Chapter 316: Goodbyes
Disclaimer:
Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 316: Goodbyes
"Pack your things. We have to leave a bit earlier than expected," Naruto suddenly said.
Hinata and Ino were startled by his sudden change in demeanor. They could tell by a quick glance at his face just how serious the situation was.
"And I assume you don't have time to explain anything to us," Ino said.
"Someone dangerous has appeared, and she'll be looking for me now," Naruto told them.
"She?" Hinata raised an eyebrow.
While they returned to their room, got dressed, and grabbed their belongings, Naruto tried to offer them an explanation of what he had discovered.
"A Goddess?... But you said that no true gods can exist here," Ino commented.
"I only said that she called herself an otherworldly Goddess, not that she truly is one. At least… not yet."
"Not yet?" Hinata looked at him with curiosity. "What do you mean?"
"This one has the right idea, at least. She wants to absorb all the Nine-Tailed Beasts and use their chakra to improve her own. And she knows I have seven of them. So she's very interested in me right now," Naruto explained.
"Where did this Goddess come from? I'm sure I'd remember if someone like her had popped up in any of our files," Ino said.
"That… I don't know." Naruto glanced at the moon through the window of their room. "I'm sure it has something to do with that strange individual named Zetsu and with Akatsuki."
"Akatsuki's goal was to unite all the Tailed Beasts. You think it was to bring this goddess back?" Hinata suggested.
"I doubt it." The memories he got from the clone suggested that the few remaining members had perished in that same location. "Maybe it was the intention of one particular member, but definitely not everyone."
He recalled his conversation with Pain, who at the time was supposed to be the leader of the organization. His idea of how to use the power of the Bijuus had nothing to do with bringing back some Godlike individual who would then absorb all the chakra beasts for her own benefit.
"It doesn't matter!" Ino exclaimed. "All you have to do is kick this woman' ass and all will be well, right?"
"When you put it like that…" Hinata said.
"Come on. I'll get you back to Konoha, and then I'll go pay a visit to this pretender." Naruto was in a bit of a rush.
Once Kaguya finished assimilating all the chakra she had obtained, her next move would likely be to search for him. And the most obvious place to find him would be… Konoha.
He didn't want another wannabe God in the village. He had promised to protect the place, so that wouldn't do.
"Okay, ready?." Naruto asked them.
"Ready," the two girls said to him.
In a moment, they disappeared from the room and were once more in their home in Konoha.
"Home, sweet home." Hinata smiled when she saw the house. She was looking forward to being able to return to living here.
"That was a short trip," Ino pouted.
"We'll make another one once this is all over," Naruto promised them.
"Naruto… there's something you're not telling us, isn't there?" Hinata asked.
"Is there?" Ino asked. "What are you not telling us? Is it about that woman?"
"It's not the woman that concerns me. When the fight is over and I've collected all the chakra I need… I'll be breaking into the Immortal Ascension Stage. This is the last stage of the mortal realm, and with that comes…"
"Another tribulation?" Hinata asked with concern. She still remembered what happened the last time quite vividly. Naruto almost died.
"Another one of those lightning strikes? Naruto, the last one, almost killed you! You can't do that again," Ino exclaimed.
"It's not like I have much of a choice. I won't be able to progress any further if I'm too scared to face this tribulation." This was an option that many cultivators took.
Not everyone was stuck at the Nascent Soul or Spirit Transformation stage because they lacked talent or resources, but because after much deliberation, they concluded that they could not survive the resulting tribulation, and thus decided to stay where they were and lock their cultivation in place.
This meant that they would just live the rest of their natural life and die, with no hope of progressing any further.
But those were always tired old men who had only barely managed to break through by some miracle and didn't think they could pull it off again.
Naruto was still young and full of vitality.
"I have no plans on dying… I will conquer this tribulation and continue on my path to the peak," Naruto said with a serious tone. He still had one ace up his sleeve that he hadn't used yet.
"Aren't you powerful enough already? I mean, there's no one in the entire continent who will ever come close to you… Why do you always want more?" Ino complained.
"Because that's who he is." Hinata seemed to understand him a little better. She knew that once he made up his mind, there was no turning back.
"It is the path I have chosen, and I will not give up. You could say it's my ninja way," Naruto spoke with confidence.
"Tch… ninja way. You never really cared much about ninja stuff," Ino pointed out.
"I care about two ninjas in particular," Naruto told them.
Hinata approached and hugged him tightly. "If you do, then come back alive."
Naruto glanced at Ino and extended his hand.
Ino sighed and joined the hug. "This is not a goodbye hug. You better come back or I'll go find you and break your bones."
"You have my word. I will return to this place, no matter what," Naruto promised them.
After saying his goodbyes, Naruto used the signature left behind by his clone as a jumping point and vanished in a bolt of golden lightning.
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