So, this is the beginning of my rewrite. I've cleaned some things up in all the chapters, toned down some of the personalities (*cough* Kurama cough*) and did away with some of the more confusing elements of the story. Events may be longer or shorter, or entirely different. Hope everyone who read the original enjoys this one!
Chapter 1: Extra-Ordinary
Naruto and Sasuke were no fools, at least not at this point in their lives. They had lived through many wars, and many more small-scale skirmishes. They were both around 1000 years old at this point, but no one of the current era of ninja were aware that they were still alive. The power was intoxicating at first, but after outliving their friends, spouses, children, and grandchildren, they lost their reasons to be powerful in the first place, those who they needed to protect.
It all started with what Momoshiki had told Boruto. "Those who defeat gods cannot remain ordinary individuals." It had been a message, an omen that no one knew the meaning of. At least, not until the children of prophecy outlived not only their own generation, but the next two after that with little decline in their physical abilities. Immortality, in the sense that they couldn't die from aging, and since no one for the better part of the last few centuries had been able to match up to them, they simply lived on.
Boruto was inflicted with this curse as well, but his death came from protecting Sarada at her Hokage coronation, something that made Sasuke even more proud of his protege.
"Oi, Sasuke-teme! How much longer until we get there!?"
"About another 5 minutes, give or take. "
They were currently trekking through Kaguya's core dimension, having secluded themselves from the modern era. As much as they wanted to, they felt that they had no right to still be influencing the world beyond their time. It'd be like what Madara did all those years ago, coming back from the dead over a century after his natural death.
"Centuries have passed and yet you're still so brash, dobe. Glad to see that you're still the same man you used to be." Sasuke was thankful for his friend's attitude being as immortal as he was physically.
"It's the only thing that keeps me sane, really", Naruto said with downcast eyes. Time had forced him to mature. The loss of his wife and kids (although he was more than proud of Boruto's heroic sacrifice) had hit him the hardest out of all of his losses. He took to avoiding women all together, closing his heart to those that tried to court him and offering nothing more than a scant "hello" to many who wanted to speak to him. His brash, attention-seeking nature as a kid was the only thing he had to fall back on, and so he did. Naruto dropped his head and sulked, wandering silently beside his only comrade he had left.
"Pull your head out of your ass, kit, and keep moving."
Oh, and Kurama too.
"We're here", Sasuke said, as they came upon a magnificent castle with a large door. Sasuke teleported them inside to their destination, a throne room full of swirling, ethereal masses. Portals.
"From my intel, each of these seems to be a portal to a different reality Kaguya has or wanted to visit. Each of them seemed to have some link towards chakra, and you know how chakra-hungry she was."
"Ok, so why exactly are we here? It can't just be you wanting to mess around, you aren't and have never been the type to do something without a reason, cyclops." Naruto had took to calling Sasuke a cyclops, due to his hair covering up his rinnegan, making it appear he had only one good eye.
"We're leaving", the ancient Uchiha said simply.
"Come again?"
"You know as well as I do that we've done everything that could be done in this reality, Naruto. Power, fame, prestige, love, you name it, we've accomplished it. And that was only in our first 30 or so years of life. We need to move on, to start anew somewhere. If we're going to live out this curse until we die, we need to do it in a way that won't cause us to lose our sanity, as miraculous as it is that we can still say we're sane."
"I know, I know, doesn't mean I have to like it." Naruto didn't even like leaving the Leaf after Hinata died, much less going to a new reality entirely. The thought scared him, starting over again. Not because he was scared of any new enemies, but because he didn't know how he was going to cope with reintroducing his jaded mind to civilization.
" You, who once spearheaded saving the entire ninja world, afraid of a change of scenery? You've grown weak, Naruto." Naruto had long since gotten used to Kurama chiding him. He enjoyed it, in fact, as it reminded him of old times, which was why Kurama would just blurt out things now and again.
"This is different from all those times I fought, Kurama. This problem Sasuke and I have… it can't be solved with our fists."
"Last I checked, you were one of the best at solving problems without your fists. When you get into it, you could sell water to a fish."
Naruto knew exactly what Kurama was talking about. Despite normally not being the best orator, he always seemed to have a knack for getting people to believe in him, whether it was through his unwavering determination or his words to people that had done some pretty repugnant things in their life. Nagato, Obito, and even his best friend whom he was about to embark on a new journey with, Sasuke. He did fight all of them at one point, but ultimately, it was his philosophy that won out over theirs.
"Cat got your tongue, brat?" Kurama wasn't done.
But Sasuke was.
Their conversation ended promptly with Sasuke setting Naruto on fire. This was not a cause for concern, seeing as how Naruto had long since been unaffected by the flames since their last fight.
"If you two are done, I believe I've found a place suitable for us. The creatures there are strange, but the humans and many other species look and behave like us."
"If push comes to shove, I'll just bust their faces in if they don't like us, ttebayo!"
"Enthusiastic for a challenge as always I see."
Sasuke synced his eye with the portal, held onto Naruto's shoulder, and transported them off to this new reality, this new beginning.
Once they got there, they were not happy.
-Biblical Wargrounds-
"Father, siblings, do you feel that?" The archangel, Micheal, spoke softly when he felt a rift in the space around them.
"Yes, I did, Michael", one of his siblings, Gabriel, replied.
"Hmm..." God himself pondered upon these two newfound energies on the battlefield. Were they friend or foe, hostile or benevolent? He could sense no malice from them, only... melancholy? One of them also had a beast sealed inside of him. It seemed he had some intricate sealing method performed upon him. It reminded him of the processes he went through to help his prized creations combat those that would take advantage of them from the supernatural world. How he loved humans, and these two looked just like them.
"Similar to my sacred gears, eh?" Micheal and Gabriel turned towards their father, curious of what he was thinking. A blast of magic whipped passed their heads, though, which ended their curiosity. War waited for no one.
"YOU TRANSPORTED US INTO THE MIDDLE OF A GODDAMN WAR ZONE!?", Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs. Fights here and there weren't bad, but he never wanted to be personally involved in a war again. He felt his anger spike, his skin turning golden and eyes forming into crosses.
Sasuke kept his cool, looking Naruto straight in the eyes with his own, gleaming set.
"Maybe war is what we need, after all this time." Naruto simply hissed and growled at him, ready to punch his lights out for even thinking of this. Maybe all this unending time had finally driven his old friend mad. He calmed down somewhat, depowering himself before he made more of a scene than he already had, and began to speak to Sasuke.
"Listen here, you-" Naruto was cut off, as two gigantic creatures came crashing down right beside them, wrestling for supremacy. Naruto, in what he dubbed "Bijuu sage mode", could feel the power of everyone around him for miles on end. He had felt these two, a red and white dragon, off in the distance right as they got here. There were a couple of other heavy hitters around, 3 of them in particular catching his interest.
One seemed to exude warmth and light, but also had a far more calculated nature to it than would be expected of such a benevolent-feeling energy.
One was as dark and evil feeling as the very pits of despair, though there was also a glimpse of... betrayal?
The last one was neither wholly evil nor wholly good. This energy signature was much more laid back than the other two. Eerily, it reminded Naruto of Orochimaru.
The dragons themselves were massive swirls of energy and feelings of competitiveness. Their power rivaled a tailed beast's, which, though he'd never admit, made Naruto just the least bit excited.
The fighting around them had stopped, save for the dragons right beside them. All of the onlookers, some with black, bat-like wings, some with dark, feathery wings, and others with white, feathery wings, all grouped up around the four of them. It was as if they were waiting for something to happen.
A stray tail swung at Naruto and Sasuke, who promptly leapt up to dodge it. They came back down, Naruto with a tick mark on his forehead.
"Oi, you damned overgrown lizards! Can't you see we were talking!?" He was in no mood to be interrupted.
The two dragons ignored him, too embroiled in their fight to notice anyone else.
Naruto's patience ran out, and he flared his chakra. The battlefield around them tore apart, leaving a crater a mile wide. The dragons, more angry than damaged, finally stopped fighting and turned towards the source of the explosion.
"How dare you interrupt our battle, small fry!" The red dragon spoke first.
"Are you not familiar with who we are?" The white dragon spoke, a bit more regal in it's approach to a conversation.
"Don't know, don't give a damn. Look, if you're going to be mad, we should just cut to the chase and fight." Naruto had grown tired of monologues in his many fights.
"I second that." Sasuke spoke up for the first time in the confrontation, drawing his sword and smiling ever so slightly. He'd be lying if he said he didn't want this fight, one that could challenge him, even if only a little.
"Hmm, brash little brats, aren't y'all? Very well then, I, Ddraig, shall confront you with overwhelming power."
"And I, Albion, shall confront you with unfathomable grace."
The dragons opened their mouths, forming large balls of fire inside. They didn't look like they were going to hold back.
Unfortunately for them, neither were Naruto and Sasuke.
The two shinobi flew forward, dodging the flames that spewed forward and all but disappearing from the sight of those with less power.
Sasuke ran up Ddraig's tail, stabilizing himself with chakra as the dragon tried to shake him off. He drew his sword with his one good arm, intending to cut off the appendage he was currently treading. He swung it down, cutting into the dragon's flesh and eliciting a howl of pain from it.
"Argh! You tiny pest!" The red dragon had decided that enough was enough. If he couldn't shake the little bastard off, he'd just crush him under his weight. Getting airborne with his wings and then flipping over, he came crashing to the earth back-first, intending to smoosh Sasuke like an ant. He felt something stop his descent, but it didn't feel like the ground…
"You're… quite heavy, huh?" Sasuke had manifested his legged Susanoo, which was holding the dragon up with it's hands. Ddraig, feeling as though he was being made fun of, lashed his tail out, knocking the humanoid chakra construct off balance and releasing him from it's grasp. Capitalizing on this, he flew forward, headbutting it with his hard body and destroying it. Sasuke came flying out of it, landing squarely on his back.
"This dragon is a bit more of a challenge than it should be", he said while coughing in between his words. When did he get so weak as to allow a being like this to push him so hard? This dragon wasn't in the same league as even the initial Juubi, let alone it's jinchuriki, whom he has fought and triumphed over (with help from Naruto, of course). He'd have to sharpen his skills again after they were done here. If there was one thing Sasuke Uchiha hated, it was complacency.
"It seems that my [Penetrate] ability works on whatever that technique was", Ddraig thought to himself. He could still feel the pain in his tail from when he had been cut, doing his best to ignore it. This tiny human… was no ordinary being, that's for sure.
Meanwhile…
"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto created many copies of himself, surrounding the white dragon en masse. His plan was simple: punch it until it stopped resisting. That's how he solved all his other problems back home, it should work here.
"It matters not how many vermin scurry around one such as I. Ddraig may succumb to this, but I am the superior dragon." Albion looked upward, opening his mouth and letting free a stream of fire, pooling it above his head. The fire coalesced into the shape of a meteor, then, dispersed into many smaller fireballs, all coming at Naruto and his clones.
"This is kinda like Sasuke's fire style, and if that's the case, I know the just the trick." Mentally commanding his clones to sync with him, he performed the necessary handsigns, and brought forth a jutsu.
"Water style: Water Wall!" Naruto and his clones spewed a massive wall of water from their mouths, nullifying all of the fireballs coming at them. Naruto, ever since being given power by the sage, understood chakra on a level deeper than most everyone else, and as a result, knew how to perform most jutsu instinctively, and could use all 5 chakra natures in combat.
Albion rushed through the resulting steam, moving quickly and quietly for a being of his stature. He appeared before Naruto, believing himself to have gotten the drop on him. He swung his tails, clearing out all the clones, but felt something stop his momentum. Looking down, he saw that only 1 human remained, but this one was holding his tail in place and it's eyes had changed.
"You should know better than to underestimate a sage." Naruto, having entered sage mode, picked up and swung the dragon around by it's tail, releasing it once he got to top velocity and flinging the dragon 50 meters across the battlefield. Naruto's time to enter sage mode was almost nonexistent at this point, as a result of training it to true perfection. He had nothing else to do, really, with all this unending time. He idly noted that the level of malice here was more than it had been in the elemental nations, and that's saying something considering all the death, decay, and hatred that was present back home. It was as if the very planet itself was weeping. He'd have to do something about that later.
"Pathetic. This dragon would have been dead by now if you were 17." Kurama chided Naruto. This display he was putting on was a far cry from how powerful he was even when he was just a teenager.
"I'm not exactly trying my hardest here, but whatever you say, fuzzball." Naruto was slightly irritated. Whatever curse had been placed on them had preserved their strength for the most part, but it didn't stop them from getting rusty altogether. Since they hadn't had a fight even remotely challenging in ages, using their more powerful abilities felt strange. If push really came to shove, he could outdo himself from all those years ago, but it hadn't yet. These dragons were powerful, but no threat to him if he's serious. Sasuke leapt to his side, seeing the slight windedness of his rival.
"Out of gas already, dobe?"
"Not even close", Naruto responded. The two dragons dropped down in front of them once more, irritation evident in their booming voices and in the way they furiously moved their reptilian bodies. The atmosphere around them began to heat up tremendously, and storm clouds formed overhead as the three factions watched these monsters go at it. Sasuke idly noted that these were the perfect conditions for one of his custom made jutsu.
The dragons' bodies themselves were heating up, glowing even. The leaders of the 3 factions recognized what was about to happen and commanded their legions to withdraw to safety. Now, it was just the four of Naruto, Sasuke, and the dragons on the battlefield (plus Naruto's sleep-in residents).
"Even I can see that they're trying to self-destruct", Naruto announced lamely. He really hated when his opponents did that, it almost always ended up being some catastrophic cop-out because they're losing.
"Naruto, you focus on defense. I'll deal with this." Sasuke barked out orders, wanting to see just how far he could push himself, taking on both dragons at once. Naruto silently obliged, though Sasuke ordering him around still grated his nerves. He formed his kyuubi chakra cloak over both of them. The skies started to illuminate, lightning dancing across the skies. Sasuke would tame it once again. Just as the dragons were beginning to explode, a roar could be heard from the skies, and another dragon could be seen sitting in the clouds.
One of the observers, a leader by the looks of his twelve, midnight dark, feathery wings, observed this exchange that was about to happen with vested interest.
"By the gods, these two could change the very history of our world, and we don't even know where they came from." The possibilities both excited and terrified him. Two obvious deities, with the power to clash with the two heavenly dragons? And they're not affiliated with any pantheons that he knows of? Azazel was no fool. He knew he had to get on these two's good side if they survived this bout. Back to the fight, Sasuke smirked as the familiar sensation of guiding Kirin graced his fingertips as he raised his single arm.
"The name of this jutsu is Kirin. Begone, with the thunderclap." He brought his arm back down, and the lightning dragon struck just as the explosion ripped out from the dragons' epicenter.
The attacks collided, engulfing the crater Naruto had left in brilliant flashes of lightning and embers. The temperature inside the explosive sphere rose to unimaginably high levels, and the land they were standing on was obliterated, leaving a deep hole in the ground that the combatants narrowly avoided falling in. When the subsequent explosion cleared, the 3 factions present were stunned.
The dragons, on the ground, defeated and wounded. The newcomers, their clothes burned and skin bleeding somewhat, but still standing. Sasuke supposed he should've held back a little bit more, but he lost his cool from being able to fight beings that could challenge him a bit again.
"Oi, that stung you jackass!" Naruto stated comically waving his fist around, wanting to kick Sasuke's ass for bringing down lightning upon them like a maniac.
"You're alive, aren't you? Stop whining, loser." The two took to bickering like 12-year olds again. The resulting explosion had hit them with both the power of the dragons and Sasuke in one violent instance, yet they were still raring to go by the looks of it. Naruto stopped arguing, sensing one of the three bigger energies making it's way towards them. Sasuke followed suit, having sensed a presence approaching them as well. They took up their battle stances, ready for anything. The figure reached them, towering over them a good tall and wearing golden armor.
"If I may ask, what are two deities of you all's caliber doing here, embroidered in the affairs of this pantheon?" The biblical God asked the two dimension-hopping shinobi.
"Come again?" Naruto didn't know what anything this giant just said meant.
"You understood me, I am sure. What are two foreign gods doing here?" God was, for the first time in centuries, perplexed. The energies these two gave off were, no doubt, divine in origin, but their brand of divinity was a new one. Could they be newly born gods? Perhaps once mortal, but certainly divine now. Not to mention, no one short of godhood could take down those two dragons, and with apparent ease at that. Naruto and Sasuke stood there perplexed, as the rest of the onlookers listened in, almost as if they had forgotten that they were all at war just a few short moments ago.
Sasuke, thinking quickly on his feet, tried coming up with a convincing lie. It wouldn't be wise to just blurt out who they were or where they came from, as they knew nothing about this world. The whole point of this was to start anew anyway, so why not pick new names?
"I'm afraid we are simply lost. We were recently gifted divinity, and don't have great control over our powers yet. The fight with those dragons helped us mature a bit, but we still don't fully grasp the scope. We ended up teleporting here through a freak accident. My name is…" He paused, contemplating what he should say. What's a name that's not too incriminating?
"My name is Indra. My comrade's name is Asura", he finished. Sasuke could only hope this person would take the bait.
"Ahh, I take it you are the successor to the original Indra and your friend here was reincarnated into being an Asura? If so, you two are incredible. Defeating those dragons and not even being fully matured deities. I look forward to seeing you two develop and manage your territories." Sasuke noted that there was already an "Indra" here, and that whoever this person was seemed to refer to "Asura" as a group instead a singular being. He chuckled a bit in his mind, since he was technically right on both counts. He is the successor to Indra, just not the one here, and Naruto is a reincarnated Asura.
"Yes, you are correct, Mr…" he trailed off, not knowing how to address the being in front of him.
"I have many names, but you can simply call me Yahweh. Now, I do believe this conflict has nothing much to do with you. Is there any way I can help in getting you home? I don't have direct access to the Hindu faction's homeland, but I can arrange for you to be brought as close as possible." Sasuke scanned the newly named Yahweh for any sign of deceit and betrayal, as did Naruto. When they both found nothing, they shot each other a look, and silently agreed.
"Any way is fine, honestly", Naruto spoke up at last. "We've gotta gain control of our powers, so it'd be nice if it was fast though, golden-armor gramps." Sasuke stared at Naruto incredulously, silently disappointed at his incompetence. Naruto's habit of giving people weird nicknames had never faded, and there's no way to know if that's acceptable in this new world. He could've potentially made them new enemies and undone all his smooth-talking in one fell swoop.
Yahweh simply laughed, a tear streaking from one of his eyes.
"In all of my many years, I've never been referred to as such. All of the children in my jurisdiction call me father, but gramps is a first, and you're not even one of my own. You're quite the entertainer, Asura. Very well, I will arrange for you to be escorted. Go to the nearest body of water, your 'ride' will be there."
Naruto and Sasuke bowed, mouthing "thank you" before they took off. They didn't know where the nearest sea was, but they could find out rather easily. Naruto simply had to enter sage mode and pinpoint where any type of fish dwelled (as all living creatures had different, distinct types of energy).
Turning to his army, specifically Michael and Gabriel, Yahweh's eyes softened. He leaned down to his beloved children and spoke softly.
"My dear children, do not be afraid going forward. I know this is a selfish request, but should I fall here, you are to search for a new leader. You may take your choice, as I believe that I have taught you well, but before I go, know this. You are to seal the dragons those two outer deities defeated into devices I've created and named sacred gears recently. Make sure they come into possession of them, as they are the ones who defeated them." The angels shook their head, barely holding in their sorrow.
The two archangels couldn't contain themselves at the thought, as tears streamed down their faces. God knelt down and wiped the tears from their faces, giving them a reassuring smile. He could feel his power fading, so that's why he brought up the possibility. He stood to his full height, turning around back to the decisive battle at hand. He raised his voice, and it was heard all across the battlefield.
"Well, shall we continue, my wicked children?"
-Unknown Sea-
"Well, now what?" Naruto asked. They had come to the nearest body of water and were waiting patiently for this escort they were promised. Sasuke had deigned not to teleport, as he was not sure if the beings here could sense disturbances in the spacetime continuum at this distance, nor did he know his way around. Teleporting at random to places they've never been was a risk.
"Are you sure we aren't being led on, Sasuke?"
"You inspected him just as I did. I found not even a hint of malice in him, but I admit, appearances can be deceiving." Naruto crossed his arms, almost convinced that they were being tricked. It would be easy, after all, considering they knew nothing about anything in this realm. How things worked, where things were, who's who, etc.
Suddenly, the surface of the water was disturbed ever so slightly. Naruto felt this disturbance, and looked down, only to be met by a gaping mouth less than 5 feet away from him.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" He shouted, alarming Sasuke, he himself looking down.
On this day, Naruto and Sasuke would become familiar with the biblical tale of Jonah and be swallowed whole by a whale.
