Chapter 59

Even though only a few knew about what took place, Shikamaru expected that someone would spread rumors about Naruto's death. As such, many of them decided to transform into Naruto and continue what he did around the world.

Just as he had expected, some rumors did start on the same day but they were fortunately drowned by his tactics or the world have entered a chaotic state. Naruto's disappearance wasn't something that they could allow others to know about, as his existence had kept things in control. The world had yet to arrive at the stage where it could exist in unity without Naruto's presence.

The loved ones of Naruto believed in his survival, but the other people didn't know him. As such they would assume that his disappearance meant death. Regardless, his disappearance was planned. So, Shikamaru had his eyes on the Star Kingdom as it was the biggest suspect.

However unknown to them, the real culprit was very close to them. Hotaru Uzumaki waited for a day to see if Naruto would return.

"He is out of the picture for now, Father. What do you want to do now? Should I kill them or do you want to do it?" Hotaru said as she meditated in her personal garden.

Genryu was happy to hear her words. To him Naruto was important, but not important enough.

"How long do we have? And, will he really return?"

"I don't know. But, it should take him months if he is lucky. And, if he is unlucky than death."

"Well done, this is the best gift you could give this old man." Genryu placed his hands on her shoulders and tears welled up in his eyes as he remembered things of the past, memories too dark for most to bear.

"Finally, finally I can avenge their deaths."

Hotaru felt the pain in his words and anger from the pain he had to endure. She wished to erase everything involved in the pain.

"Father…."

"Don't let anger and sadness overtake you, my sweet child. You are our hope and future, let the sadness and hatred end with my generation. Without that foolish boy, none can stand against us. So, you can go ahead and leave. I don't want you to risk your life by staying here longer."

Hotaru hadn't mentioned it, but her father had managed to conclude that she had to leave for the task within a time limit or her body would explode from the increase in power. Every task made her closer to becoming the ideal avatar and vessel of the Phoenix. The longer she took, the less chance of survival for her body when the presence of the Phoenix increases within her body.

Her master had chosen this path to make sure he found a vessel that was worthy of his power. There had only been one other vessel named Jean Grey that was beloved to her master, but even she had been vanquished. The Phoenix didn't tell her, but it was obvious since she was a vessel now.

The universe was vast and there were creatures capable of fighting even the Avatars of the primordial forces.

Regardless, Hotaru didn't want to leave. Everything she wanted was on earth, and she didn't when she would come back. Though she had planned everything, life was always unexpected and things could go wrong.

This day might be the last day they saw each other, as she could die and the others could die as well.

"I will leave after a few days. I want to watch the glory of the Uzumaki clan spread…I want to see you happy, father."

Hearing her words made Genryu happy, and sad. He really wished that Hotaru didn't have to live such a life. She had been stripped of her normal Uzumaki life that would have taken place if not for the genocide by the other villages. Thinking of them made his blood boil and he wished to slaughter them all right at that moment.

He understood that most of them had died had already, but the people alive now were just a one or two generation change and these people haven't really done anything to fix the evil of their past. Even the current Tsuchikage and Raikage were evil, really there was no need for them in this world.

"If that is your wish, we shall not delay it any longer."

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Going back to Konoha, something awful had just taken place. Hinata had suddenly entered a coma and there was nothing anyone could find to wake her up. It was obviously an attack by the enemy as Hinata's absence further lowered the world's security.

Hotaru had made sure that no one could stop her family, and Hinata was the last stand against them. Ino on the other hand was troublesome without a real fight since she had actually become skilled in psychic skills. Though, Hotaru wasn't really worried about Ino's interference since she had already given the Uzumaki Clan adequate countermeasures.

Regardless, Ino felt a lot of pressure and she was feeling stressed out. First, Naruto was gone along with Sakura and Kakashi. Now, even Hinata was taken out while none was the wiser.

'How was Naruto doing this? Okay, he was crazy. How was Hinata handling this pressure?' Ino was scared of the unknown enemy as it had managed such feats. And, she didn't want Naruto to come back to a destroyed landscape. These people were her responsibility, so she had to protect them. At least, their land had to survive.

To make matters worse, Ai was having panic attacks since Naruto was gone. None of them had been able to help her out as the girl was very sensitive and could tell when someone was transforming into Naruto.

Seeing the dire situation, Ino decided to go ahead with the Sage plan that Naruto had envisioned. Right now other than her, only the Jinchuuriki could amount for anything. They could upgrade others, but the procedures needed more testing before the final product. Otherwise, people would be sacrificed and no one wanted to take that step until the situation became worse.

With that in mind, Ino contacted the seven vessels. The Sage mode was difficult to learn normally because of its chakra requirement and control requirement. However, Ino could help them bypass it all and just give them Naruto's experience. It would allow them to learn it within few hours, and boost their powers by a minimum of ten times multiplier.

Before contacting others, she had already tested it and it worked perfectly. However, for further skill development and power they would need to comprehend and grasp the power with their personal understanding.

It meant that now Ino could help anyone step into the path of the Sage, the beginner level.

"I wish you were here. You would have been blown away by my skills, and showered me with affection and kisses….AHHHH, I am so going to kill whoever is responsible. We were having such a good time, and this happens." Ino took out her frustrations on the clouds a she shaped them into monstrous forms before dispersing them with a violent punch or kick.

Though it wasn't a serious attempt, but the affect on the world wasn't. It really showed how much power was held in those fragile looking hands.

The rest of the team found Ino in the skies and were shocked to see the Sage mode marks. However, it wasn't for long and they were further overtaken by the fact that Ino could easily make copies of everyone.

A person was memories and experience, and Ino could copy all of it. There were a lot of implications and it helped them find some solace when their real guardian was missing.

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Ino was called to the Hokage office and she found Naruto's grandfather standing there with a stern expression on his face.

Seeing the man, Ino understood that Tsunade was being careful as the Uzumaki clan was still an unknown factor. It was especially true because of their hostile nature towards the other villages. However, she hoped with all her heart that they wouldn't force Naruto into something heartwrenching.

"You can go ahead and tell us the purpose of this visit." Tsunade gave him a nod while Ino stood on her side along with Shikamaru. With Kakashi gone, she had lost one advisor for the time being.

Toshiro glanced towards Ino and there was a brief softening of his expression before it went to default setting. Unlike the people in the office, Toshiro was extremely worried about his grandson. It was further worsened by the fact that the Uzumaki clan and Naruto stood on opposite ends.

'Will he forgive us for what we are about to do?' It was the question on his mind, along with the guilt he felt from betraying his only child's trust.

Regardless, duty to the clan came before emotions. The hate had boiled for a long time and it needed to be let out before it consumed the Uzumaki clan itself.

"I won't take long, as I have come to give a simple message…Please turn a blind eye to what will happen during this month. We intend to take over the other lands, so that we have uniform leadership. Once Naruto is back, we will make him our leader."

"Wait, are you serious? You already know Naruto doesn't want that. Why are you people so adamant about hurting him?" Ino snapped when she heard those words as they came out of her nightmare.

Shikamaru held her back while Tsunade responded to his words.

"We can't allow such a thing. All the other nations are a part of an alliance with us, and your war would only cause turmoil and destruction in this world. You don't hold power like Naruto to ask of such a thing. Your clan might be strong but it isn't strong enough to conquer everything without bloodshed even if we allowed it."

"You don't have to worry about our strength, as we have plenty. We only wish to avoid causing harm to what Naruto really treasures."

"He cares for the whole world, and your path will only lead to a violent confrontation."

"He will have to choose, and it won't be a difficult choice since we won't have harmed you. The world and the people close to him will always be different."

"It seems you are serious about this, so we can't allow you to leave." With those words from Tsunade, Shikamaru spread out his shadow to grasp Toshiro.

However, the shadow vanished before even touching his skin.

"Nara clan, not much has changed about you in a hundred years." Toshiro gave him a disappointed look before focusing on Ino.

Ino had reacted first, but her mental attack had done nothing either. There was a barrier on Toshiro that canceled all energy and going further than that, he even had a powerful mental lock that she was unable to break.

Tsunade was confused by nothing happening to Toshiro for a moment as she had assumed Ino would have taken him out with a thought. The realization hit her like a truck and she saw Ino take physical actions.

Ino used her telekinesis to immobilize Toshiro and the force she could produce would allow her to even crush a moon.

However, she was unable to stop him as Toshiro vanished, "You won't be able to stop us. We were only informing you even though we knew of your response."

With his disappearance, the trio watched Konoha get trapped within a barrier of colorful whirlpools. The barrier covered the whole village like glass dome. There were chains above the glass dome of different colors and these chains produced the whirlpools.

Without any word, Ino entered Sage mode and flew towards the barrier. Creating a magical circle learned from the Immortal Master of Magic Hecate.

The Magical circles spun and more layers build up before more circles appeared over the others, it only stopped once twenty circles were produced with ten layers each.

Each layer and each circle was a multiplier for the spells she had learned.

Storm of Chaos

The spell summoned incredibly long black needles that could penetrate the enemy's body, causing an immeasurable pain. It was capable of bypassing barriers and armors and affects the body directly. In addition to hurting the enemy, it also drained the opponent's life-force and powers.

The spell was the strongest attack Ino could muster and it held the power to destroy the world. However, the barrier easily dispersed her attack and she realized that space type abilities were included in the barrier. It meant that she couldn't overpower it, she had to analyze and break it through skill. Or, she had to over power the space manipulation.

Ino knew space type spells and even the storm of chaos held minor space manipulation. However, her skills paled in comparison to the barrier makers as she was even unable to teleport outside the barrier.

Getting scared would only make things worse, so she communicated everything to Shikamaru and Tsunade before sitting down and allowing Naruto's mind to surface. At the moment, Naruto was the only one with the best Fuinjutsu skills.

While Konoha was occupied with the barrier, Uzumaki clan advanced towards Kumo and Iwa to fulfill their long held wish.