Naruto: Tales of Ashihara
The Shinden Saga – Arc 4: The Otsutsuki War
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Chapter 144 – The first state of matter
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Down in the gray plains of a mysterious planet where the scarlet skies are filled with white clouds, in the same universe in which he defeated Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, the Dragon Sage Yamitsuki Otsutsuki stands alone facing the horizon. With one hand held against his waist under his white mantle, he silently stares in contempt at the massive mountain chain in the horizon.
In the direction he looks, he senses the atmosphere and the magnetic fields being troubled and forced to converge toward one same point. It is not only the energy of this planet that is slowly being drawn there, but everything that exists within this universe. It is all being decomposed and absorbed at a dangerously rising speed. The planet on which Yamitsuki fought the heroes of Earth not even a week ago has already been completely erased by this phenomenon, and soon the sun of this universe's stellar system will suffer the same fate.
Yamitsuki is the only one able to localize and control this world, for it is the core dimension of Kandakoro, his unique space time jutsu. From here, he can sense all the other dimensions he's created as well as the one that became the main universe of creation. The one where Ashihara and the ninja world exist.
Only a couple of other individuals could accurately localize this dimension and travel to it. They are among the very few people who were actually allowed to see the secrets hidden there by its master. Not even Naobi Otsutsuki has access to this place. Yet, by bringing Uchiha Sasuke here, Yamitsuki may have allowed him to track this dimension and find a way back to it with enough time. Was this also an intentional mistake that is part of the Dragon Sage's larger schemes for the future?
This question will remain unanswered. It doesn't even bother the Ryu Shinsen's mind. What absorbs his attention right now is none other than the unmatched force hidden beyond the mountains, responsible for the progressive erasure of this universe. Yet, no worries will heal the wounds it caused and will cause. All he can do is ignore it, silence its existence to prevent the others from lusting for it.
Gazing at the scarlet sky, he looks toward a lacunar spot, hundreds of light years away in space. In this dimension, there is nothing here. But in the main universe, it is the localization of Ashihara. The planet he moved out of orbit to stay in range of Earth, where the fate of everything converges.
There, through dimensions, he senses his partner, Naobi Otsutsuki, returning to their common domain. Knowing that this means she seeks his presence, he lets himself be absorbed by a wormhole that brings him to another place where his attention is required in the main universe.
Kandakoro
There, he sets foot on the moon of Earth. Chishiki, Torushiki and Kuboshiki, the subordinates of Yasona, have recently settled a domain for themselves here. This must have been an instruction given by their mistress who probably heard from Aritsuki about the fact this small night star was now free to take. This goes just as the Dragon Sage anticipated. Since the situation will likely escalate, he will move the whole clan to this moon temporarily. To act on this decision, Yamitsuki slams his foot to the ground to perform a jutsu.
Shoton – Seigyoku Dai Honjo (Great Sapphire Noble Palace)
Suddenly emerges a massive blue crystal castle that looks like a smaller replica of the great dark castle of Izumo, the Shinden's meeting place on Ashihara. This will be its replacement until the clan has to leave the moon. Yamitsuki took care of this chore only in the wait for his lover's call. And now he hears it. Naobi, who found his chakra near Earth, gets in contact with him through Shindenshin. Yet before she can speak, the Dragon Sage hurries to ask a simple question.
"For what reason did you visit the Shinobi Union?"
"So you're aware…" Naobi starts to answer. "It was an attempt to make things less complicated than they are."
"Did it work?"
"Not in the slightest way… Even though they know he was beaten by you, the trust of the Kage in their Hokage is unbound. It seems he's made it his mission to defeat you." the goddess explains about Naruto and gets no reaction from Yamitsuki, as she expected. "Ah, and I also may have felt something unexpected coming from Takeshi Minamoto. It seems I misinterpreted something when I last saw him 2 years ago."
"I may have noticed the same detail." Yamitsuki answers, to avoid the obvious being stated.
"I see… You, or someone more discrete, should confirm this." Naobi expresses her thoughts. "Asking Sakitsuki to come back to us at the same time should be considered. I still have my mission of order to fulfill."
"Yes, you should focus on this." the Dragon Sage advises as he thinks of her suggestion. "And be careful, Momoshiki may have left more than one vessel behind. Eliminating one may trigger another unsealed one. Make sure to examine all the candidates."
After simply showing her agreement, Naobi leaves him alone. She did sense his presence near Earth, but did not question it. She already knows of Yasona's whereabouts and understands how events are now in motion. Still standing on the surface of the moon, Yamitsuki looks up to Earth and thinks to himself.
"It seems the time has come for Tokubei to take action." he whispers, knowing just how much he can ask of the masked man.
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At the same time, it is late at night in Konoha. On the surface of a large lake near the village, Toneri Otsutsuki stands still on the waves shaken by Boruto Hyuga's training. Using nothing but his Tenseigan, the Hokage's son is manipulating his Gudodama around him and progressively increasing their speed, enough to make them glow in purple chakra and form a large sphere around him.
Rather than simply making them move in circles, he tries to make them cross and avoid collisions at high velocity to test his control over them. Toneri, seeing that Boruto is getting too comfortable with this task, raises his hand and, by doing so, forces one of the orbs to get out of orbit around its user and starts rotating chaotically. Troubled by the movement, Boruto inadvertently causes all the balls to adopt inconsistent patterns.
Feeling unsafe, he puts a stop to this movement and tries to move away but is struck by one of his own orbs just as he leaps away. When the orbs abruptly stop, the lake implodes and explodes, causing a massive multi-directional wave that crashes in the surrounding forest. Toneri, who stood his ground, is soaked but doesn't mind. He lands with his feet on the lowered surface of the lake and waits for Boruto to swim back up before giving him his advice.
"How did you let this happen?" he scolds him. "How could you let your own jutsu hit you?"
"It just got out of control. These things feel unnatural when they're spinning around like hell!" Boruto complains.
"I assure you they are the most natural thing possible." Toneri argues. "Remember, these orbs are the original state of all matter and spirit. Did you forget our past lessons? You shouldn't fear that the Gudodama will harm you like a poorly handled blade. You have to see and feel them like extensions of your body and mind. Are you afraid of your own hands when you use Taijutsu?"
"Sounds like you're mocking me." Boruto complains as he sits down on the water. "I understand all that, but it just feels like… I don't know… It's like my Tenseigan isn't 'enough'."
Hearing this complaint, Toneri pauses for a moment and looks toward the rising moon in the sky. They've been here the whole day and didn't make any valuable progress. Thinking of a simpler way isn't absurd after all.
"… When I was a child, my eyes were taken from me." he tells in his wonders. "The same happened to all the youth of my clan. My father used to tell me that this sacrifice was necessary to empower the Tenseigan. In the end, they all died before anyone could see this eye be wielded by a chosen prince… Maybe the required sacrifice wasn't just our eyes, but our lives…"
Boruto listens to these unclear speculations. He's been told before that Toneri now carried within his body the energy of all the Byakugan of his ancestors and fellows, but certainly not their lives. Is it metaphorical? What does he mean? Toneri, just thinking aloud, is distracted when he notices a very special chakra come near.
It is Naruto Uzumaki, aware of the topic of this training, who comes to see if he can learn anything from it. Toneri stares at him quietly sitting down on the lake with them to listen to the lesson. He seems focused, determined. He's doubtlessly certain of his intention to fight the Dragon Sage again and wants to prepare the best he can.
"… Anyway, this is off-topic, unless you're prepared to harvest the eyes of your fellow Hyuga clansmen to become stronger." the Otsutsuki says to Boruto, to get back to the training. "The Gudodama are the only thing that can harm the Ryu Shinsen. And you, Boruto, are one of only two individuals who can use them. So you have to get the best out of their use."
Boruto, noticing his dad's presence, sighs and calms down. He sits on the water and activates his Tensei Chakra Mode to unleash his black orbs again, ready to resume the training properly. Toneri thinks of a way to evaluate the level of Boruto.
"Close your eyes and bring the orbs in a line in front of you." he dictates. "What I'll do is touch or move one and you'll have to know without seeing or sensing my presence and movements. Focus on the orbs and get ready to feel a touch, as if I was gonna touch your arm."
Boruto proceeds and concentrates to do as asked. Naruto, sitting in the distance, guesses that his son must have troubles with the basics. To test his own ability at the same exercise, he activates his Biju Chakra Mode and undoes his transformation to show his Rikudo Sage nature. By doing so, he summons three Gudodama and splits them into 6 smaller orbs to let them spin around him at high speed in chaotic trajectories.
Even by making them move so freely and inconsistently, he still easily manages to keep them from colliding with each other. To quickly make it harder, he shrinks their area of movement and brings them dangerously close to himself. They are now going as fast as he could move his hands, and so close that not hitting himself is impossible. Yet they still flow without collision.
When one is about to inevitably touch him, it instinctively splits in two masses that slide along his body and merge again afterwards. This short training quickly makes Naruto bored. He's already perfected this aspect of the Gudodama. What he's definitely more curious about is the way Yamitsuki created one of these from scratch.
It's been 6 days since he lost all 10 Gudodama, and he unconsciously remade only 3 of them. This regeneration is way too slow. At this rate, Yamitsuki can easily destroy them all and make his defeat impossible. Naruto needs to rebuild them in a matter of seconds to be efficient in action.
Trying to mimic the process used by the Ryu Shinsen, he raises a hand and concentrates to slowly and precisely gather samples of chakra from one of the 5 elements on top of each of his fingers. This part is easy. What's hard is the second step. To condensate Yin and Yang chakra in his palm and make them flow together.
To not have them mix up before the exact moment they should merge with the chakra on his fingers feels impossible. As he struggles to do so, his hand trembles, his fingers loosen and the chakra washes away. Bitter of this failure, the Hokage looks up and sees Boruto doing a different exercise. Impressed by how easy Naruto made the previous one look, Toneri suggested a simpler approach to achieve the same goal. The Hyuga is now performing a Juken choreography while making his Gudodama properly flow with his limbs.
Seeing this, Naruto notices the number of 9 Gudodama that Boruto can use. It seems like the Tenseigan, despite being free of the orb regeneration problem as they can melt into chakra and reappear within minutes, is still limited in count. He at best can have 10. It would be great to find a way to surpass this limit but to first ensure that he never runs out of orbs is more important. Kurama, feeling his host's problem, shares an idea.
"If your problem is to gather Yin and Yang without having them fuse and vanish too soon, you could try to proceed like with a Bijudama." the fox says, which confuses the Hokage.
"You know, a Bijudama is a pure gathering of our Yin and Yang chakra into one chakra orb." he explains. "Yet these opposite energies don't merge. This is what makes it a bomb. With your Rikudo Sage energy and chakra control, you could easily figure out how to force them to merge on command. So using this could save you the worry of the Yin and Yang fusing too soon."
"… That's… brilliant. Thanks, Kurama!" Naruto exclaims, realizing how helpful this advice is. He immediately tries to put it in practice by forming a mini Bijudama in his hand, and gathering all 5 elements on his fingers. However, he still finds it hard to safely merge everything successfully.
Suddenly, certain of what he should do, he stands up and prepares to leave. All he needs is a safe place where he won't have to fear failure until success. A place where he'll have all the time and space he needs to get the best out of a serious TajuuKage Bunshin training.
When he turns around, ready to leave, he finds Sasuke coming toward him. The Uchiha's entrance also catches the attention of Boruto and Toneri. As he gets closer, he looks at them training on the lake, and thinks that Toneri's presence leaves him time to settle some business before taking on his student's training again.
"Here you are! Sakura told me you were absent today." Naruto comments, asking indirectly what Sasuke has been up to.
"I went back to Takama." the Uchiha answers. "I left the summoned soul of a certain person there and hoped to end our conversation. But it seems like someone was faster than me. Her summoning was undone and all chakra prints that could have let me do it again easily were erased… Where are you going?"
"To mount Myoboku." Naruto says. "I need a place to train and meditate."
After analyzing Naruto and Boruto, Sasuke quickly understands what they are training for. Boruto is probably doing it out of duty. But for Naruto, it seems like a strong conviction. He's made it his personal task to defeat Yamitsuki.
"I see." Sasuke says, not sure of how hopeful his friend is about it. "Before you go, I have some really bad news. It seems like the Otsutsuki clan is settling on the moon right as we speak. The Shinden have installed their headquarters and a few others have made themselves at home already."
To this information, Naruto doesn't show much of a reaction. It was to expect and doesn't change much to his plans. For Toneri, who heard it, it is also not unexpected, but is more than important.
"This is what I was warned about…" he says to Boruto. "They've now taken my home. This is why I needed your power in the first place, Boruto. Now this war is about chasing the Otsutsuki and claiming back the moon… Let's move on for now and resume where we left things on the moon. If you can make the Gudodama one with your mind, it'll be easier to make them extend your body as well. Against the Otsutsuki, you managed to create Hiraishin marks from an orb. If you figured that out, you should easily manage to make them mimic another state of matter. If they were less solid, wouldn't it be easier to make them flow along your limbs?"
Naruto, hearing this, thoughtfully rubs his chin. It's true that these orbs are better used as weapons. Since he's not that good with the Nunoboko, he should also work on the Gudodama's shape-shifting. Realizing how much he has to improve, he nods at Sasuke and leaves.
The Uchiha lets him go, wondering just how confident Naruto is about this impossible task. Seeing Boruto get back to training, he also remembers where he left things with him 2 years ago. He may get involved in this later if he feels the need. For now, he has to stay aware in case of any celestial attack, especially if it is Tokubei Otsutsuki. In the meantime, he'd like to step into the training of another young ninja: his daughter Sarada.
He turns around to head home and stay by his wife's side as he promised he would. Tomorrow and the next few days, until he is needed to oppose his celestial rival, his attention will be on his daughter to help her become the kunoichi she wants to be.
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Further west and north among the great nations, in Iwagakure, it is earlier in the night. In the ninja hospital of the village, the 4th Tsuchikage is sitting by the side of Onoki, the 3rd Tsuchikage. Due to his illness and age, he is nearly incapacitated, unable to properly speak and to even just sit up. Kurotsuchi stayed with him late this evening, just to keep him company as her thoughts circulate.
Waking up from awake wonders, the old man slowly moves his head toward his granddaughter and slightly smiles, to show some sort of gratitude. For her, it is just painful to watch. He seems unaware, senile. Moreover, knowing the late state of their relationship, it is unnatural. This unconscious smile, for Kurotsuchi, is infuriating.
"What are you happy about?" she exclaims in frustration. "Don't act unbothered. Don't act like you're proud of me! If you were you wouldn't be there, free of regrets, while you refused to let me carry on our ancestor's legacy. You'd rather let the secret of Jinton die with you than pass it on to me! Am I some sort of disgrace to you?"
In reaction to this call out, Onoki stops smiling and faces the ceiling, suddenly appearing totally conscious. After an awkward silence, he suddenly says a few words.
"Jinton… is not for you."
Kurotsuchi is first shocked that he actually could answer her complaint. After a little moment of realization, making sure she heard him right, she stands up and replies.
"What?… What does that mean? Do I not deserve it?"
"No… You don't need it…" Onoki quietly answers.
"I don't need it? So I'm the problem? Why not Hakutsuchi then? He's your great grandson."
"… He… too young…" the ill man slowly whispers before lying his head aside and abruptly falling asleep, lacking interest in an argument.
Kurotsuchi looks at him sleeping with remorse in her eyes. She still blames herself for not requesting to learn from her grandfather sooner. But judging from his few answers, it seems he would never have taught her anyway. Her son, Hakutsuchi, would have been a perfect inheritor, but he was born too late to properly know his great grandpa.
Noticing that all the lights in the halls of the hospital are off, and that almost all the workers left, she decides to leave Onoki alone and go back to her home. Follows a quite unusual scene in the streets of Iwa: The Tsuchikage wandering in the night toward her mansion, alone with her mind. On the outside, she may seem elegant in her dress, but inside, she feels miserable. Her current emotional weakness lets her open to confusing and dark thoughts.
So she is led to recall the invitation of Naobi Otsutsuki. The goddess, who displayed no hostile intentions toward them despite the mistrust of the Kage council, holds a power that could solve any problem, and therefore solve her problems. With a simple wish, she could save the heritage of her ancestors.
After reaching her mansion, Kurotsuchi joins her husband, Daisuke of the land of Iron, in their room and gets dressed for the night. He didn't wait for her to go to sleep and put their son to bed as well. As she takes off her clothes, still busied by the temptation of Naobi, Kurotsuchi lets her arms fall before taking off her dress. She walks to the large balcony of their room and looks at the sky.
She remembers the exact last words that the goddess of order told them. "If you ever change your mind and feel the need to summon my power, you would just have to call me by my name, and I will appear". It could be this easy. A single demand to fix everything.
Alone with the shame of the night, the Tsuchikage tries to figure out the best way to make her worries lazily vanish. It doesn't have to be a dramatic change. She could just ask for Onoki to get healthy and live long enough. Or if anything really works, she could simply wish to instantly master Jinton… But what if Onoki is right, and this knowledge isn't for her?
Could she wish for her son to know this power? Or, since her late marriage and the even later birth of her only child are the cause of this torment, could she ask for the past to change so that Hakutsuchi was born 10 years earlier? While she troubles her mind with such obscure yet pleasing thoughts, she's startled by a little voice calling her.
"mommy." she hears behind her. When she turns around, she sees the one she was thinking about, her 4 year old son Hakutsuchi. He must have been woken up when he heard her come home so late. Looking at him confusingly, Kurotsuchi realizes how rarely she hears him call her like that. Since she is always occupied as the Tsuchikage, this kid is mostly raised by his father. He likely sees his mother as a figure of authority because of that.
Feeling like this is a rare moment, Kurotsuchi comes closer to him and gets on her knees to hold him. Feeling awkward, due to her pride making it hard to be emotional, she immediately stands up after picking him up and acts like this was her intention. Yet, now carrying him, she looks into his eyes that are identical to hers and wonders.
Any wish she thought of fulfilling was at his expense. She would have forced this on him. She could come to the conclusion that choosing to learn Jinton herself is better, but the innocent sight of her son shakes her thoughts and makes her process it differently. There is so much she'd rather be than the one among the Kage who succumbed to the temptation of her regrets.
By thinking of her relation with this child, she feels she has other inner fights to overcome than her ancestor's legacy. Jinton or not, she is the Tsuchikage. The one ruler and protector of the land of Earth. Hakutsuchi, finding his mother's silence awkward and frightening, speaks.
"You should go to bed mommy."
This remark makes her slightly laugh. "You first." she simply says. She may still have thoughts that will prevent her from sleeping, so taking care of work will occupy her. One thing is sure however. She will not let her guard down and lose to the pressure of her problems. She will not summon a goddess or savior and will face her grandfather and her son by herself.
To ridicule the traditions of the older generations and bring the change that she embodies is what she's always been about. The future of this village, this land and her family will be led by her, the 4th Tsuchikage. Not a Kekkei Tota. Not a magic goddess.
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Right at this moment, still in Iwagakure, miles away in the high atmosphere above the mansion of the Tsuchikage, a floating gate appears in the night sky.
Jiku Hikido
It is a sliding door with golden ornaments that slowly opens and lets the light of the glorious temple on the other side escape. Out from the magnificent corridor of this pocket dimension steps Yasona Otsutsuki, the goddess of beauty, mischief and temptation. The door closes and leaves her levitating above a land that she feels oddly attracted to.
The celestial goddess has dressed properly for the occasion of her first contact with humanity. She left her usual white strapless gown in her wardrobe. Instead, she chose to wear a black one-sleeve kimono with red band lines and magatama symbols at the bottom of the dress and her sleeve. Around her waist and over the kimono, she wears a red corset decorated with golden and black lines.
Under this outfit, on her legs, she's put on thigh-high transparent dark socks that are visible on her right leg through the opening of her kimono. On her right sleeveless arm, she wears tight bracelets of gold and black matter and a bicep cuff to avoid leaving her visible skin undressed. On her ears, she has golden droplet earrings that fall down and are visible under her long pink hair falling behind her shoulders.
The only piece of outfit she kept from her usual uniform are the red elegant high heels. To keep her desire of nobility visible, she left her kimono open to show her cleavage above her corset, which also reveals the necklace tattoo of magatama on her pure skin. After taking a moment to appreciate her own looks, Yasona takes a deep breath in and looks down to Earth.
Byakugan
With her Dojutsu, she gazes through the hidden village under her feet and localizes precisely the mansion of the leading force of this land. Then, she slightly smiles to herself and even starts to laugh gently before biting her lip to stop. To stand here, ready to come bring her mischief and pressuring beauty to the eyes of this world makes her shiver in happiness.
"Time to present the people of this village and land with their new empress!" she declares with a childishly happy voice.
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Yasona Otsutsuki, with this claim, marks the official beginning of hostilities between the Kage of the Shinobi Union and the Shinden of the Otsutsuki clan. The goddess of mischief, by doing so, brings the disorder that Naobi Otsutsuki will have to balance, while she still has to settle the mission she was given by the Ryu Shinsen.
The next day in the evening, not a single soul outside of the land of Earth has been made aware of the forced coup that happened the night before. At nightfall in the prison of Konoha, in the shared cell of two former members of Kakumei, they are for once enjoying the silence. Fuyuko Yamanaka, rather than ranting or joking about memes or politics, stays quiet in his thoughts and leaves Seiki to do the conversation.
"Say… Fuyuko? Are you sleeping?" she asks, lying on the lower bed, finding the silence suspicious.
"If you still didn't hear me touch myself and moan Sydney Sweeney's name tonight, then I'm still awake." her cellmate on the top bed answers with an unironic voice.
Seiki gets startled when she hears him, then shuts up and tries to sleep, unmotivated by his usual idiocy. But Fuyuko now wants to have a conversation actually.
"Why are you asking?" he says. "Got something to say?"
"… No… I was just thinking and then remembered you exist." Seiki answers.
"That's sweet. I don't even think about you ever at all." he replies, keeping it unserious. "What were you thinking about?"
"Sigh… Nothing… Just…" she starts to explain.
"Girl says nothing but still gotta yap." Fuyuko interrupts her to say something silly again, to which she loudly grumbles to show how annoyed she is with his behavior. "Okay! I get it. It's just those 3 little points you leave everywhere in between words are infuriating. What do you want to say?" he adds, to calm her down.
"… I was gonna ask… Do you have any idea what you'd do if you weren't locked in here?" she finally asks at an oddly well chosen time. Just as she says this, an occasion to answer this question in practice comes up.
Chimatakami
Next to their bunks, a glowing blue space rift appears on the ground, catching their attention. They both sit up in confusion and look at it. It reminds them of Oshio's space-time jutsu, which clues them on how it is intended to be used. Since nobody seems to come through, the person who opened it must be expecting them to cross it.
Seiki looks at it thoughtfully, and quickly gazes through the bars of their cell, seeing that no guard is here at the moment to have noticed it. She also can't seem to sense its chakra, meaning that it likely is made to avoid detection. Now she wonders if it is meant for her or Fuyuko. While she tries to evaluate the relevance and risk of leaping in, her cellmate doesn't act as carefully.
In her thoughts she's startled by Fuyuko whom she sees fall from his mattress to dive directly in the portal. In panic, she hurries to follow him, refusing to be left alone here.
On the other side, they land on top of each other in a warm desert plain. Blinded by the sudden daylight, they stay in this position for a few seconds before clearing their minds. Seiki hurries to stand up when she notices Fuyuko pretending to enjoy it. The Yamanaka sits up and sees the gate disappear. Unlike his cellmate, he immediately notices the one responsible for this floating in the distance and slowly coming closer.
Seiki, following Fuyuko's gaze, sees the goddess in her white gown, wielding her staff of wisdom, stand in between two suns in the sky. Having grown up with the customs and religion of the Tomoe clan, she immediately identifies the one she's seen represented by statues and paintings.
"You're… Naobi-sama!" she exclaims, to the goddess of purity's surprise.
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End of Chapter 144 – Next Chapter: Mission of Order