74 Visitors

Alrighty.

First order of business is to put this scroll into orbit. The Kaiju might break out, but I don't want this thing going where I can't fight it. So, the best place to put it is up in space circling the planet where it is highly unlikely to be cognizant enough to actually try smashing its way out of orbit and down onto the ground.

At least not until I can get up there and welcome it back to real space with a punch to its face.

I'm getting giddy just thinking about this!

Anyway, up we go!

Flying Thunder God.

I ported directly to the top of the valley of the end, where my vault was situated. The twin statues of Hashirama and Madara standing at either side, glaring at each other as their great, ancient clash that changed the face of the elemental nations forever.

You know, since Naruto was a manga and anime back home, I wonder if the fight these two underwent became directly important to the plot beyond 'world building'. I never read Shippuden and I never even got to the end of the filler eps of the anime.

Eh, doubt it. It happened so long ago that anything impacting things beyond the scope of 'significant historical event' it unlikely.

Focus.

Lift Off.

I didn't need a specialized Explosion Release jutsu to lift off into the air and leave Earths gravity well. But as the ground disappeared beneath my feet and the sky swiftly went from blue to black as night, it became clear that I really, really wanted one.

Then I looked down and noted that, yeah, I had cleared the atmosphere. Most surprising thing about it? No stars. Though that's just because of light pollution from the sun, completely drowns out anything and everything else.

A shame, I was hoping for one of those picturesque scenes where you've got the sky from beyond earth, the sun is shining around the bend and the stars providing a diamond studded blanket for both celestial bodies to lay in.

Life sure has a way of disappointing everyone, doesn't it?

Whatever. Let's just come up with a solid release here and…

Space Station.

From my hands grew black matter, that twisted and knit together. It swiftly grew from ten feet to twenty to hundreds, until it was a cube, over a mile in volume. Well, it was large enough for it to stand up straight, walk around a little. Of course, once my space station was complete, the seals went in place.

Keep it in orbit around the planet. Make it bigger on the inside than it was on the outside with space release shenanigans. Does it eat anything? From the way its teeth looked, it seemed that it was strictly a carnivore but for some reason that wasn't enough to confirm it for me. If I knew for sure, I could set up an ecosystem in the station to keep it happy.

I teleported inside.

It was just a box. Some seals written with Shine release provided light for the massive room. In the center of the box was a rack for the scroll, which I carefully placed the scroll upon.

The next thing I needed to do was to ascertain where the Kaiju even came from. Did it just appear in the world out of nowhere? Did it fall from the sky? Did it climb out of the Earth?

Only one way to answer that question.

Eighty-Eight miles an hour – In Reverse.

Several hours ago, no space station. With that, I teleported back to the Land of Iron and looked around. I could see the walls of the main village, the name of which I'm going to learn before I meet with Mifune next time I see him. Below us, I saw random villages, the citizens going about their everyday lives.

Let's see…the Kaiju first appeared over there. So, let's keep our eyes on that spot and…

At first, there was nothing. Then there was Kaiju.

It was sudden. It had appeared out of thin air. The fact that it didn't cause windstorms simply by displacing all the air in his area when he appeared was cause for marvel all on his own. Then it roared, setting a jet of purple flames out from his mouth down to the villages below.

I checked the beasts face, looking for any hint of an expression. Beyond rage, there was none. Nothing to humanize this humanoid abomination. There was no hint of remorse, not even glee at the destruction he was causing. Just a resting rage face that didn't change when I finally appeared on the scene.

This thing strikes me as less a creature, and more a robot. Hm.

Return to the Present.

Alright, I'm back in Space. Let's head back down to the Vault, there's an experiment that I had forgotten to do before I went to go meet Mifune today.

Flying Thunder God.

So, I've experimented with rewinding time, traveling back in time, pausing…now let's go to the future.

88 Miles an Hour – Forwards

At first, all was well as I sent myself sprawling forwards through time. Then as I continued forward, it slowly started to turn to madness. There were people in my vault, then it was empty. There were infinite copies of Naruto eating at my table, each one slightly different, each one wearing a different expression. Some were delighted at the meal he was given, others disgusted. Ino and thousands of doppelgangers were running down my hall. Some alongside Sakura, others alongside Anko, some still alongside Hisako.

The walls had been destroyed, they had been reinforced, they had never existed in the first place. The vault was rusted through, the vault was rotted through, the vault was in pristine condition. Looking in the mirror, I was a teenager, I was an adult, I was a child.

…alright, that's enough.

Return to the Present.

Alrighty. Good news was that I still couldn't interact with anything. The bad news is that travelling forward through time actually has trouble locking down a timeline to actually plant me. I imagine that the only real way to travel forward would be to Fast Forward instead of trying to directly travel there.

Well, that was enlightening and I am not doing that again.

My thoughtful reverie was interrupted by the sound of bell chimes echoing through the vault, shaking the walls.

Oh. I guess I need to turn the bass down on my doorbell.

Also, whose ringing my doorbell?

I zipped over to the entrance. In the little mirror I had mounted on the side of the wall, I checked to make sure I looked presentable. What if it was Naruto or Ino or someone and they tracked me to the Valley of the End? I mean, I doubt it, but what if it was?

Wait, what am I doing?

Just use the chakra-sense perk that I grabbed to peek at who it might be?

Duh.

Okay, uh…huh.

On the other side of my vault door were the two biggest chakra reserves that I've ever seen in my entire life. Just looking at them make me wonder if they were as infinite as my own reserves and a quick look at my hand confirmed that, yeah, they were infinite.

My curiosity piqued, I opened the door.

Opening a vault door is not a quick thing. It took twenty to thirty seconds each time, which is part of why I preferred teleporting in and out of the vault. And, it was loud. Sometimes, the crashing and smashing of a massive, metal gear sliding out of place and rolling to the side to let me through was satisfying, but not every single time I had to make a trip out.

When the vault door finally finished rolling open, I floated forward across the metal bridge that extended through the door.

My two visitors weren't anyone I had ever seen before.

The first guest was a…demon. Yeah, lets call him a demon. He looked like a demon, floating off of the ground easily, his long white kimono falling past where his feet were. His skin was purple, his hair white with red horns coming out of his skull. Though his face was that of a human, purple skin notwithstanding, his mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth that were shown off with the, uh, friendly smile. He looked kind of familiar.

The second guest was decidedly more human looking, his skin a healthy pink color. He wore his long black hair long and clearly it was well groomed and maintained. He was wearing a dark green kimono with prints on the shoulders and front. A slightly closer inspection revealed that the prints weren't floral; they were scythes and blades. His black and red eyes reminded me of the Sharingan, but there was no spinning tomoe and the sclera were black as well. Around his neck was an amulet of an upside-down triangle with a circle around it.

"Hello there," I greeted with a wave as I touched down on the ground. "I'm Shimoda Daisuke. Who might you two be?"

The second guest simply smirked and bowed. "Shimoda-dono. My name is Jashin, I don't believe you've heard of me and this? This is the Shinigami."

"A pleasure to meet you once again," The, uh…Shinigami bowed in the air. "May we come in? We have some things we'd like to discuss."

Oh.

Oh.

I've been visited by other gods.

Well, that explains the chakra levels.

"I suppose I can invite you in," I replied, finally bowing back to them. I lifted off the ground and floated into the vault. "Come in. You can leave your geta on your feet if you'd prefer, I don't care either way."

"Thank you, Shimoda-dono," The Shinigami called after me as the two followed me inside.

You know, I didn't think I'd ever have to play host to anyone more official than Naruto or my old Genin team. The whole point of the vault was to get away from politics and crap, but then again, if I hadn't wanted gods to come calling, I shouldn't have ascended to godhood.

I lead them to my office and gestured for them to have a seat. While they did so, I sat behind my desk.

"I was told that your soul wasn't originally from here," Jashin said idly. "Most mortals prefer sitting on mats than chairs."

Ah, yeah. That's right. "Thank you for the reminder, Jashin-dono. Now, did either of you want anything? I have water, tea and elixir."

Jashin and Shinigami shared just the briefest of glances. "Thin tea would be fine."

"Elixer, if you'd please," The Shinigami said.

"What flavor?" I asked.

"Apple," The Shinigami answered with a grin.

Mixing and creating tea was actually something we had to learn how to do in the Academy as part of our infiltration courses so we could masquerade as assistants to tea masters should the time call for it. I still felt weird offering tea, though. Old world religion still has that streak in me.

Still wasn't going to be stocking sake, though, which would've been the most appropriate drink to offer.

"Coming up," I said, using solid release to create both drinks out of chakra in front of them. With chakra threads, I handed both drinks to their owners.

"An amusing parlor trick," Jashin complimented with a smirk. He took a sip of his tea. "Good tea, too."

The Shinigami took a gulp of his elixir and sighed in contentment. "I haven't had apple in a long time."

"Now, what is it that you wanted to speak to me about?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, summoning a cup of ice-cold water.

"First," Jashin began. "We wanted to first to congratulate you on your ascension and formally recognize you as one of our own."

"Oh, well. Thank you," I replied with a smile. "How many gods are there?"

"Just the three of us," Shinigami replied. "Myself, the god of death and Jashin, the god of evil."

God of what?

"Now before you attempt to turn your righteous fury on me," Jashin said, putting the cup down and looking me directly in the eye. "Know that I came here with nothing but the friendliest of intentions and am looking forward to the competition that you will bring to the table."

"The competition," I repeated levelly. "Alright. I'll hear you out, at least."

"Certainly," Jashin nodded. "In case you haven't noticed, this world has only two driving forces; death and foul intentions. It's part of why the world is in it's current predicament; there's been no other forces to balance them out, until now."

"The world's in the state that it's in because someone's deliberately engineering the wars and conflicts that the Elemental Countries have been in," I pointed out with a frown.

"That is because the main, driving force of evil has never even been contested," Jashin pointed out with a frown. "That's not how things are supposed to be. Evil has to rise up, act as a thorn in the side of civilization and cause those who are good to toughen up and sever its head. Then the good people have peace for a few generations, turn soft and allow evil to start working again and the cycle begins anew."

"So, you actually want your followers to fail," I replied, blinking owlishly.

"In this case, yes," Jashin nodded vigorously. "The one behind the shinobi wars has been working…slowly. Slothfully, truth be told. Watching him inch ever closer to his main goal when he could've had it several decades ago has been boring."

"Really? And who exactly is this person that's behind everything?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Now, now, that would be telling," Jashin shook his finger at me like I was a naughty child. He took another sip of his tea. "But I will tell you that I fully expect his attempts to reach his ultimate goal to get significantly harder just because you exist."

"Why, because I'm a god of good?" I asked with a smirk.

"More like a god of knowledge," Jashin replied, placing his tea-cup down. "And his plan relies on ignorance."

"So, what exactly do the two of you want, exactly?" I asked with a frown. "What are your goals? What are you trying to accomplish?"

"My goal was to automate death so that I didn't have to be present every single time someone's body failed as a soul jar," Shinigami replied, taking a gulp of his apple elixir. "I accomplished that centuries ago, so now I just watch mortals for entertainment."

"So, you've basically retired," I pointed out.

"Pretty much, yes," Shinigami nodded. "It's a good life."

"What about you, Jashin?" I asked. "You actually want your followers to fail?"

"He's not really a follower," Jashin said, making a wishy-washy gesture with his hand. "Just the main agent with how many people he affects with his actions. But I do want him to fail, if only because it would actually signal a return to the way things are supposed to be."

"Which is that cycle of bad people making good men strong, whose descendants become weak, allowing evil to flourish until they make good men strong?" I asked.

"I think you can sum it up better, but yes," Jashin nodded. "If evil wins, everyone dies in misery. That's just the nature of evil – it is incapable of building anything that can truly last. But when the forces needed to counterbalance it are absent? Then the race of mortals dies a slow and ignominious death and the purpose of evil, to cull the weak and make good men strong, goes undone."

"The slothful life is the good life," Shinigami replied with a smile, taking another gulp of elixir. "Shimoda-dono, may I have a refill?"

I refilled his bottle with a wave of a finger.

"Thank you."

"So, you're in the 'suffering begets strength' camp," I replied with a blink. "That's…interesting. I kind of thought a God of Evil would just want evil and power for its own sake."

"Hardly, Shimoda-dono," Jashin waved it off. "We weren't always gods and we don't need our 'domain' to be large to survive or be powerful. We just have plans for the world that we'd like to see done."

"Well, Jashin-dono," I began with a dangerous smirk. "That is a very interesting factoid you just gave me. How did you fall into being a god of evil?"

"It came over centuries of watching good men do nothing," Jashin said with a hint of disgust in his tone. "I couldn't stand it, so I started influencing those who are toxic and cancer to society to impact those good men directly. The result was so spectacular that I've been stirring those who are evil to dark deeds ever since."

"So, you just picked something that you liked doing," I began with a blink. "And made that your 'divine domain'?"

"Precisely," Jashin nodded. "Shinigami enjoys being there when someone passes and shepherding them to the Pure World."

"I automated it so I could pick and choose to shepherd the interesting ones personally," Shinigami pointed out. "So, your own domain would be picking something you want to do and filling it out. You seem to have a vested interest in building up the Elemental Countries with knowledge, so Knowledge will likely be your domain."

"Could I have more than one domain?" I asked curiously.

"Of course." Jashin nodded. "But if you've found your purpose in life, it might be hard to pick up a second one."

"Good to know," I replied. "So, Shinigami…we met before?"

"When you died the first time and were sent here," Shinigami answered. "It was weird, so I brought you to your new body personally."

"Wait," I started with a glare. "I was sent here?"

"Yes," Shinigami replied. "I don't know who monitors death in your world, or if that's even how it works over there but you got thrown into this world with an entirely way of interacting with reality; ear-marked for 'reincarnation'. So, I brought you to a child who was destined to be stillborn and that was that. I understand the mother died in child birth and the father had died several months before."

"Destined to be stillborn meaning-?" I asked.

"A soul never took up residence in the body," Shinigami explained with a shrug. "I couldn't hand you a body that belonged to someone else, as fun as that would've been."

"Good to know I didn't overwrite someone, at least," I said with a hum.

So, according to the god of death, I didn't just fall into the world of Naruto. I was deliberately sent here.

That raised a bunch of questions.

Was my soul stolen after I died?

Did I volunteer for this for some reason?

Was I murdered?

Was my entire old life building up to being brought to Naruto or was it spontaneous?

"Thank you for telling me," I finally told him, refilling his drink. "Now, I'm sure you guys have an inkling of what my primary goal is?"

"Yes, you're on a foolhardy mission to return to your old world with the might you've earned since coming here," Jashin replied with a frown. "Shimoda-dono, if you want my advice, I'd say give up this foolhardy quest and immerse yourself fully in the world you are actually in."

"Not going to happen," I answered with a harsh glare.

"Oh, very well," Jashin sighed in disappointment. "Just be aware that when you leave this world, your divine influence goes with you. All the good that you would seek to do could easily be undone without you here simply because the very essences of pain and death still exist in the vacuum that you would leave."

"So, if I killed you…" I began.

"Immortal," Jashin pointed out, sounding annoyed. "Even if you destroyed my body, it would only be a matter of time before I reconstituted myself and then I wouldn't just be a god of evil, I'd be a god of evil who was annoyed at you."

I groaned in irritation. "Fine."

"How long has it been since we've spoken someone who thought so directly?" Shinigami asked with a laugh. "Your era will be a good one, Shimoda. But, unlike my colleague here, I want to help you."

A white hole in reality opened and a swirl of colors was pulled out. Shinigami put this swirl of colors into a jar that he took out of his kimono and sealed it with a cork. Cursory chakra examination revealed that this jar was the single most tightly sealed thing I've ever seen in my entire life. I couldn't make something this tightly sealed. At least not without seeing the example of it in front of me.

"This," Shinigami began. "Is the soul of one who treats dimensional barriers merely as suggestions. She will help you go back to your home realm. Consider it an…ascension-day gift."

I took the jar gingerly with wide eyes, carefully examining it and trying to see just whose soul it was inside the jar. But I couldn't see.

Jashin hummed. "You'll need to teach him how to reunite a soul with its body."

"That I will," Shinigami replied, nodding slowly and carefully.

"You're okay with me just straight resurrecting people?" I asked, wanting to get this straight. It wouldn't do to offend the god of death.

"So long as whoever you're trying to bring back gives you their consent, I don't care," Shinigami replied. "All mortals die eventually. Just don't resurrect someone that doesn't want to come back and don't give everyone immortality. Or I'll give you a serious talking too."

"Well, obviously," I answered. Making everyone immortal would be catastrophic for the entire universe, eventually, and bringing someone back who doesn't want to come back is just poor manners. "So, there's a sealing jutsu that summons you, Shinigami?"

"One of my inventions," Shinigami said with a smug grin on his face. "Passed on to the Uzumaki clan through my influence. Souls feel good squirming around in my gullet."

"The Fourth Hokage was an expert at seals and sealed the Nine-Tailed fox inside my best friend," I explained, keeping the expression of revulsion off of my face. I wondered if perhaps the Shinigami was used somehow.

"Ah yes. Him. I've got him and the other half of the fox inside me," Shinigami replied, nodding in knowledge. "You want him back, yes?"

"I want my best friend to have his parents back," I replied pointedly, filing away that Naruto only had half of the fox sealed away inside him instead of the whole thing. "It's not fair what happened to him."

Jashin was grinning. "My, my, my. The benefits of befriending a deity while he's mortal never truly cease, do they?"

"Well. I already gave you the soul for a dimensional traveler," The Shinigami replied. "If you want the soul of your friend's father, you're going to need pay for it."

"What's your initial price?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.

Shinigami hummed. "I'll get back to you."

"Fine," I replied. "Thank you for the soul. Now how to do the resurrection thing?"

"In a few moments," Shinigami replied with a grin. "I'm finishing my elixir."

I didn't groan in irritation. But I wanted too.

"Now, for my little present on your 'ascension-day'," Jashin began. "Just some advice. You've already made it a plan to study and spread Ninshū, yes?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"My advice is simple," Jashin started. "Use what you learn. You have infinite chakra, and thus infinite ability to connect to people. Use it. Because as you grow older, your ability to actually connect and befriend mortals the normal way will disappear and Ninshū will be all you have left."

The god of evil is telling me that he has trouble connecting with mortals. Hilarious. "What makes you say that?"

"Because when you speak to them, they become increasingly infantile," Jashin said, his nose scrunching up like he was smelling something foul. "You just look at them and want to tell them that their pain is temporary and that they should stop whining. The trouble is that they can't see it and become blinded by their own misery."

"They are like kids," Shinigami responded, nodding his head in agreement. "Like you. Except you'll grow out of it, unlike them."

"I am not a child," I snarled in anger.

"Oh, right," Jashin replied. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Shimoda-dono, when you combine both of your physical ages, you are around thirty-five, yes?"

"Thirty-seven or around there," I replied stiffly.

"The two of us are millennia old," Jashin said, gesturing to him and his partner with a waving thumb. "Comparatively speaking, what are you, even with both ages added together?"

I growled. I was not going to answer that.

Jashin hummed in anticipation.

I muttered my answer.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"A. Child." I bit out through my grit teeth.

"Precisely," Jashin nodded. "Now, the good thing about this is that every other mortal you've ever met is also a child, or is fairly child-like. From the elderly Hokage to the smallest infant. You will grow out of it. They will not. Because you will gain millennia of perspective and they will only have their, short pitiful lives in comparison. This comes with its own challenges, of course, but perpetual childishness will not be one of them. But with Ninshū, as I was saying you should use, you could alleviate that weakness of theirs. Somewhat."

"Ninshū is the best way for a god to exert influence on mortals," Shinigami intoned. "Because as the years go on, simply speaking to them will fade as an option, both in it's practicality and in its appeal."

"And it's through that connection that their civilization has turned to crap," I said with a frown.

"That's right," Shinigami nodded. "Too much of a bad thing lead to worse things."

"So, then I should then remove your influence from the world," I continued on that thought with a glare.

"I mean, if you think it's a good idea for everything that dies to remain in this world, by all means," Shinigami said with the smuggest of smirks. "Go right ahead and try. I'd be very interested in seeing what would happen in such a world."

"I already said that I'd welcome the competition," Jashin's grin turned downright predatory. "By all means, set my expectations high. Prove to me that you can guide people into controlling their selfish desires perfectly. I want to see you do it."

"I will," I told him with a glare.

"Good!" Jashin crowed. "Good! I've seen too many good men sitting on their hands from their own cowardice in these times. Bring my followers some actual competition! Show them that they can no longer be idle!"

"…you know, it disturbs me that you're trying so hard to get your followers killed," I told him matter-of-factly.

"Eh, most of them aren't actually followers of mine," Jashin replied. "And if they get wiped out, they didn't deserve to live."

"That sounds more like what a god of evil would say," I nodded. "Now, is there a way to contact you guys again if I want something or have nasty words for you?"

"Nasty words." Jashin shook his head, scoffing in amusement.

"Ninshū," Shinigami replied. "Ninshū has everything you could ever need in the communications department. With that in mind, I think it's time to teach you the fine art of reuniting someone's soul with their body."

"With this one?" I asked, pointing to the jar.

"No," Shinigami shook his head. "I've got a few 'dummy' souls you can practice on. You got a place where we can actually have some room in this vault of yours?"

"Yeah, let me show you both to the training area," I said, standing up and gesturing to the door.

"The first thing you need to understand with resurrection," Shinigami began, floating at my side. "Is that you need a person's soul to replicate their chakra and body. If you have samples of both of those things, it gets much easier to do and guarantees that they don't accidentally gain a few traits of yours."

"So are there samples of that soul you gave me around?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh yeah," Shinigami nodded. "I can think of two such samples right off the top of my head."

"Where are they?" I asked.

"In the possession of the Akatsuki," Shinigami replied easily.

Alright. I'm not going to pretend that this soul I got was a gift with no strings attached. The fact that both the samples are in the possession of the Akatsuki is just raising the volume on those alarm bells going off in my head.

The gods of death and evil are handing me presents. There is guaranteed to be a catch. The fact that they just out and out told me that the samples of this person's chakra are in the possession of the Akatsuki means that whatever the catch is, it's a big one.

I think I might wait to actually head to the Akatsuki to secure the samples…whatever they are. Actually, come to think of it, maybe it's got something to do with that white stuff that came off of that one Akatsuki member that I plastered all over the wall of the Mizukage's palace?

Don't think that's the case, because that would just be a long shot. But still. Who would I have to take out if I'm wanting to raid the Akatsuki's hideout? Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigake Kisame and…I don't know who else. Crap. Need to do some research.

Just because I'm a god doesn't mean I can afford to be careless.

Not that it'll necessarily stop me at some point down the line…