Astral Plane.
The Astral Plane, a place which was only called a place for lack of a better word. A place where time and space had meaning only as abstract terms. A place that technically only existed because the collective consciousness of the Ascended asserted its will and brought it into being.
As the Ascended existed both as beings of contained energy on the Physical Plane, so too they existed as coherent thought on the Astral Plane. The Ori had their own version of the Astral Plane and it could be(and was) debated whether it was a separate section of the same Astral Plane or whether it was an entirely different Astral Plane.
A curious thing it was, which allowed the spirits of those who had transcended the flesh to retain their individuality while also having a great communion of spirit as they contemplated themselves, the nature of the Universe, and their place in the vastness of Creation.
Here we find one Oma Desala, her focus inward in solitary meditation. She was held in great disfavor among the other Ascended for what they considered to be reckless meddling with the inhabitants of the lower planes, which was a large part of the reason why she did not often join her spirit with the others. Her most recent meddling had caused that disfavor to deepen, even though she had not done more than give some fairly basic advice. She refused to stop though, firmly believing that despite their strangeness and abrasive manner, Naruto and Xanna represented the best hope for the Galaxy to climb out of the pit that the Alterans had inadvertently helped sink it into and she would not shy away from it simply because of past failures.
After being forgotten about and left sitting naked in a bath on Erius, Oma had struggled hard to let go of the frustration she'd felt.
They had gone off to have sex on a beach and simply left her there.
For three days.
The servants had been confused and worried, half suspecting that she had done something to the missing Emperor and Empress.
Several of the Jaffa had been debating the merits of interrogating her for their location, which she knew would have likely involved torture. Not something she had been eager to experience.
Fortunately, Te'lok had merely sighed in a long suffering manner when she had told him what they had done and nodded as if that explained everything.
Then had followed three days of being stuck in a flesh and blood body.
Oma knew that suicide would probably release her from whatever it was that was keeping her earthbound, but she hadn't been able to bring herself to do that. Such senseless waste of life had been frowned upon in Alteran society, even if the body was merely a construct.
It had been a strange and sometimes humiliating few days.
The palace servants hadn't minded needing to prepare food for her in addition to their own, for which she had been very grateful since she didn't know how to cook. Alteran civilization had been so advanced as to not require it and the Ascended obviously did not need to eat.
The humiliation had come later, when the inevitable need for waste disposal had come up.
In her first life, Oma had been used to an extremely high technological standard.
Having to adjust to using a toilet without electricity or running water had been a very new experience for her and not one that she reflected upon fondly. It was made worse when the missing trio had come back, complaining about sex on the beach not being all it was cracked up to be because the sand got everywhere.
For the first time in millennia, Oma had been tempted to slap someone.
Regardless, she had managed to put that behind her for the most part and was now enjoying the peace and tranquility brought about by deep meditation.
She had checked in on the horned duo's empire and was gratified to see that her suggestions had been taken to heart. Construction on roads had begun, people had been diverted from Naruto's army to replace child labor as much as possible, while the children themselves were sent off to the school that they had ordered be built years ago. Preparations for the suggested celebration had also been underway and it should be happening any day now actually.
Oma was not going to attend.
She had no interest in celebrating and would prefer to spend her time in meditation, contemplating in what other ways she could help direct the rising empire so that it might become a bastion of enlightenment and hope in a galaxy that had been steeped in darkness for millennia.
The Astral Plane was perfect for this purpose with its unending sense of peace and tranquility.
"WHO IS YOUR DADDY AND WHAT DOES HE DO?!"
The thundering shout was not a physical thing, but more like a wave of pure mentally directed intent that everyone simply had to hear the words 'who is your daddy and what does he do?' echo in their minds. Loudly.
Oma focused on the disruption and was not at all surprised to see that a certain horned blond had decided to visit the Astral Plane.
Under normal circumstances, Oma would have welcomed such a thing, as conventional wisdom would dictate that Naruto would be unable to appear in it with a physical body and she had long been curious what his spirit was like when it was not encased in that juggernaut of a body.
Unfortunately, Naruto did not seem in the mood to adhere to conventional wisdom and she could already see the force of his will twisting the normally formless Astral Plane into a chaotic representation of his mind.
The other ascended tried to push back, only to be seemingly ignored as the surroundings continued to change. In no time at all, they all found themselves in a strangely distorted forest. It looked normal enough, except for the multitude of things that gave it a distinct feeling of wrongness, such as strangely angled trees and little critters with maliciously glowing red eyes.
"You were not invited here Outsider, leave this place!" One of the Ascended snapped commandingly, backed up by several others.
"Pfft." Naruto replied eloquently and waved his hand at the group confronting him, suddenly reducing the gathered Ascended into small and squeaky woodland critters.
"Run along now, there's hungry lions, tigers and bears and shit in this forest."
The aforementioned creatures did indeed appear immediately after and began to chase the transformed ascended beings, who scattered and ran on instinct.
Oma merely observed and made no move to aid her fellow ascended, instead choosing to take on the same youthful appearance that Naruto always put her in. No need to be giving him any ideas.
"This is a plane of the mind, you should not have been capable of doing that." She commented serenely, having remained calm in the knowledge that no matter how annoying his pranks were, they were only fatal for people he considered to be enemies.
"Well someone should have told me that before I did it." Naruto replied airily.
"How did you do that Naruto?" Oma asked with a sigh, seeing that he was being deliberately obtuse.
"Fuck you, that's how!"
Oma simply stared at him for a while before speaking again. "I realize that you have an almost pathological need to say that whenever someone asks you to explain something, but could you at least attempt to restrain yourself for a moment?"
"I guess I could try." He shrugged.
"How did you make this place behave as if it were physical reality?"
Naruto visibly restrained himself from repeating his previous response, managing to smirk mysteriously instead. "What the eyes see, the mind believes. What the mind believes, becomes reality."
"You have beguiled our senses to make it seem as if it were real?" Oma hazarded. She was an old hand at cryptic statements and this one seemed less cryptic than most.
"Nice try, but no." He snickered. "This place of yours is basically Imagination Land, its appearance sustained by the combined will of those who inhabit it. But if someone were to come along who had a stronger will and different views on what it should be like, it will reflect that change."
That gave Oma pause for a moment, not because it was some groundbreaking revelation, but because it showed once again just how fundamentally different the horned man was from them. The Ascended did not pit their wills against one another to see who would control the Astral Plane. Even at her most mutinous, Oma had never considered trying to do so. Aside from being futile since she was merely one among many, forcing the issue would have gained her nothing, but a momentary amusement was clearly reason enough for Naruto.
"You would claim that your will is greater than that of all the Ascended combined?" She finally asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Maybe, maybe not. Raw power doesn't mean as much here as it normally would, but this bunch of pacifist hippies aren't willing to put up much of a fight and they're too disorganized to even try properly and willpower isn't necessarily cumulative to begin with." He shrugged again.
"I see." She said, not bothering to ask what a 'hippie' was. "So needlessly confrontational, bringing conflict with you wherever you go. Can you not simply appreciate the tranquility of this place?"
"Idleness breeds weakness, just ask your friends that are about to become snacks because they don't have the strength to free themselves." Naruto scoffed and then grinned. "Can't you appreciate the challenge of a struggle against another? Come on, try to wrest control of this place from me."
Normally, Oma would not consider doing anything of the sort, but there was an opportunity here...
"I will agree to attempt it if you will agree to enter a communion of spirit with me."
Oma had thought that Naruto would accept such a deal only grudgingly if he did so at all, so his wide grin was most disconcerting.
"You've got yourself a deal cupcake."
Frowning momentarily at the odd nickname before setting it aside as irrelevant, Oma focused and did something that no Ascended had ever done, she deliberately attacked another mind and tried to force her will on it.
Immediately she came upon resistance, an iron hard willpower exerting itself on everything around it except Oma herself. Her own mind scrabbled uselessly against the unyielding and uncompromising solidity of his focus. She could sense the others now as well, struggling against the weight of his determination to keep them trapped in the forms that he had forced on them without much success.
She tried to launch a stronger mental probe at his mind, tried to force her will on the area around them, only to have it brushed aside with a scoff.
"You're not trying very hard, but it was still better than what the others are managing." He said, halting the short battle of wills.
"We Alterans considered such use of telepathy to be a criminal breach of another's personal rights." Oma replied. "I attempted it only at your invitation, but took no joy in it."
"How boring." He sighed and stopped forcing the others to stay in the forms he'd stuck them in. Unlike what he did with Oma on the Physical Plane, on the Astral one, he needed to constantly keep a piece of his focus on pushing down their resistance. "If this is all there is to ascension, then I'd have preferred to cut my neck open rather than ascend if I was in your shoes. How you can stay here for thousands of years I'll never know."
"It is not for everyone." She agreed.
There had certainly been those who had tired of it for various reasons and chosen to descend back to a mortal existence and eventually die, unsatisfied with a life of exploring the mysteries of the cosmos. Many more had chosen death over ascension, mostly people of a more combative nature.
"Why have you come here Naruto? Surely it was not simply because the peace in this place offends you."
"Nah, that was just a bonus. I came to get you for the party, It's starting soon." He answered, grinning with a measure of excitement.
"I will not be attending." Oma replied serenely.
Indeed, she had not planned on showing up again for some years at least. Naruto and Xanna would be busy implementing what they had discussed, as well as their own ideas and were unlikely to need any further advice for a time. Furthermore, she did not want to come off as manipulative by appearing too often. An occurrence such as that could sour the entire effort. Above all, she needed to be seen as a distant advisor whose only interest in their civilization was to see it prosper. Even if Naruto had outright told her that he knew she was trying to manipulate him, she still didn't want to push things too far.
"That's bullshit." Naruto retorted. "You came up with the idea, so you're coming."
Giving her no chance to protest, he grabbed hold of the ascended woman and they vanished from the Astral Plane, leaving behind a sense of shattered security that the other Ascended were never going to get back.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The long awaited party was in full swing, with people talking, eating, drinking, dancing and some particularly drunk singing going on everywhere.
There had been a lot of hype and buildup to this and plenty of people had come because of it.
In the absence of any kind of precedent, every culture had brought along its own forms of entertainment, ranging from music to food to games and most people seemed to be having lots of fun experimenting with new things and every so often, someone thought of something new on the spot.
It wasn't all perfect of course. There was still a bit of a language barrier since not everyone spoke the same one despite efforts to teach everyone a common tongue, but there was enough overlap to get by and some funny miming dealt with the rest. There were also a few Jaffa present who were pointedly armed just in case anyone got the idea to start anything.
At least there was a common currency, which Naruto and Xanna had remembered the need to implement. Neither one of them had ever given two shits about money other than as a means to an end, but they did know that a means of accounting for things was necessary at this point.
Oma was not having as much fun as most of the people present.
After being unceremoniously dragged here and stuffed back into a physical body over her protests, she could hardly be blamed for being a little surly, though she didn't think of it as such. Naruto's incessant teasing on the subject had not done much to improve her mood, nor had his dismissive assurance of 'later' on when he would fulfill his part of the bargain they had struck earlier.
So here she was, attending a celebration that had held no appeal to her.
The feel of the sun and wind was nice, as was the taste of the few fruits she'd eaten, but walking around in a physical body, ostensibly supposed to join in on the festivities and enjoy herself was extremely far out of her comfort zone. Then again, when had anything ever been in her comfort zone when Naruto was involved?
At least he hadn't made her wear anything provocative, just a simple and unadorned white dress that was in no way sensual. Of course, its quality was quite a bit higher than what the majority of the party goers wore, leading them to assume that she was part of the royal retinue. Not entirely incorrect she supposed, but something that she really could have done without.
She also could have done without the occasional nervous boy or young man asking her to dance or partake in some other group activity. Not to mention the ones that tried to be thoughtful and bring her something to eat or drink. Oma couldn't recall ever developing a fondness for alcoholic beverages in her first life, even mild ones, and the sight and smell of barbequed pig had nearly made her lose the contents of her stomach.
As soon as it was feasible, she was going to talk to Naruto and Xanna about the benefits of turning over to a completely plant based diet. No doubt it would be a wildly unpopular change for the people, big changes always were, but both of them were dismissive enough of other people's dislike for their choices to not care, as well as being pragmatic enough that they would go for it if she presented it as beneficial.
That was for the future though, for now she just wanted to find some nice, out of the way spot where she could wait this whole thing out with minimal fuss.
This would have been a lot simpler if Naruto had simply left her looking middle aged instead of 'barely a few years into adulthood'. Though if he'd ever bothered listening to her on these things, he wouldn't have given her a physical body in the first place.
Finally she managed to get to an out of the way spot to sit down and just observe without being seen.
Despite her discomfort in being here, Oma had to admit that it was all going very well.
Aside from the multitude of different foods(far too much of it being meat in Oma's opinion), there were also games and competitions set up.
A lot of people seemed interested in a game called Go, which she knew originated from Terra, specifically from the country of China, though how it had managed to find itself here since it had evolved after Ra had been thrown off she had no clue. However it had happened, a bit of a spontaneous tournament had sprung up and Naruto had tried his hand at it and proven beyond doubt that strategic skill in real battle did not necessarily translate to strategic skill in a game. Xanna and even Akitsu seemed to be destroying the opposition rather handily though.
There were also archery and spear throwing competitions set up, from which Naruto had been banned after breaking a bow and obliterating a target with a thrown spear. Most of those competing in those seemed extremely hesitant in telling their Emperor that he couldn't compete anymore, but Naruto took it all in good humor and went to find something else to amuse himself with.
There were also several less sophisticated competitions, such as arm wrestling and who can throw a big rock the farthest. Those tended to be dominated by Jaffa since Naruto was staying well away from them. In fact, the horned man seemed to spend most of his time cajoling women into trying their hand at competitions that were otherwise heavily dominated by males.
The children had their own games, though a large number of them simply seemed to be engaged in splashing about in the nearby river that had been dammed to create a makeshift pool.
All in all, this celebration was hugely successful in accomplishing its goal of bringing people together.
The four problem villages mentioned by Xanna remained a bit problematic, with those from the male dominated ones looking around disdainfully at all the women walking around without male chaperones and those from the female dominated one looking personally offended that the men weren't all servants.
Well, that was the case for the respective dominating gender, the one being dominated looked bewildered, curious and even longing.
Obviously seeing something so different from their own way of life was already planting seeds and ideas. Oma gave it three generations at the most before this silly discrimination of a particular gender faded away.
"I see I am not the only one that wished for some peace and quiet."
Oma jumped a bit, startled by the unexpected voice at her side. Turning to look at her unexpected interlocutor, she saw that it was just Setsuna and relaxed.
They had gotten to know each other during her three day stint in a mortal body after being forgotten about. Setsuna and Te'lok had found themselves incredibly unprepared to run the fledgling empire in Naruto and Xanna's absence and Oma had ended up helping them after explaining why those two were absent.
They'd also brought in Tarnor, who actually had some experience running a nation thanks to Kuvera's kassa addiction making the Goa'uld useless.
"Yes, this is not at all what I am used to." Oma admitted.
"And you are hoping that the Emperor will not take notice of you." The other woman said with a knowing smirk.
"There is that yes." Oma muttered, not even wondering how Setsuna knew that. The way that she had been glaring at Naruto for essentially abducting her and making her attend this party had made her feelings on the matter obvious enough. "You do not seem particularly comfortable with this yourself."
"I am not." Setsuna admitted. "I would have preferred to be training or doing something useful at least."
"But this celebration is useful." Oma said, puzzled. Setsuna had definitely been made aware of the true reasons for hosting it.
"My presence serves no purpose, the Emperor merely insisted that I attend. He claimed that I was working too hard and needed to 'unwind', whatever that means, but I find this more onerous than relaxing." Setsuna rebuffed.
"I see you have not bothered to dress in the traditional style of your people either." Oma noted, seeing that while Setsuna wasn't wearing her preferred military uniform, it wasn't far off either. "How many blades do you have hidden in there?"
"Only six and a zat'nik'tel." Setsuna said, sounding miffed at being so lightly armed. She missed her sword most of all. Sure, she generally couldn't use it in a firefight, but it had been a gift from the Emperor and it was sharp enough to cut through metal as well as being indestructible. That sword was very precious to her.
"Why would you even need all that here?" Oma asked with some incredulity. She'd thought that the other woman had two daggers at the most, it baffled her how she managed to hide six and the unwieldy Goa'uld sidearm without a trace of them being seen.
Almost as if to provide a reason for being armed, a hostile looking middle aged man that had the same Asiatic features as Setsuna passed by and sneered down his rather crooked nose at her.
Setsuna sneered right back and made as made as if to lunge at him, causing the man to flinch and hurry away, making her snort derisively.
"Who was that?" Oma asked curiously.
"Ling." Setsuna answered with a disdainful curl of her lip. "Formerly the one that organized the periodic tithe of young girls from his village that were given to Yu to be trained as dancers, well known for his hatred of women. I recently took control of the garrison that the Empress had placed there and ended up speaking to him. He was very condescending, so I broke his nose."
That would explain why it was so crooked. Oma thought to herself.
Now that Setsuna had mentioned it, she noticed that there were several other men shooting the occasional dark look towards the female soldier. One or two were still sporting a black eye.
"I see he was not the only one to feel your fists." Oma noted neutrally.
Not quite what she had in mind when she'd suggested having Setsuna rotate around the garrisons of the male dominated villages, but she knew that backing down to people like that never ended well. It wasn't surprising that Setsuna would correct their behavior with violence, she'd done the same when her Jaffa subordinates had questioned her ability to lead because of her gender after all.
"Of course not." Setsuna answered, smirking. "Where there is one man with an undeservedly large opinion of himself, there are bound to be others."
"I see even the favored lapdog grows tired of her master's presence if she would hide here." The snide words in Goa'uld came from behind them, causing Oma to jump a bit again.
Setsuna did not react at all, obviously having been aware of the woman that had walked up to them.
She was of Egyptian descent with black hair, a deep tan and intense brown eyes. She continued to wear the garb of a Goa'uld priestess that showed off her body rather than cover it despite having been removed from their service.
"Khepri." Setsuna greeted, seemingly unbothered by the insult. "Enjoying the festivities?"
"I would not even be present at this blasphemous celebration if the abomination you serve had not forced us to attend, as you well know." The now named Khepri seethed.
"The Emperor will no doubt be pleased to hear that you think so highly of him." Setsuna riposted with a smirk.
And he really would be pleased. There weren't many things he enjoyed more than someone, preferably a woman, that was willing to hurl insults at him.
That had been one of the reasons that she now held him in such high esteem. At their first meeting, she had been incredibly insolent to him due to her anger at being offered as a concubine by her grandfather. She'd seen him as no better than the Goa'uld at that point and would have rather died than become his bed warmer.
The wide grin on his face as she raged at him had incensed her further, only to be shocked into speechlessness by his offer to train her to fight. The training had been difficult and the condescending attitudes of the Jaffa irritating in the extreme, but it had also been liberating to do something outside of what was seen as 'acceptable' in their society.
Though that society was changing fast. Her own position as a leader and Naruto's careless disregard for gender roles was forcing it to.
Now if only this stupid twit strutting around dressed like a Goa'uld priestess as if it was something to be proud of would wise up.
"If I may interrupt," Oma interjected before the furious looking newcomer could lose hold of her temper and attempt a physical attack that would likely end with Setsuna administering another black eye. "but what do you mean when you say that he forced you to come?"
"You do not know?" Khepri's brows furrowed in momentary confusion, having assumed that Oma was someone of high position in the royal court. "He came to our settlement, demanded our attendance and threatened to disperse my people among the other villages if we did not comply."
Oma sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Apparently it had been too much to hope for that Naruto and Xanna would completely abandon the brute force approach.
"You are nothing special in that regard." Setsuna commented blandly. "The Empress had to visit three villages in such a manner to demand their attendance."
They could have done it the other way around of course, but it was felt that it would have more impact if a representative of the oppressed gender was doing the demanding.
"And you still claim that their rule is benevolent?" Khepri sneered. "Bastet the great, the beautiful, the kind asked only that a portion of our men serve as laborers, while they force their blasphemy on us."
"Yes, how terrible." Setsuna said with a sort of dry sarcasm that Oma suspected had been picked up from Naruto. "They demand that you learn how to read and write, that your men be treated as equals and that you abandon the worship of false gods, truly you suffer a terrible oppression. I hear that the Emperor even had the gall to allocate more food to your village when your own supplies ran short."
Khepri looked as if she were about to resort to physical violence at any moment, but simmered down when she saw that Setsuna was looking distinctly eager for her to start something.
"I will look forward to the day when lady Bastet finds us and kills all the heretics on this world, starting with your precious Emperor." She sneered coldly, twisting the final word until it sounded like an insult rather than a title.
"She is free to attempt it if she can find us here." Setsuna said to the woman's retreating back with a shrug. "The palace is left unguarded and its doors open to all. Anyone may attempt an assassination if they wish to."
Khepri did not reply and merely stomped off to join several of her compatriots.
"I take it that her world was not one of those that went with Naruto willingly?" Oma asked rhetorically.
"No, Bastet has done a truly masterful job of brainwashing them, by far the best out of all those we've brought here so far, which left us no choice but to take them by force." Setsuna admitted with a slight frown. "And since Bastet only took their men, which they do not truly value, they never realized that they were only being used."
"I see." Oma sighed, not particularly surprised that Naruto and Xanna had resorted to a more brute force approach in light of that. Khepri had been rather trying to listen to and she wasn't even the one arguing with her. "I must admit I am surprised that you did not strike her."
"The Emperor asked me not to cause an incident here." Setsuna admitted. "I was hoping that she would start something to give me an excuse, but since she didn't I believe I will go win the knife throwing competition."
Oma looked after the retreating back of the other woman with a thoughtful expression before shaking her head. Naruto was rubbing off on Setsuna far too much.
"Boo."
The word was spoken ever so casually. Directly into her ear.
Oma jumped with a startled yelp, heart hammering in her chest. Turning around, she glared at the smug looking horned man that had spoken that word.
"Could you please stop doing that?" She asked irritably, willing her heart to settle down. In the past fifteen or so minutes, three people had startled her because she hadn't noticed them approach and she didn't enjoy it one bit.
It was also the fifth time today that Naruto had done something like that.
These physical senses were just so limited. How Naruto and Xanna could stand to remain earthbound at all times escaped her understanding.
"I can't help it cupcake, your reactions are so much less controlled than most people. It's fun."
"I assume you have some reason for startling me again aside from amusement?" Oma asked as calmly as she could. Naruto had been doing things like this ever since he'd dragged her away from the Astral Plane in the morning, little things that would elicit a purely physical reaction and once again giving her the impression of a big cat pawing at an interesting new toy. Not an analogy she enjoyed.
"Well no, I startled you for the amusement and nothing more, but I see you've met the charming Khepri."
"She might have been more charming if you hadn't forced her to be here." Oma pointed out dryly.
"Pfft, only because she wouldn't have been here at all. Her ladyship the ultra feminist was going to stay at home just to snub me and Xanna...well, mostly me. Those guys over there " He waved over at the group of disgruntled looking men she'd noted earlier. "were going to stay at home to snub Xanna."
"This bullish approach will not help you sway them, only encourage their resistance." She said, ignoring his baffling description of Khepri with what was becoming a worrying amount of familiarity. "I warned you against doing this for a reason."
"Yeah, I know, but I don't expect to change their minds. People can't really be taught or convinced of anything." He said dismissively.
Oma frowned at that statement, knowing it to be completely untrue. "If people were unable to learn then advancement would be impossible."
"That's not what I meant." Naruto said. "A person can be taught and reasoned with, but people can't, because people are dumb, panicky animals that barely deserve to be called sentient."
"You do them a disservice. It is true that an individual is easier to reason with than a group, but an individual cannot achieve the same heights of greatness as a group." Oma said disapprovingly, once again dismayed at how low his opinion on the people he ruled was.
"And a fine show of greatness we have in front of us right now." He scoffed and gestured at the group of women that Khepri was now with. "As soon as she had her views challenged and couldn't retaliate, the stupid little cunt went back to her groupies to reinforce her beliefs rather than start thinking. Same thing with the men, they're staying in a group like any other scared herd of animals."
"It is only natural to seek the familiar in times of great upheaval. You have uprooted them from the world that was their home for as long as they can remember and brought them here, where the sky is different, the people are different, the land is different and the society your are making is much different." She argued. "Some of them do not know it or will not admit it, but they have lived in fear of the Goa'uld for generations and now you are asking them to let go of the past. They do not, cannot, understand such a quick change. You are simply asking too much of them."
Naruto hmphed but didn't reply, choosing instead to silently look around at the various forms of merrymaking that people were engaged in.
Oma wasn't bothered by his lack of response, was pleased by it in fact. It meant that he was probably thinking her words over, a realization that had come about after much deliberation on her encounters with him and much observation.
Any argument put to him that was based on morals, ethics, the concept of right and wrong or something similar, he would argue against viciously and gleefully. He would mock, provoke, insult and generally be an all around nightmare whenever someone tried that, but he would listen and could be reasoned with if you knew how to word things.
He was very similar to his wife on that count, but without her rather condescending superiority towards mortals. It made him much easier to deal with even if he was the more combative of the two.
Of course, neither one of them would listen if they weren't in the mood to listen, but that could be worked around with some patience.
With Naruto not giving any answer to her last words, the two of them merely spent a while silently observing the area.
Xanna had apparently tired of playing Go and made her way over to the archery competition, towering well above even the tallest man present. She seemed to know how to handle a bow better than Naruto, as she managed to hit the target without breaking the wooden weapon. Or the target for that matter.
Akitsu had somehow managed to find herself teaching one of the children how to play the game, her shy and hesitant manner drawing it all out rather more than necessary, but the young boy didn't seem to mind.
Ling and Khepri's groups stumbled into each other and inevitably descended into an argument as they each tried to assert the superiority of their gender to the opposing group, uselessly of course. The nearby group of Jaffa, plus a smirking Setsuna that was obviously just waiting for someone to give her an excuse, was probably the only thing that prevented violence.
Unseen by either, a bewildered young man and girl, each of whom belonged to the society where their gender was considered the lesser, started talking. Both of them were probably confused as to how their respective gender could possibly be considered superior, when they had always been taught the exact opposite.
"You know it's funny, but this is actually the first time I've been to a celebration like this." Naruto suddenly said, his voice a bit distant.
"How so?" Oma asked curiously, keeping a tight hold on her excitement at having him willingly share something of himself like this. It wouldn't have been a problem if not for the fact that her currently physical body seemed intent on releasing a flood of hormones in response to her powerful interest.
The Ascended were in general a very open people, leaving no need to guess at their thoughts. When they had first developed telepathy and the subsequent ability to communicate without the need of words, it had been a difficult time, but it had eventually led to a golden age as most conflict became resolved without a single word needing to be spoken in order for understanding to be reached.
Oma used to completely restrain her ability to sense things in such a manner from mortals, feeling that it was unfair to them that she could do this and they could not. That had stopped when it had allowed Anubis to deceive her and she now constantly kept her senses extended to prevent anyone with evil intent from repeating such a thing.
She would never admit it, but her inability to sense anything at all from Naruto or Xanna was driving her to distraction with curiosity. Everyone she had ever met had been canvas of light and color, of emotions and motives, a forever shifting choir of music that made up who they were, shaped by the journey of their life.
Naruto and Xanna were a steel wall; featureless, dull and giving away nothing. The only way to gauge them was by their behavior and that was not even close to being the same as being able to 'see' their spirit.
The closest she had ever gotten was the mental attack that Naruto had told her to launch against him earlier and that hadn't been very informative either. All she'd gotten from that was a sense of terrible will behind his mental defenses.
"Too dangerous for me." He answered simply. "I wasn't well liked in my home village at the best of times and drunk people tend to act on their stupid ideas without thinking of the consequences. By the time I was old enough to not worry about that anymore, I didn't want to go anymore either."
"Why did they dislike you so much?" Oma asked with a frown. From the way he'd said that, she assumed that he must have still been a child. Possibly a very annoying child, but still a child.
"My parents sealed a demon in me right after I was born and then died. Word got around that the demon that wrecked half the village was inside me and assumptions were made." He explained with a shrug, obviously no longer bothered by the past.
"A demon?" Oma asked with much skepticism, but subsided at his amused glance. "And what happened to this...demon?"
"I married her." Naruto snickered, finally losing control of his amusement at her disbelieving tone of voice.
Oma huffed in minor irritation, not even surprised that he would make up such a story.
"She really was sealed in me for about fifteen years though." He added, still grinning. "Seriously."
"No doubt." Oma deadpanned, obviously not believing a word of it. "Even if that were true, why would you be hated for it?"
"Come on cupcake, we've been over this, try to keep up." Naruto scolded, though it was rather spoiled by his barely contained amusement. "Because people are dumb, panicky animals."
Oma frowned at him, wondering if he'd made that whole thing up just to reiterate that point. She was also frowning because that nickname was starting to get a bit annoying.
An extended silence followed as the ascended woman was unsure of what to say and Naruto went back to staring at the people.
"You wouldn't, hypothetically, happen to have any ideas on how to fatally damage the world view of an entire group of people without completely breaking their spirit would you?" Naruto asked eventually, staring at the still bickering groups with a calculating intensity. It seemed to have gotten to the point of 'My Goa'uld was better than your Goa'uld', which was just sad on so many levels.
"No." Oma answered, knowing full well that there was nothing hypothetical about the question. "It may not be possible to break them of their beliefs, but their children and grandchildren will not be so stubborn. Continue as you have now and you may see their attitude disappear into insignificance within thirty years."
Naruto frowned and grumbled. He wasn't willing to wait that long for everyone to get their heads out of their asses, not to mention that he'd definitely start the raiding up again long before thirty years passed. There would be new people, some of them with outlooks on life just as stupid or even worse.
What he needed was a system that would quickly and efficiently break through their thick, stubborn skulls without turning them into sobbing wrecks that hid under their beds and hoped that the world would leave them alone. And since he couldn't cheat by forcing a giant gender swap on them, he'd need to do it the hard way.
Maybe have all these idiot men work some demeaning jobs that they usually made their women do, all the while being bossed around by a woman, and vice versa?
...But that would probably just make them resentful rather than force them to understand that the opposing gender was really not that different. People were dense like that.
For some mutual respect to develop, he needed to engineer a situation where they would be forced to rely on each other, leaving them no choice but to admit to themselves that men/women were not an inferior species. A situation which would stress them out the the point where they didn't care who was next to them as long as they were on the same side. Something difficult and perhaps mildly dangerous that would make them value their allies in spite of their own prejudices, thereby paving the way for those prejudices to be abandoned.
A slow grin started spreading across Naruto's face as he realized that he could actually create such a situation without too much difficulty, and as an extra bonus it would probably take care of a number of other issues as well.
Oma was startled yet again when Naruto suddenly surged to his feet after another several minute long silence.
"Sorry to bail on you like this in the middle of our romantic conversation cupcake, but I really need to talk to a man about a thing." He said just as abruptly as he'd stood up.
"What thing?" Oma asked, feeling a sudden sense of alarm at what kind of madness had just occurred to the horned man. The manic grin on his face boded ill. The implication of this being a romantic conversation was easily ignored as yet another thing he did to throw her off her stride.
"A thing that I'm not telling you about yet, you'd just try to talk me out of it and I don't feel like dealing with that right now." He answered and marched away.
Oma's sense of unease grew stronger.