Chapter 57

The battle ended and it was a surprise to everyone. It was a battle filled with twists and turns. Everyone though that Naruto would win easily because of Asura and then they saw the digi-destined turn the tables with proper tactics.

It looked like they would win and then Naruto showed his trump card. It looked like Naruto had it in the bag and then the other team showed their hand.

Putting the battle on an uncertain point, but then Naruto really showed the power of his digimon and ended the battle with utter ease.

Truly no one predicted how the battle would go and it showed everyone how things were difficult to predict, and anything could happen.

Looking at the battle, Naruto's team was put under further pressure. It was worse seeing that even the digi-destined were doing better than them.

Takato was challenged and a fire was lit in his heart while Henry decided that he needed guidance in his field. Henry knew that it was extremely difficult to keep up through normal means, so he needed to focus on robotics and programming.

Rika wasn't worried about Kari at the moment since Luna was stronger than Aaliyah without the crest amp. However, Naruto's power was definitely alarming. Just like the others she was happy for him, but it also meant being left behind.

Was there really a way for them to catch up?

It was the question that went through their minds over the week they had separated and they had yet to find the answer.

However, they understood that without persistence and determination it was impossible. It might even require them to put their lives on the line for such power.

The only way they could reach Naruto's level of power was to modify their digimon with chrome digizoid or they would never reach him.

Naruto had used black, gold, blue and normal chrome digizoid which gave Asura multiple upgrades other than durability.

Speed, durability, strength, resistance to elements, energy reserves, immunity to low level attacks, regeneration and a natural barrier to stop all attacks.

With just those abilities, anyone would know that it was impossible for any champion digimon to defeat Asura in battle and even majority of Ultimate would never defeat him.

It was why the only way for the digi-destined was to use Meicoomon or they would have fought pointlessly.

It meant that for Rika to even consider Luna to fight Asura, she would have to reach the new level before him. However, that was impossible and she wasn't skilled as Naruto to actually use that gap properly.

"The only way we can stand together is to surpass the norm. I will be training with my grandmother until I can find my path. What about you Henry?"

"I have decided to work with the Digimon Development team led by my father, so I can help the team my way. I believe you will definitely find your path, Rika." Henry replied calmly, he was the only one on the team to have an advantage over Naruto so his path was clear at the moment.

Rika nodded and trusted herself to find the path. She was extremely persistent and had no plan to falter. She was even willing to dive into the dark zone, if it meant that she would get the power.

Both looked towards Takato to hear about his plans to see if he needed their help.

"I have been thinking about it for a week and it was truly difficult to see what could bring me on that level. However, I saw the light. I have decided to visit the Legend Arms and focus on weapon creation. I love to draw and imagine powerful items, so I want to utilize my creativity and see if it gets me where I want."

Just like that, Rika found that she was the only one losing here.

Seeing Takato and Henry look away made her almost kick their asses. Without another word, Rika left the boys before she broke their jaws.

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Leaving aside the team, Naruto was summoned to a meeting right after the battle. With permission, Naruto was teleported to the central tower directly outside the meeting room where Tai was waiting for him.

"Hey there hero, you have certainly kept your promise to keep me on my toes. Really, what goes through your mind to take such decisions?" Tai was excited as he shook hands with Naruto. He was truly taken by Naruto's initiative and outside the box thinking.

It reminded him of the fact that he had not fully utilized his resources. He was the holder of the crest of courage so great things were expected of him, but he had yet to surpass the norm with his digimon.

However, Naruto had reminded him that the path wasn't straight and there were multiple paths to power. Digimon had so many conditions and evolutions, so who knew what was hidden.

It was up to them to discover the truth.

"I just like to explore all possibilities and risk is part of our life, so we just have to embrace it." Naruto answered seriously since he could see that his friend was still searching for an answer.

"You are right. Without risk there really isn't much benefit and we can't really avoid it. Thanks for reminding me, Naruto. I will have to depend on you take care of Kari." Tai said as he put his hands on Naruto's shoulders. His seriousness could be felt from his gaze, and it seems that he was ready to risk his life for his goal.

"I know you will succeed, brother."

"I know I will, now let's go before he calls for us." Tai smiled and led Naruto inside the room which was massive in size.

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Everyone was gathered in this one room, physically or virtually. It was the gathering of the strongest heroes of humanity.

At the core was the Digital Emperor, EmperorGreymon also known as Takuya and on his side was MagnaGarurumon also called Koji.

These two were the strongest fighters from the human side with Emperor being the physically strongest and Magna being the fastest being.

These two had lost their human body long ago and completely merged to their digimon because of continuous battles while using the Hyper Spirit Evolution. It was the risk shared by the Bio-Matrix Evolution as well.

These two were not the only one since all Ancients had completely fused to their digimon. Though, they could easily transform their bodies to their previous human forms.

These two were not the only one that reached a powerful transformation as all their colleagues had reached a level of power that was almost impossible to achieve.

There was Zoe who had transformed her Wind Spirit Digimon to the max and attained the evolution called Holy Kazemon. It was looked exactly like her real form with wings and armor, losing the clawed hands for human hands and bearing a blade.

Following that there was Rhihimon the Spirit of Darkness, Ancient Mermaidmon of the Spirit of Water, Wendigomon (AncientTroiamon) the Spirit of Wood, Ancient Wisemon the spirit of Steel, Surtrmon the Spirit of Earth, Bergelmirmon the Spirit of Ice and RhinoKabuterimon the spirit of thunder.

However, these were just the old powerful beings and the room also contained the other generations of heroes.

There was the daughter of the Emperor, Kara and she was strong enough to be classified as a Mega Digimon. However, it was her partner that was extremely powerful. Eosmon was a powerful ultra Digimon that put Kara on the same level as the Ancients.

The Hero of Egypt and the person second to the Ancients, Atem with his partner Exodia and Slifer. Beside him sat his teammates, Marik, Kaiba and Joey.

These three possessed Ra, Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Gilford.

Other than this team, there were the Avengers: Steve (Justimon), Sentry (Appolomon), Hulk (Daemon), Wanda (Plutomon) and Thor with his Odinmon.

There were the Peace Makers from India: Karna with his Shivamon and Arjuna with his Genshamon

There were the Rising Dragons from China: Kyuan Yin Zorn with his Zhuqiomon and Zheng Zu with his Pangumon

There were the Immortals from African Continent: Aba (Orunmillamon), Bello (Olorunmon), Faruq (Osanyinmon) and Zendaya (Oyamon).

There was the Japan Digimon Task force: Richard (Kentaurosmon), Marcus (Shine Greymon), Thomas (Mirage Gaogamon), Kushina (Duramon) and Minato (Metallicdramon).

There was the Uzumaki clan: Jiraiya (Samudramon), Aizen (Titanmon) and Roberta (BelleStarmon).

There was the Nonaka Clan: Seiko (Kuzuhamon Miko Mode), Rumiko (Sanzomon) and Yu (Izanagimon).

Finally there was the Digi-Destined: Yamato, Izzy (Hercules Kubuterimon), Sora (Hououmon), Joe (Plesiomon) and Mimi (Lotosmon).

It was the gathering of the strongest individuals across the globe showing the importance they put on Naruto. All of the gathered individuals were at least close to his peak power, meaning planet level power, and there were many that were beyond his capability.

In the gathering Naruto could see Mega Level Digimon and amongst them were the transcendental Mega Digimon that surpassed the level of Mega but not achieve Ultra Rank.

Mega Rank Covered power levels from Continental to Large Planet Level while Ultra level started at the Star Level and the end was unknown.

The Strongest Ultra digimon were Galactusmon, Phoenixmon, Supermanmon: Prime Million, Gogetamon: Blue, Alphamon, RagnaLordmon, Armamon, Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, Brolymon, Apocalymon, Ogudamon, Lucemon: Shadow Lord mode, Eosmon, Artoriamon: Holy Lance and Grandracmon.

All these digimon had power beyond the range of Star level and even reached the universal range.

However, they were not the strongest either.

The two ultimate creatures were, King Drasil (Yggdrasil) and Shakamon.

With such powerful beings out there, it made humanity look insignificant when the strongest amongst them was just a solar system level being.

Emperor Greymon and Magna Garurumon were stronger than majority of the Royal Knights but once Alphamon took charge then it was a dangerous battle for them. The other Ancients combined could also barely help turn the table and give humanity victory over the Royal Knights.

However, Royal Knights were not the only digimon that were a threat to humanity. Royal Knights along with their Ilk, Olympus 12, Asgard 12, Takamaghara 12 (Japan), Mount Tai (China) and such were not really against humanity most of the time. It was the other digimon that were a threat and there were many of them in numbers that humanity would have perished if not for the rulers of the sectors like the Royal Knights.

It was the reason why humanity was in a volatile situation because even their survival depended on others at the moment. It was lucky that the sector guardians helped them along with the Celestial Digimon, and especially because Shakamon was a gentle being that loved all creatures.

It was in this meeting that Naruto learned about all these powerful digimon and knew the real situation of the world around him.

He could now see why some people gave in to total despair when knowing the truth. It was mindboggling and horrifying to the extreme. It was the first time in his life he had put in a situation where he couldn't even see the path to victory.

Emperor talked to Naruto directly and asked him if he had anything to share with them that could help humanity. The group would have normally summoned him when he had reached Mega level, but Naruto proved that he was already good enough to join them.

His deeds had been analyzed and they knew that Naruto had something that helped him reach such a power level. It brought them some measure of hope that they could utilize it and reach a new level of power. Naruto was weak and he reached Mega, so if they used it then they would finally achieve stability.

It was the ideal dream, but they kept their expectations in check because reality was never so easy.

Understanding the situation, Naruto explained about Senjutsu while hoping that it would help somewhat. He knew it was nothing new to them but maybe the different method of gaining power would help them achieve enlightenment.

Just as he had expected, his answer didn't bolster their confidence. Nonetheless, they thanked Naruto for sharing his secret skill and passed him an artifact that could help further amplify the power of his Senjutsu.

It was a necklace called Blessing of Nature made by the Ancients on the spot for him. It contained their combined powers, utilizing the spirits of nature.

Regardless of the fact that Naruto's power wasn't exactly unique, it showed that Naruto himself was unique. The spirits of nature resonated with him showing that he was highly compatible with the Ancient spirits and the world itself. It meant that if they supported him, Naruto would reach the power beyond the stars while utilizing nature.

Having the necklace in hand, Naruto thought about it and decided to share his research on the Baryon mode.

From his knowledge, the Emperor could definitely utilize this method to have one time enormous power up.

With Baryon Mode brought up, the whole room was in uproar and their souls brightened up. Naruto had brought them hope of getting out of the darkness.

It was a onetime death technique but even that it was enough for now. Knowing about it meant that all of them could put their mind into research and further develop it.

Naruto had contributed greatly on his first meeting and was further rewarded by the Emperor.

He received the Equipment Set of the Stars made personally by the Emperor along with the Spirit of Earth and Steel.

It was the armor of the Sun and earrings of the stars along with the spear that tore through stars.

Vasavi Shakti was the name of the spear and it was capable of nullifying immortality and regeneration along with greatly boosting the power of Yin-Yang, light and darkness.

Kavacha and Kundala was a powerful defensive-type artifact that emitted the radiance of the sun, integrated with the user's body. Because its light itself taken shape, it is difficult to destroy even for Mega Digimon. While it appears massive, it's an invincible armor that disregards physics and concepts to curtail antagonistic interference. The armor doesn't nullify all attacks, but instead reduces the damage it takes to one-tenth. When facing an attack more powerful than what his armor can safely handle on its own by forcefully invoking the True Name of this artifact, the user can momentarily becomes the very radiance of the sun, due the nigh-indestructible armor being imbued with the Emperor's power. The user will become nigh invincible for five seconds before the armor disintegrates.

However the set was too powerful for Naruto at the moment, so it was in sleep mode and weakened to allow Naruto to use it or the mere pressure from the set would kill him.

Naruto was blown back by the gift since he hadn't given the information for a reward and even then it was too much. Naruto tried to give it back and said it was better with someone else since he wasn't strong enough to use it.

It was then he learned that the Ancients had not just been fighting and research in the human world wasn't just applied on the lower end. All the powerful tamers approved by the Emperor received artifacts to maximize their potential.

It was the only way that humanity could fight against creatures that were naturally beyond their capability. It was the ingenuity and creativity held within them or they would fall once one of them died.

Looking at the situation, Naruto saw the leader he should have been. The Emperor truly covered up everything within his palm and let the small things get taken care by small people.

It was how he should have reacted as the Hokage.

Naruto accepted the gift and sat through the meeting as they discussed the new developments and plans.

It was here that Naruto's eyes further opened to the wider world. It was here that a connection to his world showed up.

Naruto learned about the Otsutsuki and now knew that they were creatures under King Drasil. Just like Galactus, the Otsutsuki were used by the King to put the world through trials.

These creatures were parasites that would plant a tree to suck life from the planet inhabited by sentient creatures and devour the life force along with the knowledge.

The survivors of the trial would receive a blessing from the King while the vanquished shall become meals to further strengthen the Otsutsuki.

In both situations, King Drasil succeeded since he only desired to strengthen world around him through trial and error.

It was the madness of that creature and it had been going on from millions of years. It had not stopped and it continued without stop, and none had ever managed to stop its plans.

Knowing that his enemies were the servants of King Drasil gave Naruto a direct reason to hate the creature and to seek him out.

Naruto felt like sharing his secret when he learnt that the group had also come across humanity from other universes. However, he didn't share it because it would mean danger for his world. The group prioritized their Universe and by going to his world, they would open a gate for the digital world connecting to his world.

It would only further increase the problems in his world. Right now he needed to grow before making that decision, because it would mean bringing the risks with him.

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A.N. Hope you enjoyed