Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Kakumei – Arc 1: The Consumer of Worlds

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Chapter 40 - The Hokage's resolve

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Having just revealed his new sage form in front of the enemies, Naruto Uzumaki stands at ease and recalls his training at mount Myoboku, that leaded him to discover his true potential.

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Back then, he, all of the Bijus, Gamakichi and the Great Toad Sage Gamamaru were gathered all together standing on a giant lake. Naruto was sitting with his legs crossed listening to the words of the old toad and Son Goku, the 4-tailed beast.

"There is a major difference in concept between any Sage Power, and Rikudo Senjutsu, yellow haired boy." explained Gamamaru. "Sage Mode is what one achieves by absorbing natural energy as chakra inside his body and reaching a perfect balance between his own Yin energy, Yang energy, and this natural energy… Rikudo Sage Mode, the power you were gifted by Hagoromo years ago, was the combination of Sage mode with the Rikudo Chakra inside the Yang seal he gave to you. Now Rikudo Senjutsu, what the Juubi's jinchuriki uses, is the same but instead of absorbing the natural energy to fuel the transformation, you fuse your Yin and Yang chakra and convert it into natural energy itself. The resulting power isn't just sage chakra, but something above. It is energy in its purest form, the state it was in before being assembled to form the universe. Since the goal is to have this phenomena occur within your body, from your chakra, the result will be a brand new, unseen, form of natural energy, unique to you."

"So… Fusing my Yin and my Yang first…" commented Naruto. "How do I do that?"

"It cannot be done." promptly answered Gamamaru.

"Uh?" exclaimed the young man. "What do you mean? Why are we all here then?"

"Usually, it shouldn't be possible for a human being." said Son Goku. "Fusion of Yin and Yang results in Yin-Yang release. This power can't be achieved in its true form by a simple human. For such a fusion to happen, these energies first need to be mixed with what we call Rikudo Chakra. You, as the avatar of Asura, have this type of chakra sleeping inside of you since the Rikudo-Sennin gifted it to you during the war. And fortunately, with all of us Biju united as today, we can make it resurface permanently."

"Rikudo chakra is essentially what composes the Juubi." said Kurama. "Well, actually, he was made of Rikudo Sage Chakra. But if you take the natural energy away, the rest is pure Rikudo chakra, which is us Bijus."

"You guys?" wondered Naruto. "So you're the Rikudo Chakra of the Juubi separated in several parts?"

"Not exactly. During the war, all of us were fused with the Gedo Mazo, the Juubi's hollow body. It carries the Yin and Yang Chakra of the creature, along with its body's abilities. Once we were sealed into it, the combination of all our chakra with the statue's awakened its Rikudo Chakra. So it started to absorb natural energy, which is an innate an unconscious ability of the Juubi. Once it had enough, the Juubi was reborn."

"So all your chakra, which means all your Yings and Yangs, combined into one together with the statue's, which resulted in Rikudo Yin-Yang power? And then fused with enough natural energy, it made Rikudo Sage Chakra?…" Naruto summed up.

"Years ago, Rikudo Papa made that last reaction happen within you by himself with the Yang seal he gave you." said Chomei. "You were fusing the Rikudo chakra of the seal with the natural energy you absorbed with Sage mode. Our chakra, put inside you by Obito at the time, was in harmony with that of the seal. So after you lost the seal, we were still able to provide this Rikudo chakra."

"But you ran out of them all against Sasuke." completed Kurama. "Now, if you first manage to connect all our minds continuously before trying to fuse anything, you won't ever run out of it."

"By doing so first, you'll become able to borrow our chakra any time, any place." added Son Goku. "The objective of this training is to have you make the same reaction that reincarnated the Juubi happen in your body."

"When you're done, you won't need to load up natural energy to use your sage mode anymore." said Gamamaru.

"That wasn't a problem anymore anyway." said Naruto. "I always had clones up here gathering chakra and sending it to me when I needed it. And with Kurama's help, it came really quick."

"Even this won't be needed anymore." said Son Goku. "When you'll achieve this new sage form, all your chakra will be transformed into your own Rikudo Sage energy."

"This process is made to simulate the chakra of Juubi itself." told the elder toad. "This creature is in reality a piece of a higher power. The power that created the universe. The one unique source of all chakra, in its purest form. By unlocking such an ability, you'll get a piece of something close to its power."

"This is all the powers you had during the war." said Gyuki.

"But better." added Matatabi. "The natural energy will be created within you for your use only. It will be your own reserve and not that of another being sealed in you like it was for the Juubi's jinchuriki. You'll have total control over it. This potential surpasses what Madara Uchiha could do with the same powers."

Naruto smiled and looked at each of the creatures surrounding him. The aim of this training sounded very promising, and it didn't disappoint.

"Sounds great! Let's do this, yeah!" sang Killer B in Gyuki.

"Right!" said Naruto, enthusiastically hitting the palm of his left hand with his prosthetic fist.

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Back to the present, The Hokage also hits his palm with his right fist, that isn't prosthetic anymore. Thanks to his new abilities, he could regrow his own lost limb over the Shodai's cells. The power he awakened after this training indeed gave him back all the powers he ever had, but not only. The raw nature of it was unexpected even for Gamamaru. For an unknown reason, it is fundamentally different than even Hagoromo or Kaguya's chakra.

Momoshiki Otsutsuki looks above and behind him to see Kinshiki fluttering away and hardly getting back in control of his body. Focused on this unexpected event, he doesn't see his opponent's next move.

Naruto leaps off the ground and, in an instant, reaches the distracted invader's side and prepares to punch him violently in the face. Momoshiki feels the Hokage's movements and has his attention brought back to the fight, but a bit too late. Unsettled by how fast his opponent got closer, he still raises an arm to cover his face, but not fiercely enough.

The 7th Hokage's fist hits his forearm and pushes it to his face to send him back and away. As he's thrown back, Momoshiki lifts a foot up to hit his opponent's chin, but doesn't land it. Stopping right in the air, resisting the strength of Naruto's punch, he brings his leg back down, still close enough, to hammer him back into the ground.

A Biju Chakra Arm emerges fast enough from the Hokage's mantle to catch on the hammer leg before it lands. Momoshiki gets startled when he now sees the fox's jinchuriki levitate in the air like he does. Naruto tightens his hold on the foe's limb and throws him away.

The Consumer of Worlds is deranged by his adversary's sudden and unpredictable speed, on par with his if not superior. The sensation he gets from his chakra is also unsettling. It appears that there is something more than Rikudo and Sage chakra in the equation, but he can't get to identify it. This energy feels like that of Kaguya, but a step further. A bit closer to another kind of power that Momoshiki saw centuries ago.

Focusing back on the action, quick enough, he takes control of the space surrounding him to stop his movements and stand straight above the village again. He is now a few dozens of meters away of his opponent, and looks down to him. He sees Naruto Uzumaki stand as straight as him, faithful. It angers him.

Takami Musubi

Momoshiki raises his right hand and releases the Rasenshuriken that he absorbed earlier, as always, stronger, and larger. Naruto, prepared and not ready to be fooled by his own jutsu, holds out his arms forward with open hands as Kurama's spectral head appears around him.

Bijudama

From the fox's mouth, a dense red and blue orb gathers and is shot as a chakra salva, a power beam, by the Hokage. The beam pierces through the air and, in a flash, strikes everything in its way. The sent back Rasenshuriken is completely overtaken and obliterated. Too fast for him to absorb it, as he just used his eye for something else, Momoshiki drowns in the salva too. Further behind, the Hokage's jutsu even reaches the barrier prepared by his ninjas and effortlessly pierces a hole in it.

Naruto looks over to the barrier, a bit disappointed, but not too much. He didn't expect his men to be able to contain such power. The point of the barrier is more to make sure nobody gets in. For a short moment, the Hokage focuses to sense the people who are gathered close to the sealing dome. Outside of it, Shikamaru Nara stands with Konohamaru, witnessing the fight from a distance.

"What just happened in there?" asks Konohamaru. "Can you feel any chakra? Because I can't."

"The barrier broke…" quietly says Shikamaru. "Everyone inside must be using Sage Chakra, that we can't feel… No, it has to be more than that. Even Ino isn't able to sense Naruto right now, even though she could during the war."

Konohamaru makes an intrigued face, wondering what exactly his friend has become. Running to the Hokage's henchmen come Boruto and Izuna from one side, and Hinata and Hanabi from another. The kids reach the advisor and bodyguard first.

"Uncle Konohamaru, who's fighting in there?" yells Boruto. "There's 3 chakra but all super ultra big! Like… Unbelievable! Even Dad's not that huge."

"One of them is your dad." simply answers Konohamaru to the kid who now makes a doubtful face.

"Wait, kid, you're really sensing something from inside the barrier?" asks Shikamaru, surprised by the kid's sensitivity.

Izuna Uchiha looks in the distance to see in the barrier, and remarks a yellow shining object floating.

"What's that flying light?" he asks. "Is it a jutsu?"

"It's the Hokage!" says Hanabi, with the Byakugans on, who just now reaches them with Hinata.

"What? He's flying!" exclaims Izuna.

"Hanabi, Hinata, who else is in there?" interrogates Konohamaru.

"What is happening? What is Naruto doing?" questions Hinata, worried for her husband.

"It's 2 men flying, with horns,… the Otsutsuki!" answers Hanabi. "The 7th is using his True Sage Mode."

Suddenly, Ino Yamanaka's voice speaks in every adult ninja's mind. Having just received details about the current situation from Naruto himself, she explains it and cites the Hokage's orders.

"To everybody, Lord Hokage is currently engaged in a battle against two high class enemies. Do not try to break in. Shikamaru Nara, Sakura Uchiha, Lord 6th and Ibiki Morino are placed at each corner of the barrier. Get by their side and provide help to maintain and repair the seal. I repeat, Don't try to interfere with the fight. Lord 7th is handling it."

Hinata stares worriedly at her sister and then at Shikamaru who keeps a serious face. After taking a deep breath in to calm herself down, she joins Konohamaru and Hanabi to provide her chakra to the seal.

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Inside, Kinshiki who finally managed to stand still again looks with Naruto at the smoke settling around Momoshiki, who's just been hit right in the face by the Biju Chakra Beam. When it does, they see him, floating, all messy and injured with his clothes ripped apart, looking extremely frustrated. Clenching his fists, he tries his best to contain his feeling and not attempt to kill his opponent.

"He's really durable… Even the other one got back to his senses pretty quick." notes Kurama before being interrupted.

"How Dare You!" yells Momoshiki.

Unable to calm down, he holds his hands forward and throws every element that comes to his mind, trying to ease his self.

Raiton

Naruto reacts rapidly and counters Momoshiki's thunderbolts with Wind Release.

Rasenshuriken

The two attacks' shock provokes a strong but restrained storm in the barrier. The raging god doesn't stop there and now throws another element, that is also quickly countered.

Doton

Raiton – Kaminari Rasenshuriken

He throws Rock boulders that are immediately shattered by the Hokage's lightning blade shuriken that goes through and reaches for the thrower.

Yoton

Momoshiki counters the Lightning projectile with a jet of magma, that Naruto blocks with his own.

Yoton – Rasenshuriken

The two god-like beings keep throwing jutsus at each other relentlessly, while Kinshiki stays back and spectates, like every citizen and ninja of Konoha. Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, Lava, Boiling mist, Explosions, Yin, Yang, Magnetic Chakra… Momoshiki keeps unleashing all the chakra natures he knows of while Naruto counters everything, until his anger comes close to wearing out.

Mokuton

Still not calm, he now sends a rain of strong wood stakes at Naruto who is out of elements and decides to reveal another ability.

Gudodama

From under each of his sleeves comes a dark black floating chakra orb that shapes into a long stick, spinning as protections in his hands. When they come in contact with the spinning shakujo, all the wood projectiles break or are deviated. The 2 orbs then return to their original form and get in Naruto's back along with 8 more that he lets appears out of thin air. Even more pissed off by this ability that is extremely rare even among his clan, Momoshiki sends another jutsu at Naruto.

Futon

Katon – Aoi Neko Rasenshuriken

The Hokage throws a counter, made out of Matatabi's blue flames, that absorbs the wind blow and uses it to grow bigger before bursting forth to the target, who overpowers it with his own fire.

Katon – Kijigari

A giant fire bird appears, rips through the blue fire shuriken to destroy it and heads to Naruto. Surprised by the bird's speed and not ready to prepare a counter with his hands or any chakra limb, Naruto uses his Gudodama.

Suiton – Shabondama Rasenshuriken

Very quickly, one of his orbs turns into a jutsu that flies forward, stops and extinguishes the flaming pheasant. The collision results in a thick and wide mist cloud that covers all the sky. After a few seconds, realizing that it won't settle fast, Momoshiki activates his Byakugan to see through and gets an unsettling surprise.

Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu

He is completely surrounded by hundreds, even thousands of the Hokage's clones that all fly and assault the two invaders all together. Kinshiki, not willing to participate while Momoshiki fights, simply flies back, unarmed, making it clear to Naruto that he wants to avoid fighting for now. Being understanding, the clones back up and all head to Momoshiki instead.

The consumer of worlds fights them off as much as he can. When they start to be too many for him to handle, he eliminates them differently.

Gakido – Kyuin

All the nearest clones are being sucked in his two orange Rinnegan, which surprises Kurama.

"He just absorbed our Rikudo Senjutsu!" says the fox, agape. "I didn't expect that… It shouldn't be possible… This means there isn't anything he can't absorb."

"Yes, there is one thing." answers Naruto, confidently.

Momoshiki keeps absorbing every clone that gets near. After having sucked in half a thousand of them, he gets startled by one specific Naruto that doesn't seem to be affected by his attempt to absorb him. Quick, but too late, he understands that this isn't a clone.

Kurama Wangeki

The original Naruto hits him right in the face with his strongest punch as every clone disappears. The shock of this strike is felt all the way through the sealing dome and even troubles the ninjas' hold. The opponent is thrown back again, fluttering to Kinshiki, who catches him in his arms. He lets him down to see the consequences of this blow. Momoshiki has a severe wound on his face. His nose is bleeding, but he's still perfectly conscious.

Feeling the blood stream down to his mouth and tasting it, Momoshiki breathes in, and out, to contain his rage.

"You underestimated the target, Momoshiki." says Kinshiki.

Now calm, he turns to Naruto.

"This is more than Rikudo Senjutsu." he says. "It's feels like the Juubi's power, but there is something more to it... Impressive, it tastes really good! I'm surprised that a descendant of Kaguya could achieve something greater than her."

Sentan

He raises a hand in which he gathers the Sage Chakra that he took from Naruto earlier and transforms it into little carmine red pills.

"This… is Sentan, or Cinnabar pills. I make them out of natural energy, and by consuming them…"

He brings his hand to his mouth and gulps all the pills down. All his wounds, and even his clothes completely repair themselves.

"I can heal any injury." he adds, as he's regenerating.

Naruto stares at him, sad that all his efforts until now where thrown to waste so simply. Momoshiki now smiles and raises his hand. Kinshiki, behind him, tries to reason him.

"Momoshiki, this fight has been long enough, already. We should hurry and leave." he says.

The world consumer turns his eyes to see his partner in his back, thinks, and looks back at Naruto. With his hand held up, he summons a small portal from which he pulls out a chakra fruit.

"Is that…?" exclaims Naruto, trying to use the little knowledge he has of this man's clan.

"This is a fruit that I've made just like the pills." explains Momoshiki. "Except, instead of using natural energy, I used the complete root of a dying plant of Shinju."

"A God Tree?" asks Naruto, whose first assumption is vaguely confirmed.

Momoshiki doesn't eat the fruit, but instead absorbs it back into his hand.

"I can either eat this fruit and strengthen my body with the power it holds, like I did on every world I consumed until now, or absorb it to turn it back to simple chakra to use in its raw form with my Rinnegan." he continues. "Like for instance…"

He lifts his hand up in the air, and releases all the chakra from the fruit he just absorbed, to shape it into a gigantic chakra orb, similar to Bijudama, that grows until reaching a diameter of over 20 meters.

Naruto smiles. His Gudodama float in formation in front of him and 9 chakra tails shape in his back, from the bottom of his jacket, as he prepares to contain this new offensive.

"Sigh… This is dangerously huge." says Kurama, who seems to have understood something.

"Nothing that I can't stop." answers Naruto.

"You don't understand do you?" adds the fox. "This isn't just an orb. It's a litteral bomb, made of Bakuton. You should be able to feel it. It will detonate at the slightest contact with a solid object."

Naruto concentrates to feel the chakra of this object, and makes a shocked face.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" he yells. "You'll blow up the barrier and the whole village with that!"

"HAHAHA! What are you saying?" answers Momoshiki who sarcastically laughs. "It's not just this mere village that I'll make disappear with this, but all of this puny land!"

Naruto stresses, out of options, and just stares at the projectile that keeps growing bigger and bigger, past the 30 meters diameter.

"Know what, Fox?" adds the world consumer. "I'm really holding back to keep you alive. This isn't even close to me trying."

"Glad to hear that, because me neither." responds Naruto, trying to appear as unbothered as he can.

"Oh, I know that very well. This chakra I feel on you… Not only am I certain did nothing on this world ever compared to it, but even among celestials nowadays, it is matched only by less than half a dozen individuals… Even with all the trees fully flourished, I'll still most of you fresh for me to consume."

Naruto squints his eyes, intrigued by the fascination his own chakra seems to cause, and looks at the bomb charging up. He does have an idea to stop it, but incomplete.

"Kurama, what should we do?" he asks, to see if the fox thought of the same plan as him.

"It's Ok, We'll contain it." he says.

"I thought we'd do, but how?" shouts the Hokage. "Are we strong enough to hold this?"

"Don't know. There's only one way to find out. If we make sure to be the only target, we'll be the first casualty."

"And? The blast will just go on to kill everyone else."

"Indeed… But he needs us alive. If we lose to it, he'll have to stop it before we die. Once he has us, he'll leave. His partner said they should hurry to leave."

Naruto looks down for a moment. He understands that this will keep the rest of the village, and the land safe. It also appears to be their only solution.

"Here I come, Fox!" shouts Momoshiki as he lowers his hand and releases the expanding projectile that now falls toward the Hokage.

Biju Modo

Naruto unleashes the full body of Kurama's avatar, that fixes his feet on the ground, and appears over 300 meters tall, far bigger than he ever was before. The citizens of Konoha look, astonished by this incredible spectacle and demonstration of power by both their Hokage and the enemy. The Spectral Demon lifts his 9 tails up in the air and joins them together around the orb to imprison it.

"Ready?" asks Kurama.

"… Ready!" answers the 7th Hokage.

The giant fox, trapped inside his tail cage with the bomb promptly pushes his two hands against it and provokes its explosion. The blast makes the whole Biju Mode gulf up, on the verge of explosion. Suffering, enduring all this power, Naruto starts to slowly lose his grip as the two Otsutsuki watch the scene from above. This raw chakra and strength feels like all the world's power condensed in one single orb. But it's too soon to pass out.

He grits his teeth and focuses. Through these many years of training and self discovery, he learned to overcome all the weaknesses of the Rikudo Senjutsu that Madara and Obito had. His Gudodama aren't just limited to move in 70 meters around his body, but 100 meters around his chakra. Using this, he moves 3 of his orbs outside the Biju Mode to form a square barrier around it. These 3 Gudodama join together to shape into a giant black room that locks the Biju and the contained blast inside.

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Outside of the chakra barrier formed by the villagers, Sakura, Kakashi, Ibiki and Shikamaru keep their positions but look, terrified at what takes place inside. Sakura sees the effort of the Hokage, and stresses out.

"WHAT IS HE DOING?" she yells, prepared to intervene. "Open the Barrier! I'm going in!"

"Don't" says a Naruto clone who just appears in front of her, but inside the barrier.

A clone appears to speak with all the pillars that hold the seal and prevent them from getting involved. One of them comes to his advisor, still with the kids, his bodyguard, his wife and his sister-in-law.

"Don't get in. Just maintain the barrier and protect the villagers. Something big is coming, so hold you ground." ask the Hokage's clones. "Once they have me, they won't need to do any more harm. Don't give them a reason to stay."

Shikamaru and Konohamaru stare agape at Naruto after these words. They both get that this order implies to abandon him to the enemy. Behind them, Hinata, Boruto and Izuna run to the barrier's wall to see the clone.

"Naruto!" cries Hinata. "What do you mean? What is happening?"

"Hinata? Kids?" exclaims the Hokage, who didn't expect them to be here. "Where's Himawari?"

"She… She's safe at home with my father… But you? What are you planning to do?" she asks.

The 7th Hokage looks at his wife and at the 2 boys' panicked and saddened faces. Out of time to explain the situation, the clone slightly smiles, looks at Hinata and closes his eyes.

"I'm really sorry. Take care of the kids, please." he says, before looking at Shikamaru. "Get Sasuke here as soon as possible."

After these words, the clones vanishes under the shocked eyes of his family and friends. Inside the dome, Kinshiki looks over to Momoshiki who feels the Hokage's life and strength fade away. He shrugs his shoulders, kind of satisfied.

"Well. It was pretty easy, after all." he says, as he points a hand toward the collapsing Gudodama enclosing and Kurama avatar.

A powerful shockwave breaks through, shattering the black room, the Biju Mode, and even breaking the whole barrier dome, but canceling the explosion's blast. Every villager and ninja who was standing close to the collapsing dome is blown away by the shock. Only Sakura, stands her ground, resisting this incredible wave of chakra. She looks forward, and sees nothing but dust lifted up, covering all the area. Clenching her fists and teeth, she holds back the urge to step in, as the Hokage asked. At the other end of the area, Konohamaru, Boruto and Izuna stand up first, and look forward as the dust slowly settles.

They slowly walk closer waiting to get clearer view and finally see. The Hokage has fallen, barely alive lying on the ground as the two invaders come closer next to him, to collect their prize.

"DAD!/HOKAGE!" yell Boruto and Izuna together, terrified.

Boruto rushes to his father, but is stopped by Konohamaru, having to follow the Hokage's order, who holds on the kid's shoulders and contains him. Busy with the Naruto's son, he can't do anything about Sakura's kid who also rushes forward as nobody is here to handle him.

Running and crying, Izuna goes through the debris as close to the Hokage as he can. Filled with despair and anger toward the invaders, his eyes turn to red when he sees one of them lift his defeated hero's body off the ground. Momoshiki Otsutsuki looks over to him, staring right into the boy's brand new awakened sharingans. A bit surprised by the sight of this dojutsu, he wonders.

"Hm? Another Uchiha's kid?"

"We should leave now." says Kinshiki, who's now carrying the passed out Hokage on his shoulder.

Momoshiki looks at their beaten target, then back at the crying kid running to them, and sadistically smiles.

"Yeah! There's nothing more here that's worth my attention." he says with his palms looking at the soil.

Chimatakami

A black space rift appears and swallows the two Otsutsuki with the Hokage's body. Right as Izuna reaches them, it closes and vanishes, leaving the kid to punch through the air. Landing back on the ground, in the middle of his village, he stands where his hero has fallen a second ago. Out of shock, and of pain caused by his eyes' awakening, he falls over, and loses consciousness.

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A day after this cataclysm, the villagers, ninjas and high-graded of Konoha are trying to repair the damages of this fight, that almost destroyed everything that was in the barrier dome. In the Hokage's house, Izuna Uchiha, just wakes up, lying comfortably on a couch, next to his mother. Before sitting up, he looks confusingly around him, to see what is happening.

He recognizes Boruto's home. Around, he sees the Hokage's wife holding her toddler in her arms. Next to her, Boruto stands quietly, firmly holding on her skirt. Also in the room, 4 people, adults he's never seen before, are standing there.

The first is a red haired, pale man, with blank eyes, thick black line around his eyes, and no eyebrows. The second is a woman, looking older, with very long brown-red hair that look like a Christmas tree, and wearing makeup. The third is another woman, with long dark brown hair, black eyes, wearing a red dress with only one very long sleeve. The last person is a tall and muscular man, with brown skin, light hair, a mustache, and two words tattooed on his arms under his shoulders.

They're all gathered around a table with 4 hats, identical to the Hokage's but with different colors and words on them. Next to these 4 people, Izuna recognizes Shikamaru and Kakashi.

Lying on his mom's lap, he notices his little sister, Sarada, sleeping, peacefully unlike the rest of the room. He finally sits up a bit and his mother notices him. Still speaking with the other people in the room, she holds her son's head against her. Confused by the scene, the kid stays quiet and looks over to his friend, Boruto, who's just like him, confused and silent.

Suddenly, Izuna feels a strange air go through the room as if someone opened a window, and everyone else turns around to looks behind the couch. He hears a few steps and sees a hand pass over his shoulder and reach for his sister's cheek.

Looking up, he sees the face of Sasuke Uchiha, standing behind Sakura. The wanderer looks at his sleepy, confused and hurt son. He notices the kid's newly acquired red irises, and stays quiet for a moment.

"Finally here." says Kakashi, implying that everyone in the room was waiting for this man.

"Sasuke, you know what happened?" asks Izuna's mom.

"I do." answers the caped wanderer. "I know where they are, and I inspected the place. They are preparing something. But Naruto's still alive for now."

"We came here to help and do something at first…" says Gaara, speaking for all the present Kages. "But honestly, without you, there isn't really much we could attempt."

"I know." says Sasuke, who looks at all the Kage's serious faces.

He looks down to see his son's troubled eyes, and thinks for a moment. Through Izuna's sharingan, he can feel the heaviness of this situation.

"… I won't let him take another friend away from me." he quietly whispers to his own self.

Sakura who, with Izuna, is the only person to have heard him, raises her arm and holds her husband's hand. Sasuke looks at his wife, and nods.

"The four Kage, and you, Sakura…" he says as he closes his hand around his wife's. "I just need you 5 to assist me. We'll be going as soon as you're all aware of the plan."

"Well, to begin with, what is our goal?" asks Darui.

"This once, we are going to save Naruto, and end the enemy's plan."

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End of Chapter 40 – Next Chapter: Battle in the gods' Garden