A Path Beyond Mortality
Naruto sat cross-legged within his mindscape, his breathing even, his heartbeat steady. The golden glow of Kurama's presence surrounded him, washing over his turbulent thoughts like a calming tide.
But within that calm—determination burned.
Kurama eyed him carefully. He had seen the way Naruto had been spiraling before, lost in doubt and fear. But now? Now there was something else.
Something dangerous.
"You're thinking about something reckless again, aren't you?" Kurama rumbled, his crimson eyes narrowing.
Naruto smirked, but it lacked his usual childish arrogance. It was sharp. Focused.
"Not reckless," he corrected. "Ambitious."
Kurama snorted.
"Same thing, coming from you."
Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
"You saw her, Kurama. You felt it." His voice grew serious. "That level of power. Featherine was on a completely different plane. She didn't fight, she didn't struggle—she just existed above me."
His fists clenched.
"I thought I understood strength. I thought I knew what it meant to reach the peak. But she showed me just how small I really am."
Kurama stayed silent, watching him.
Naruto inhaled, his eyes glowing faintly as his thoughts aligned.
"I need more."
Kurama raised a brow. "More?"
Naruto nodded.
**"More than what I imagined before. More than the Hokage, more than the Sage of Six Paths, more than the immortals we've fought. If she exists, then there are others. If Featherine can reach that level of power—then so can I."
Kurama chuckled, but there was no amusement in it.
"That's a dangerous path, brat. You know that, right?"
Naruto's gaze didn't waver. "It's the only path."
A heavy silence settled between them.
Kurama sighed, shaking his massive head.
"You really are an idiot," he muttered. "Do you even have a plan? You're talking about reaching a level of power that even the Otsutsuki at the top barely touch."
Naruto smirked. "You know me, Kurama. I'll figure it out as I go."
Kurama clicked his tongue.
"Brat, you don't have thousands of years to cultivate like those bastards. You don't have eternity to experiment, to evolve. You might not even have a hundred years before they decide to wipe you out for good."
Naruto leaned back, crossing his arms. "That's why I need to move fast."
His mind whirled with possibilities. There were ways. There had to be.
The chakra system, sage arts, bijuu power, the truth of chakra's origin, the gates, the food, the weapons, genetic changes, magical herbs, contracts with immortals, Fuinjutsu seals—he had already begun exploring these. But now he had to think beyond.
If the multiverse was real, if there were beings beyond the Otsutsuki, then that meant there were also powers beyond them.
And he was going to find them.
"Naruto," Kurama rumbled, his voice steady and calming. "I get that you're thinking about reaching the next level of power. But first things first, you need to get out of this damn dark dimension."
Naruto blinked, momentarily shaken from his thoughts. His brow furrowed, the weight of his ambitions clashing with the reality of their current situation. He was trapped—lost in this void.
"Right," Naruto muttered, his voice thick with frustration. "I've been so caught up in what comes next that I forgot we're still stuck here."
The dark dimension felt suffocating. The air was thick, as though it absorbed every trace of hope. Time seemed irrelevant here, and the ticking of the clock felt muted, like it didn't exist at all. Yet, the dark reality was clear: until they escaped, none of it would matter. The power, the future, everything Naruto had envisioned would be nothing more than a fantasy.
Kurama's voice, rich with authority and wisdom, broke through the haze.
"If you want to live to see that future you're chasing, brat, then you need to get your head on straight and figure out how to get out of here. Don't let the Otsutsuki or this dimension mess with you."
Naruto clenched his fists, grounding himself. "I can't forget what Featherine showed me. I can't pretend that everything will be okay if I don't get stronger. If I can't escape this place, I'll never even have the chance to fight for that future."
Kurama's massive form loomed within Naruto's mind, the fox's golden eyes burning with a fierce, knowing light.
"You're not wrong. You've seen the kind of strength out there—power beyond what we've ever imagined. But getting out of here and surviving what's to come should be your immediate concern. Once we're free, then you can turn that determination toward growing stronger."
Naruto nodded slowly, his resolve steadying. Kurama was right. The path to power and answers was vast, but it meant nothing if he couldn't get out of this prison first. The dark dimension had no room for dreams of the future. All it held was isolation and despair.
"I'll figure it out," Naruto said, his voice firm. "But you're right. I can't do anything from here."
Kurama gave a low growl of approval.
"Exactly. Focus on getting out of this mess first, and then we'll tackle everything else."
Naruto took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. The constant gnawing fear at the edges of his mind had softened, but it was still there. The fear of what could happen to him, to everyone he loved, still loomed. But now, it wasn't all-consuming. He had his goal. He had his clarity.
"I'm not gonna let this dimension win. I'll get out. And then I'll make sure the Otsutsuki and everyone else know that no matter what power they have, I won't back down."
Kurama's voice was filled with a hint of amusement, though there was still that serious edge.
"That's the spirit. Now, let's start figuring out how to get you out of here, one step at a time."
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The weight that had once clung to Naruto like chains forged in shadow had finally loosened its grip. He rose from where he had been sitting, the lingering silence of the dark dimension pressing around them like a fog. Yet now, where once there had been turmoil and silent despair, his heart beat with renewed fire — not unshaken, but fortified.
Naruto's sapphire eyes lifted toward Kakashi and Sakura. They stood together a short distance away, their expressions focused, breathing evenly as they moved through a dance of new power — the ancient, foreign light of the Ōtsutsuki coursing through their forms, unfamiliar yet gradually becoming a part of them. The sight made Naruto smile faintly, the warmth behind it tinged with a bittersweet edge.
He would not tell them what had happened — not about Featherine, not about the rewriting of fate, or the eldritch horrors that watched reality like spectators of a cosmic theatre. It wasn't just a matter of secrecy. It was mercy. What he had seen, what he now knew, would only shatter them. And he needed them whole. He needed them strong.
Kurama, the silent guardian within him, understood. That alone was enough.
"Time to move on," Naruto said aloud, the words cutting cleanly through the stillness. There was no hesitation in his voice, no lingering shadow. Just purpose.
Kakashi gave a nod, his Sharingan gleaming beneath his lowered headband. Sakura, her cloak faintly glowing with her newly awakened strength, gave him a smile and stepped forward. Neither of them asked questions. Neither of them doubted him.
The massive Susanoo construct — Naruto's, though it now bore an aura unlike any that had ever been conjured before — stood waiting like a silent sentinel behind him. Towering, majestic, and imbued with more than just chakra: it was a product of power shaped by purpose. Its form shimmered faintly as if the very dimension it stood in rejected its existence.
Naruto raised his hand and, with a whisper of energy, opened its chest. The three entered. The interior was impossibly vast — more spacious than its external form would have suggested, with a quiet warmth and a steady hum that seemed to pulse like a heartbeat. Once sealed, the construct shimmered and phased from sight, slipping through the fabric of the dark dimension like a ghost through a veil.
It was untouchable. Untraceable. It belonged to no realm.
And so, their journey through the Shadow Sea resumed — a realm of twisted gravity and ever-changing skies, where monstrous demons glided silently through a sky of ink and stars that shifted with every passing moment. Here, time lost its meaning. Days stretched and bent into themselves, and only the pulse of their own bodies could mark the passage.
They avoided conflict where they could. Not out of fear — Naruto's resolve would have turned mountains to dust — but out of necessity. Time was a cruel master in this realm, and each fight threatened to tether them to this abyssal sea longer than they could afford.
Then, after what they guessed to be two long days — though it could well have been ten or none at all — they emerged from the drifting shadows and into a region of space impossibly bright.
A solar system lay before them, strange and vast, centered around a colossal planet so large it glowed like a second sun. Its surface shimmered with demonic runes etched into its molten crust, and great dark wings moved in formation around its atmosphere — not ships, but creatures. Living guardians. Sentinels of this forgotten empire.
From the safe distance of the Susanoo's hidden veil, the trio observed the world. Below, they could see the glow of cities — yes, cities — etched into the skin of the planet, nestled between rivers of lava and floating fortresses. This was not a world of savagery. It was civilization. It was structured. And with that came hope.
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"There's a chance," he murmured, more to himself than the others. "A civilization means they have rules. And if they have rules… they might have passage."
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Inside the protective shell of the massive Susanoo construct, the air shimmered with a soft, rhythmic hum — chakra flowing in endless circuits, keeping them separate from the distorted laws of the dark dimension. The space within, though ethereal, was stable — a floating haven amidst chaos.
Naruto stood at the edge of a viewing platform inside the Susanoo, his eyes fixed on the massive planet glowing like a sun in the distance. With a flick of his hand, ethereal screens flickered to life — shimmering windows that displayed images from outside, drawn from the sensory nodes scattered along the Susanoo's invisible form.
Kakashi and Sakura moved beside him, both quiet as the screens adjusted to focus on the planet's surface.
"Look," Naruto said, voice low, as one of the screens zoomed in on a city carved into a mountainside of obsidian and coral. It jutted from a lava lake like the bones of a sleeping leviathan. "This is what lives here."
At first, it was hard to make out — silhouettes gliding through the steam and shadow. But soon, they emerged.
The first were Naga — serpentine creatures with elongated torsos and glistening, scaled skin. Their heads were vaguely humanoid but stretched, their features sharp and regal, with fan-like crests that rose and fell with their breath. Their eyes glowed like sapphires, and they slithered across massive ziggurats built into the planet's crust, hissing orders in a language that sounded like cracking ice and crashing waves.
Sakura stepped back instinctively. "Are those… royalty?"
"Or warlords," Kakashi said, squinting. "See the markings on their arms? That's not jewelry. It's armor."
The next image shifted to a bustling market street, if it could be called that. There, humanoid fishmen walked upright — some broad-shouldered and shark-faced, others lean and slick like eels. Their bodies were covered in bioluminescent tattoos, flickering in rhythmic pulses like language. Their limbs were too long, their teeth too sharp. One of them opened its mouth and let out a screech that made Sakura flinch.
Naruto remained still, gaze unflinching. "They're sapient. Intelligent. And brutal."
He waved his hand again. The screen split, revealing another view — deeper in the oceanic trench that seemed to bisect the entire planet. From the blackness, a titanic form stirred. Long, coiling tentacles emerged first, each one bigger than the Hokage Monument back home. The creature's form remained mostly hidden, but one massive eye blinked open — glowing with an unnatural green light that seemed to pierce through dimensions.
"A kraken," Kakashi muttered. "But not just a beast… Look."
Small, robed figures stood on the ledges of rock near the beast — worshippers, perhaps. Or summoners.
Sakura, composed but pale, leaned closer. "Naruto… are you sure we want to approach this place? If these beings are hostile…"
"We don't have a choice," he said quietly. "There's no other route to the Domain of Lord Loss. These people — these creatures — might have a gate. Or knowledge of one."
Kakashi folded his arms. "And if they don't?"
"Then we figure it out," Naruto answered. His voice was calm, but resolute — the kind of calm that came not from ignorance, but from walking through the fire and surviving.
He turned to them both now, his expression sharper than they had seen in a long time.
"They may look horrifying. They may be monsters by our standards. But they have minds. Civilization. That means we can talk… or outsmart them. I'm not here to burn their world — I just want a way forward."
A beat of silence passed between them, and despite the terrible sights beyond the screen, something unspoken but powerful passed through the three of them — an agreement, a unity formed in the face of darkness.
Kakashi exhaled slowly. "Then let's prepare. This might be the most alien world we've ever stepped on."
"Then we adapt," Naruto said. He waved his hand again, and the screens shut off like the closing of many eyes. "Just like we always have."
With that, the Susanoo began its descent — slowly, quietly, towards the molten world where monsters ruled, and the only hope of escape lay buried in the shadowed depths of an ocean of fire.
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The Susanoo construct drifted silently through the upper atmosphere of the blazing sea-world, its chakra threads shimmering faintly as Naruto directed their descent. From above, the planet looked like a mass of coiling trenches and glowing reefs, but as they pierced the outer mist, they saw the truth in full — a battlefield.
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "We're landing there," he said, pointing at a relatively quiet patch of land between two warring cities — a scarred wasteland, littered with molten coral spires and salt-crusted ruins.
They touched down softly, the Susanoo phasing into the ethereal once again. When they emerged from the protective shell, the air was heavy with heat and screams. The ground vibrated under their feet — not from tectonic movement, but the echo of distant weapons clashing and monstrous voices roaring in fury.
Sakura instinctively reached for her blade. "Another war zone. Every city we've seen so far has been locked in bloodshed."
"They don't stop," Kakashi murmured, watching the horizon as one city erupted in fire. "It's like war is their only language."
Naruto nodded, then vanished in a flicker of motion, reappearing moments later with a massive creature held in a chakra grip — a turtle-like demon, its shell cracked and battered from recent combat. Its claws twitched weakly as it hissed and growled, but a subtle wave of killing intent from Naruto silenced it completely.
"What do you want?" it spat, though not without caution.
"Information," Naruto said flatly, eyes glowing faintly with chakra. "This planet. Its ruler. And your wars."
The creature snarled, but the pressure in the air thickened — Kurama's presence flooding through Naruto in waves. The turtle demon's eyes widened.
"This world… is called Thal'zaroth," it croaked at last. "A planet ruled not by order, but strength. And at the top sits Zarakan, the Abyssal Sovereign. A sea dragon… and son of Dagon."
The name struck like lightning.
Naruto's face darkened. Sakura sucked in a breath, and Kakashi let out a quiet whistle.
"A son of Dagon…?" Sakura echoed. "Then that means—"
"There's definitely a teleportation gate," Naruto finished grimly. "Dagon's bloodline always guards them. It's how they spread between realms. If his son is here, the gate must be too."
"But so is danger," Kakashi pointed out. "If Zarakan is here, then the father can sense anything that affects his blood. If we fight, if we interfere — Dagon may come for us."
Naruto didn't answer immediately. He erased the demon, who tried to scramble away in fear, and turned to face his team.
They had all changed — their eyes were darker, more alert. Their auras felt twisted at the edges, as if the very essence of this dimension gnawed at them, whispering, clawing.
"We've been here too long," Naruto said softly. "This realm — it's not just dangerous, it's corrupting us. I can feel the way the darkness clings to my chakra, how my thoughts stray further and further from peace."
He met their gazes.
"If we don't move forward, if we don't find that gate… we won't just be lost. We'll become like them."
Sakura looked at her hands, fingers curling slightly, remembering her strange dreams of blood and scale.
Kakashi looked at Naruto. "We get close. We scout. We don't challenge Zarakan unless we have no choice. But we must find that gate."
Sakura nodded slowly. "We take the risk. Because not taking it… means losing who we are."
A brief silence hung in the air, thick with resolve.
Naruto smiled — not out of joy, but conviction. "Then let's move. Thal'zaroth won't welcome us. But we won't wait to be welcomed."
The team turned toward the nearest city of obsidian towers and violet flame, their silhouettes tall and determined against the glowing ocean winds. Above them, the sky churned, as if sensing the arrival of foreign souls who dared to defy even the children of immortals.
And far beneath the sea, something massive stirred — a pair of reptilian eyes opening in the depths, watching… waiting.