Chapter 48

Returning to Camelot, the group walked to the palace where they were allowed entry without any conflict.

It seems the Mage Merlin had known about their existence and wished to meet them. As such, the team met up with the Sage of Camelot who looked like a handsome young man even though he was more than four hundred years old.

"Welcome to Camelot, followers of the New Sage. I have been waiting for your arrival for quite some time." Merlin stood up from his chair and put down his magic book that flew into the shelf beside him.

His voice and tone was amiable, but that was standard stuff for high ranking individuals that played around with people's mind.

"It is an honor to meet you, Mister Merlin. My name is Kurotsuchi and I am granddaughter of the Tsuchikage… I hope you won't mind, but how did you know about us?" Kurotsuchi took charge while Sai observed the situation.

"It is nothing special. I can just tap into the flow of the world, so I can tell some of the events that can take place. Though, I knew about your presence because I know every person inside of Camelot." Merlin smiled as he answered their question while summoning some tea and sweets for them.

"Do you know why we are here?"

"You are here to find ways to improve the power of humanity. Your purpose in this castle is to ask for our artifacts, to research their unique abilities. We have a similar purpose, so that's not a problem. However, we won't allow our artifacts to leave the owners vicinity." Merlin's reply made them relax a bit as it went perfectly.

"Will you also participate in our joint research since you have a vast amount of knowledge from your long existence?"

"I will participate in it. But first, I wish to ask if you will submit to my lord. King Artoria is the chosen one of this world and the representative of humanity. She is the future king of this world. I have seen your lord submit to her, so will you not consider this option."

"You have seen nothing if you believe such hubris. Your King has nothing compared to our Lord, even Kurotsuchi could defeat her." Zoro opened his eyes and disparaged Merlin for his nonsense.

"That maybe the truth as this point, but I have not been wrong before and I know she will soon grow in power when the world decides it."

"There is no point in talking about this with us. We have chosen our leader, so you can try convincing him if you can."

"Heh, I suppose you are right. Nonetheless, you can pass on our message to your leaders and I will establish contact with them soon."

With those words, Merlin sent them away but Sai was able to tell that amiable mage was very ambitious and was definitely going to use the joint research to help his lord.

'This is not going to be easy. People are still acting selfish even when the world is in danger.' Sai realized and noted before the team went towards the other Kingdoms for similar negotiations.

With Merlin's symbol, Empire of Rome also agreed to help. However, the other Kingdoms refused to join the research as they didn't see the Shinobi in good light. To majority of the world, the Shinobi were a symbol of destruction and not peace. The bloodlines had been fighting for thousands of years without rest, so it was established in the history of the world.

Nonetheless, Sai concluded that they could convince the other nations with time except for the Demon King who seemed to harbor the desire for world domination.

Getting back to Naruto, he had consumed the golden blood from Hades and gained a part of his soul to connect them to each other. With the contract completed, Naruto had gained the mark of Hades on his back. It was blazing skull with a crown.

With the contract completed, his base form evolved as its potential increased. The cells grew dense and more powerful while the chakra quality leaped to a new frontier. Normal chakra was like a gas without much weight, and the higher the quality the heavier it felt.

Naruto's chakra was close to a liquid as it grew in quality, and now it had become a liquid. It also meant that the reserves had also grown to double his current capacity as the liquid like chakra was worth more.

Just by affecting his cellular make up, Hades had allowed base Naruto to reach the power level close to Juubito.

Regardless, that was just the start since Hades really meant inhumane when he said those words. Naruto could never have imagined what he signed up for because his experience didn't include torture.

Once Naruto had enjoyed his power up, Hades dunked him in the eternal flames where he was surrounded by flame demons.

"Don't try to resist for now, allow your body to adapt and form a natural resistance." Hades spoke normally without any ounce of sympathy for what he was about to do. It seemed completely normal to him.

Though he looked like someone living in medieval times, Hades had expert scientific knowledge so he understood how to help the body unlock its potential and continue its growth.

Unlike normal people, they had mystical energies and even a body that could continue to heal. This also meant that their bodies could theoretically continue to adapt to all dangers and grow if they put it through such situations without killing each other.

Naruto had already agreed to the training so he didn't deny the command and dropped his defences. His clones were still training in the outside world with his other trainers, so he made a real clone to stay in the outside world and watch over the world for its safety.

The real clone utilized the concept of reality warping and only possessed half of Naruto's real power. However, it was a real clone and wouldn't disappear when Naruto was knocked out.

Dropping his chakra enhancement and his power ups, Naruto's body felt the flames slowly burn it to ashes. The flames were strong enough to burn everything to ashes, but it controlled itself to actually torture the sinner.

It adjusted itself to Naruto's stats and slowly burned him. His skin turned red and his blood started boiling.

The pain was immense and it felt like he should have gone unconscious or numb, but the pain wouldn't stop.

The flames didn't kill him as they allowed him to heal. However, the pain was beyond anything that Naruto had ever experienced.

Time passed by but he was unaware of the flow as nothing changed in the flames except the intensity. The flames only hurt lessen for few seconds that signified for Naruto that his body had adapted to the damage before returning to the status quo.

The constant burning also accelerated his healing capabilities which further enhanced the burning power of the flames to counter the healing. Slowly but surely, Naruto was started to feel like he wasn't human anymore as he fought the flames demons without rest.

The flame demons formed from the eternal flames were strong as Naruto and they possessed different styles of combat. Over the course of the battles, Naruto had lost his limbs and even had his bones melted along with the rest of his body.

Naruto was unable to tell how hot the flames had become, but he was finally able to rest as Hades took him out of the flaming pit.

He had reached the level where the adaptation process was taking very long, as the body had finished the earlier stages of the procedure.

"How long was I in there?" Naruto had lost his sense of time and even had a difficult time to talking as his insides had burned too many times to count.

"It's been a month since you started, and you have reached a stage where even a flame capable of erasing a mountain wouldn't burn you. If you want in exact terms, you can survive at least 50, 000 degrees Celsius without any enhancement. How does it feel, can you see the changes from this method?"

Naruto felt that years had passed, so he relaxed that it was just a month. He was also pleasantly surprised to hear the improvement of his body.

Looking inside, Naruto could see that his cellular structure had gone through vast changes and become more robust.

He had expected that chakra would come into play at one point, but now it became clear that Hades intended to fully exploit his body without any support.

"I can see it, but I don't think most people can survive it."

"It might seem like that, but everyone can actually survive without any permanent damage. I am an expert of the soul, Naruto. There is no way I would let my training inflict such harm…Now, you can relax for a while and return after a day. We will continue until you have cleared the basic stage of this training."

"Relax, oh damn. I forgot about the Uzumaki clan." Naruto finally remembered that he had to settle the Uzumaki clan on Uzu.

"Don't worry about it, only a day has passed in the normal world. My dimension's time operates on a different scale so you don't have to worry about such issues."

"Does that mean you have mastery over time?" Kurama questioned with a curious tone, during the time Naruto was being tortured he had been reading from the books provided to him by Hades.

"I wouldn't call it mastery, just a minor skill since it only allows such level of time acceleration." Hades didn't think much of it, but it was a miraculous ability for the duo.

"Will you guide me so that I can better utilize my power?"

Naruto left Kurama with Hades and joined up with his team who was also going through training in the same dimension. After learning about his decision, the team had also gone through a similar torture to gain more power.

Relaxing by just sitting down with each other, Naruto and team continued to train in the Immortal realm for six more months.

Just like the flame training, Hades put Naruto in an icy environment where his body gained similar treatment. However, it started on a higher level since Naruto's body had become sturdier and the regen had become very fast.

Moving on from the ice, Naruto was put inside a windy terrain that would cut his body apart. Leaving that domain, he was put into a lightning zone.

After conquering the lightning zone, he was put into a heavy gravity area and finally he was put into the darkness zone where his mind was tested as he went through the most depressing and despairing lives that would kill the spirit of majority of existence.

The mind affected the body so a powerful mind was required for an invincible body.

To round it all up, the body was also tested against diseases, poisons and even existence erasure. The body did adapt to everything except getting erased, but it did increase resistance to it.

Within these six months that were more than six years for a normal person because of the speed Naruto operated at, the young man had grown extremely robust.

The healing factor had grown so fast that it healed at a speed that made it look like the injury never happened. It healed as it came and not even destroying the body would kill Naruto anymore as only a cell was required for him to regenerate.

Through the countless regeneration, Naruto's body seemed to unlock its origins. The biological make up of his ancestors was drawn forth through the ordeal and the eyes that belonged to Sasuke fully fused with him, unlocking their full potential. It unlocked a unique ability that was according to his desire. He wanted more time, so his ability caused time to slow down.

Naruto even started to feel that his base body was gaining the properties of his Six Paths Mode, gaining immunity to lower class energy. Finally, he also saw his that some of his hairs turn white and there were bumps on his head.

It was clear that he had started to awaken his Otsutsuki blood. Seeing the changes, Hades suppressed the transformation and asked him to awaken only once he had gained the genetic modification from Tsunade. All Otsutsuki had great abilities unique to them, so once he awakened there should also be ability unique to him. As such it would be best to awaken at a later date.

During these six months Naruto had also learned great deal about the Immortal realm and gotten closer to these people. He had also gained repute for his powers and endurance. There were also the grand artifacts that were made for him by Hephaestus on the request of Hades and Hestia.

Finishing up with things in the Immortal realm, Naruto left a clone with Hades to continue his training for leadership and fighting skills before reuniting with the Uzumaki clan.

Opening up a portal for them, Naruto saw the clan made up of 2000 people exit the hidden realm. The reactions by these people were mixed, but most of them were happy to be back.

Regardless, all of them were solemn and seemed to visit some past memories that were better left forgotten.

Naruto didn't interfere with them and the people roamed around freely as he stood at the top with his team.

"Are you not going to visit the place like the rest?" Naruto asked as his unknown grandfather walked towards him.

"I don't think there is any point in doing so. I have always remembered this sight since that day, so it isn't something new for me. I just wish to look at the region from a higher ground to plan our return. The setup of the past was grand for its time, but we need to do better now. What about you? You seem different since we met." Toshiro replied with a hardened gaze as always. It seemed to be his default state just like Naruto's default state was to be with a large smile, though that default state seemed to have fallen off during the past month.

"Nothing much, just some physical training."

"I see...Do you want to know about your mother?" Toshiro understood that Naruto didn't want to share what the training entailed so he decided to shift the topic to something light. It was something he had wanted to talk about since Naruto was his grandson.

Hearing that question, Naruto realized that he could share a great deal of information about his parents. During the last month he had gathered information about Jiraiya, Minato and Kushina from multiple sources to write a biography about them.

"I would love to, and I can share about my mother's life in Konoha."

"That's a great idea. Now, where should I begin....." Toshiro scratched his beard while looking at the sky.

"Ah yes, how about we start from the day she started crawling." Toshiro spoke with a happy tone as he reminisced on the good memories of the past.

From the talks it was clear that Kushina had always been ambitious and aggressive while also having a playful side to her.

Hearing more about his parents, it was very clear that Naruto was the combination of red and yellow.

After a long talk, Toshiro finally asked about his companions.

"Are you engaged with both of them?" It was clear that he didn't like the sound of it.

"Not yet, I think we have a long way to go before such feelings are clear... I don't wish for a mistake to be made in this relationship." Over the six months they had gotten even closer but the majority of the time was taken by the training so the feelings hadn't grown much.

"I won't tell you to drop one since that is your choice. But, you should really stop thinking too much about it when you are not the thinking type. Do it your way instead of trying it in an unknown way, especially when this has to do with the heart and not the mind. Talking to you has made one thing clear, you think with your heart and not logic...If you want to go for logic then the archer girl is the one."

'I already know that.' Naruto didn't want to embarrass his grandfather on his misunderstanding.

"I will try to follow your advice and choose once my heart decides it's course."

"Good, but don't take too long or drop the archer girl."

'Doesn't that mean I should just choose Hinata.' Naruto chuckled along and shook his head.

Seeing Naruto laugh freely, Hinata was pleased as she decided to ask Ino to make a portrait of him to save this moment in time.

It had been a long time since she had seen him so carefree. His expression had dropped since Jiraiya had died and it only got worse since the war.

Ino agreed with Hinata's request as she also felt her heart skip a beat at his dazzling smile.

"I hope he starts showing such open expressions with us now."

"I think it won't be long that Naruto will be back in shape. His family has grown and so has his reason for happiness." Hinata was absolutely delighted for Naruto that his clan was still alive. Though it didn't mean the relatives would care for him, but it was still a reason to be happy to know that there were people related to him.

"What if they don't agree to our marriage? What if they want Naruto to marry their young lord?" Ino teased in a joking manner. Just the idea was hilarious since Naruto didn't seem the type to go along with such requests.

Hinata also laughed at the image and agreed that it could only happen as a joke. Naruto was a far cry from the average noble who would indulge in such sophistry.

"They have gained a contract with the Immortals and their levels have been verified." Hotaru spoke as she stood beside Genryu while holding a fox mask.

"Is that why Lady Izanami seems so angry? Who did he choose?" Genryu felt his heart clench as if a shadow hand held it.

"Hades, and his power is far beyond our initial expectations. I don't think we can beat him now." Hotaru smiled at the thought as she had always been invincible so this brought her amusement.

Seeing his daughter chuckle lightly and create a storm around the pond, Genryu was surprised.

"How can that be? You are the Vessel of the primordial force of nature."

"He has the power and artifacts of the Sage of Six Paths. And, I haven't really awakened yet. I might need to go on a trip."

"Trip? Where and how long will it take?"

"I will be leaving the planet and follow the guidance of the Phoenix. As for the time, I am unsure but it should take me a few years."

Genryu knew he couldn't stop his daughter so he didn't even try.

"Fine, but leave after we have settled down and I need you to erase the three Shinobi villages from the world when you are leaving. Can you do that discreetly?"

"I can do it, but he will know who did it."

Genryu was silent for a moment but his dark eyes didn't waver and he gave a nod.

"It doesn't matter. We are more valuable than those scums, so he will have no choice but to compromise."