Chapter Text
"Ada-chan, i suggest you avoid spying on those beasts. For your own well being." Gindoro tells Ada, then caresses her cheek.
"How long you think it takes for them to break out of this technique?" Ada asks, wiping tears off her eyes with back of her indext finger.
"Boruto and Kawaki could very well be the first ones to escape it, as they are perfect vessels of two mighty, royal otsutsukis protected by celestial blood that runs through their veins. Mitsuki and Code seem to be anomalies, for their resilience is mythical even for me, so i would not be shocked if they regain their consciousness faster than the otsutsuki brothers. Log is almost the same as his younger brother. The truth is... each one of them could wake in a year." Gindoro responds.
"That's... we can't stand against those monsters!" Ada shouts.
"That was an optimistic hunch, darling." Gindoro admits, leaving Ada jaw-dropped. "I am more concerned about Houki-kun than the rest."
"What about him?" Ada replies with yet another question.
"The realm he is trapped in is endlessly vast, gruelling labours must be triumphed, the number of his adversaries reaches infinity. But his body is falling apart faster than it regenerates. He will collapse soon... very soon..." Gindoro states with a saddened expression.
"Tell me what i can do for him! Anything!" Ada cries.
"Pray for him. I am afraid neither advanced technology nor the finest elixirs are of use..." Gindoro responds and glances at the sky, her gaze penetrates the barrier to see past and capture the sight of earth. "Your majesty..." She points at the wrecked world flooded in diseases, and on a whim restores the atmosphere and creates seas of clouds. She breathes her divine essence into the obsidian howls, her thunderous heartbeats summon lightning storms that shake the heavens, and makes her pearl of her tears into empyrean raindrops that shower the wasteland and drizzle the fallen souls. She arrives in middle of the deepest ocean and reaches the magnificent man floating on the surface of the sea. Gindoro's lips mark his forehead. "I have returned to serve you once more. Arise, my king."
The king opens his eyes gently. The kiss of life appears to have taken effect, and he channels primordial chaotic forces into himself to restore his might and recreate the universe. "Gindoro-chan..." Isari mutters, and rises to his feet with help of varunastra. "You have my gratitude. Now, please look for the fatally wounded comrades of mine. I will heal as many shinobis as i possibly could."
"Yes, your majesty." Gindoro utters, and swims towards the land.
Isari sends a gentle wave of oceans that spread on the landmass of the planet, and makes it holy via his essence that accelerates the healing of his comrades. His hold on varunastra becomes firm, for he charges the spear and shoots it at her fallen sister that is struggling to awaken. The marlin harpoon passes through the baneful thunder without tearing her flesh and bones, and triggers rebirth command that cures her of whichever illness she is inflicted with.
"By the grace of the lord..." Seiren mutters as she flies towards the sky and points her vijaiya bow at the sun. "...let the light of the stars bask us with their heavenly blessings..." Seiren prays to her god, and shoots an arrow to the sun. The arrow crosses the universe and beyond to other realms, storing pure light of all the stars inside itself as it penetrating through them, and ultimately returns back in a blink of an eye. The arrow is split into a miriad of blades, and showers the shinobi alliance along with the planet.
As elegant as ever, Isari lands beside his lover, and holds her hand in his palm. Seiren leaps to Isari's side, and slowly approaches him. "They seem to be... injected with a sort of mystical virus..." Seiren points out
"Had Moegi not sacrificed herself, all lives would have been lost..." Isari murmurs, and looks at the heart of hidden leaf village. The kunoichi that Isari just spoke of, is sealed in a divine tree. His gaze devoid of usual confidence, his chest tightens with a deep breath as he looks for an answer to this misery. "She is... not there..." Isari holds his temple, and is comforted by Seiren.
"We'll do something about it. Find a solution, not like it's going to be a labor we can't overcome." Seiren says to Isari, and pats him on back. "Our brothers and sisters are gonna be better, they're gonna be dining with their families and keep marching for their dreams. They'll not strand us, that's what you must have in mind." She continues, and hugs her brother from back. "You and i... make it happen... together, we always win... we're here, you know... we still have each other..." Seiren says, and kisses Isari on cheek, to bring warmth and a bit of solace to his heart.
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A boy, barely of twelve years of age, stumbles to his destination. His breathing erratic, and his head dizzy, he looks around to reach what, or who he is searching for. His white hair fallen over his purple eyes, he finally catches it. He sits on knees, and turns the fallen kunoichi around to lay her on her back. He coats his hands with white chakra, and keeps one near her forehead and the other near her heart.
The girl with messy hair comes to consciousness in matter of fourty seconds, to capture the face of a young boy. "Y-y-you..?!?" She stutters, and her body starts trembling upon saying that word. "Those purple eyes... belong to the same bastard that took my dad away from me!" She continues, and seeing the boy confused boiled her blood. "Don't you remember that day? When you killed Asuma Sarutobi? Thousands of shinobis like dad were butchered by you and your sick friend..."
"I recall... every single moment..." The boy says, as he holds back his tears.
"Stop doing that!" Mirai slaps the boy's hand away and forces herself to sit up. After that, she grabs the white-haired teenager by collar and pulls a kunai out of her pouch and stabs him in the heart with no hesitation. Mirai gazes into the eyes of he who she assaulted, and finds no trace of the animal that she has heard of. Only regrets, and lamentation. The undead shinobi in his adolesecent shape feels no physical pain either, and Mirai could sense that too.
"This is not the Hidan who was buried in the dark depths of nara clan forest..." Kabuto states, as he raises to his feet. "That was a madman who could never be controlled, an agent of chaos. This is the Hidan before his... descension... When he was the symbol of purity and hope... I could only summon him in this state, for this is the mightiest he ever was..." Kabuto walks towards Guren and puts his hand on top of her head, rubs her forehead with his thumb.
"So what? If he's here, does it mean there was no eternal punishment for him?" Mirai asks.
"He was in Hell, Mirai... for millions of years..." Kabuto admits. "I only brought him back, in this state, to grant him the opportunity to do somethings right. Lighten the burden of sins of the he who he was tortured and mocked into jashin's advocate. He lost everyone, killed the girl she loved most with his own hands to release her from the eternal cycle of suffering that cult decided for her, and at last madness was all he had left. In the final moments before losing his compassion and faith, he sealed away his potential and most of his powers and intellect. Or his transformation would have been a catastrophic mishap..."
Hidan grabs Mirai's wrist and draws the kunai out of his chest. "You will live." He says, then rises to his feet and stumbled to another person.
"Won't you ask for forgiveness?" Mirai brings forth this question, aware of the fact that this is what someone like this boy must be desperate for more than anything else. Hidan hesitates for a moment, stays still. Mirai remains curious for his answer.
"I can only wait for you to see me in a different light. Otherwise, if you find me unworthy of redemption, then i must not have the audacity to seek penance for all the terror that i left behind, all blood that i shed." Hidan responds, and moves on.
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"Almost there!" Dan murmurs as he flies to his lover in his astral form, sensing her life force diminishing. He avoids using flying thunder god and instead relies on spirit transformation for it grants him accelerated cultivation rate than when he is in physical form. Dan reaches Tsunade and begins to descend. He blinks when his feet are about to touch the cold land, and when he opend his eyes he meets the fourth hokage, who is kneeling beside lady fifth, and a dark-haired kunoichi with pink marks on face healing the imperishable valkyrie.
"Rin." Minato utters the name of her female pupil.
"She's... i don't know how to put it... here and not here..." Rin responds.
"Is she going to be fine?" Dan asks.
"I'll try my best. She'll be fine... she has to..." Rin answers, sounding disappointed.
"Wait a minute... you... you bear her chakra..." Dan tells Minato, and glances at Tsunade, then turns his gaze to the yellow flash once more. "And mine's too... what's going on... just who are you..?" Dan raises the question, that makes Rin shudder and lift her head. Minato, however, remains silent, does not stop watching the unconscious kunoichi.
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In the endless realm of abyss, the residence of nightmares and monsters, a pair of golden eyes are the sole thing that illuminate this dimension. They float, take a path, and cease their motion once they set they capture their prey.
The dark angel lands his boots onto the abysmal ocean, and walks towards the sleeping beauty. His steps powerful, the flames of his soul burn down the unholy water of the abyss, and his presence distorts reality and fiction on a whim. He stands above the outsider, the woman of aurelian hair, and touches her soft skin. An emerald light peers into her chest to bide in her heart. The radiant rays spread across her existence, and return her to conscious state.
"Tsubasa..." The sleeping beauty reaches for the face of the unseen one, mistaking the god of vengeace for her godson. Her hands pass through him, however, and that widens her eyes. She can see a clearer image of the figure infront of her, and how he differs from the king where it all ends. "What am i doing here?" Tsunade asks.
"You must persist in the realm of mortals. There is not much time left, and there are tasks only you are destined to overcome." The unseen one says, and watches the imperishable valkyrie stare at the steel sky of his domain. "They are waiting for you, Tsunade-hime. You shall return to the land of the living..."
"Is he doing fine?" Tsunade asks about her godson.
"Worry not. He may struggle, but defeat is not his will. He shall prevail once more." The unseen one responds.
"Good." Tsunade mutters, before she fades away.
"How was it like?" A warm voice comes from behind the unseen one.
"I am disheartened to meet her when she was not in her most majestic shape. She was still resilient. Like mother, like son..." The unseen one confesses, and claims his seat on the throne. "It seems fortune has not let down humans yet."
"It was me, not fortune or lady luck." Gindoro asserts, and swim to the land, and approaches the demon king. She almost bends over to lay her back against the throne, but the ruler of abyss catches her by wrist.
"Gindoro-hime..." The god of vengeance whispers, not amused by the action the goddess of harmony was going to make. For he sees her no inferior to him.
Gindoro gently sits on the throne in space between the legs of the unseen one, and giggles once she presses her back against his chest. "I accept no more complaints. We are equal now, as you wished."
The demon king speaks no words, and rests his temple on back of his clenches fist.
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Jolted awake, Tsunade's breathing becomes rapid and beats of her heart faster. She feels the weight of trauma in her muscles and bones, but the sight of a set of familiar clothings allows her to think straight after spending a short while in the madness-inducing abyss.
"Thank god, Tsunade! It's the second time we meet under circumstances like this." Dan says, smiling at the lady of his dreams. He reaches for Tsunade's right arm to gently caress her, and is made happier once the slug princess gazes into his teal blue orbs with her hazel eyes.
Rin silently arises and goes to assist medical staff in healing the wounded.
Minato, however, has his head dropped and elbow resting on the curled knee of his. Dan glances at the golden-haired man, and peers into his soul to see a puzzling grief that cannot be originated from any other matter than Tsunade and Dan himself. For even the slug princess steals her gaze from the yellow flash, and that perplexes him
"Lord Fourth. You still haven't answered my question. Had we met before?" Dan asks Minato.
"No..." Mutters Minato, who looks at Tsunade. "I was born months after your tragic demise... one hundred ninety two days, to be precise.." He continues.
Dan simply stares at Minato with curious eyes, and understands that man wants to get some things off of his chest but refuses to. "Tsunade... back then in the pure land, i forgot to ask... what happened to your wombchild?"
Tsunade curls her knees infront of her chest and hugs them, buries her face in the space between thighs. She says no word, for brief moments, then puts her chin on the knees, to look far away. "He grew and became a great man... one of the greatest men to ever grace this world with his presence... he inherited your dream of becoming hokage, and fulfilled it... the youngest hokage in history... can you believe it?" Tsunade responds to Dan, chuckling with her teary eyes.
"Are you saying that..." Dan hesitates, and turns his gaze to Minato. The yellow flash smiling, and this sight combined with the informations gathered form assumptions in the astral stella's mazed mind.
"Yes, Dan. The fourth hokage's your son." Tsunade admits, and that brings about emotions to Dan that robs him of the ability to express his ideal reaction to such a pleasant confession. Because Dan knows now the fate was cruel to his child too, for it sealed both their destinies when they had not the opportunity to reach their primed and taste the joy of raising their child. "He was raised by good people... i'm glad he turned out to be just like his father..." Tsunade digs her fingernails into the flesh, shuddering as she weeps.
"I'm terribly sorry, my dearest..." Dan comforts Tsunade by kissing her on the temple. "Perhaps if i was more careful with my actions, it wouldn't end this way. Don't cry, we all carry the weight of our guilts. What matters most is realization of our sins, and striving to better ourselves. Looking at you, i can see you're just like old times."
"I'm so embarassed... and ashamed of myself... i never had the courage to tell you the truth..." Tsunade speaks to Minato.
"I always knew that. Ever since i became a chunin, i found out who my biological parents on my own." Minato reveals.
"Then why didn't you look for me? Why didn't you scold me for the failure i was?!?" Tsunade raises her voice and turns to Minato.
"Because you were not ready yet..." Minato responds. "And i learnt to live and wait. I never held any grudge against any of you. I was grateful to the lord, because i was found worthy of becoming your son. A mother who made sure i'll be raised by decent folks and had her trusted friend look after me, and a father who was my childhood hero..." Minato continues.
"You're right, Tsunade. He's..." Dan smiles as pearls of his tears find their way down his cheeks. "I'm proud of you..."
"It was a lovely revelation for me..." Minato murmurs in Tsunade's ear, and holds her trembling hand in his tranquil hands. "Are you finally ready?" He asks.
Tsunade throws herself into Minato's arms, and marks his forehead with an affectionate kiss. She relishes the delightful scent of his son, and finds redemption upon being embraced by him, and that makes her certain she can forgive herself at last.
Dan joins Tsunade and Minato to complete the family reunion, and takes joy for being fortunate enough to leave such a legacy long after his death.
Orochimaru witnesses this wholesome moment from afar, and releases a breath of relief. "You did it, Tsunade-hime..." Orochimaru mutters, and beams with pleasure in abatement of this tedious tragedy.