The Top Ten

III

The Avalon Kingdom

“Are you really going to start teaching me how to use my powers, dad?!” Since his daughter was sitting on top of his arms, Naruto could literally feel how excited Kunou was. And seeing how much his little girl was excited, Naruto could not help but let out a satisfied chuckle.

His daughter was eight years old, almost nine to be exact. She was the perfect blend between him and Yasaka. Kunou got her mother’s looks and her father’s wits, well… more like she got his mischievous side. But she was crazy smart, there was no denying that. His daughter was perfect in every sense, like his all other children… except for Boruto. That brat had issues.

But there was one thing about Kunou that stood out the most.

It was her eyes.

Like the Byakugan from his previous world, Kunou’s eyes lacked pupils. But unlike the normal Byakugan, her irises had gold hue to them. It seemed his daughter possessed a mutated version of the Byakugan, which somewhat functioned like the original. Kunou could see the energy if she would activate her eyes. And her eyes could also differentiate different energy through colors; for example, she would see divine energy in gold color and youkai energy in purple. But other than seeing the energy and differentiating them, they did not know what else her eyes could do.

So, Jiraiya suggested that Kunou should first learn Youjutsu and get a better understanding of how other kinds of energy and magic worked before she started exploring her unique Byakugan. Naruto and Yasaka agreed to that. After that, Yasaka personally took care of their daughter’s education and training. But now, it was his turn. Since according to his lovely wife, Kunou was more than ready to explore her mysterious dōjutsu.

“Of course sweetheart. After all, I promised, didn’t I?” Naruto replied back with his trademark grin.

“Yes! And my dad does not go back on his promise!” With a cute squeal, Kunou wrapped her hands around his neck and hugged him, earning a chuckle from him.

“Now, enough about training, let’s talk about something else.” Naruto squeezed his daughter one last time before putting her down. After all, they were already in front of Kunou’s school. If Naruto wanted, he could teleport both of them directly in front of her classroom. But he chose not to do it.

After all, taking Kunou to school was something that he immensely enjoyed. So he liked to walk Kunou to her school. And with the help of his illusion magic, the people barely noticed them.

She pouted cutely as her feet touched the ground but did not say anything. Since Yasaka was very strict about maintaining their image out in the public. Just remembering her words made Naruto snort. The whole city already knew that their princess had their king wrapped around her cute little fingers, and he was proud of it. After all, his perfect little princess had every right to boss him around.

“You want to know how Shirone is doing in school?” Kunou asked as she took his hand and started walking.

This was the reason why he would say that his little girl was crazy smart, “Yes Kunou, how is she doing?”

“She is still very quiet but I can see she is feeling better than before. She also started to openly state her opinions, although most of the time it is just ‘yes’ and ‘no’. But do not worry father. As the class rep and as her friend, I will make sure she is enjoying her time in the school.” Kunou answered, politely since they were in public.

“I am glad that you are looking after her, Kunou.” Naruto smiled at his daughter proudly.

Kunou puffed up her chest and tilted her face up, “As the future Queen, it is my duty to protect the happiness of the people.”

Naruto knew that her daughter was trying to imitate her mother’s elegant queen pose. But instead of looking elegant, she looked cute, too cute. So, with one sweep Naruto picked Kunou up again and hugged her tightly, eliciting a squeak from her which soon turned into giggles.

A moment later, he let her down and sent her off. Naruto knew that he was going to get an earful from his wife about this even though no one noticed them. But this worked just fine for him. After all, if Yasaka was riled up too much, she would be that much proactive in bed. Maybe he could also entice her more by saying that Kunou needed a sibling. After all, Boruto had Himawari.

When Kunou went inside the building, Naruto turned and focused on the little fox patiently waiting on the other side of the road. In the capital it was very common to see small animals going about their ways, but this fox was different. Its fur had a common reddish orange hue but it was its eyes which were different. It had a shade of gold that was unique to only one person. Of course, others had to really look for it to notice this.

It was a messenger fox send by Amaterasu.

Naruto crossed the road and when he reached the fox, he went down to its level and started scratching its chin, “What do you have for me little guy?”

The little fox closed its eyes and tilted its head up, “Naruto, please meet me as soon as you are able.”

Naruto frowned as he heard the words telepathically. He patted the fox for few more seconds before standing up. The little fox opened its eyes and the color was its eyes were back to normal.

Naruto took a deep breath and activated his Rinnegan. He immediately controlled his power before it spiked to a dangerous level for the people around him. His power would not be harmful but they would certainly put pressure on everyone around him.

There were two ways to go to the realm where the Shinto Gods and Goddesses reside. One was through the divine Torii. They had a large one in the Avalon palace. But for certain individuals, Amaterasu had given them her blessing to enter the Shinto Palace whenever they wish. Naruto was one of them.

Naruto opened a portal to the Shinto Palace, a large circular gate through which he could see his destination. But instead of going to the portal, the portal came to him. And in an instant, he was in front of Amaterasu’s office.

Of course, he made sure to power up his illusion magic so no one around him noticed what he did.

Straightening up, Naruto knocked on the door.

“Come in, Naruto.”

Naruto opened the door and went inside. As he gently closed the door behind him, he asked, “Is everything alright, Lady Amaterasu?”

Amaterasu smiled. She looked tired and yet somewhat excited, “Everything is alright, Naruto… on my side at least.”

Naruto titled his head to the side. But before he could voice his confusion, Amaterasu stood up, “I believe it is better to have this discussion in a more private setting. Will that be alright with you?”

Naruto just nodded back.

Amaterasu waved her hand, and immediately the place around them shifted. Now, they were in her private study chamber. A perfect place to discuss confidential matters. And a place Naruto had been visiting frequently in last couple of months.

“Please, take a seat,” Amaterasu gestured at front of her after she sat down on her personal chair.

The moment Naruto did so, Amaterasu asked, “How are you feeling Naruto? Your power, is it stabilized?”

The question caught Naruto completely off-guard. He was expecting the topic of their discussion to be related to the recent actions of their Kingdom, not this.

“My power is stabilized, Lady Amaterasu,” The way Amaterasu raised her eyebrow at his answer made it clear that she was not satisfied with it. Clearing his throat, Naruto decided to elaborate, “I do not have the seizure anymore if that is what you are asking. And my power does not fluctuate when I enter into battle-mode. But I did notice that the output of power has increased, even though I do not feel any changes internally.”

“Did you do full in-depth physical and spiritual checkup?”

Naruto opened his mouth to say that it was not needed but stopped midway. Amaterasu still had that stern look, so he decided to answer truthfully, “No, I did not,” Naruto immediately added seeing the frown on Amaterasu’s face, “I will do it soon. It is just that everything is so hectic right now that I did not have the time to do an extensive checkup.”

Amaterasu sighed. She leaned forward and extended her hands, “Let me.”

Naruto’s initial reaction was to protest but decided against it. He put his palms on top of Amaterasu’s.

Amaterasu gently closed her eyes. Not a moment later, her divine aura started to become visible. It had a golden hue that was unique only to her. The golden aura surrounding Amaterasu started to make its way to Naruto, through their hands.

It felt quite relaxing, as if Naruto was taking a dip at a hot spring after a long tiring day.

“Naruto, activate your eyes please.”

Reluctantly, Naruto did so. Activating Rinnegan always felt refreshing to Naruto. It was as if his body was taking in fresh air after a long time. But the reason he would not have it always activated because of aura he would subconsciously release. While most of the people around him was unaffected, it did not mean everyone was. And the numbers would soar if he were to leave the castle grounds.

And these past few days, it was worse.

Naruto frowned as he saw sweats forming on Amaterasu’s forehead. But before he could say anything, she shook her head. Her eyes still closed.

Almost a minute later, which felt one of the longest minutes for Naruto, the divine aura of Amaterasu started to disperse. Naruto immediately deactivated his Rinnegan.

Amaterasu let go of Naruto’s hands and leaned back on her chair. When she opened her eyes, even though she was out of breath, her eyes were filled with excitement, “Congratulations Naruto, you are ascending to Godhood.”

It took Naruto few seconds to register what Amaterasu was saying, but when it did, “What the actual fuck?!” Seeing Amaterasu raising an eyebrow at his outburst, he immediately calmed down, “I apologize for that outburst. But, Lady Amaterasu are you sure about this? I mean…”

“Naruto, calm down,” Amaterasu took his right hand with both of hers. That did the job as Naruto quieted down and took a deep breath, “Let me explain. I am not saying this lightly since I know of your disinterest in attaining ‘Divinity’.”

Naruto sighed when he heard that. He had nothing against ‘Gods’ and ‘Goddesses’, or ‘Divine Energy’. What he was not comfortable with was ‘How’ the ‘Divine Energy’ could be obtained in this world. The primary way to obtain it was to gain ‘Followers’ and to receive ‘Prayers’ from them. It was a very personal opinion, but to Naruto, it just did not feel right. Also, the experience from his old world did not help on this either. In his old world, his strongest and most dangerous opponents always had a ‘God-Complex’. Many of them actively pursued to be immortal, to be Godlike being.

Of course, there were other ways to gain ‘Divine Energy’. One such way to obtain it was to receive a ‘Blessing’ from High-rank ‘God’ or ‘Goddess’. An example here would be Yasaka. She received one such blessing from Amaterasu, which turned her into a ‘Divine Beast’ from a youkai. Unfortunately, it would not work on Naruto since he was much stronger than Amaterasu. Even if he was to receive any blessing from her, there were high chances that his own power would absorb the blessing instead of granting him ‘Divine Energy’.

So, for the time being, Naruto decided not to actively seek out ‘Divine Energy’. Of course, if gaining the said power would help his people and the kingdom, then he would gladly do so. But even Jiraiya, Yasaka and August agreed with him that there was no need for him since he was already strong enough.

Of course, this was before the ‘Nekoshou Massacre’ incident.

“Naruto, I know that you are wondering how did this happen? And why now? Truth to be told, I had a feeling this was to happen.”

Naruto just sent a questioning gaze at Amaterasu when he heard that. She chuckled at his gaze. She patted his hand few times and then released it, “Naruto, the reason you are adored and revered is because of who you are and what you had done. This is also why you are called a ‘Hero-King’, no. Because of your heroic deeds and kingly performance,” Naruto felt his cheeks heating up but he did not interrupt.

“But what you had done against the Devil Faction was not something a hero or a king could do, not from our perspective,” Amaterasu suddenly looked upset, “Many times people of our faction were harmed. Many times their prides were trampled. In times like those, they will tell amongst themselves that the wicked will be punished by the Gods and Goddesses. But the reality is we are not truly immortal, we are not omnipotent. There are factions out there against whom we cannot even think of retaliating. The Devil Faction was one of them. We had accepted that. Our people had accepted that.”

Amaterasu then looked at Naruto with such warmth that made him blush, “What you had done was an impossible task, it was a miracle. But this is not the first time where you accomplished something we deemed impossible. But this was the first time, people from our faction and your kingdom felt what it was like to have a ‘True God’ on their side.”

Naruto opened his mouth and then closed it, which made Amaterasu chuckle, “You crushed the strongest devil, you humiliated the devil faction. Your action killed many devils and you revived them as if their lives were an insignificant matter to you,” Amaterasu raised her hand to stop Naruto before he could even open his mouth to protest, “You dragged the vile criminals out from the safety of their faction and threw them in front of your people. You treated them exactly how they had treated our people. This is how our people had perceived the clash between the Avalon Kingdom and the Devil Faction. From their perspective Naruto, what you had done, neither a King nor a Hero could do such a thing. In their mind, only a God can do such miraculous feat.”

Amaterasu suddenly let out a wide smile, “Tell me Naruto, what would happen when Gods and Goddesses start to pray to an individual?”

Everything instantly became clear to Naruto. He felt like banging his head on the wall. He knew his actions would have consequences but this was just ridiculous, “So, what should I do now?”

“You should put all your effort and focus on your ascension Naruto.”

“It is not that simple, Lady Amaterasu,” Naruto sighed, “The Core Stone will appear in a year. There are quite some hurdles our Kingdom will face before that. I cannot just drop everything and shift my focus on this.”

“You can and you will,” Naruto was surprised at the stern voice of Amaterasu, “Naruto, you are not attaining ‘Divinity’, you are ascending to ‘Godhood’. They are not the same. Unlike obtaining Divinity where you gain certain amount of Divine Energy, ascending to Godhood will turn all your internal energy into Divine Energy. That is not all. After your ascension, you will obtain ‘Domain’ and ‘Title’. If you are not prepared, if you are careless then you will have very hard time controlling your ‘Domain’. That is why you should start preparing for your ascension right now while it is still in its early stage.”

Naruto dropped his head on top of his palms and let out a groan. This made Amaterasu to laugh, “You are the first person I see who is so distraught after hearing that he will ascend.”

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X

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Khaos Brigade

“When did you join the Hero faction?”

Arjuna let out a tired sigh when he heard the question. He wanted to do something more productive than babysitting the newcomers, like looking for the old relics of the Hindu mythology or learning more about the Avalon Kingdom. But he could not. No matter how much he disliked the Hero faction and its members, he had to play his part. But, he had a valid reason for his dislike though.

The Hero faction was one of the most disorganized groups he had ever seen. And if there was any other group more disorganized than this, then it was the Khaos Brigade itself. But regardless of the many flaws Khaos Brigade had, it did not change the fact that it was founded by Ophis, the Beast of Infinity. And it also did not change the fact that many powerful individuals gathered here. So, he joined the Hero faction under Khaos Brigade to see what was going on.

But honestly, he did not expect this. To put it bluntly, it was a mess. There was no definite leadership. Most of the strong individuals formed their own groups and were doing their own things. But he still stayed because he needed to dig out information on some specific individuals. Unfortunately for him, it was taking longer than he expected.

Sometimes, being a spy was just too tiresome.

“I am not a founding member of the Hero faction, if that is what you wanted to know. But I was one of the very first to be recruited directly by Cao Cao,” Arjuna answered coolly.

“Hmm~” The boy beside him hummed. As much as Arjuna wanted this to be the last question, he knew it was not. As a matter of fact, he knew exactly what the boy wanted to ask. And he did not have to wait long.

“I heard a rumor.” The boy tried to maintain his cool façade, but Arjuna could clearly see his excitement through his mask, “A rumor about you defeating our leader Cao Cao, the one who wields the legendary True Longinus. Is it true?”

Arjuna kept his face blank, unfortunately it did not help.

“I heard that we have a fantastic training ground.” The boy was stubborn, Arjuna would give him that, “As a senior, would you mind showing me how to use it?”

“Ask George, he will be more than happy.” Arjuna stopped and turned to face the boy, “I have other matters to attend to.”

The boy tilted his head, his face finally broke into a wild devilish smile, “I also heard that you take good care of your juniors. I am sure you can make some time for me.” And then his smile become wider, “I don’t think it should take too long.”

It seemed that their newest member, Vali Lucifer, was no different than the other members. Well truth to be told, he did not put much hope in him from the start.

“Better to get this over with,” With a sigh, Arjuna cast a teleportation spell taking them both to the arena. This arena was initially created by George, but later was improved by Cao Cao and him. It was bigger than an average football stadium and had enough enchantments to withstand large-scale battles. But this arena was strictly for one-on-one duels.

The moment the teleportation circle faded, Arjuna started to walk toward the red platform which was at one end of the arena, while he pointed to the other end, “Go and stand on top of that blue platform.”

Without even looking back, he continued, “The rules for the duels in the Hero faction are simple. One, you do not fight to the death. Two, if you have techniques that you are not sure how they are going to work out or you have a hard time controlling them, do not use them. At all. Three, the duels are meant for training purposes. Yes, some can be considered as honorary matches or to test self-improvement, but that’s it. If you want to have a death match, staking your pride and what not, this is not the place for it.”

Arjuna finished his speech exactly when he stepped inside the red platform. He turned around and saw that Vali was still standing at the same spot, looking slightly shocked.

“What are you standing there for? You want to fight me, right?” Arjuna said, a little bit of irritation finally sipped out through his voice.

It started as a low chuckle, which turned into a full blown laughter. The cool façade that Vali was wearing till now was completely shattered, as his excitement and battle-hunger became bare for the world to see. With a single jump, Vali landed on the blue platform, his eyes never leaving Arjuna’s.

With a sigh, Arjuna lifted his index finger, “When the bell rings, the battle starts.”

No one said anything after that. And then, five seconds later, a bell-like sound echoed throughout the arena.

“Divine Dividing: Scale Mail!”

It took Vali around two full seconds to fully transform into his Balance Breaker form, including his shouting time. Arjuna almost sighed at Vali’s transparent weakness, shown at the very beginning of the battle no less. Unfortunately, he was not the only one. This was a major weakness to most, if not all, Longinus wielders. They take too much time to complete their transformation or power-up, and most of them usually leave themselves very defenseless during that period. If Arjuna wanted, he could have easily finished the battle during Vali’s transformation with one lethal shot. The only reason he did not was because he wanted to gather information on Divine Dividing, and how well Vali could use it.

The said person pointed his right hand at him and shouted, “Divide!”

Arjuna felt his power wavering very slightly, but that was it. It seemed that ‘Divine Dividing’ was not strong enough to bypass his personal skill ‘The Awarded Hero’.

Unfortunately, because of the mask and the bulky armor, Arjuna could not tell what expression Vali was making. He thought Vali would become more aggressive, but to his surprise Vali took flight and created some distance from him.

Arjuna counted to five in his head, before Vali charged at him; his one hand engulfed in blue flame.

With just a single thought, Arjuna summoned his ‘Agni Gandiva’ and in one single release his bow shot out fifty flaming arrows at Vali. He waited for a fraction of a second before he fired another fifty to his right. The second wave of arrows was faster and packed more power.

And just as he suspected, the moment Vali saw the incoming fifty arrows, he fired his flaming energy at the arrows creating a huge explosion. He immediately ducked to his left where he was met with Arjuna’s second set of fire arrows. But because of the smoke and sound created by the explosion, Vali noticed the second barrage of arrows too late, and took the full brunt of the attack.

Just like what Arjuna planned.

“Half Dim …”

Arjuna did not allow Vali to finish. The moment he noticed the dangerous change in the atmosphere around Vali, Arjuna switched his flaming arrows to one of his special ones. These arrows were not only coated with lightning magic but were also almost as fast as lightning itself. And these arrows packed three times more power than his previous ones and was enchanted with ‘Piercing’ magic.

He made his aim and fired one arrow, which pierced the feeble magic barrier Vali had put up and shattered his left shoulder pad, going as far as badly damaging the left wing as well. Arjuna purposely aimed slightly above his shoulder, a somewhat non-lethal area. After all, it would not do much good if he accidentally sent Vali to the hospital on his first day here.

With that, Vali was down.

Unfortunately, he did not stay down.

“You are completely slaughtering me~” Although the words of Vali portrayed a helpless situation, but his tone was telling otherwise. Even though Arjuna still could not see his facial expression because of the mask, he had no problem sensing the excitement coming from Vali. The boy was almost shaking with anticipation and bloodlust, even though he was barely standing with one-fourth of his armor broken.

This… was troubling.

“So the rumor is true, you defeating Cao Cao?” Vali finally stood up, but it seemed he was still having a problem moving his left arm, “If you are not answering, why not we really put it to test? Hmm~”

The barrier that Vali created this time was far stronger than the previous one. And then his whole body started to glow. It also became hard for Arjuna to get a proper reading on his power level. Granted, Arjuna did not have much information regarding many of the Longinus, but he knew enough.

“I, who am about to awaken,”

Arjuna had to admit, he was impressed. As far he knew, not many wielders could use the ‘Juggernaut Drive’ let alone this young. For a moment, he wanted to switch his current arrows to the ones he personally received from his father. He knew they were strong enough to break through Vali’s barrier. But,

“Am the Heavenly Dragon who has taken the principles of supremacy from God”

Arjuna looked subtly to his side. No matter how many layers of magical shroud Georg used, it was pointless. Arjuna could still sense the unique magic of Dimension Lost. He noticed it from the moment he came here. Releasing a sigh, Arjuna focused his gaze on Vali again. Since he was being watched, he should not reveal too much. Meaning,

“I envy the ‘infinite’ and I pursue the ‘dream’”

Arjuna lowered his bow and raised his other hand, palm facing the sky.

“I shall become the White Dragon of Supremacy”

“Holy Ground Expansion, Space Fixation, Divine Punishment Enforcement Period Establishment,”

“And I shall take you to the limits of white paradise”

“All Clear… By Shiva's wrath, your journey ends here,”

The moment Vali’s chanting was done, his transformation was finished. Not only his armor was fully repaired, but he grew another 3.4 meters. And as for his power level, the difference between his Juggernaut form and his balance breaker form was utterly ridiculous. It was slightly alarming since Arjuna could not grasp the actual power level of Vali’s Juggernaut form since the Vali’s energy was fluctuating rapidly. And to make matters worse, the way Vali was roaring and started thrashing around indicated that he might not have full control over his Juggernaut form.

But it mattered not. Because his spell was also done,

“Pashupata”

A white transparent orb which was emitting black smoke appeared on top his palm, it was slightly bigger than a toy marble. And then in an instant, the orb disappeared from his hand and reappeared in front of Vali. It hovered in front of him for half a second.

And then everything around them turned white.

This pure white realm of absolute nothingness remained for exactly one second.

Then everything was back to normal.

With a sigh, Arjuna stepped forward, moving for the first time after the battle started. Even though Vali was lying on the ground in his human form completely unconscious, Arjuna still did not disperse his bow. After all, he could still sense Georg’s magic lingering. But the moment he reached Vali’s unmoving body, the magic disappeared.

For the next five seconds, Arjuna did not move. His magic was working overtime to make sure they were alone. Finally, Arjuna released a deep breath when he realized that no one else was there.

To be honest, it was getting tiring.

Sometimes he wondered, if winning against Cao Cao was worth all these troubles. Maybe if the outcome of that battle was different, his life here in the Hero faction would have been easier. But then again, his pride would not have allowed him regardless. After all, he was Arjuna, son of Indra.

He looked down and could not help but scratch the tip of his nose,

“Now what to do with you?”