put the paper back in his bag, his apology didn’t mean too sincere as his face didn’t shift much. The man appeared to be completely void of any emotions except some brief flashes of worry and surprise when they were briefly fighting.
“My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I am… A ninja, a wanderer more like it, but my allegiance lies with Konoha. I believe you to be a displaced dimensional traveler, I’ve seen one like you before but… That one was a lost soul, you are much different. You see most of us are born with chakra here, chakra is passed down from the original ancestors that ate the fruit from the God Tree, your chakra is constantly overflowing, like you were a source of chakra itself instead of someone using it. Your chakra level disobeys the very laws of physics of our world which is why I assume you’re from another dimension, a place where chakra itself is as common as air and where ninja are much more powerful because of it. The origin of your chakra must be different from ours” the man explained.
“Well… I do remember being sucked into a large… Thing. I was training my friend Meiko and then after a loud noise it felt like I was being disassembled on a molecular level and…” Mana explained.
“Hmph… You may not even be a dimensional traveler but something else entirely. I don’t understand what you are but you don’t seem like you’re here to hurt us. I’m heading to train someone, maybe you’d like to come with and share some things on the way, maybe your insight and different point of view will help me get to that dolt?”
Mana shrugged and nodded. “I’d very much like to maybe return to my home at some point… If I’m even out of place that is…” she wondered.
“Very out of place…” Sasuke confirmed with a firm nod.
*****
“Ey, Sasuke, you’ve kept me waiting, what gives, I mean!?” a loudmouthed young brat yelled out when Mana and Sasuke walked out into a forest clearing. The magician looked around dumbfounded by how identical this training ground looked to that of her own dimension or universe or time or whatever concept she was misplaced in. Most battlefield devastations weren’t there but mostly the entire clearing was virtually the same. Perhaps what Sasuke said about ninja in Mana’s home being stronger and more destructive was what lead to those more severe devastations back home.
“Also who’s this brat beside you, I mean?” the loudmouth yelled out questioningly again squinting at Mana. It appeared that this youngster had some sort of a verbal tick, inserting an additive that didn’t really make sense. He certainly didn’t do it on purpose, it was something that just happened to him but it didn’t appear to bother him so it was unlikely he’d seek help…
“Based on the looks of it I’m a year or two older than you, kid…” Mana replied coldly when Sasuke gently raised his hand gesturing for her to not engage into a quarrel with the young one.
The boy didn’t look like much of a ninja, then again, Mana possibly wasn’t the one to judge with her own overly showy magician’s uniform and all. The boy was short but had a wild blonde hairdo that seemed to compensate for his lack of height, he wore a weird black and pink tracksuit that reminded Mana of Meiko’s casual dressing style.
“This young woman is someone I need to watch until we can figure out where she came from and how she can get home, Boruto” Sasuke closed his eyes and cut the boy’s outrage down with a single sentence. It didn’t appear like this Boruto was very excited about this prospect as he pouted and crossed his arms on his chest angrily.
“I saw your Susanoo, Sasuke, what happened, I mean?” the brat asked.
“I picked a fight with this girl, her name is Mana, I needed to know who she was” Sasuke replied before stepping in forward and nodding his head, pointing his chin at a training dummy. Grunting with annoyance Boruto began hitting it.
“So is she at least useful to us? Can she help me train or something, I mean?” Boruto grunted as he swiped wildly kicking and punching around. Mana couldn’t help but notice how inexperienced and sloppy his shape was. This kid just helplessly wailed his fists and feet around, even more, his strikes appeared to be half-assed and lazy. He had no actual martial arts training and his form just barely implied he even passed the basic taijutsu skill exams of the Academy.
“I’ve noticed something, neither of you appear to augment your abilities. Sasuke-san at least hit really hard but Boruto-kun isn’t even destroying this dummy with a strike. Is it sealed with force absorption seals?” Mana inquired.
“Augment, I mean?” Boruto wondered looking at Mana strangely before running up closer to her with an excited look. “Show me, show me, I mean!” he yelled out. Mana nodded and slowly walked up to the dummy, carelessly flicking it with the tip of her finger and blowing it to pieces that then dissolved into pure sawdust from the ripping force. Sasuke carelessly “Hmph’ed” while Boruto screamed in excitement.
“Hey, can you show me how to do that?! I bet I’d kick my old man’s ass, did she kick yours, Sasuke, I mean!?” Boruto began losing all of his composure just jumping around Mana while the magician scratched the back of her head uncomfortably making a total mess of her raven hair.
“Well, she is certainly leagues faster, stronger and more durable than me. She also has some weird fighting style that makes her near impossible to hit but she lacks experience and seriousness” Sasuke shrugged, it didn’t appear like the man cared too much about who was actually stronger and was much more interested in where exactly Mana came from.
“That’s true, your sensei has amazing fighting experience and a very wide myriad of techniques. While I wasn’t really trying during our fight, mostly because I was worried I’d hurt him after seeing his strength and speed, I believe that without knowledge of those techniques I couldn’t beat Sasuke-san” Mana shyly butted her fingers against each other before giggling silly “Then again, I’m not much of a fighter where I come from, I’m actually part stage magician…”
“You mean you’re not even that strong by your dimension’s standards?” Sasuke appeared genuinely surprised for the first time in a while.
“Oh no, I don’t think I could take even a single punch from Meiko or Kouta-kun, I’d need trickery to beat them, also I’m still a genin” Mana shyly explained feeling less and less special with every second she was being questioned. For a moment there having been ported to this world where everyone was weaker than she was the girl felt exceptional, almost how an elite talent would’ve felt and she longed that feeling, she wanted to feel special but the more she talked about her home the more she remembered just how ordinary she actually was.
“Whaaaa!? A genin, I mean?” Boruto yelled out in excitement, “How could genin be so strong, I mean!?
“I’ll remind you that neither your father nor I ever made it above genin and yet we are the two most powerful ninja alive…” Sasuke annoyingly twitched his eyebrow.
“That’s ‘cause my old man’s a loser, I mean, and I’m gonna become a wanderer like Sasuke and kick his ass one day!” Boruto declared excitedly before giving Mana a thumbs up, “So, what do you think, girl, can you teach me that “augmentation” thingie so I can beat my old man with it?”
Sasuke’s right eye flared crimson as Mana felt dragged into an illusionary world where Sasuke stood right in front of her. The world around her was an identical copy to the one she stood before but it was all colored in various shades of red, the sky was bright red, the clouds were dark murky red and the water looked like a river of blood. Sasuke’s ability to use genjutsu without hand seals or any effort actually surprised Mana, it only made her realize the actual difference between their levels despite being so much stronger and faster than Sasuke.
“Don’t teach Boruto augmentation” Sasuke asked Mana, “In fact, don’t ever show it to any of us. Just say it’s your natural strength”
“B-But why?” Mana wondered, “Boruto-kun appears to really dislike me and maybe it’d help him warm up to me a bit, maybe it’d help him view other people more than tools in his quest for power? Also if you learned chakra augmentation maybe you could fight off threats that you couldn’t normally, maybe it’d lead to you saving your home?”
“Truth is that Boruto is an even greater idiot than his father. Both me and Naruto had our weaknesses. Naruto’s was that he was simply too absent minded and rash, mine was that I was willing to cut corners if that meant getting strong. Unfortunately Boruto appears to have not only our collective strengths but also our weaknesses. He is talented naturally like me and just outright persistent and outrageously lucky like his thin hammer of a father, however he also is rash, unwilling to listen and he cuts corners to obtain power. Truth be told your power appears dangerous and I don’t think even I could handle it, someone like Boruto would absolutely abuse it and tell me, can it be abused?”
“No…” Mana let her head down sadly, “I once used it to fight an opponent I otherwise had no hopes of beating and that cost me my chakra manipulation, for a long while I lived without the ninja part of me and I thought I had lost it for good”
“Unless you wish to crush Boruto’s dream and go through what you went through, you won’t teach it to him. Nor will you teach me it. The power does sound alluring but… I’m done with this mad chase for power at the cost of my own humanity. I believe the only one in the village who could handle it would be Naruto, if need ever arises you could show him how to do it but chances are he’s too thick to listen to the end of your first sentence…” Sasuke cut Mana’s dreams down as the illusion faded and the two remained standing in front of an excited Boruto begging Mana to show him the secret to chakra augmentation.
“It’s ummm… I’m not sure how I do it, really… It’s more like a native thing, we’re born with the ability…” Mana quickly made up something. It was a relatively new experience “ to lie for the sake of protecting someone. The magician didn’t like lying, it made her feel dirty, made her feel like her own heart would’ve rather clawed its way out of her chest and spat in her face than continuously beat in her despicable cavity but… Such was necessary. Sasuke was infinitely wiser and more experienced than her, he knew what he was talking about.
“Aw shit, I mean!” Boruto cursed trying to imitate Mana’s movements and mannerisms on another dummy.
All of a sudden Mana felt a cold feeling of a short sword placed by her throat and heard loud footsteps all around her, ninja were landing and rushing to Sasuke’s aid.
“We saw the Perfect Susanoo all the way from the village and thought you needed help, Sasuke-san!” the ninja rushed up to the confused Uchiha. A young girl with glasses and a red top also ran out from the crowd of ninja and wrapped her hands around Sasuke’s waist.
“Father, you’ve returned!” she screamed out as her eyes became teary. “Why didn’t you come home to mother and me?” she asked.
“Oh… I promised Boruto I’d train him right after I came back” Sasuke replied then pointed at Mana and the ninja holding her hostage.
“I’d be careful if I was you, you could begin slitting her throat and she’d disarm and kill you before you cut through the second layer of her skin. With all that in mind she’s a friendly” Sasuke said making the ninja stagger back and sheathe the short blade that he wielded.
“Hmmm? Who is this, dad?” the dark haired girl came up closer to Mana and leaned up inspecting her from top to bottom. Then her eyes opened wide as she screamed out, “Don’t tell me she’s my sister!?”
“I thought you’re already done with the identity crisis, Sarada…” Sasuke annoyingly said with an awkward smile, “No, she’s not your sister. You don’t really have one, she may be your counterpart from a faraway universe but I doubt it, this girl is very little like you at all”
“Hmmm… She has darker skin than us, maybe she’s related to Chocho somehow?” Sarada wondered awkwardly inspecting Mana like a scientist would inspect their subject. “You said she’s really fast and strong but she doesn’t look like much…”
“Really? Hit her with your best shot…” Sasuke smiled confidently.
Mana wondered why Sasuke would make her fight his daughter but she decided to just stand still, after all she had already made a habit of trusting Sasuke without question. Sarada leaned back and took a fighting stance before rushing at Mana with a spinning elbow strike. Mana effortlessly leaned back and avoided it, it felt like being attacked by a sloth. Sarada looked so slow to Mana’s instincts that the magician had trouble dodging the girl’s blows because she couldn’t properly place herself into a rhythm. Dodging such slow blows was actually quite problematic because the timing was unusually off, Mana was used dodging hundreds of times supersonic attacks so dodging a really fast human girl was surprisingly difficult.
“Chi…” Sarada exclaimed like some sort of a curse. She then leaped back and made a couple of hand seals, the girl flung a series of fast shuriken at Mana that then quadrupled in the air making almost a rainfall of deadly blades.
“Multi-Shuriken Jutsu!” the girl chanted before quickly making through another series of hand seals and breathing in. While Mana’s hand seals were faster by an infinite amount the magician was relatively impressed by Sarada’s hand seals when compared to her sluggish fighting speed.
“Great Fireball Jutsu!” Sarada chanted breathing out a fireball of flames that quickly caught up with the shuriken and set them ablaze creating a combination attack of rainfall of small burning shuriken. Mana simply removed her top hat and lifted it up placing her palm on the other end, the hat started glowing with indigo colored light as the shuriken that would’ve hit Mana were quickly sealed inside her father’s technique to be used by Mana on a later note.
“Goddamn it!” Sarada screamed out in anger, her eyes flared up red as the girl opened her Sharingan.
Mana blinked a couple of times in rapid succession, just how many Uchiha were there in this dimension? It appeared that Uchiha were more prosperous in this place than in Mana’s home, while there were more numerous Uchiha in Mana’s Konoha, these Uchiha appeared to be more prominent and more willing to actually train as opposed to feeling cocky about their natural talent.
The girl leaped so far into the sky that the magician found it tough to track Sarada, she used a very similar technique to chakra augmentation. It was actually looking more similar to Kouta’s medical technique which augmented the user’s strength, so this girl was familiar with medical techniques then?
“Chirping Blossom Crash! Cha!” Sarada roared out proudly as her hand began glowing not only with the blueish chakra of her medical enhanced strength technique but also got covered with Lightning Release chakra and she dived down crashing into the training grounds aiming her lightning enhanced punch right at Mana.
The destructive force of the punch was immense! The entire ground ruptured and became ruined, whole chunks of dirt and rock flew from under Mana’s feet and all around, the ninja who came to Sasuke’s aid all jumped back and hid in the trees while Sasuke remained observant of this brief struggle looking unimpressed. Once the smoke cleared Sarada appeared to believe that she had satisfied her hard to impress father but then she noticed that Mana did a vertical split kicking her flexible leg up and blocking Sarada’s punch perfectly with her own foot.
Sarada jumped back and huffed, she clearly threw more than half of her usable chakra into this double assault and yet she had achieved nothing as Mana’s lax kick perfectly counteracted Sarada’s punch and cushioned the force right beneath the magician’s feet.
“There’s no way she’s this strong!” Sarada grunted out angrily, “Dad, she has to be some sort of a nukenin infiltrating this village! No one can beat me without even trying!”
Sasuke walked up to Sarada and pet her head, Sarada turned around facing her father with surprise in her eyes, her Sharingan closed as the girl was too tired to not let her guard down. The Uchiha carelessly tapped the girl’s forehead with two fingers.
“She’s not my daughter, this girl isn’t the one I am proud of. That honor will always belong to you “ the successor of the Uchiha bloodline. Now go tell your mother I’m back and that I’ll be home for dinner” Sasuke just barely and briefly smiled. It was an interesting thing when people who normally didn’t smile smiled. It made that smile just worth a thousand times more than it was when someone like Mana smiled. The girl considered her own smile a gift to everyone so she continued to gift that present to everyone.
“It’d be for the best if Naruto saw you now. Maybe he’ll know someone who can help you get back home…” Sasuke looked at Mana and started heading towards the village without uttering as much as a word. For a brief moment the girl just continued standing there but then she rushed after the Uchiha.
“Hey! How about my training, goddamn it, I mean! You ripped me off, old man, I mean!!!” Boruto raged on jumping and trying to stomp the ruined training arena even deeper into total destruction than it already was demolished.
“Fine… You’re gonna be next on my hitlist, I mean. I’ll beat my old man and then I’m gonna kick your ass, Sasuke, I mean it!” Boruto declared following after Mana, Sasuke and Sarada back into the village.
*****
“Hmmm… So you think this girl might be from another dimension, you know?” another young adult surprisingly similar to Boruto squinted examining Mana. “Can’t you tell which dimension she’s from? With your Rinnegan, I mean you could track Kaguya, couldn’t you, you know?” the blonde ninja with an orange tracksuit and a royal-like white cloak kept scratching his chin in a comical manner that actually cracked a giggle from Mana.
“Nope, I had no feedback, she’s from no dimension that I have access to seeing. I thought I could track any dimension but I can’t, apparently because this girl is most definitely not of this world. She says she’s human but by our standards she’s an “entity” more than a human” Sasuke concluded locking his hands around his chest and lowering his head. Now that the man had removed his bandaged turban his hair appeared to wildly flow around his face as Sasuke had shoulder length completely untrimmed hair. If he was wandering for a while, which he most likely has been doing there was no wonder he’d have trouble keeping his hair in check.
“Kurama is just as oblivious as you, you know…” the orange ninja sat back into his chair and spun around. Only then did it dawn to Mana that this man was actually the Hokage as he wore a cloak similar to that which Hanasaku had adopted lately and he sat in the Hokage’s chair. However this Hokage’s room was much more organized and had much less paperwork loaded so initially the girl wondered if this man could’ve been some sort of administrator of a high ranking.
“This must be Naruto, the father of Boruto…” Mana put two on two together remembering all the talking that Boruto and Sasuke did while no one really explained to her who this man was, while Sasuke did declare that bringing her to Naruto was his goal, to assume that this man was Naruto would’ve been a bit brave.
“She does appear to have a level of chakra matching my own, Kurama is a bit jealous, you know” Naruto smiled in a strange giggle and petted Mana’s head like she was his child or something. “Don’t worry, kid, we’ll help you get home in no time, you know!” the man gave Mana a thumb up just like Boruto did in the forest, now Mana saw that Boruto was definitely the son of his father “ the two had similar mannerisms and very similar taste in clothes and speech patterns. Both had nonsense words which they inserted into their speech.
Mana nodded, “I don’t wish to be a bother, maybe I can be of any use to you?” she wondered, “I mean technically I am a Konoha ninja and I must obey the Hokage’s orders, I’m not sure what the ninja protocol says about when a ninja shifts through dimensions but… I’m sure that my allegiance to you still stands, Hokage-sama!” Mana bowed lower than she usually did when talking to a person she respected, the degree of her bow suggested obedience and a degree of subordination.
“No need to worry, you know… We’ve just finished dealing with all crisis in our village so we can spare some time and manpower to help you, you know” Naruto laughed out.
“It would be better if she didn’t stay at my place” Sasuke cut down, “Sarada appeared to have taken an extreme distrust in Mana, while Boruto also distrusts and dislikes her, he at the very least tolerates her existence because of her strength. Sarada is… Going through a difficult time, she’s desperate for my attention and having my fatherhood standards in mind…” Sasuke tried to explain the situation but Naruto slapped his friend in the back.
“You’re just saying you’re a shitty father, you know!” he laughed out rubbing his nose.
“Not like you’re any better, may I remind you that you dropped your daughter’s cake last year when you decided to stay and work overnight during her birthday and sent a clone to congratulate her?” Sasuke squinted at Naruto, “Sakura can’t have enough of telling that story ever since she heard it from your wife…”
Naruto appeared to settle down as the reply did hit him deep inside, “Well… It was… A difficult period, lessons were learned… You know…” he muttered out before Sasuke’s lips just slightly tipped up implying that the man was just joking around.
“Good to have you back, you know, Sasuke” Naruto smiled.
“Maybe one time I’ll come back without any world threatening events or any lost interdimensional travelers wandering to our world” the Uchiha also shared a moment with his old time friend in return.
*****
“Well… This is where you’ll be staying for a while, you know…” Naruto gestured towards a wide wooden door inside a modern looking house that still tried implementing the classical taste where it could. This Konoha was so different from the one Mana came from, files were stored in some strange TV-shaped boxes that reminded a lot of the revolutionary computer machines that were slowly spreading in her time. The buildings were completely different, some simple classical shacks were replaced by towering and futuristic looking towers of glass and steel and some of those sky reaching buildings had boards on them that appeared to function similarly to TV panels.
Mana did feel strangely shy about this whole deal. She just nodded her head and looked around the complex of rooms and corridors that Naruto lead her into. This looked like an entire mansion, she’s never been in such a complex of large rooms, even Hanada Katsuo’s mansion was more like a large house compared to this. This was just wrong. She got flung from her own time and space to this completely distant dimension or universe or space or maybe even time and now she had to trouble another family. She’s already caused trouble for Sasuke who did his best to help Mana get through the situation.
Naruto slowly slid the door open and pointed for Mana to enter first but when the girl looked really hesitant to do so he entered first and declared that he’s back home out loud. A loud childish voice could’ve been heard when a toddler-like little thing ran down from a nearby room, she was really fast based on how winded the little girl was, she must’ve dashed through multiple rooms to get to her father.
“Daddy!” she yelled out leaping into his arms, Naruto effortlessly lifted her in the air and placed her on his shoulders.
“Himawari, don’t trouble your father, he’s probably really worn out…” a feminine and really high pitched voice came before a woman appeared from the corner of another room. Naruto placed the girl called Himawari on the ground and rushed to his wife, wrapping his hands around her and lifting her in the air as much as the height of his own home allowed it. The little toddler remained staring at Mana with shining eyes and the cutest smile.
She was really a lovely kid, little Himawari had her father’s face, even the same little whiskers on her cheeks, but her hair reminded more of her mother’s, the kid was dark haired after all, differently from her brother and her father but on the pure cute factor she outranked every child Mana had ever seen. The magician couldn’t resist smiling for the little flower.
“Oh, we have a guest?” Naruto’s wife noticed before raising her voice slightly and alerting Boruto that the dinner was ready, judging from the smell that drenched the wooden frames of the house it must’ve been ready for quite a while and the family was waiting for Naruto to come home to eat it.
“Yeah, everyone, this is Mana, she’s… From really far away and she’s really lost. She’s an ally and… It’s tough to explain, you know” Naruto started scratching his own head trying to explain it to his family before Mana bowed to the Hokage’s wife and tried to explain.
“I got displaced in time and space, I’m from Konoha but not this Konoha. I don’t want to cause you any trouble, I just want to get back home” Mana uncomfortably rubbed her sandal against the floor.
The woman smiled and bowed her head slightly in return, “My name is Hinata, I am Naruto’s wife and this is Himawari, Boruto has told me a little about you. He mentioned that Sasuke has found another favorite. He was quite mad at you but I believe it was mostly jealousy, he can be quite demanding of attention” Hinata smiled awkwardly trying to see if Mana hadn’t gotten a negative impression of Boruto already which must’ve been the case of most people that had met him.
“No, it’s quite alright, I realize that my arrival has inconvenienced everyone so much so I should be the one asking for forgiveness…” Mana bowed again before feeling a warm grip around her hand, Himawari appeared to have grabbed her hand and started dragging the girl further inside.
“You’re weird… Let’s go eat” she laughed out.
Mana smiled trying to restrain a giggle but then she couldn’t help it but laugh a little. Naruto rubbed his nose and laughed out as well. Considering all the circumstances of her arrival Mana was really surprised that she was trusted at all, had such a thing happened in her own universe the traveler would be stuck in the arrest house as a best case scenario or even accused of spying for another country as a worst.
After the family settled down around the table Boruto finally ran down from his room on the second floor, he looked significantly less happy about Mana’s presence than the rest of the family. “What is she doing here, I mean?” was all that slipped out from his mouth but Mana noticed that the boy tried to at the very least soften his tone to try and sound a bit less offensive.
“This is Mana, she’s weird and funny…” Himawari yelled out after eating a shrimp to which Hinata tried to reply with a worried stare. It was clear that the woman didn’t like her daughter calling a guest “weird” even if it was more in a quirky kind of weird than a negative light.
“She’s our guest Boruto, in more ways than one, you know” Naruto calmly replied closing his eyes and preparing for another outrage from his son.
Strangely enough Boruto just looked at Himawari who appeared to be quite fond of the guest and calmed down somewhat, he must’ve really trusted and treasured his sister to completely change his position like that. “I just thought she’d stay with Sasuke, didn’t mean any offense, I mean” Boruto mumbled out before settling down.
Halfway through the dinner Hinata noticed that Mana had barely eaten anything, once in a while she placed some food in her plate but barely actually ate anything, just trying to move attention away from the fact by placing more and more food by small quantities.
“You’re not eating anything, Mana, do people in your dimension not eat?” Hinata asked, it may have been taken offensively but judging from the woman’s soft tone it was clear that such was not the intended meaning of those words.
“They do it’s just… You clearly didn’t anticipate that you’ll have to feed a guest tonight. I don’t want to be any trouble for you guys, you’ve been far more welcoming to me than anyone would reasonably be in this case” Mana replied poking the rice in her place with the chopsticks.
“Well, it’s not like we have a very good record with travelers, I mean, one stole aunt Hanabi’s eyes that one time…” Boruto said to which both Naruto and Hinata angrily replied with scolding glares.
“Toneri was not from another dimension, he was from the Moon, you know” Naruto angrily explained to his son and Mana.
“Yeah, but doesn’t change the fact of that awkward dinner when he came to visit at the same time as aunt Hanabi, I mean” Boruto closed his eyes and took a sip of the juice from his cup. “Plus, even Sasuke doesn’t know where she’s from exactly, Mana being from another dimension is just his theory, last time I’ve heard dimensions don’t have copies of Konoha in them, I mean” he added. It only made sense that someone angry at Mana would be suspicious of her story.
“Don’t feel bad, Mana-chan, brother failed his written tests all the time in the Academy, he doesn’t know about dimensions” Himawari giggled eating another shrimp. It was odd how easily this little one accepted Mana as an ally, having in mind the information she was given. It was clear that this Konoha lived in the times of long and prosperous peace. Naruto must’ve been a really good Hokage, together with a really strong roster of Kage in charge of the other villages if children trusted other people without anything tangible to earn that trust.
Mana stood up from her table and bowed for Hinata and Naruto. “I think I’ll go for a short walk. I’ve caused enough tension for your family today” the girl replied almost running out from the house. On her way out she almost tripped on some wooden decorations due to tears that began forming in her eyes. Mana didn’t want to cry but she had no control over it. She was lost in literally every ways one could’ve been lost, the only way home was to do what she didn’t want to do “ cause unnecessary trouble for other people.
The magician girl just collapsed by a wooden pillar and looked at the sky. She used to like to look at the sky back home, hoping for it to rain because Mana liked rains, they felt so sad but also they drenched one in water, they refreshed one’s mind by washing away all the trouble and reminded of how inconsequential one’s troubles really were in the scope of the larger natural processes.
Was this dark void filled with stars even her sky? Would this rain that just wouldn’t fall despite Mana’s most desperate pleads be her rain? The sky looked just as dark when it got dark, the stars glowed just as brightly but were they really her stars? Mana treated these people just like she’d have treated people from her own time or space or dimension or wherever she was lost in. First the girl hoped to protect her village before she learned of how vast the world was, then she extended her responsibility to beyond the village walls, no matter how badly they wanted to kill her. Now she was told that there was an infinite number of universes and worlds she had to protect and treat as her own as well… Just how many versions of Naruto were out there? Maybe the number of alternate versions of Mana out there was just as numerous…
A shuffling sound alerted the magician, someone walked out through the door and slowly tapped up to Mana in wooden sandals. It was Hinata dressed in a majestically gorgeous purple kimono with lotus and dragon motifs. The woman knelt and sat down to Mana and looked at the sky as well.
“I used to run to this pillar when I felt alone too. When I was a kid, much younger than you, I thought that this was just a normal pillar and I was the one that gave it meaning. Maybe that wasn’t true, maybe it is mystical and actually is a sanctuary for people that feel alone if you found it as well. Similarly to this wooden pillar’s meaning you’re only alone and you only need to feel scared if you yourself make it that way, we’re ready to welcome you to our home anytime you need it” Hinata spoke slowly and softly. She didn’t ask or force Mana to return, the woman just spoke words that she thought could’ve helped.
The magician sighed and then looked at the woman. “You felt alone? But you’re so beautiful and look so strong, how could you have ever been alone?” she wondered.
Hinata laughed out, “I’ve certainly never been stuck so far away from home like you so I cannot even imagine your pain but… You’d have no idea. As a kid I was a lot less confident, a bit shorter and frailer, also my own clan considered me a disappointment”
“How’d that turn out? How did you get over it?” Mana wanted to know.
“Well, I met a person I loved who showed me that I too can be strong if I want to, someone who showed me just how beautiful I was to them even if at first he was sluggish and it was difficult to tell, that person taught me to be strong but this pillar helped me get through the moments when all seemed hopeless and that person was really far away. It was a valuable pit stop on the way to inner strength and I’m glad it can help you as well” Hinata explained still looking at the stars. “Boruto doesn’t hate you, it’s important that you realize that, he doesn’t have it in him to hate anyone. He can be really thick, just like his father but also just like his father he only sees the best in people. It’s just that just like his father when he sees goodness and strength inside someone he gets jealous that other people don’t see the goodness and strength inside of him too, jealous of the attention people give that person”
“Well, if that’s the case he has nothing to be jealous of, I have it in me to hate. He is better than me in every way… All of you are. Being stranded in this world is like being stranded in heaven but wishing to be alive again instead” Mana’s head sunk down.
Hinata looked at the magician before looking back at a light glowing on the second floor and loud yells. “I have a feeling Boruto once again took burgers with him to bed. That boy loves his junk food…” Hinata uttered to which Mana encouraged the woman to go.
“Just live your life like I wasn’t here” Mana said, “You’ve deserve a happy life for all the trouble you’ve overcome”
Hinata wanted to say something in return but loud yells and even louder banging noises suggested that Boruto started brawling with Naruto when he tried to take his burgers away again. The woman jumped up and dusted off her kimono before running indoors.
Mana looked at the Moon and sighed. “So people live on the Moon in this dimension?” she wondered remembering all the tales and scrolls she read about the Sky Clan that settled on the Moon and warred with the Earth Clan. Maybe the histories of these two dimensions are at least a little bit similar even if Mana saw plenty difficulties between them, for one the faces of this Hokage Mountain were completely different shape and look, they must’ve been totally different people.
A deafening sonic boom made Mana cover her ears, the magician felt her hands getting wet with blood that started running from them all of a sudden and the girl observed in horror as the Moon exploded into space dust right up in the sky, the space dust began falling down into Earth, it was so small and inconsequential that it actually looked more like falling ash.
Naruto in full ninja gear appeared right up close to Mana. “Stay here, you know!” he ordered before disappearing, or at least he would’ve disappeared to anyone else, Mana’s eyes tracked the high speed movements perfectly. Naruto was even slower than Sasuke, all the time he spent being the Hokage must’ve left him a little weakened from the time that the two were working together. From how they interacted with one another the magician could only assume they were teammates once. Hinata, Himawari and Boruto ran out of the house and looked up into the sky. Hinata covered her mouth in horror seeing the Moon being blown up and tears started running down her face.
“Poor Toneri…” she uttered.
Mana wondered just who this Toneri person was, based on what she had heard so far he lived on the Moon and had once descended upon this world and taken the eyes of the aunt of Boruto and Himawari. He must’ve once been a bad person but redeemed, based on Hinata’s regret of his supposed demise the magician realized that Naruto may just have been the kind of legendary hero she always wanted to become, one that inspired and protected people but also changed bad people instead of fighting them until they could move no more.
Boruto looked at Mana angrily, “This better wouldn’t be an invading force and you better not be their scout, I mean” he said looking visibly affected by the loss of the Moon as well.
Himawari tried to push Boruto but she herself ended up stumbling. “Shut up! Mana is a good person!”
“Oh come on, we don’t know anything about her but theories and the same night when she comes the whole goddamn sky blows up, I mean!” Boruto yelled.
Hinata looked at her son with that look that all mothers carried around hoping to never use it. The look that is basically the nuke of all looks that decimated any child’s resistance and made them capitulate the moment “the look” became an option to a parent.
“I’m sorry… I mean… Toneri is probably done for, if he could’ve he’d have made his way down already and we’re the only place he is as welcome as he can be, I mean” Boruto apologized, it was clear from his shaking voice that he also cared a bit about this Toneri person from the visit or two that the man from the Moon had made. Mana stood up and looked at the falling dust in the sky, then back at the village.
“I’m going” she said, “Maybe Boruto is right and I did cause this, maybe my very presence in this dimension is ruining everything, wouldn’t be the first time I made things worse. I’m stronger and faster than anyone in this dimension, if I caused this, I’m gonna fix it”
Mana’s body disappeared from sight right after she uttered those words. Boruto also closed his hands into a hand seal position and smiled confidently. “Alright, I mean, it’s time Boruto, the great ninja hero, the man who would eventually become a great ninja wanderer like old man Sasuke joined the battle too!” he declared and launched his body into a wild run. A moment later a black nearly invisible blur brought the young man back to his mother and sister. To those without advanced reaction times surpassing the definition of a moment by millions of times it would’ve appeared like the young man just teleported back to his family.
“Holy shit she’s fast, I mean!” Boruto yelled out in frustration but also admiration.
*****
A glowing flash lit up the Konoha streets in feint bursts that went out as quickly as they ignited as the Konoha’s Orange Hokage moved through the streets trying to look for a possible threat. Why would the Moon just blow up? There had to be something, a meteor or maybe another interdimensional being, maybe another leftover from Princess Kaguya’s clan? After all, Naruto’s way to being Hokage was covered with events where he had to deal with that infernal clan and people refusing to let go of ancient history and ambition.
There it was… Naruto noticed five figures floating in the air above the Hokage Mountain and examining its glory and craftsmanship. Within a single bound, moving in a flash the Hokage moved right on top of the Second Hokage’s stony nose staring the strangers right in their eyes. His muscles twitched and his will begged Naruto to attack these men, they destroyed the Moon, that meant that Toneri was either dead or about to be.
“Greetings, I assume you are the leader of this community? Maybe even this planet?” the central figure, a hulking man at least twice Naruto’s size with arms that looked like they could’ve wrestled with a Tailed Beast crossed on his pumped up chest.
“Actually he is the leader of this small city, however he does possess a unique charisma that makes him the closest this community has to a leader, even the leaders of other cities are willing to listen to this man” another slightly shorter and bald man covered with glowing cracks and markings over his skin and with glowing eyes informed the brute.
“That’s right, I’m the Seventh Hokage of this village, Uzumaki Naruto, you know!” Naruto replied not liking at all that despite his presence these men still spoke to themselves and completely ignored him.
“Hmmm, never understood that split leadership thing. Worlds are stronger united under one rule…” the leader noted briefly closing his eyes that snuffed out two immensely powerful sources of the strange supernatural light that the bodies of these people were charged with.
“Rule? Is that why you’ve destroyed the Moon? To rule? What is there left of it to rule now, you know?” Naruto growled angrily pointing his fist at the large man in the middle whose eyes opened again illuminating the area they were in.
“For a mortal you show considerable understanding. We do not wish to rule ash and cinders however disobedience and insolence needs to be punished. The man on that small planetoid valued his home and his temples more than he awed at Gods appearing in front of him, he refused to praise us and even attacked us. We didn’t attempt to kill him, taking his home away from him however felt just” the leader replied placing his oversized hand that looked colossal enough to crush Naruto’s head like a grape on his chest.
“My name is Power, this is Mind, Technique, Speed and Reality. We are Gods travelling the universes and looking for a domain to praise us that we can claim as ours” the man began his speech with a black blur he was interrupted when Sasuke appeared besides Naruto.
“You’re late, you know…” Naruto noted.
“I needed to see if the Moon’s destruction caused any immediate threats. We can recreate it after this but it seems that several islands in Kirigakure were flushed away by tidal waves. The Mizukage will want a detailed report about this” Sasuke said glaring at the threats in front of him.
Naruto chuckled and with a confident and a little angry smile he looked at the enemy as well. Sasuke always was the more mature of the two, coupled with the fact that he also wanted to become the Hokage at some point, it made Naruto wonder if maybe Sasuke would’ve been a superior Hokage to him. After all he only reached for that post because of a dream and a bunch of declarations he made as a child and because he never went back on his word. Seeing Sasuke worry not about chasing the enemy but controlling the situation at hand before coming to Naruto’s aid calmed the Hokage down and got him ready for combat, now his mind was clearer and more ready than ever.
“As I was saying, the five of us are Gods traversing the universes, looking for people that praise us. People always lash out and try to attack us which eventually causes them to destroy their own worlds in attempts to destroy us, either that or we become disillusioned with that universe and we destroy it instead. I sincerely hope that we can come to an agreement…” Power nodded his head. “All you need to do is bow before us and praise us. In return we shall act like all Gods act, protect you when we deem it needed, smite you when you misbehave”
Sasuke cracked a grin. “So you mean to say that in all of the universes you’ve travelled through no one ever praised you? Seems a bit unlikely”
“They did, but they never meant it. They only spoke that way but secretly harbored thoughts of rebelling or they only agreed to our proposition out of fear. Mind here knows everything that has happened, is happening and will happen, he knows literally everything there is to know about everything so he informs me when someone’s intentions are insincere. However all the knowledge overwhelms him, he becomes lost reading and processing all of it so I have to ask him about something or else he shall remain absorbed inside of it all” Power explained as Mind just stood there staring into a blank point behind Naruto and Sasuke.
“Universes you say… Does that mean maybe that Mana is also from another universe and not another dimension?” Sasuke looked at Naruto who simply shrugged.
“Say, a girl arrived to our village recently, a short one with slightly darker skin and a strange uniform, wearing our headband and called “Mana”, is she one of you Gods too? Should we praise her as well?” Sasuke asked momentarily playing the game, it was perhaps for the best that Power didn’t test their faith at that moment, perhaps out of knowledge that usually faith took time.
Power bent his head around, engaged in thought allowing his silver hair to shift from one shoulder to another, slip all over his face, the man then caressed his own short silver beard in thought before relenting and turning to Mind.
“The girl you are referring to is from another universe, we’ve accidentally caused an anomaly of multi-universal proportions destroying over two hundred universes. Her universe was a remote one, at the very edge of the Omniverse but the universal shockwave caused a violent reaction of sucking her into the Omniverse itself, it is highly likely that she couldn’t control herself and ended up stranded in your universe. The fact that she even survived outside the reaches of known reality is odd by itself, it requires some more thought about the subject” Mind explained.
“You’ve destroyed two hundred universes, you know?” Naruto shook in disbelief.
“Anti-matter particles slipped into our quantum wormhole which we use to traverse between the universes and the outside reaches of reality, they were brought into the collection of all universes “ the Omniverse causing a violent reaction. It was something we did not think through” a woman with ten golden arms accompanying her normal two wearing an entire arsenal on her back explained. She was the one referred to as “Technique” during the introductions.
“That’s terrible…” Mana’s voice trembled from atop the Hokage Mountain, Sasuke and Naruto looked up to see the girl resting on top. Despite her immense speed the magician had no idea about the location where she was heading forcing her to slow down and ask people for directions as to where they’ve tracked Naruto’s flashes of orange light. Mana’s eyes accidentally caught Naruto’s form of glowing orange light with strange tomoe symbols covering him. It must’ve been his own technique, something that granted him enough speed and power to become Hokage.
“It is, Godly power often leaves fallout, after all who considers the ants that die when two galaxies need to be merged?” the shortest of the bunch extended his arm, his eyes were the largest suggesting that he did feel some regret for what happened where the other “Gods” stood with rather indifferent looks.
“Mana, apparently you’re from another universe. These people should be able to send you back though so don’t worry” Sasuke calmed the magician down as the realization that over two hundred universes were destroyed was really breaking her down.
“So what is your answer?” Power asked. “Will you accept our offer? Please note that I will still check the sincerity of your answer with Mind”
Naruto’s body blurred and left behind just flares of orange light, the figure moved lightning fast to his enemy slamming his arm into Power’s chest, protected by the crimson armor plates. A howling sphere of wind chakra appeared in Naruto’s palm exploding as his palm made contact, meanwhile twenty more arms appeared from behind Naruto’s back, all of which created similar spheres and drove them into Power’s body as they simultaneously exploded at once forming a powerful explosion that should’ve by all means decimated the village.
“Rasengan Riot!” Naruto roared in pride and rage of his defiance.
After the fallout cleared it was revealed that Sasuke held all of the combatants in his hand, the hand of a giant purple ethereal armor he once referred to as the Perfect Susanoo. The armor protected both the mountain and the village below from the blast. Power stood there completely unfazed by the attack, not only that, it appeared like the other “Gods” were also left without a scratch, even the woman who didn’t even wear any armor and just wore a fancy cloak.
“I believe his answer to be fully sincere” Mind interrupted the situation.
Before Naruto could even notice Power’s finger gently pushed the Hokage away, sending the man crashing back not only through Sasuke’s Perfect Susanoo crushing it into million little pieces but also into and through the Hokage Mountain landing somewhere far far away in the Fire Country.
“Anything I need to worry about, Mind?” Power asked looking to the side.
“I do not believe so, the black haired one however possesses capacity for mental attacks of some sort however they shall not affect us as they only work on people who share the vital inner energy of these people, do not worry” Mind blinked indifferently.
Sasuke opened his right eye as blood burst from it, a burst of black flames enveloped the pantheon of five standing in front of him as Sasuke’s Susanoo once again reshaped.
“Enough” the cloaked woman declared as the black flames around the pantheon disappeared. “This energy they use feels… Powerful and odd, what is it?” Reality asked of Mind.
“They call it chakra, it is very dangerous indeed however the concentration of it inside these “ninja” as they call themselves is irrelevant. It is not enough to hurt us” Mind calmed the woman down.
“Still, I’ve had more trouble removing these flames than dealing with beginnings and ends of universes, this energy feels unlike those we’ve met before” Reality continued to worry.
Sasuke grunted as his armored avatar grabbed Power and flew into the sky, angrily flinging the false god into the sky before a bow shaped Lightning Release chakra construct formed in its arms. It’s been a while since Sasuke used that technique and it’d be the first time he’d be using it without the aid of the Tailed Beasts’ chakra. It’d drain his resources considerably but if they had any hope of matching these gods it’d be it.
“Indra’s Arrow!” Sasuke shouted out launching a large arrow shaped projectile of rainbow colored projectile. The entire sky lit up with a colossal lightning storm, with a roar Power dived through the electrical currents without as much as a scratch. He dashed up to the Perfect Susanoo’s core and almost punched it but then restrained himself and grabbed the plates tearing them open like cardboard sheets. Sasuke began to plummet down into the village floor. A whirling indigo hurricane rose up, made by Speed running in circle to boost his momentum, close to the Hokage mountain and launched Speed from it with a raging punch that blew Sasuke crashing into the ground.
“Do not overdo it, we still wish to preserve something to watch over” Power sighed looking at Sasuke’s beaten body still grunting and writhing on the ruined ground and the district of the village that his crash demolished. Mana looked over the scene in horror. She was physically stronger and faster than both Naruto and Sasuke but she didn’t have their skill, their experience and they’ve been swatted aside like insects.
Mana rushed to Sasuke to see if he was OK. She covered quarter of the village with a single dash appearing beside the beaten and bruised man helping him up. “Darn it…” Sasuke cursed, “They weren’t even trying and I’d have died without the Six Paths’ endurance”
A deafening roar emanated from the forests of the Fire Country freezing Mana’s heart solid. She knew that voice, that bestial roar that made everything around it cover in fear. Trees began crumbling, getting torn out with their roots and flung towards the village and mountain tops began popping like zits from the pressure of the sound wave vibrations.
“The Nine Tails?” Mana uttered in fear, over her journey to find the Box of Ultimate Bliss she had learned to fear and respect the beast.
“Naruto is a Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tails, since Naruto passed out the beast probably took the control over him…” Sasuke grunted, “In the older days it’d have been a problem, now the two are sort of friends so maybe it can help”
A gigantic arm of golden ethereal and transparent glow, comprised of pure Nine Tails’ chakra extended over the village grabbing Power and dragging him in closer to the beast’s location, slamming him into the ground with a shockwave that leveled the entire Fire Country forest and left a crater so deep that it would’ve been impossible to make anything out.
“Shit… Just one punch and I’ve got no more strength… And it wasn’t even the strong one who punched me” Sasuke complained gently pushing Mana away to try and walk by his own. A horrifying shriek of exploding chakra and a violent shockwave of compressed air sent them both down shaking the ground beneath their feet as a black pillar of chakra blew into the sky destroying the ashes that were falling down to Earth and leaving a gigantic hole in the ash cloud through which the stars could still be seen. Then another one, another one and another one. A barrage of pillars like this before literal gazers of magma began to burst from the forest in wide arcs. All around Mana saw ninja attempting to rescue the villagers and move them to safe spots. The village was ready for such a disaster, Mana’s Konoha wouldn’t be... Just what kind of history does this village have to prepare them for such occasions, just how many times did these villagers have to evacuate to prepare them for this, to do it so efficiently?
“Tailed Beast Bombs…” Sasuke grunted, “If these don’t leave a scratch, I’m not sure what could”
“Tailed Beast Bombs? I thought those had the power to destroy everything in existence?” Mana screamed out in fear.
Sasuke shook his head “No, I told you our Universe’s Tailed Beasts are much…” a realization hit his mind as he pushed Mana violently towards where the explosions came from. “You have to fight them! Go! Now!” he shouted out. Mana crawled back away from Sasuke, afraid of his suddenly aggressive and angry voice.
“What?” she uttered in disbelief, did Sasuke really expect her to stand a chance? Didn’t they agree already that Sasuke and Naruto would’ve stood a better chance and would’ve beaten her despite her greater speed and strength?
Power together with his pantheon appeared above the burning and broken Konoha showing them their unconscious and beaten Hokage. Even the Nine Tails’ chakra wasn’t even close to enough to leaving a dent in this man’s armor or drawing as much as a drop of blood. Close to Mana a loud voice screamed in pain, Mana turned around only to see a young adult with crimson red and swollen skin and booming spiky black hair, pure green chakra of physical variety was firing off from the man’s body.
“Seventh Gate: Gate of Wonder OPEN!” the man shouted out as his body disappeared. Power let Naruto’s beaten body to slip out of his grasp falling weightlessly from the sky down to Earth but the gate user managed to catch his Hokage and lower him to the ground, placing him beside Sasuke.
“Rock Lee…” the Uchiha uttered before the green glow seating man flashed and disappeared breaking the sound barrier multiple times before planting a punch into Power’s jaw, failing to force the man as much as turn his head. The gate user then flashed around, hitting and kicking every God trying to find weaknesses and if possible take out at least one of them but all of them were as tough and invulnerable as Power.
“Daytime Tiger!” the man referred to as Rock Lee roared launching at the pantheon in a tiger shaped chakra rush.
“Depower…” Reality uttered making Rock Lee black out and his Seven Gates to close instantly as the man fell from the sky as well only to be caught by another person, a smaller version of the man.
“Good, Metal Lee saved him…” a feminine voice followed with a sigh said from behind Sasuke and Mana. The Uchiha walked up to Mana and lifted her body off the ground outright screaming into her face. “Go there and fight! Come on! They’ll destroy the entire universe if you don’t!” the Uchiha began losing his cool before the woman that spoke before placed her hand on Sasuke’s shoulder making the man calm down somewhat.
“Tenten, what are you doing?!” Sasuke grunted at her angrily before she walked up to Mana, it was a very attractive and quite physical woman wearing a white Chinese dress and wearing her hair in small round buns at the sides of her head.
“You don’t know how to talk to girls, Sasuke, you’re lucky that Sakura was all over you…” the woman sarcastically joked at the Uchiha before leaning up to Mana and placing her own hand on Mana’s shoulder.
“Look, Sasuke is a really smart guy so he probably has an idea, I’m sure he wouldn’t just throw you at them. You’re too precious to all of us to be just thrown at them as a sacrificial pawn. He thinks you’ve got a chance, right, Sasuke?” Tenten asked for confirmation to which Sasuke completely calmed down and closed his eyes coughing out a weak “Well… Yeah…”
Mana quickly made some hand seals and activated her “Mystical Wings” technique creating a current of wind around her lower body that gently raised her up in the air and high enough to look at these gods face to face.
“My patience for your defiance is running slim” Power said rather quietly and coldly, “Do not make me destroy this universe”
“She wouldn’t care” Technique butt in, “This girl isn’t from this universe, remember?”
“Ah, correct… Well then she is an anomaly that needs to be destroyed!” Power screamed out in anger disappearing and reappearing in front of Mana so fast that it looked invisible even to the magician, Mana closed her eyes readying herself for a painful and gruesome death, imagining her guts and blood exploding all over the place and hoping that her death would somehow help this universe survive. Mana felt her body augmenting itself as much as it could out of fear of dying, after all those years looking for death she was still afraid of it after all. The punch was mighty! She barely felt a pinch.
Mana opened her eyes and saw Power and his fist planted firmly to her face but it didn’t hurt her at all. The magician blinked a couple of times, Power swung more and more mad strikes, each of which emanated powerful shockwaves that leveled districts. Then the madman backed up and clenched his fist tightly, a golden light began to glow around it.
“Wait! Remember, Power, focus the energy into the girl, not the universe around her, with a punch like this you’d destroy this universe and all universes around it!” Reality shrieked out in fear, the first sign of fear coming from a goddess that day. Power’s body blinked again in and out of existence before punching Mana. The magician felt force flowing through her body but it was similar to the warmth of picking up a hot tea cup during a cold day.
“Impossible! Insolence! How dare you not be destroyed!” the God of Power roared angrily spouting up excessive amount of slobber all over himself and his fancy red armor. “Mind! What on Earth is going on here!?” he yelled.
“This girl possesses a billion times more concentrated chakra level. I’ve already told you that the energy these ninja use is dangerous but this universe uses chakra at a much less concentrated manner, these ninja acquired chakra because their ancestor ate a fruit overflowing with chakra once, this girl is born in a universe where every single object, every molecule, every particle is sated with pure chakra. Only a more concentrated and more focused chakra can overcome her chakra. It’s a law of physics in her universe and it appears like we’ve carried it through to this universe as well by pulling her out” Mind explained. “We cannot beat her, it’s been six thousand years since we’ve encountered something we cannot beat but we must move to another universe, this girl has no power to follow us”
“Speed, Technique, Reality, smite her!” Power yelled out, within that same instant Technique launched herself at Mana striking a million times per each femtosecond using her twelve arms, each strike was powerful enough to blink out galaxies and yet Mana barely felt a thing due to her chakra augmenting her body. It was a novelty that she had learned that day, that things could only hurt her proportionately to their chakra level. That was why Sasuke’s attacks were less effective but did damage her but Power’s didn’t “ Sasuke did possess and use chakra in his attacks meanwhile Power used other energies, more primitive ones. Mana quickly shifted through hand seals sending a violent surge of Lightning Chakra through her own body, coating her very skin in lightning chakra, almost like turning her own body into a living taser
“Lightning Style: Magician’s Touch!” she chanted out the name of a technique she learned recently. Seeing how all of Technique’s hands were contacting Mana the woman screamed in agony and fell down being overwhelmed by Mana’s chakra. Whatever godly endurance they had, these gods had no defense against chakra at all, at least not against the chakra as concentrated as the one Mana used.
Speed smiled, the man’s body began running in circles and Mana couldn’t really understand what he was doing.
“Mind, what is he doing?” she asked.
“He is trying to build up enough speed to outrun a law of physics and reality itself, namely the chakra over matter rule” Mind replied obviously too enthralled by all the magnificent knowledge available to him to realize that he was replying to an enemy, Power turned at Mind and roared in rage punching his friend in the face and knocking him out, making lifeless Mind fall to the ground.
Mana quickly went through another set of hand seals and a silent whistle filled the air before it transcended into Mana humming. “Genjutsu: Sweet Lullaby” she chanted out the name of the technique as her humming and whistling completely paralyzed anyone hearing the noise of the genjutsu.
“What’s… What’s going on…” Speed mumbled through a lot of effort as speaking alone was incredibly difficult, powerless to sustain flight all of the Gods tumbled down to the ground.
“I thought their mental attacks do not work on us because we don’t use chakra!” Power huffed out through tremendous effort.
“My genjutsu is different from the basic techniques used here or even in my universe… You may be immune to genjutsu, even to mental attacks but as long as you have a functional brain “ you’re fair game” Mana incorporated her explanation into song to keep the enemy paralyzed, “I do not target chakra flow, I target the brain directly, instead of chakra affecting the brain centers making the illusion feel more real, more comfortable and less invasive by your own body making it harder to overcome”
Mana glared to the side and witnessed Sasuke piercing Technique’s body with his sword.
“Shit, she fried our technology with that lightning technique!” Speed panicked seeing Sasuke walking up to Mind but before he executed the man Sasuke’s sword lingered, the Uchiha must’ve wondered if Mind could’ve somehow been useful to his universe.
“Reality, take away her use of chakra NOW!” Power shouted out making Sasuke’s face light up in shock and surprise, the Uchiha tried to race right up to Reality, he didn’t even have enough time to think through the fact that his attack wouldn’t have affected Reality because she was not affected by Mana’s technique and her technology was not fried.
“May the girl’s chakra disappear!” Reality spelled her will out, Mana waited frozen in fear, releasing her genjutsu out of intimidation of losing her chakra again “ the possibility of losing that part of her identity again crippled Mana. The magician remained standing there for a while but then a smile covered her face.
“A ninja’s chakra level is directly tied to their life force. If you stripped my literal chakra away I’d have died slowly of exhaustion and pain” she exclaimed picking up an emerald colored wand with a crystal-like orb at the end which lit up with lightning chakra.
Power lunged at Mana grabbing her collar and trying to lift her body up. Mana’s palm quickly locked around Powers’.
“Are you trying to carry me into the Sun? It is true that I would die and you would not but your power does not affect me meanwhile any effort I use to restrain you is multiplied exponentially because of your lack of chakra” Mana angrily pressed the man’s arm making him shriek out in pain as it effectively and gruesomely snapped, if Mana dug her nails in deeper she couldn’t severed his arm off completely. Power collapsed on the ground, writhing so ungodly.
“Each one of you were proven inefficient against me, leave now and never return to this universe and I will let you leave, remain the way you are and Sasuke-san will kill all of you” Mana said.
“Hmph… Girl… I know of your hesitance in taking lives, you’d never allow that man to kill us” Mind said having woken up from Powers’ punch.
“That is true, I do possess such a belief, however I do acknowledge that other people possess different beliefs. I will never take a life but I cannot force people to change their beliefs, only hope that they can understand my point and change by themselves. Therefore there is little I can do to stop Sasuke-san if he wishes to kill you adamantly. That is how Gods and heroes are different. That is why I shall never accept any God and only admire heroes” Mana turned and told Mind, the man kept his glowing eyes at Mana the whole point but then looked down in capitulation acknowledging that her answer was sincere.
“And you would give up your last chance to go home just to help people of another universe?” Reality wondered as her voice instantly became much more sensitive and twisted in disbelief.
Mana’s eyes shifted to sadness, she thrust her emerald colored wand enhanced with Lightning Release chakra, “Magic Spark Jutsu…” she chanted out coldly hitting each god with a small fraction chakra that fried their own technology as well.
“I am a stranger in this universe, a freak who doesn’t belong. That will never change, these people may act like they accept me but they won’t really. They’ve bonded with each other, they’ve befriended each other and I cannot possibly hope to share that bond with them, I can’t possibly fit into that circle. But if devoting my life to sadness and solitude and being lost is all it takes to save this universe I will do that without hesitating” Mana said looking Reality in her shining bright eyes.
The battle that day was over…
*****
Naruto was laughing and shaking Mana’s hand firmly, everyone looked cheerful and thankful to Mana who somehow managed to rescue their village and possibly even their entire universe. Mana wasn’t sure just how important that feat was in the grand scale of things, after all, there could’ve been an infinity of different versions of Naruto and Sasuke just like these ones scattered throughout the Omniverse. Their eyes were opened to a whole new level of understanding which, to be quite frank no one was ready for.
Naruto, Sasuke and the others found that they were unable to sever the gods from their technology, it was so far advanced and combined from billions of devices and gadgets from millions of universes that they could’ve used that trying to understand them looked like dabbling with sorcery of some sort. Especially to Mana who still couldn’t quite comprehend the technology that Naruto’s world used in the first place. Her own Konoha was still a good ten or twenty years behind these advancements. Naruto did give some samples of their technology for Mana to carry home so that luckily that gap could’ve been closed. There weren’t many scientists in her universe, not in a world engulfed in global conflicts and micro-wars all the time. Still, those few were tenacious and ambitious, had a real flare and Mana was sure could’ve understood these complex machines in no time.
The technology was fused to the body of the men declaring to be gods completely, trying to remove it surgically would’ve been impossible, it was imbued with them on a sub-atomic level as some gadgets were literally that small. That was told to Naruto and Sasuke by a strange large forehead having pink haired woman who must’ve been an amazing medical ninja for Naruto and Sasuke to trust her with these prisoners.
Ultimately Naruto decided to follow a plan made for him by a fellow named Shikamaru whom Mana only met right before leaving, however felt greatly thankful for salvaging hope of returning home with his genius mind. The plan was to ask Reality to create a mental block, without the possibility of removing it, preventing her from traveling to other universes right before asking Technique, who barely survived Sasuke’s attempt to kill her, with Mind’s aid, to build a primitive one-way multi-universal travel device, while they were always under Reality’s bound promise to follow these orders and just those orders alone. They were to be sent back to the universe they destroyed where they could’ve lived their days out in solitude, hopefully in billions of years after the Big Bang they’d cause again entering it they’d no longer roam the infinity of space alone and encounter some sort of life again, hopefully by that time they’d have the mental maturity to stop acting like Gods…
Additionally, while the ninja were busy rebuilding and re-growing their leveled forests, Mana, as per Shikamaru’s instructions, asked Technique and Mind to also build a device connecting her own universe and this one, one to be used by her to go home, but also so that Naruto could come at any time for help if somehow the complicated plan, crafted by Shikamaru, who just happened to be the Hokage’s most trusted advisor, would’ve been outsmarted. Despite their technology having reset itself within a couple of days the Gods behaved until the final moments when they disappeared into the universe they themselves destroyed. In the end they would end up being the watchful protectors of that universe, just like they wanted it to be, except it’d be a lot less selfish with no one to see their might and sing them praise. No one knew why the gods behaved. Maybe they were afraid of being beaten again, this time permanently, maybe they were genuinely different people now.
Mana definitely wished to believe so...
[Reviews - 0]Chapter or Story
Table of Contents
- Text Size +