Naruto: Tales of Ashihara
The Shinden Saga – Arc 4: The Otsutsuki War
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Chapter 168 – Battle of Gods I
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The silver Susanoo of the Dragon Sage and the Shin Asura Kurama of the 7th Hokage are facing each other in the bottom of a scorched ocean, holding the Ameno Ohabari and Kinrin Tensei no Ken respectively in wrestle while their fox and dragon clones clash around them. Struggling to hold on Boruto's sword, Naruto brings in a third hand to grasp its handle and repel Yamitsuki's armor.
While in this effort, some of his perfect clones look around to see the regular shadow clones in their Biju Mode fighting the silver dragons of Yamitsuki. Since they don't have any Gudodama, they are totally at the mercy of the Dragon Sage's duplicates using Moshirikara. Since their combat can only end one way that would make it all more difficult for them, the Naruto's make a move to take care of their foe's clones.
Kongosen Shakujo
Some of the black gas of the Shin Asura Kurama's divine scarf gathers in two of its tail hands and shapes into the Hokage's new divine staff. Chakra accumulates and spins in and around the back ball on one end of the staff, creating wind spheres enclosing several Rasengan like energy orbs.
Mihashira Rasen Shuriken
With a swing of the staff, the Asura releases this jutsu that flies around the Susanoo of Yamitsuki and runs over all the dragon clones, carrying them away before eliminating them in an explosion. Then, with the other end of the shakujo that was brought up by the movement, Naruto smashes down on the silver Susanoo. Yamitsuki, who saw it coming, raises his wings in protection to block the falling weight. However, the collision abruptly reminds him of the unnatural strength of the Hokage's new weapon.
Susanoo Shurado
In his struggle, he uses a copied ability of the Rinnegan to grow two more arms on his Susanoo and uses them to support his wings in his defense. But Naruto doesn't stop his offensive so simply and makes full use of his plurality. He creates a second Kongosen Shakujo in the right hands of his avatar and swings it to strike the abdomen of the silver Susanoo, below its wings.
In a hurry, Yamitsuki makes a shield with the Gudodama he made for himself earlier and tries to block. But the only free arm he has left to handle this cover is not enough to hold the shakujo back. Naruto's staff pushes forth, breaking the shield and the left hip of the Susanoo, almost causing its legs to fall off.
In this difficult position, Yamitsuki notices the Kurama clones behind him coming closer. Since they lost their opponents, Naruto only has to arm them with Gudodama for them to become threats as well. To make it worse, the damage caused the Dragon Sage to lose grip on his blade and wings, making him lose the wrestle against the other shakujo and the Kinrin blade. So he takes action to free himself.
Ryuton – Ryutai Nami (Dragon Body Wave)
From his wings and armor, he emanates a wave of purple flames and energy that push the two shakujo back and allows him to spread his wings to force a distance. Repelled, the Asura fox god catches the lower staff flying off its grip with its tails and carries it up with the other. Naruto prepares to swing Boruto's sword and throw down the two shakujo on the silver Susanoo, to show that this distance makes no difference. But the Dragon Sage knows better than to put himself in such distress.
Ameno Tejikara
As the Kurama clones in his back get closer and the weapons of the Asura aim for him, Yamitsuki swaps places with the 3-headed fox avatar just in time to get out of harm and let it crush its own clones with its weapons. Now free to move, the silver armor swings its Ohabari back and easily slices off most of the Asura Kurama's tails as he turns around. Seeing ithe fox's 3-faced head unprotected, Yamitsuki now raises his blade and aims to chop it off but is blocked by the Kinrin brought back in its way.
This time however, in a weaker position and lacking support, the golden blade can't hold back the Ohabari that easily pushes it back against the demon fox's neck. Before Yamitsuki can behead it, Boruto forgets his fear and tries to leap into action by himself, but is smoothly foreseen by the Dragon Sage.
Hiraishin
Just as he uses the mark left earlier on Yamitsuki's hand to get on his position instantly, the Ryu Shinsen mimics the technique to get by his side, causing them to simply switch places, which the god of nature had planned for.
Chibaku Tensei
Right where Boruto transported himself, Yamitsuki left a black energy core that traps the Hyuga and makes the silver Susanoo implode, creating an ethereal mass of chakra closing around him. To make sure he doesn't escape this easily, Yamitsuki also absorbs the formula of Hiraishin on his hand. Inside of the Asura Kurama, the clones of Naruto turn around to fight the Dragon Sage physically, now that he is in short range. After dispelling the two Kongosen Shakujo and bringing them back to them in smaller versions each split in two, they all coordinate their attacks against Yamitsuki who counters with the Ohabari.
Confident in his strategy, he skillfully fights them all while carefully replaying their movements in his mind. Meanwhile, he makes sure to leave residues of his chakra build up on all the clones. When one of them almost reaches him, he puts his blade down and uses the absolute protection of Omamori to take cover. Then as he dispels this chakra barrier he lightly swings his sword to throw magma and molten metal at them and force them to step back.
Using this short moment of respite, he transforms his spread chakra into blue crystals that enclose and bind the limbs and weapons of all Naruto's, except one, which he tracked as the original. Face to face with him, Yamitsuki makes a little provocation.
"No matter how perfect these clones are, I can still track and see you, Naruto." he says before using Amaterasu to ignite the original Hokage in deep purple dragon flames that can be extinguished only by natural water. As he sees his opponent burning under the eyes of his trapped clones, Yamitsuki feels a movement that gets his attention. He notices the Gudodama of Boruto, which were gathered as the Kinrin, forming a silver circle right as it releases a massive flow of water inside one of the Asura's open mouths.
This water floods the inside of the demon, drowning all the Naruto's and the celestial king for a moment. Yamitsuki is quick to react and evaporates this torrent with a Shakuton wave but too late to prevent the original Naruto from getting rid of the purple flames. Frustrated by the involvement of Boruto, who still manages to act while bound in a silver meteor, Yamitsuki turns around and spreads a curse mark on his meteor to seal away the one inside.
But Naruto intervenes to save his son. While recovering, he uses the 3 last limb tails of his Asura Biju Mode to catch the silver mass and tear it apart, dismantling it until his son can break free. Seeing the young Hyuga emerge from the mass in his purple mantle, and the clones of Naruto breaking out of their crystal prisons thanks to their vibrating weapons, Yamitsuki loses patience again and suddenly overtakes the field.
Makara Sen Ryu (1000 Dragons of Makara)
He expels a thousand elemental dragons, made of wood, flames, lightning, water, acid and ice. These monsters spread and fill the inside of the Asura Kurama, making it blast and disappear while everyone inside and around is thrown away by the chaos. Standing still in the storm, Yamitsuki can sense the movements of his opponents. In this mess, he notices the swift flight of an orb toward him. Judging from where it comes from, it must be one of Boruto's Gudodama. So he raises his hand ready to catch and destroy it, when it is suddenly caught by Naruto, emerging by his side.
Kinbo Tensei Baku
The ball turns into a silver absorbing orb that Naruto manipulates like a Rasengan and lands below Yamitsuki's arm, once again pushing a significant amount of chakra out of his body. Feeling his energy leave him, the Dragon Sage kicks the Hokage down and away toward the ground. Bothered by the interventions of Boruto in his fight against Naruto, he uses the Byakugan's power to see through the thunder and flames and find the Hokage's son trying to fly further away.
Bansho Tenin
Boruto suddenly feels his body being dragged toward the Ryu Shinsen. Hoping to avoid him, he uses Hiraishin to join his Gudodama but ends up precipitating himself in the grasp of the enemy who had subdued these orbs and kept them ready. Holding the ronin by the neck, Yamitsuki quietly looks at him with a disgusted look while wondering about the remarkable efficiency of his latest attacks in coordination with his dad.
"I see… The fox lent you a piece of his chakra, right? He was communicating with you through telepathy." he guesses as he sucks the Kyubi's chakra out of Boruto.
But he doesn't stop there. As he strangles the heir of Hamura who pointlessly fights back with empty punches, he keeps absorbing all energy out of his body, to refuel his own. Naruto and his clones, who managed to immobilize themselves further below, look up at the chaos in the sky as it seems to be condensing into itself. Yamitsuki, absorbing all of it, appears out of the mess, draining the Hyuga who's chakra mantle and eye power dispel.
"Boruto!" the Naruto's all exclaim together, worried for their son.
Yamitsuki stops taking his chakra, leaving him barely conscious, and looks down at the Hokage and his clones. He raises his other hand and starts to vacuum energy from thin air.
"Pointless thefts. You can not exhaust me, Naruto." Yamitsuki explains as all living things on the planet start to sense their energy slowly leaving them, being absorbed. "As long as this world will hold life, I will have chakra to take. So it is as long as I keep sparing this world, which is only until you drop dead."
Naruto stares in wonder around at the soil decomposing into energy and focuses to sense the glimpses of Sasuke, Sakura, Izuna, even Oshio, in the chakra being drawn from around the continent to the Dragon Sage. Once done, feeling the void left by the last attack, Yamitsuki stops gathering energy and looks at Boruto who stupidly wrestles against his hand held on his neck.
"I am done with you. I will send you to join your master." he says as he tightens his hold on the ninja's neck.
"Stop that!" the Naruto's all yell together in panic as they summon a crowd of simple clones around Yamitsuki, in a desperate attempt to stop him.
Biju Rasen Taren Shuriken
All the clones, including the perfect ones, throw shuriken orbs made of different elements to the Dragon Sage who doesn't risk their landing. Knowing that some of them must be made out of Gudodama, he uses Kandakoro to create a barrage of wormholes that absorb all the projectiles together, transporting them to another dimension. When he's done, he sees all the Naruto's rush toward him, ready to strike and save their son.
As an easy counter move, Yamitsuki identifies the original and tosses Boruto toward him like a projectile before he could snap his neck. Then, to stop all the others with something more efficient than Shinra Tensei, he raises his hands and opens wormholes again. From these gates, all the Rasen Shuriken previously transported are released to rain down on the Naruto's. Seeing it coming, one of the perfect clones expends the tails of Kurama to protect Boruto, in the arms of the original.
As this barrage unleashes chaos in the sky, all the regular clones are dispelled and the others are sent crashing down in the bottom of the scorched ocean. When it settles, Boruto is the first to stand up. He sees the clouds above them starting a storm above the dried sea. While his father and his copies get back as well, Boruto notices something swiftly blitzing through the sky to land before them.
It is the Dragon Sage who sets foot in the middle of the Naruto's, in front of Boruto who sees ash-colored bones protrude from his back, which causes an alert deep in his soul, as if a part of him could recognize this jutsu. Naruto, who has seen it many times before, gets all startled as well. Yamitsuki raises his hand toward Boruto and, without hesitation, draws a quick shot to get rid of him once and for all.
Tomogoroshi no Haikkotsu
An all-killing ash bone emerges from the Ryu Shinsen's palm and flies through the air toward the Hyuga, paralyzed and tired, unable to move away.
"Boruto!" the Naruto's yell as their son closes his eyes before hearing the gruesome sound of an impalement. Yet he feels no pain. It is the confusion in the voice of Yamitsuki that makes him open his eyes out of curiosity.
"What?…" the Dragon Sage slowly says, in a lack of comprehension as he sees his all-killing bone piercing through the chest of Naruto, who hurried to get in the way and saved his son from certain death.
What disgusts the Ryu Shinsen is that it is the closest Naruto to Boruto who got on the move and just sacrificed himself. This is the Naruto that he's been tracking since earlier.
"Why?… You are the original!" he quietly exclaims, refusing to show emotions yet.
But these words unleash confusion in Boruto who realizes what it means as he sees his father start to decompose into dust.
"What? No! Dad!" he yells before running forward to catch his father whose legs are ceasing. "Why did you do that? You said I wouldn't be a burden! You said you would win this battle! You have to win! It's your nindo, right? You never go back on your words! So why did you do that?"
Yamitsuki stays paralyzed as Boruto's confusion turns into grief and then frustration. Standing there, the Ryu Shinsen feels the same flow of emotions. Such excitement and involvement in a unique battle, only for it to end this way. He questions himself and grieves his path as he sees his last hope disappear. Naruto Uzumaki, the one and only, the flesh and bones that went through all adventures from pariah of Konoha to new god of the Shinobi Union, is turning to dust in front of him, along with his vision of a fulfilling future for the universe.
"Don't worry…" they hear the Hokage say in his last breath. "… it is still my nindo."
After these few words, … Nothing. Boruto expected his father to finish with a hopeful message entrusting the rest to Sasuke, or to reveal a trustful back up, but nothing. The body of the original Naruto Uzumaki disappears and flies away in the wind, leaving his son's trembling hands covered in dust.
Then, a long silence. A silence so loud that it deafens the Dragon Sage. He feels like his eyes refuse to see, his ears refuse to hear, his soul refuses to sense. He has put the history of his clan at risk to this end. He has let Hyakki go to his death. He has let his dear Naobi sacrifice herself. He has even murdered Yasona. All for this ending. All for an unfulfilled prophecy, leaving him with the responsibility to preserve the universe, unbound of the rules he made for himself.
Overtaken by the emotion, a certain detail only now hits the Dragon Sage's mind. He has seen his ideal opponent die for good in his son's arms, but has heard no sound of dispelled summoning. Just as he realizes what it could mean, he's abruptly woken up by a violent strike.
Wakusei Rasengan
A planetary spiral orb suddenly hits him in the abdomen and blows up, sending him flutter through the land. Off guard, he didn't focus on using any defensive ability, making him an easy target. When he gets his balance again and stands still, he looks up at the same time as Boruto, alerted by the sound, and sees who threw the attack: one of the perfect clones of Naruto, with the 2 others still standing behind him.
As he suspected, they did not vanish, despite the death of their summoner. And the life energy in them still feels as authentic as before. While Boruto is just confused, wondering if he's hallucinating, Yamitsuki finds an explanation very quick. It is a detail of Naruto's new jutsu that Izuna's Futsunushi couldn't exactly unveil. As Boruto realizes that these clones are still well and alive, and seemingly no different from the original, The Ryu Shinsen is overtaken by enthusiasm and excitement as his hope rises again.
"Dad!" Boruto exclaims happily and tearfully while standing up, before being interrupted by the loud unhinged laughter of the Dragon Sage.
"Naruto Uzumaki! You are unbelievable!" he yells with an oddly out of character expression. "When I said I could identify the original, I was only tracking the oldest one of you. The one body that lived the life of Naruto Uzumaki so far. Fact is that, with this new jutsu of yours, there is no original. I could not see that detail when I read your ability, but these clones are not only perfectly identical to the real you. They are you! Their existences are not bound to an original, for they are authentic. You have duplicated your body, soul and nature all together into the same entity. It is life. It is divine. Truly divine! A Hijutsu worthy of the mightiest of my kind!"
The Naruto's confidently smile, agreeing with every word said by the Dragon Sage. One of them looks aside to Boruto who runs to him, ready to embrace him in relief. But just as he gets close enough, the Hyuga violently punches the Hokage in the face instead.
"Don't ever fucking do that again!" he yells. "I thought you died for real! I thought it was all over. That I was here alone, with the burden of all of Earth on my back! Without you! Without Toneri!"
"Boruto, I'm sorry." Naruto says as he stands up. "I just saw how shaken Yamitsuki was and thought the element of surprise was too good to ignore here."
"Naruto!" The Ryu Shinsen gets their attention again as he walks closer and lets his chakra fully express itself out. "You have my respect, and my gratitude. Since the fall of the Queen mother and my rise as the sovereign of the Otsutsuki and the Ryu Shinsen, not a single being could threaten me. Katashiki, Inari, Momoshiki, Isshiki… No matter how close any of them got to actually affect me, they were all always scared of just the idea that they would have to face me. But you, Naruto, have played fate in such a way that I could not predict it, even by knowing the prophesied conclusion of this battle. You have my respect. Your power and wit are beyond my abilities. I have come so far, waiting for you. But I do not even want you to win anymore. I will finish this battle with my full might, such as no one ever saw before."
After this speech full of admiration, Naruto senses a whole new world in the Dragon Sage's energy and emotions. His determination unlocked a completely different mindset in his opponent. To demonstrate this, Yamitsuki remakes the rules of the fight in an instant.
Ameno Minaka
By using this jutsu that was so costly for Kaguya, Yamitsuki transports himself, Boruto and all the Naruto's instantly to another universe where they find themselves in emptiness between planets. Unsure if his son's chakra mantle protects him from the vacuum of space, Naruto hurries to unleash his Biju Mode to cover Boruto and himself. In front of them, The upper body of the silver Susanoo appears and manifests a giant bow of lightning in its hands. By gathering energy from the cosmos and all the planets visible around them, he makes a massive black arrow.
By copying Sasuke's ultimate move, Yamitsuki creates a variant with his dragon energy that he charges up way beyond what the Uchiha could do. The giant fox grows and turns into the ShinAsura Kurama again, and forms the Kinrin blade of Boruto in its hands, getting ready to block Yamitsuki's attack.
Ryujin no Ya
The arrow is fired right in the Kinrin blade. Holding it back in trouble, Naruto also uses the Kongosen Shakujo that he uses to strike the arrow away, sending it flying in the distance. There far away, they see the projectile blitz at light speed into a star. For a moment, nothing. And then a massive explosion. A super nova. The death of a sun that carries all the worlds of its system along with it in nothingness. In utter shock, Naruto stares at the planets disappearing and thinks about all that must have died over there from this simple yet fatal strike.
But he is not left to wonder for too long. Yamitsuki very rapidly gets his and Boruto's attention back.
"Worry about yourself!" he exclaims, feeling the sorrow in his opponent's mind.
Seeing the Susanoo leap to them with the blade of Ohabari held forward, Boruto and Naruto hurry to raise the Kinrin Tensei Baku to block it, and begin a godly sword fight of giants in space.
"Shed no useless tears, Naruto." Yamitsuki tells with his voice resonating in the minds of his opponents. "This universe is empty of life. There is nothing to mourn. Nothing to protect. I have created it as such."
As these words erase all guilt from his mind, Naruto goes forth relentlessly and takes the lead in this battle. He exploits his limb advantage by mobilizing all 9 tails of Kurama to overwhelm Yamitsuki. From the scabbards tucked in the wings of the silver Susanoo, ethereal dragons emerge and confront the tails of the yellow demon to support the Dragon Sage. To rival the hands of the Asura, Yamitsuki also grows 4 more arms on his armor, all while the heart of the confrontation still lies in the collision between Ohabari and Kinrin.
Kage Bunshin
Inside the Asura, Naruto makes a dozen standard clones and lets them spread apart with the perfect ones, to separate into several six-armed foxes that surround the Susanoo, who also makes clones as a counter. To take the lead, the Kurama holding the golden blade of Boruto voluntarily lowers it and lets the Ohabari behead him, making him erupt into lava that instantly turns to stone in the frost of space.
But before this demise catches up to Boruto and the perfect Naruto inside of this avatar, the Hyuga uses Hiraishin to get into another Asura and manifest his golden blade again, above the Ryu Shinsen.
Kinrin Tensei Baku
He throws it down on Yamitsuki who blocks with his black sword. Around his Susanoo, the Otsutsuki sovereign notices the mist of Naruto's Gudodama flying and gathering into the tail hands of another fox, shaping into the Kongosen Shakujo again before falling down on him. As he sees it happen, he creates his own set of 10 orbs and makes a giant copy of the Ohabari that he raises right in time to support his other blade in the collision.
Still feeling at loss in this confrontation, Yamitsuki changes the setting to turn the table.
Yomotsu Hirasaka
With a colossal portal opening behind him as he is repelled by the foxes, he transports all the giants upside down to a heavy planet somewhere in the same universe. With gravity suddenly on his side, He pushes the tailed demons down and lets them crash toward the core, getting space to prepare a spectacular ending to this battle.
The copy blade changes shape to coat itself around the true Ameno Ohabari and starts absorbing energy from all around this universe, making the blade grow larger and larger. Naruto looks up and recognizes the process. Gudodama absorbing natural energy to expand… It is the expanding orb of Kaguya that she could use to entirely destroy and rebuild a universe. If it crashes into a large enough celestial body, such as this planet, it will cause the annihilation of this dimension.
"Boruto, hold still. We can't let that thing crash." he calmly says to his son as he raises his weapons. The Kongosen Shakujo turns into gas again, and it gathers around the Kinrin blade to strengthen and thicken it just as the expanding sword falls down.
Boccho Gudo – Hakai Ohabari (Expanding Truth Seeking – Ohabari of Destruction)
The sword of the Dragon Sage plunges down on them and is blocked by the coated golden sword of Boruto, held by all 3 Asura demons together, who put all their limbs in the effort. Feeling that Yamitsuki's power is outclassing them here, Kurama thinks first of a chaotic solution.
"We can't stop it, Dad!" Boruto exclaims.
"We can!" one of the Kurama says. "Naruto, follow my lead. Boy, stay ready."
Yamitsuki, feeling his blade progress as he stays ready to escape this dimension as soon as needed, notices another Kongosen Shakujo being formed by Naruto, held in the tail of one of the clones. It makes sense as this weapon only requires a maximum of 10 orbs to be summoned, but Naruto currently has a total of 30 orbs. What is surprising is that this staff is not used to further resist the fall of Ohabari but is instead held back as natural energy is concentrated in one of the spinning balls on the staff end.
Seeing this, Yamitsuki understands the plan of Naruto and upgrades his strength to hurry his blade down.
Susanoo Raijin Kata
Kairiki Muso
As he activates a lightning armor to enhance his strength and speed, Naruto replicates with Kokuo's similar ability on his avatars. Out of time, Boruto and Naruto let go on purpose and surrender their energy to the clone behind them, which massively fuels the growing Shakujo and expands it, like the blade of Yamitsuki.
Boccho Gudodama – Kongosen Shakujo
Having successfully recreated Kaguya's jutsu using only their own natural energy, The Kurama hurries to swing the staff and throw the expanding orb into collision with Yamitsuki's blade before it forces its way to the soil. This collision between two universal bombs immediately detonates, creating nothing.
No sound, no flash. Just a sudden dark. There is no shock wave, as there is no space or time for it to spread or even exist as a concept. From this collision came a nearly instant implosion of a whole universe that now hides as energy in between spaces, waiting to blast into a new genesis.
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End of Chapter 168 – Next Chapter: Battle of Gods II