Dragon Soul

I activated the new Hoshingan stage at my underground base in the Valley of Completion. By the way, the first version of the underground base collapsed after six months, so I had to repair it... but after another six months, the roof of the building fell in. The Phasing helped me a lot when I was inside, so I didn't suffer any damage from the building collapsing. I built that base out of stone, which could have been more reliable. Still, when Tenzo taught me how to control the Mokuton, I built a new underground base that looks like a small Asian temple... It's been standing for a couple of years now, but I can't guarantee it will last a few years... I still need to improve as a builder.

Today's missions were done by my shadow clone instead of me, and I have to say that Mito got really pissed off when she found out that I was filling and sending a clone instead of me. So, the clone was unlucky enough to be dispelled by a kunai thrown by an angry Mito. Mito, in general, has become very jumpy lately. Firstly, she's sick of these D-rank missions, and she's going to snap one of these days and ask the Hokage for a harder mission, and the Hokage will probably send us to the Land of Waves. The second and most important reason is me because I've grown to one hundred and sixty-five centimetres in my training and gained a lot of muscle. And now, I notice the very interesting look that Mito throws at me... and sometimes, when I change into my work clothes for missions with dirty manual labour, not only Mito but Sakura as well.

So, I moved to my house in the evening and found no one there, which was strange because usually, at this time, after a mission, I or my clone would return to my flat with Mito. After searching the entire flat, including the bathtub, I was puzzled, so I turned on the Hoshingan to find Mito and quickly found her in her own flat, which we don't live in, but actually use as a storage space for our stuff.

Anyway, Mito was lying on the bed, wearing my shirt, sniffing it and doing things decent young girls aren't supposed to do. Using Phasing, I walked through the wall into Mito's flat and stealthily approached her from behind without her seeing me. I did not interrupt the girl from a very important and intimate process but waited for it to be over, so to speak.

In the process of her satisfaction, Mito called my name, and at the very end, she moaned loudly, "Naruto-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!" And when the girl recovered and opened her eyes, she saw a wide grin on my face.

- N-n-naruto! - She got up from the bed and wrapped herself more tightly in my shirt, covering her nakedness.

- Yes, Mito, it's me. You called me so often and passionately that I couldn't help but come. - I continued to smile.

- Naruto, dattebayo, I-I-I-I can explain everything. - said the girl I caught in the act.

- Foxy, I've taken irienin courses and delivered women several times. Do I need to explain anything? Everything you did here, I saw it perfectly; I especially liked the ending.

- Naruto, it was the first time... I-I... don't think I'm perverted, I'm normal, it's just that you're like this, and I... and then Sakura's watching, and you're walking around like this... and also, when you change clothes, you're almost naked and so muscular... and... and I couldn't take it, dattebayo. I won't do it again, dantebayo. I promise, dantebayo. Don't leave me, please. - the red-haired girl said pitifully.

Don't think I'm a pervert; you invented Sexy no Jutsu, and you've shown it to me more than once; you're clearly a pervert.

- Not true, dattebayo. - Mito lowered her gaze.

- Yes, I am. And what you just did wasn't the first time. It was clearly not the first time, and there was a sense of experience and professionalism. Mito, who are you lying to? You're obviously a pervert, but I like your naughty side. Don't worry; it's a natural process of satisfying your desires. It's like drinking water or eating ramen; there's nothing wrong with it. Although drinking and eating too much is not good for you either, don't over-satisfy your desire, especially with someone else... other than me.

- So you're not angry, Dantebayo? That I am at you... and your name and shirt... when... you know, dattebayo? - the red-haired vixen clarified.

- Of course, I'm not angry; I'm, on the contrary, very happy that you like me so much, and as I saw recently - even very, very much like me. Mito, do you mind going to my harem and becoming one of my wives? - I asked.

- You're talking about your harem again, dantebayo. I'm not going to be your harem, and you do not have any wives; it's just me; you got that, dattebayo?! Stop hitting on Sakura and the other girls, Datebayo. - Mito told me.

- You're getting bold pretty fast, Foxy. A few minutes ago, you were touching yourself inappropriately and shouting my name. Now you're demanding that I become a one-woman man and give up my dream of a harem. You dream of becoming Hokage, and I'm not telling you not to? No, on the contrary, I'm trying to help you, training you to become strong and realise your dream. And you're asking me to give up my dream; where's the justice in that?

- Don't compare harem and Hokage are different things, dantebayo. - Mito replied confidently.

- Mito, you're so selfish, so your desires are important and my desires can be ignored?

- Yes! You won't have a harem, dattebayo!

- You selfish redhead. I'll have a harem with Hinata and Ino and maybe Sakura in it, but your participation in it is questionable.

- Naruto, get out of my flat!" she tried to slap me, but I used Phasing, and her punch went right through me, and I had to support her, but she tried to slap me again, and I had to dodge another slap. As long as you want a harem, I don't want to see or know you! - shouted the angry girl who started pouring biju chakra around her.

- Mito... you are excluded from the harem until you reform and stop being selfish. - I stepped away from the girl and walked through the wall to my flat.

- Dog! - Mito shouted after me and threw something heavy at the wall, which made me hear a heavy thud against the wall in my flat. The girl continued smashing everything in the flat, then fell on the bed and cried.

- I'm being a dick again. - I said, and deactivated the Hoshingan, no longer watching Mito.

Somehow the conversation could have gone better. I've already had a bad experience trying to create a harem. I lost money by lying to the girls about each other, and when they found out about my machinations, they dumped me. So now I immediately want the girls to know about my desire to have multiple wives. Well, Mito's too jealous to agree with that.

In fact, my desire to have a harem isn't very clever. Still, after I died, I realised that I wanted to live my life in such a way that I wouldn't regret it and to do that, I needed to fulfil my deepest desires... like having several beautiful wives, one of which would be my cute red-haired sister... although I would probably be happy with just Mito... but what about Hinata? That cute princess of the Hyug clan kinda likes me, and I like her. If I miss out on Hinata, I'll regret it a lot... although, if I miss out on Mito, I'll regret it too.

Well, hopefully, my sister will cry a little and cool down. We'll be able to have a normal conversation tomorrow at the mission... although, looking at Mito crying, I couldn't stand it and went into her flat.

- 'Mito...' I muttered.

- Get out! I don't want to see you! - The girl looked at me with crying eyes, and her pupil became vertical, like an animal's.

- Okay... - I was embarrassed and went back to my flat, and now I felt like the worst person in the world, that I had offended my sister - Well, am I not an arsehole? - I asked a rhetorical question.

I went back to my flat to rest, but with Mito crying behind the wall, I didn't want to sleep, so I continued to explore the Fuin scrolls I had a small supply of at home. In addition to the various sealing scrolls that I had created myself, there were also the scrolls that I had bought from the shop, and among them was a blank scroll of the summoning contract; it was the most expensive of them all, not only was it made of very high quality thick chakra-conducting paper, but the roll itself was quite large. Normally you would need a scroll like this when you have an agreement with certain summoning animals, and they agree to sign a contract, but I had bought this scroll for research; this kind of high-quality paper would still be useful for making other scrolls... well, there was a chance that I might want to try my luck one day and call back to find some dragons.

And when my little sister was crying behind the wall, whom I had hurt, I strongly wanted to call back. If I was gone for a few days, Mito would cool down. My disappearance would shake her up for a while because she was used to having me around all the time, helping her all the time and giving her almost all my attention... the main thing is that during my absence, she didn't let Nine-tails out for a walk, but if anything, there's Tenzo.

The fact that I might miss a few missions doesn't really matter; we're just doing some boring work that we get paid a penny for anyway. Kakashi doesn't teach us anyway, so I will get everything useful. I could learn something from dragons... well, I hope they're dragons, although even a toad would make a better teacher than Kakashi.

For a normal summoning, you need to put together five seals - Pig, Dog, Bird, Monkey and Sheep; thanks to this technique, you can move the animal with which you made a contract to our world. Still, if you put the seals in reverse order, you get a Reverse Summoning, and you will move to the world to the summoned animals. I folded the seals and poured more of my chakra into the spatial technique. I needed more mana, psi, reatsu and life energy to make the callback work and send me to the dragons.

I was enveloped in a haze, transported somewhere, and appeared in the air. Still, after a few seconds, I fell into a lake, and even though I have water skills, I couldn't stand on the lake's surface and fell into the water, but when I surfaced, I looked around.

- Well, I had definitely made it to the dragons. - I saw a stone statue of a huge dragon not far from me.

It was not uncommon for those who tried to master sen chakra and couldn't control their natural energy to turn into stone statues, but this dragon was one of them. My Hoshinghan saw that there was just an incredible amount of natural chakra in this place, causing me to be unable to resist the water.

- Yes, the concentration of sen chakra in this place is too much. - I felt an unpleasant sensation as the sen-chakra began to penetrate my body. My skin began to turn scaly and then stony, so I had to speed up the movement of energy inside my body to increase the pressure of the chakra and prevent the natural chakra from entering my body," Well, it's time to find normal dragons instead of stone statues. - I swam out of the water and onto a stone island.

Because of the overly dense sen-chakra surrounding me, I had to concentrate hard on the movement of my inner chakra, only I relaxed as I began to stone. I had an extra stream of thought, which made it easier. Still, besides control, there was another problem - almost all the chakra I produced was used to protect myself from natural energy. Normally shinobi release excess energy into the environment, that's how sen chakra comes into being, and if you speed up the chakra inside, it will come out of the tenketsu faster, which prevents the natural chakra from entering my body. Still, in the end, I couldn't waste energy now because it would hurt me, and there was a big chance of turning into stone.

I tried to use Spatial Leap to move to the head of the dragon statue to get a better look around, but expectedly I failed. The sen chakra was preventing the spatial magic from working properly. I had to spend all my mana to make a spatial leap, and I was a little short of the dragon's head, so I teleported to the dragon's back instead of the dragon's head.

- Next time I want to do something emotionally stupid, I'll remember this moment... if I survive and get out of here. - I said, climbing up on the dragon's head, and from its height, I looked around the territory.

There were a few more stone statues of dragons lying on tree-covered rocks near the lake. Perhaps these statues generated sen-chakra, but the Hoshingan wasn't working well here and was glowing from too much visible energy. Still, if that was the case, the statues were the cause of the dense natural background of energy. There may be somewhere with a less dense background of sen-chakra, and it would be easier for me to be there than in this place.

- If I turn to stone, I might be stuck here forever. If I could be reborn when I die, then if I become a statue, I might be stuck here for thousands of years, just like these statue dragons... and why am I such an idiot? I wanted to run away to teach Mito a lesson, and in the end, I could become a stone dummy in the middle of nowhere... I want to create a clone to punch me in the face for my stupidity. Still, it will disperse immediately... although clones from Mokuto will probably feel great here or turn into trees immediately... the second option. - I said and reinforced my legs with chakra and jumped on the head of another stone dragon. If my chakra didn't leave my body, I could use it; just the reinforcement techniques helped well; friends usually use it if they suddenly have to face the enemy.

Slowly I began to move away from the lake... and felt that the sen-chakra background's density was increasing. There was a dense forest of colossal trees near the lake, and they were absorbing sen-chakra. Hence, the background of natural energy was higher than near the lake, but I could still be there. Still, as soon as I left the forest, I began stagnating.

I walked around the lake in a circle, surrounded by this forest on all sides. Still, no matter which way I went, there was a higher concentration of natural chakra than near the lake... great.

After returning to the lake, I tried to use the Reverse Invocation technique to return to my world, but I didn't even hope it would work, and it didn't. It's like a cliff. It's easier to jump and fall into a cliff than it is to get out of it, so it's the same here, it's easy to get into this place, but it takes a lot of effort to get out of it.

I'll have to speed up the learning of sennin mode; without it, I won't even be able to survive, let alone get out of this place where my stupidity and stupid decisions made on emotions led me.

Sitting down on the head of the stone dragon, I began to meditate. Little by little, I let sen-chakra into my body and tried to accustom my body to it. This natural energy was more aggressive than the one in my world. Hence, the sensations of this training were very unpleasant. It was like sitting in boiling water and trying to get used to it without boiling over... I'll always remember this miscalculation... and on top of all that, a dragon could come and eat me at any moment... although I hope that this area is as unfavourable for them as it is for me. Still, these stone reptiles tell me dragons are uncomfortable and stony here.

- I should have just gone to bed instead of doing this nonsense. - I said as my arm began to stiffen from the too much sen-chakra I'd let into my body, so I had to return it to normal by concentrating more med-chakra into the limb.

I meditated for a few hours, trying to master the sennin mode but soon felt tired. Still, falling asleep in this place was difficult, so I continued meditating, which replaced sleep. When I had been sitting in meditation for over twenty hours, I didn't want to eat. Still, the sen-chakra entering my body gave me energy quite well, so I could continue to sit like this until I had mastered the control of natural energy.

Soon, I managed to master the sennin mode... however, there was a small nuance when I finished meditating and opened my eyes; it turned out that I was covered with moss... it seems that during the meditation, I went into a trance and lost track of time.

I didn't turn to stone; it's not bad. - I shook off the moss and the grass that had grown on the moss from my head. - I touched two bony growths on my head.

- I hope it's because of sennin mode and not because Mito cheated on me... so, I've mastered hermit mode; how long did it take me? - I decided to use Identity on myself to check my age:

"Naruto Tatsumaki (+) - male, chakra user. Age sixteen, height one hundred and seventy-three centimetres, weight sixty-six kilograms, blood type B."

- Have I been sitting here for what, three years? - I asked a rhetorical question, and once again, I double-checked everything. Still, I had been in a trance for three years," Then maybe those horns are because of Mito... we need to go home now. - I tried to use Reverse Summoning now, but it failed again, even though I learned to use natural chakra.

I jumped down from the dragon's head, where I had been sitting for three years, and dived into the lake to freshen up and wash, as I was covered in moss, dust, and dirt.

As I washed in the lake, I could see in the reflection of the water that the sennin regime had caused me to have hermit marks on my face, which looked like a dark turquoise mask-glass, with dark turquoise lines running down my cheeks like sweat. With the activated Hoshinghan, these marks looked quite harmonious.

But besides the cosmetic changes in my appearance, the sennin mode made my body stronger and faster. I also had a sensory ability that was like radar, as if I had an internal radar that used the surrounding sen chakra to monitor everything within a radius of a few hundred kilometres... It was probably due to the high background of the sen-chakra, and the world was empty, so I could sense such a large area, but in my world, the sensoria would be much weaker.

But now, thanks to this Sensorica, I could feel that there was a temple hidden under the water with a strange sphere inside that absorbed natural energy and turned it into ordinary water, which was probably the reason for the temple's flooding and the lake's appearance. And I also felt with Sensorica that there are about a hundred stone statues of people at the bottom of the lake. Apparently, they are losers who also wanted dragons as a summoner and fell into the lake, began to turn into stone and eventually drowned.... hmmm, if I hadn't tried to learn hermit mode before, I would have joined them at the bottom too.

Also, my sensors told me that there were four more spheres absorbing sen-chakra in the distance, one somewhere to the right at six hundred kilometres, one a little to the left at a thousand kilometres from me, one to the left also at a thousand kilometres from my location, and the last one just to the left of me at six hundred kilometres. I can say that all these five places are in a pentagon, and in the middle of this figure, five hundred kilometres from the lake, there is a very high mountain, where the concentration of sen-chakra is off the scale; perhaps even now, I can not be there, but most likely it is there that I can find a way to return to my world because they're my Sensorica felt someone alive. It was the only living creature besides me... but I could not determine exactly what kind of creature it was; it felt like a dragon and a human.

Okay, I decided to dive to the bottom of the lake and retrieve the strange orb from the underwater temple from there. The Hoshinghan was soaked in natural energy, too, so it could function normally. Thanks to it, I could see underwater. Still, because of the water corrosion, there was nothing to see here except a bunch of human statues. Because of the Sensorica, I could feel where the sphere I needed was, so that's where I swam, wading through the halls and corridors of the underwater temple.

The sphere I found was small, about the size of my fist, and it was blue, like a large sapphire, with the hieroglyph "Water" shining inside. I call this sphere a dragon pearl.

I swam out of the lake and went to the dry land, thinking whether I should look for another dragon pearl or go straight to the temple, where I felt the highest concentration of sen-chakra in the world and someone alive... these spheres were obviously unusual and important. Still, I needed to get back home as soon as possible, and by choosing the second option, I would be more likely to do so. On the other hand, this blue dragon pearl absorbs sen chakra. Because of it, the concentration of natural energy near the lake is lower than in other places... which means that if I collect all these spheres, they can help me survive in a place with a super high concentration of natural energy... so, I went to look for these spheres... And I have to run quite a lot, about three thousand kilometres; even without the support of Sen-chakra, I can run at a speed of two hundred and forty kilometres. Thanks to the hermit mode, the speed has increased three times, so I can run the distance to the next dragon pearl in about an hour if the terrain allows me to run at this speed.

When I ran through the forest of colossal trees surrounding the lake, I came to some wasteland, travelling through which I saw either stone statues of dragons or huge dragon skeletons, and the largest skeleton was so colossal that the smallest tooth in the mouth of this monster was the size of me. The largest fang was ten metres long... And this giant was killed by someone... or it died because of too high a concentration of sen-chakra because there was a greenish mist due to the natural energy. The water in this place became a poisonous green colour due to the high saturation of natural energy.

I am still determining what kind of catastrophe happened here. Still, it was not good for the dragon world... by the way, because of the fog, I finally noticed that two suns were shining in this place, which meant that this dragon world was on another planet.

Now, in sennin mode, along with the dragon pearls, I could safely explore this world without fear of turning into a stone statue... although the fact that I've been here for three years bothers me a lot, a lot has happened in Konoha in three years, I hope Mito is alright... and Konoha too, I wouldn't want to return to the ruins of the village.

Near the next dragon pearl, the natural energy background decreased. Still, the air temperature began to rise, for I was walking towards the fire dragon pearl... perhaps it was also in the temple. Still, now I found this ruby sphere on some ashes. Apparently, the temple had burned down.

The next spheres were also found without any problems, thanks to Sensorica, and all of them were in some destroyed temples. The temple with the sphere of air was badly worn down by wind erosion, the temple with the pearl of Earth, on the contrary, collapsed, and I had to pull it out from under the debris of a very hard and heavy stone... to be exact, judging by the structure and pattern on the stone, it was originally wood, but due to the action of the pearl, it was petrified. But the temple with the Lightning Sphere looked the most intact; it was built on top of the mountain, or even rather hollowed out in it, and although the buildings showed that they were often struck by lightning, in general, the stone withstood this test, and the temple was well preserved inside.

I was able to examine this temple normally; there were no people here, only stone statues and sometimes skeletons... and on the statues hung jade medallions with the image of a dragon, around which two spirals twisted. The same image was on the bas-reliefs of the temple... it made sense, considering I was in the dragon world. Still, it was a symbol I'd seen once before in the library of the Shinobi Academy.

This crest belonged to the Ryu clan, a clan of dragon priests wiped out before the First Shinobi War. The Ryu clan lived on Mount Koryu; geographically, this place is located in the Land of Fire in the wilderness. Because the five Dragon Wens intersect at Mount Koryu, there is a very high concentration of sen-chakra, and ordinary shinobi can't use chakra there properly. Hence, the region has yet to be explored.

The members of the Ryu clan could control all five elements. They could summon the Stone, Sea, Thunder, Fire, and Wind Dragon. All the members of this clan had horns on their heads, which was how people identified members of the Ryu clan... well, and killed them for fear of their power.

Now I was in the temple of the Lightning Dragon, the Dragon of the Lightning Source; the previous temples belonged to the rest of the elemental Genryu.

After five hours of wandering around the dragon world, I had five dragon pearls: yellow with the Lightning element, green with the Wind element, blue with the Water element, orange-brown with the Earth element, and red with the Fire element.

These pearls were the same size and absorbed the Sen Chakra around them just fine, so I tried to use Reverse Summoning next to them to return home. I was even transported somewhere for a moment. Still, in the end, I just ended up back at the lake where I originally appeared.

The lake had the lowest concentration of sen-chakra of all the areas I had explored because only here, because of the water dragon pearl, was there relatively normal water, with trees growing near it to absorb the sen-chakra. Next to the fire pearl, it was too hot; next to the earth pearl, the soil turned into hard stone; next to the wind pearl, the wind blew too strong; and the lightning pearl was located on a mountain where there was snow, but next to the Temple of Ghenryu Water, there were trees that reached a height of hundreds of metres.

I learnt from the Gengryu Lightning Temple that the place with a high concentration of sen-chakra was at the side where the temple of Kogenryu, the Dragon of the Source of Light, the main of the elemental dragons, was built.

It was not as far away as the previous temples, but the terrain was difficult to run through, so it took me more than three hours to reach this temple built on a high mountain. The Kogenryu Temple looked like an ordinary Chinese temple complex, but it was dilapidated.

Although my Hoshinghan was used to the local natural background, he would be blinded if he was activated here, for the mountain was glowing with an overabundance of natural energy. If it weren't for the dragon pearls, I would have turned to stone on the way to the temple... or rather, I would have had to meditate and adapt to this natural energy background; perhaps it would have taken me a few years; but I found the dragon spheres.

As I began to walk around the temple, I began to notice turquoise crystals growing out of the walls, some of the larger crystals were inserted into special recesses and used as lamps. There were no living people in the temple, only stone statues, but my Sensorica sensed a living being in its depths, so I went to it.

Walking through the temple, I found the descent to some cave, where I went in and began to move deep into the mountain and soon came to a cave filled with huge Druzes of turquoise crystals, and on the crystal platform sat a grey-bearded old man with small horns on his head.

- You have come at last. - The old man said and opened his eyes; they were turquoise in colour and looked like reptile eyes;- Your arrival in this world has awakened me from thousands of years of meditation.

- Hello... you must be from the Ryu clan? - My name is Naruto Tatsumaki. I'm a shinobi from Konoha. I decided to get a dragon summoner and came to your world.

- My name is Hiero Tatsushiro; I am the founder and patriarch of the Ryuu clan. - This powerful, muscular, scarred old man stood up and looked at me... his left hand was covered with dragon scales;- You came from the human world; how is my clan doing? Is it prospering? - I was asked by this grandfather whose strength was ten times mine.

- How should I put it... it seems your clan has been destroyed. According to what I've read in the Konoha library, the clan was wiped out fifty years ago... there may be some of your clan left, but they're probably in hiding. The humans, out of fear of your clan's power, slaughtered it... more than one of your clan was wiped out, though.

- So my clan wasn't strong enough to defend itself... sad but expected. Does the Uzumaki clan still exist? My wife was from that clan, and you are also related to that clan. - clarified the old man.

- The Uzumaki clan was also destroyed; my mother was one of the few survivors of that clan.

- And the Uchiha clan? Or the Chinoike clan? Those dojutsu wielders must have survived. - Heero said.

- They were almost exterminated by their own clansmen, too. I have one Uchiha on my team, the son of the clan leader, and his brother slaughtered the clan.

- Are there any strong clans left undestroyed? - The old man asked, "Maybe the Kaguya clan?

- They were wiped out, attacked the Village of Mist, and were all wiped out. Only the Hyugas were left, more or less strong.

- And Senju? - Heero asked again.

- They died out in the war, and only one granddaughter of Hashirama Senju survived. - I added.

- It's been a long time since I've been in the human world, and unfortunately, I won't be able to return. I've been in the dragon world for too long, and I'm afraid I might die as soon as I get back, and I'd like to rest, but I have a duty to Kogenre. - said the old man tiredly.

- What kind of debt? And what has happened in this world to make it so inhospitable? - I asked.

- Originally, there were many dragons in this world; the strongest was Kogenryu - the Dragon of Light and Moru - the Dragon of Darkness; Moru began killing other dragons to absorb their power. Cogenryu began to oppose him, but he could not overcome Moriu, for he had become much stronger because of the absorbed power of the slain dragons. The five elemental Heneryu voluntarily sacrificed their power to Cogeneru so that he could overcome Moriu... the battle between these dragons ended with the victory of light. However, it was too late; except for Cogeneru, no living dragons were left in this world. You've already been to the five Temples of Cogenreu; the spheres you got from there are the souls of the five elemental dragons that sacrificed their lives to the Dragon of Light.

- And he didn't try to resurrect them? - I clarified, taking one of the spheres in my hand.

- He tried, but the process was irreversible, so he was the only dragon left alive... but it turned out that the Moru he had killed had survived and escaped to our world, the human world. The Dragon of Light went after him and defeated him again. There he came across humans, and after studying us, he realised we could help revive his dragon race. The energy from the dragon world had a rather telling effect on humans; it turned us into dragons... or stone. But the stronger a person is, the greater the chance of them successfully turning into a dragon, so Cogenriu decided to help people to make them stronger and turn them into dragons. I was the first person the Dragon of Light met, and with him, I made a pact to create the Ryu Clan. The plan to develop the clan was very successful; thanks to the help of the Dragon of Light and Genryu, our clan became one of the strongest in the world.

- How did the Genryu's help you? They are not quite alive. - I clarified.

- These dragon pearls are essentially the pure Yang half of Gennyu's soul. Their Yin half, that is, their mind and will, were destroyed by the ritual of power transfer. By infusing chakra into the Dragon Orb, it is possible to recreate the true form of Genryu and control it. Still, these Dragons are only unintelligent executors that do the will of the one who holds the Dragon Orb in his hand, for they have no will and mind of their own. - Unfortunately, it turned out that Moriu had survived again and attacked Cogenrau again to avenge his past defeats. This time, he was able to kill the Dragon of Light. Still, thanks to the Dragon Blade, I could defeat the wounded Dragon of Darkness, although he survived but escaped. I managed to seal the recently killed Dragon of Light into myself and travelled with him to the dragon world to help him recover. The strongest members of the Ryu clan, who had the best chance of surviving in the dragon world, travelled with me. Still, it needed to be a more inhospitable place for humans. We tried to live here, we built temples, and some members of the clan could turn into dragons under the influence of natural energy... but not for long, then they inevitably turned into stone.

- Yeah, I saw a lot of statues like that on the way here. - I added.

- In the end, I was the only one left alive in this world, and the Dragon of Light never recovered; now, he was just a shadow of his former self, but perhaps one day, he would recover. That is why I have remained in this temple; my life is no longer meaningful, but if it is cut short, the Dragon of Light will also die. There may still be a living Moriu in the human world. If my clan faced the threat of Morju, they would have to perform a ritual that would kill me and summon a Cogenriu into the human world that would inhabit a member of my clan and make him the new host of the Dragon of Light that would help him in his battle against the Dragon of Darkness... but if my clan is destroyed, then my life has become even more meaningless than before... however, since you appeared in this world and came to this temple, I can transfer the Dragon of Light into you. - said Hiero, looking at me.

- I don't really feel like it. - I answered honestly.

I won't force you; if you change your mind, ask me, and I'll sit here... I've spent thousands of years here, so I have enough patience. But you won't be able to get out of this world without my help, and I will help you to return to the human world only if you agree to become a new host of Cogenryu. - the old man sat down on the crystals again.

- Damn... I really don't have a choice, I tried to leave here myself, but it didn't work... though I can try to create some portal gates using Dragon Orbs and these druzy crystals. Something may work out. - I said, examining the crystals.

- Who said I would let you use these crystals in any way? - questioned the old man.

- ... okay, I'll agree to your terms because even if I try to get out of here somehow, you'll be in my way on purpose.

- You're right... but since you didn't agree to my terms immediately, I decided to add to them. Now I'll help you return to the human world if you become a receptacle of the Dragon of Light. Secondly, you restore my Ryu clan, try to find surviving members of my clan and accept them into the restored clan.

- And if there is no one left? - I clarified.

- Then, you will create the Ryu Clan from scratch. - replied the old man.

- I agree. - I replied.

- Well, now you are the head of the Ryu Clan, which now belongs to you. - The old man removed from his belt a jade amulet with the symbol of the Ryu clan, i.e. with the image of a dragon.

- Thank you. - I examined the amulet... it was quite beautiful.

- Now, don't move; it might hurt a little. - Heero put his dragon-clawed hand on my stomach and apparently used Fuinjutsu to create a seal on my Chakra Hearth for the Dragon of Light vessel;- After giving you the Kogenryu, I probably won't live long, so I'll move you to the temple on Mount Koryu, look for the Dragon Blade Ryujin there, it will help you in case you encounter the Sea. Also, search the temple itself; the surviving members of the Ryu clan are probably hiding there... or maybe not, but then you'll have to search the world for them. Still, it's best to rebuild the clan first; the surviving clansmen will come to you. Try not to use Kogenryu's power in vain. - The old man spoke, and his dragon hand began to glow as he transferred the Dragon of Light into my body... and I felt some discomfort in the Chakra Hearth at that moment, which is natural since a whole dragon is being shoved in there. As soon as the old man began to pass the Cogenre to me, he began to age even more, and his limbs also began to stiffen.

- I think that's it. - I looked at the seal on my stomach and then at the stiffening old man.

- That's it, I've done my duty. - Heero bent over with difficulty and stuck his clawed dragon hand into the crystals that began to grow into an archway, inside of which a portal appeared;- This is a dragon gate; if you ever enter this world again because of a callback, you can use it to return to the temple on Mount Koryu, there is the same gate there. Restore my clan. - said the old man and became completely petrified.

- Since I made a promise, I will. - I stroked the chakra spot still sore from the sealing of Kogenryu. I went through the dragon gate and found myself in an underground cavern filled with turquoise crystals; I came out of another dragon gate, and next to it was a pedestal where a blade was lying... apparently it was Ryujin the Dragon Blade.

- Okay, I'm definitely in my own world if I can sense spatial teleportation beacons. - I walked over to the pedestal and picked up the Dragon Blade, it was about eighty centimetres long, but the triangular blade itself was only half that length, for this blade had a rather long two-handed hilt and a large circular hole in the guard... where dragon pearls could fit perfectly, apparently for their effective use and Riujin was created, - So how sharp is this blade? - I came over and chopped off a piece of turquoise crystal, which he chopped off without even noticing the resistance.

- I'll play with it later, but now I have to return to the temple and go home.

I took the blade and the severed piece of crystal and began to get out of the temple while examining it. The temple was built inside Mount Koryu, and it reminded me of the temple of Kogenryu. Still, it was built by the same clan, so it's no wonder.

I could sense with Sensorica that the temple was empty. Still, I examined it myself just in case and realised that sometimes people came here, but at the moment, there was no one here but me.

Since I could feel the spatial teleportation marks that I left in familiar places for fast travelling, I left such a mark here too. Then I moved back to my flat... shockingly, the atmosphere here had mostly stayed the same for three years.

- Something strange... someone was definitely in my flat... apparently Mito took her things. - I looked around the flat, and my gaze fell on the calendar clock;- So, in my world, it's only been three days, right? So... it's official - fuck dragons, summoning and portals... and time distortions too. - The old man Hiero Tatsushiro said he had been in the dragon world for thousands of years. Still, Clan Ryuu had been created about eighty years ago, so it sounded a little strange... but if time passes faster in the dragon world, then it could have been thousands of years.

I didn't get the dragon summoning but I needed it to master the sennin mode. In the end, I did master it in three days... but it took me three years. I got a Dragon of Light as a battery, five Dragon Orbs, and a cool dragon blade... and I became the head of Clan Ryu... well, there were more pros than cons.

*Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock on my door.

- Naruto, are you home? - came Sakura's voice.

- I'm coming. - I got up and walked tiredly to the door. As I passed the mirror, I noticed that I still had the marks of sennin mode on my face, so I decided to get out of that mode by removing all the sen-chakra from my body, and immediately fell to the floor and fell asleep... for the first time in three years.

- Naruto? What fell down? Naruto? Are you okay in there? - Sakura kept banging on the door until Mito exited the next flat.

- Sakura, what are you doing, dattebayo? - Mito asked suspiciously.

- Well... Naruto hasn't been on missions for three days, I asked you where he was, and you wouldn't answer, so I decided to check on him. - Sakura replied.

- He's fine, Dantebayo. He's probably just sitting there thinking about his women and harem, Datebayo. The dog, Dantebayo. - Mito went into the flat and slammed the door one last time.

- Apparently, they had a fight... okay, I'm going to go home. - Sakura said and left.