Chapter 146 – Superior Sage Mode
“Oh, all that happened,” Naruto sat in his office, watching Sasuke with a solemn look.
“Don’t just, oh, that just happened,” Shikamaru held his head, feeling a headache, “What are we supposed to do with that news? Momoshiki was defeated like he was nothing more than a baby, you know? What kind of power could even do that?”
“From what I could tell,” Sasuke thought back to the moment where space was destroyed onto itself, “Gravity, and high level one in one instant at that. The other power I saw him use was when he changed the vector of Momoshiki’s attack, reflecting it.”
“Hah, and if that is so…” Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, “I could think of more than a few dangerous abilities from his statement about his powers. Still, did they go to hell to save him?”
“Right, Sasuke. You didn’t go?”
“I wanted to go and see, but you can only travel to these realms as a Soul. It would still take some time before I have absorbed enough Spiritual Energy to ensure that my Soul can take my strength. I planned to use Rinnegan to absorb more of it, so I returned.”
“Hm, that’s a good idea. Now that we know how to make the Soul stronger, you should start teaching them to Anbu. We can finally begin cooperating with the local Shinigami rather than leave all the work to them.”
“True,” Sasuke breathed, “It worries me…the power of those who stand at the top of that world.”
Naruto leaned back on the chair, smiling, “Don’t worry. They aren’t the only ones evolving…so are we. This is what Tsunade-sama taught me recently.”
Naruto closed his eyes, and a burst of energy warped around the Hokage room, shoving everything down, shaking even Shikamaru and Sasuke.
Naruto opened his eyes, but there was no change, and soon the abnormal pressure disappeared.
“That was?”
“Sage Mode – Union,” Naruto breathed, “It’s a Sage Mode that anyone could master as long as they have Chakra and Spiritual Energy. Moreover, there isn’t any side effect when trying to master it. Or any need for a particular amount of chakra. On the other hand, that side doesn’t have physical bodies, so not all of them could master this power. We might not have the outrageous abilities, but this will be a boost to our physical stats.”
“Lady Tsunade,” Sasuke breathed, “I see; that’s a good thing then. I will start training the Anbu’s. Do you have a scroll?”
“Yes, it’s all here,” Naruto took one out from the drawer, “Then we’d have to teach the Jonins, and I plan on sharing this with other villages.”
“Hey, Naruto. We were still discussing that. We can’t just spread the knowledge of an afterlife, or the number of suicides would drastically increase.”
“I don’t plan on spreading it, but I plan to share it with the Kage’s. They can decide whom to give to at their leisure. The least we can do is make sure that Jonin’s class has it. With this power-up…most Jonins will slightly surpass the Kage Level. And the Kage’s would be as strong as the strongest Kage’s like the Third Raikage. It should be a huge boost to our combat strength,” Naruto looked towards the village, “We should focus on Scientific Ninja Tools to increase our strength further. Otsutsuki…and Hollows. Let alone there is that warning from Lady Tsunade…our strength is nowhere near enough.”
Outside Land of Silence,
“Finally, we are out of there,” Mirai stretched her arms, taking in the sweet scent of free air, “Let’s hurry and get out before those criminals come after us again.”
“Yes,” Karin gasped for breath, “No wonder Guren didn’t want to come here. We can’t even fight so many of them. Gee, it’s so annoying!”
Yuzu took out a hand towel from her ninja tool bag, gently wiping Karin’s sweat, “It’s ok. Now that we are out, there shouldn’t be any trouble.”
Karin abruptly widened her eyes, panicking, covering Yuzu’s mouth, “Idiot! Don’t you dare plant flags like those!”
“Fwblags?” Yuzu blinked, and the next moment, they heard their enemy's voice.
“Hey, I finally found you people. You are the ones that took Hashirama Cells, right?”
Karin moved in front of Yuzu, protecting her, “See, I told you not to say foolish things like those.”
“Hey, you three, be careful. He’s in a different league than others,” Mugino warned them. Even though the opponent had barely made a move, he could tell there was power.
Mirai narrowed her eyes, watching the tall and pale man of skinny yet well-defined build with short greyish purple hair and orange-red eyes. He had a tattoo of the Roman numeral "Ⅶ" below his eyes and light blue lipstick. He wore a black cloak with a maroon inner color and shinobi sandals.
But it was the deranged look in his eyes made her more cautious, “We are from Konoha, and Cells of our Founder, The Fast Hokage is the Property of the Village. We are here to bring them back, nothing more, nothing less.”
“Huh? Like I care about any of that,” The man’s right hand changed, seemingly becoming metallic. He made a fist pointing at them, grinning with bloodthirst, “Since you don’t want to give them, then I will take it off your dead body.”
“Attack at once!!” Mugino went towards the left while Mirai used swift style to go from the front, but the one who froze was Karin. She wanted to stop them, but there were so many to stop that it made her hesitate when making a decision.
On the other hand, Yuzu narrowed her eyes, forming a bow, firing a thousand arrows in the blink of an eye. They went from above Karin’s shoulder, colliding with the bullet, taking them out, “Karin, leave the ranged attacks to me!”
Karin clenched her jaw, looking with an eager gaze, “Haha! Awesome, Yuzu!”
She rushed forward, lowering her body to reach the man that roman numeral, slashing her sword upward. At the same time, Mugino and Mirai reached from the left and right.
“Heh! You are something!” The man stood there, covering his body in the metallic element, forming an armor, taking their attack head-on with flinching, “But you are still too weak.”
He punched Mugino’s face, dropping him to the ground before pushing back Karin. But the moment he was about to connect to Mirai, she moved back, using Swift Release to appear behind his back, attacking it.
Ordinarily, any person would be caught off guard by Swift Release, but not this one. He could still keep up with the speed of Swift Release. The man looked over his shoulder, having defended his back using the Jutsu. The moment he looked over, a barrage of arrows came towards him, but he fired bullets without even looking, blocking them, “Hahahahaha!! This is so much more fun than I thought! Fill me us!!”
“That guy’s a monster!” Karin made hand signs, “Fire Release: One Finger!”
She concentrated fire on the tip of the finger, using the compression of her spiritual energy to compress the chakra, firing a beam that cuts through the ground like cutting through the water, but it had no effect on the man.
“Haha, I can easily manipulate the molecular bonds of carbon; there is no way these little tricks would do anything to me!” He moved superhumanly, appearing in front of Karin and slamming his leg to the side. But Karin kept up with his speed this time.
“Fire Release: Fire Spread Technique!” The Fire covered the Katana in her hand, emanating intense heat, which she wielded to collide with the enemy’s leg. The fire spread through his legs, making him from, but he pulled back his leg, lashing it again.
She forced out the chakra from her toes and heels, pushing herself back, observing the enemy’s leg, “No change…not enough heat. It seems that I have to bring out big guns! Everyone, give me some space!”
Mugino, Mirai, and Yuzu, who was about to jump in the battle, exchanged a look, backing off.
“Hahaha! Are you going to show me something good?!”
“Fire Release! Great Spear!” Karin completed the preparation, making the hand signs, releasing a massive amount of chakra, visibly turning into a fire before it surrounded her arm in the form of a spiral spear.
She planted her feet on the ground, using the chakra to hold herself in place, piercing the ground with the katana, “Takeeee!! Thisssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!”
She shot the Spear of Fire, radiating intense heat, melting the ground, incinerating everything it touched.
“Wonderful!! Brat!!!!!!!!!!!!” The man focused all the carbon around him to power his right hand, punching with everything he got. The winds burst outwards, creating a crater around them, tearing the trees apart. Even the three standing in the distance felt the intense heat brush past them.
The explosion centered in between, with Karin shouting in rage, putting more chakra into her attack, causing fire to cover the enemy from top to bottom. The intense collision resulted in the blast, throwing her off, but the one they were fighting covered in the point-blank explosion.
She landed a few hundred meters away, looking towards her arm that was burnt, “Ah, Yuzu is going to chew my head off for doing this.”
“Really? That was a good try?”
“What?” Karin instinctively used the flash step to move away, looking at the man covered in full body armor, black on one side and white on the other. She had a lot of questions, but the habit of counter-attacking without thought was built in her.
She made the hand signs in the air, and fire burst out of her palm, forming a sharp sword, “Fire Release: Five Fingers!”
She slammed her fingers forward, but he appeared beside her, grabbing her by her wrist and slamming his knee in her stomach. She curled forward, coughing out blood and saliva before her body was hurled through the air, striking against the tree.
She fell face-first with a hazy look, “What the hell….”
“Karin!” Yuzu and Mirai appeared before them while Mugino tried to attack him. Only for him to be kicked away.
“Storm Style! Laser Circus!!!”
Yuzu used this chance to pull Spiritual Energy and Natural Energy from the Air, Balancing it with her Spiritual Energy and Chakra, “Superior Sage Mode.”
Blue veins started spreading over her arm, neck, and eye, and the bow in her hand became the size of her body. She narrowed her eyes, giving off massive pressure and a strange calm. She pulled on an arrow made of concentrated energy, “Please, try not to die.”
“Huh?” The pale man dodged the laser when he noticed the arrow that could easily half the size of his body leave the bow, moving at a speed that even he couldn’t dodge. It hit him like a truck, shaking his body inside and moving across a long distance before falling.
A gigantic explosion covered miles of the area around the point of explosion, destroying everything, reaching more than tens of miles high in the sky. Even those like Mugino and Mirai, who were watching it from afar, felt their jaw slack, “That girl…she could destroy mountains with an attack like that! How is she a Genin!”
Yuzu let out a breath, having used all the energy she managed to collect before she hastily walked over to Karin, “Karin! Are you ok?!”
Karin leaned against the tree, holding her stomach, wiping the blood off her lips, “I didn’t know you could do that….”
Yuzu dazedly grinned, “Ehehe, it was easy to master….”
“A Quincy’s control over energy...hah, it’s just plain unfair,” Karin smiled. She raised her hand, patting Yuzu’s head, “Ah well. It’s good. Now I wouldn’t worry about you so much.”
A few miles away, the Centre of the explosion,
“Oye, you alive?”
Deepa, the pale man, opened his eyes, looking at the pretty boy with pink hair, golden eyes, and a leaf headband on his arm, “Here to finish me off?”
“Not at all,” Guren dropped a container with Hashirama Cells beside him, grinning sweetly, “Show me. What you plan to do with these, I’ll come to kill you and take the fruits of your hardships. Deal?”
Guren stood up, waving his hand, disappearing from Deepa’s sight, who started laughing, “Hahahahahhahahaha!! Kill them!!! I will kill them and taste their despair!!”
Guren watched him from the corner of his eyes, standing on the branch of the tree, with a smile hanging on his lips, “I wonder if their plan would succeed? As for the chakra they need….”
He smiled, turning his attention to where Karin, Yuzu, Mirai, and Mugino were. He used instant steps, covering the distance between them until he reached the point where they could see him, “You guys sure created a mess.”
“You are here,” Mirai fell on her knees, letting a sigh of relief, “To think that such a monster would appear out of nowhere.”
“I think you were brilliant in your dealings with the enemy. Wonderful show,” Guren clapped his hands, watching Karin, “And those Jutsu’s, using Spiritual Energy to form Unique Jutsu’s that can’t be mastered with Chakra alone. I must say I am impressed.”
Yuzu puffed her cheek, watching him with eager eyes, wanting praise or two for herself.
“Yes, you two,” Guren patted her head, “You were amazing.”
Mirai watched the two of them grin happily, pouting, puffing her chest out, “I was amazed too. Using the Swift Release and all.”
She opened her eyes, watching the three of them looking at her, and a blush covered her face. Thankfully for her, Mugino cleared his throat, bringing all the attention towards him, “Guren, why are you here?”
“Oh, Mr. Anato and Mrs. Mai are good now. But there was someone else who was affected by the cells, and so after she was cured, I brought her here to her family. Just, I didn’t think I would encounter your four.”
“Oh, someone else? And did you say they are fine? Did Anato tell you anything?”
“Yes. He told me much, but we should get out of here first,” Guren walked a step forward before falling towards Mirai, leaving her no choice but to catch him, “What are you doing?!”
“Mirai Nee-chan, I am so tired, running here; carry me?”
“Nee-chan?” Mirai’s face flushed again before she stood up, taking him in her arms, looking at his innocent expression, “Oh, fine! Since you are so tired, then I will carry you!”
“No, you expended much of your chakra, let me,” Mugino offered, making Yuzu and Karin grin.
Guren fluttered his eyelids at Mugino, seeing him purely, “I am not comfortable being carried by a man….”
Mugino scratched his cheek while Mirai turned away, protectively holding Guren in her arms, “Right. I’ll carry him, so don’t come closer.”
“Hey, stop looking at me like that! I didn’t mean it like that!”
“Gee, I’m hurt here,” Karin stood up with Yuzu’s held, only to see Guren smile before jumping out of Mirai’s arm, “Fine, fine.”
He picked her up, “I guess you do deserve this.”
“Weren’t you tired!” Mirai watched him in shock. She felt the gazes of everyone observing her.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t realize that he was trying to sexually harass you?” Karin watched her in pity, while Yuzu’s kind smile hurt her more.
“I…he…sexually harass?”
Guren walked past her, shooting a look at Karin, who blabbed all his secret, “Oh, you. Don’t make me drop you.”
“Just try dropping me,” Karin rolled her eyes, resting her head on his chest.
Mugino walked with them, making plans, “Let’s go to Yubina’s station. There we can decide what to do next. I have some questions for Mr. Anato.”
“Good idea.”
Kurosaki Household,
Jun walked inside the house, finding Isshin sitting on the dining table, with Masaki putting the places and food, “You two are home.”
“No, it’s our ghost,” Jun rolled his eyes, “I came back to haunt you.”
“You brat, you are not cute at all,” Isshin gave him a sidelong glance, watching him sit down, “You always create trouble for your brother. Next time doesn’t do something so stupid.”
“It’s not stupid. If I don’t, then there is a chance that all hell might break loose.”
Isshin put his hand on Jun’s head, “Then let it. We’ll fight it together.”
Jun looked away, seeing Ichigo’s face before Masaki hugged him from behind, “Welcome home….”
He parted his lips, closing them, smiling softly, “I am home.”
“Mm, you are.”
Ichigo looked at the dinner, reminding him, “Your weapons are at Mr. Hat and Clogs’ shop. What do you plan to do with those?”
“Those? I don’t need them. Well, Sokyoku would do for case scenarios. Others….maybe I should give them to someone who could wield them?”
Isshin grinned, inching closer to Jun, hugging his shoulder, laughing, “Hahaha, Jun. Do you know you are my favorite child?”
“I am right here,” Ichigo glared at his shitty father with narrowed eyes.
“Hm?” Jun rubbed his chin, watching Isshin with interest, “Let’s see. I have so much planned for you.”
Isshin trembled in fright when Masaki patted his head, “Come on, don’t tease your father too much.”
Isshin let out a relieved breath, “Wife!!”
“Hey, Shitty Dad, she said don’t tease too much?” Jun grinned, making Isshin shudder and cry out, “Wifeeeee~~!!!”