Chapter 54

Leaving the lab, Naruto went home to check up on Ai who had been in the care of the Konohamaru gang. Ai was getting along with Moegi as they played with illusions, a game of chess.

Her happy smile made Naruto happy as she was finally free from trauma. Inside the house, Naruto's clone was also present and he was cheering for Ai.

Just because Naruto felt the desire to hurry with his mission, it didn't mean he ignored spending time with his loved ones.

Without these small joys, he would have gone insane from the physical and mental torture he had been enduring. He hold onto his hope, and continued to make time for the play as the other way to survive was to kill his humanity.

There was always the option to forgo all emotions and become a being of pure logic. But, he knew that would be disastrous and it was not something he wanted to do. And, he was not ready to become an uncaring force of nature for the good of the world.

'Her cute smile, heals my soul. It is great having a cute little sister.' Naruto fawned over Ai and felt his body relax as the tension was released.

Seeing Naruto happy made Kurama happy, and partly guilty as he had been the reason that the young man didn't have a family.

'Come on Kurama, you don't have to think like that. We are brother's now and I have already forgiven that incident. There is no point in regretting what can not be changed. It will make sour this great bond. And, you already know that this comes from my heart. Forgiveness is always better than vengeance, we are all inherently good and only situations shape us into demons. I could have been a tyrant worse than anything anyone could imagine. A monster beyond any salvation.

I am glad that Iruka and Grandpa Hiruzen were there, or we both would have fallen into darkness that none could have escaped. This beautiful world would have become a living nightmare. It really makes me take mind of the smallest kindness, as even a single conversation could change the shape of our future.'

Hearing the words spoken directly to him, Kurama felt his heart fill with joy and he saw his little partner transform from a little boy to a wise man. Slowly but surely, Naruto was changing and becoming what he was always meant to be. A guide, and salvation for all mankind.

'Stop being so dramatic, and let's get to work. I don't like the feeling of being weaker than you.' Kurama controlled his tone and changed the topic.

But, they were both connected to each other so there was no barrier between them. They were one soul and body.

'Yeah, I know.' One more look inside the house and Naruto vanished from the Earth's Solar System and appeared in another nearby solar system as he didn't want to disturb his world.

What they were doing would harm planets and could cause destruction, so it was better to be faraway from his home.

However, he didn't forget to make a strong clone before leaving and kept his senses open to the utmost limits. He would be able to sense any trouble before it even took place in such a manner.

Naruto was low on energy from the procedure, but since his body changed it had started to create energy had a faster pace while making it easier to absorb energy of the world itself.

He could feel it. The feeling of desire towards eating the life force of things around him. Things that he wouldn't a thought as food, had now entered the category of food items.

He really had to snap himself out of the thoughts when the Earth itself felt like a delicious meal. Just like he had known, the planets tasted good and planets with living beings tasted even better.

Now he didn't need to eat anything, he could actually just eat the life force of the universe to survive. However, this was different from using Senjutsu as the life force disappeared instead of being recycled into the world.

Once you ate the chicken, it didn't just continue to exist so it was the same concept. It made everything make sense about the Otsutsuki, their desire for harvesting planets and their absolute power.

They didn't need to absorb planets with living beings, but eating planets without living beings was like eating the worst kind of food. Nobody in their right mind would willingly eat food that tasted terrible when they had the choice for good cuisine.

Plus, the benefits of a planet with life were greater than planet without. They got skills and knowledge of every being on the planet, and the energy was of greater quality.

The best among the Otsutsuki would go out of their way to fatten up their targets for a greater harvest. However, since Naruto and Kurama would never do that so they had to rely on devouring empty targets.

It didn't matter to them since they could learn for themselves, and every advantage only made things better for them. Devouring the life force didn't mean they could do it without any limits. Every one had their limits, spiritual or physical.

If one went beyond them, they would explode. Right now, Kurama was the only one who was going to absorb energy since Naruto's body had only changed recently and needed to adapt before such risky steps were taken.

Naruto sat down to meditate and recover his energy while Kurama came out in his golden energy form to start working on his new project.

It was his first time, so he was going blind. Putting his paws on the ground, Kurama focused on the life force of the planet itself. Through his connection with Naruto, he had become used to manipulating the energy so it wasn't difficult.

Unlike the previous times, he didn't keep it separate or make it a different energy. He made it part of his energy.

Once he started, he naturally understood what to do. It was his instincts as the ten tails guiding him. It also didn't feel good to take in a planet without any living thing, but Kurama ignored those feelings.

Slowly the energy of the planet was being turned into his chakra and he was starting to grow in size. Kurama was 5 miles in size after his growth and now he had grown to the size of the moon.

It meant that the energy hadn't made him stronger, just increased his reserves. Kurama needed some time to digest the energy and properly make it his own. Once he did that the size could be adjusted back to smaller version.

Once the life force of the planet was finished, it collapsed turning to dust. The amount given to Kurama was bigger than the chakra held by Kaguya because the planet was bigger than earth.

Looking at the stars, Kurama yearned to absorb them and make their power his own. But, that was for another time as he would die along with Naruto if he did something like that.

Going back inside, Kurama decided to focus on digesting his food. Once he was done, it was would directly double his powers and help close the distance since Naruto's chakra reserve was around planet level now.

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While Naruto was spending time with Kurama, Ino met up with his clone. She looked extremely happy and confident.

Her aura was screaming, praise me.

This was one thing he learned by spending time with girls. Most girls liked being praised even if the thing they did was done daily or if you didn't think it was that big of an instance. You had to always focus when you spent time with a girl as any wrong word could lead to a fight.

Naruto had an idealized image in his head, but that went away once he really started interacting with girls in a casual manner.

Hinata was really the easiest to interact with as she desired to only shower him with love. But, even in her case he had to be careful since she could baby you into laziness.

On the other hand, Ino was the type to desire praise and attention. If he failed to notice something and said something wrong, she would pout and get grumpy.

"Ino, what's got you so excited?" Naruto opened his arms and she jumped into his embrace. Feeling her in his arms made him feel really comfortable and naturally they kissed. It hadn't been long, but it felt like they hadn't met for years.

There was hunger behind the kiss filled with desire and affection. There was no way he could deny it anymore. Naruto wanted her really badly.

Nonetheless, he held himself back as it wasn't something he wished to show.

"I guess you missed me." Ino was overjoyed by his reaction and held his arm happily as they walked together in Konoha's flower garden.

"I did. I like being with you."

"You have become really honest. Did something happen?"

"Nothing much, I just felt it was the right thing to do."

"That's great, does that mean we are official?"

"Yes, I think we should get married once we return from our meeting with the King." Naruto spoke without thinking much, but once he said those words he felt happy like a weight had been let go.

On the other hand, Ino was shocked into silence. From the way things had been developing, she had assumed that it would take at least an year or two before Naruto even thought of those things.

"Really?"

"It is real, Ino. I will propose to Hinata and Sakura as well."

"Sakura? I thought you moved on."

"I thought I did, but I also want her. You two have made me greedy, so I don't wish to push this desire away anymore."

It was unsaid, but Ino understood that Naruto also felt that it was dangerous to leave her with anyone else.

"You are still getting rejected. You may be the hero, but your looks are not inspiring girls to follow you around."

"Hey, what's wrong with my face? I look good. I think I am above average."

Ino looked him up and down, "It's the birthmarks, they really ruin your face. Your parents were extremely good looking, so you have definitely inherited that quality. You just need to remove them and you will look extremely good. Maybe it will help you finally seduce Sakura."

Touching his marks, Naruto realized that he had never really thought about removing them.

"Do they really make me look bad?"

"Naruto, I know fashion and you don't. Others haven't said anything because talk about looks never came up, and Hinata would never tell you to change. I am the only one that really cares. Will you do it for me? Or are these marks really important to you?" Ino had held herself back from asking but now they were close enough for the request. She had seen his face without them, and he ticked the mark for handsomeness.

"I don't mind, I just didn't think about it before." With that, his face changed and the marks vanished. By becoming an Otsutsuki, Naruto could now naturally alter his body anyway he wanted permanently.

"You look so charming." Ino hugged him and kissed him…"Now, let's go shopping. I can't bare to watch you move around without any style anymore."

"Wait, you still haven't told me what you were happy about earlier?"

"Oh, it was nothing much. I just helped Lee get closer to opening the Ninth Gate." Ino's focus was completely diverted to the marriage and fashion show, so she had already lost interest in the other topic.

Because of her tone, Naruto almost missed it, "Tell me the details once we are done."

Naruto postponed his work as it was his free time and didn't want to ruin Ino's mood by asking about work when she wanted to hear him talk about casual things, especially flirty things. It seems girls really enjoyed hearing such things.

Talking about work was good, but it was best to keep the talk to a specific time and not every time or you will end up getting into a fight.

Naruto had learned the hard way as he had to calm Ino down once she had become cross with him. He had been talking day and night about ways to improve the world and gaining power.