Sasuke's Susanoo as Kurama's chakra projection slowly dissipated, allowing him to descend while huffing. He looked at Naruto with an expression of scrutiny.
"What's going on, Naruto?" He asked, recovering his composure. "This planet's natural energy was acting against you, taking the form of red lightning that would've vaporized all of us instantly."
"Because I broke the rules," Naruto said. "I went against the natural order of things and took ownership of a soul from the Pure Land. That upside-down woman," Naruto pointed at Delta, "is a clone of Akebi Sanzu, the soul that is recovering inside my mindscape."
"First off," Sasuke said. "How the hell did you pull it off? One doesn't simply summon souls and take ownership over them as you say it. I can't do anything even close to that with my Outer Path. Even if I break the rules and revive someone, I can't simply take a soul and store it in my head."
"I used a unique seal to pull that off," Naruto said. "The Dominion Mark. It brands the soul of the recipient as long as they willingly accept it. It connects them to me on a very deep level. Now, if I give that seal to a living person, it's fine because I've marked a living soul that hasn't yet gone to the Pure Land. But by doing the same to a soul summoned using Edo Tensei, I violated natural law. Hence, a sacrifice had to be made to the Shinigami."
"Where did you even find such a seal?"
"Uzumaki ruins. I made a trip to Uzu after Momoshiki's attack and found this seal in the remnants."
"What about him? Kashin Koji, I think his name was," Sasuke said before looking at the silent man who was observing everything without interfering.
"He's going to play messenger," Naruto said. "Their main man who is responsible for most of their high-level augmentations and science stuff is Amado Sanzu."
"Sanzu…"
"Precisely," Naruto said with a nod. "She is his daughter. The reason that he is working for Kara is to bring her back to life."
"What role does he serve?" Sasuke gestured to Kashin Koji.
"A tool," Naruto said.
"I was made to prevent Jigen from reincarnating as Isshiki Ōtsutsuki."
"What are you going to do now?" Sasuke asked.
"I'll show you," Naruto said as he walked to Delta. The Truth-Seeking Orb that was holding her upside down by her ankle released her, resulting in her falling down on the ground. Naruto roughly picked her up by her arm and had her stand straight.
"It's good that your vile mouth is shut," he said. "I was getting pretty annoyed at your cursing."
If the expression in her eyes was anything to go by, Delta was boiling with anger and would stop at nothing to destroy everything around her if she could.
Naruto showed no care for her state and roughly sent his chakra into her once again. The hateful look in her eyes instantly turned into one filled with horror and pain. Unlike before, where the chakra spread through her body to jam the Scientific Ninja Tools that she ran on, this time, the chakra was simply passing through her body. Even then, the result was wildly different.
"You must be feeling like your entire existence is on fire," Naruto said darkly. "The pain is just starting. To make sure that you perfectly merge with Akebi, you will have to go through the most excruciating pain you can imagine."
[You are being petty, Naruto. She attacked Himawari in your memories, not this time.]
[She did it this time as well. When she targeted Sarada. Himawari was with her. Sarada and Kawaki could've survived, but my daughter? I'm going to erase her existence in the most painful way possible.]
Pained grunts escaped Delta's throat as she writhed weakly while being held up by her arm. If her mouth was free, she would've been screaming to no end in pain.
"Do you have to go this far?" Kashin Koji asked, affected by the terrorized look in Delta's eyes.
"Of course," Naruto said. "That's the only way her spirit will break, which will allow Akebi to seamlessly merge with her and get all the benefits. Plus, she tried to kill my daughter and disciple."
As the groans escaping her throat got louder, Naruto's truth-seeker orb shifted and invaded her mouth, directly blocking her from producing any sounds. "I told you to be silent, didn't I?"
The process continued for minutes before finally, the vertical line representing the Roman numeral one on Delta's forehead started shifting into a red circle with a black spiral inside.
"Go, Akebi," Naruto spoke amidst the formation of Delta's Dominion Mark, and a similarly colored red and black blur shot out of Naruto's head, piercing into Delta's forehead where the mark was forming.
Immediately, Naruto let go of Delta and shot multiple Truth-Seeker Orbs at her. Her legs suddenly transformed into long constructs that were aiming to attack Naruto, only to be blocked by a Truth-Seeker Orbs that wrapped around her ankles and forced back the transformation. The same thing happened with her arms as the shackles held them back. Her eyes shot Destruction Beams at him, only to be blocked by the Truth-Seeker Orb that obstructed her vision.
"Phew …" Naruto wiped nonexistent sweat off his brow. "Almost got hit there."
Delta fell unceremoniously to the ground while writhing and wiggling, looking like she was struggling against the shackles, but in truth, she was going through an internal struggle as Akebi's soul took over Delta's clone soul. That internal struggle would result in a wanton release of all of Delta's innate abilities, which had to be suppressed by Naruto lest she destroy the landscape any further than it had already been destroyed.
"Are you done?" Sasuke asked.
"Pretty much," Naruto said. "It should only take a few minutes for her to stabilize."
"I want to fight you," Sasuke said.
"What?" Naruto looked at him confusedly. "Why?"
"I just do," he said. "When did you end up getting so much stronger? Making deals with Shinigami? Casually suppressing an Inner from Kara? I want to see where I stack up."
"There's no need for that, Sasuke," Naruto said. "Delta was just a bad matchup for me. Both of us have more important things to do than a rematch."
"Don't wanna?" He asked provocatively. "Scaredy cat."
"I just don't want to give you a blow that you might not be able to recover from," Naruto said with a laugh. "If you're so interested, we can do it a few days after I integrate her into the village. I also need to deal with Boruto's situation."
"What about him?" He asked with a frown.
"It's all complicated stuff," Naruto said. "Come with me to my house after this. I'll explain everything there."
"Fine," Sasuke said. "I still want that rematch."
"I got it," Naruto said and shook his head before turning to Kashin Koji. "You can go back to Kara and tell Amado that his daughter is now under my employ. As for Jigen, tell him that I have a way to mature Kawaki's Kāma faster. That's going to keep him away for long enough."
"Another Inner might infiltrate Konoha soon," he said.
"Code, right? Let him. He won't find anything worthwhile. No need to interfere in his actions. If anything, his investigation will tell Jigen that your words held merit."
"So you are actually going to accelerate his Kama's maturity," Kashin Koji frowned.
"I am," Naruto said. "But not for the reason you think. I simply want Kawaki to get stronger. When you tell Amado what transpired here, tell him one more thing. I am officially extending him an employment offer. I want him to work for me."
…
Inside a basement made of rough stone with complex machinery spread all around, a man sat on his desk while smoking as he looked at two screens and analyzed a diagram of human anatomy that was displayed on one of them.
A beeping sound from behind caught his attention as he stood up and walked up to a formation with three pods, each of which held a person. They were clones of Delta. The beeping sound was coming from the terminal interface that was connected to all three pods.
"What?" The man frowned, looking bewildered. "Her drone was destroyed? How?"
He started typing on the terminal's screen and extracted the details of the drone's final transmission to the Headquarters.
"A bolt of lightning struck it," he said. "That moron Delta went and got herself killed by Uzumaki Naruto. Not only that, she even lost her drone. How troublesome. It will take some time to transfer the latest backup of her memories from the mainframe downstairs."
With a tired sigh, the man started typing on the terminal. Minutes passed as he went through multiple hoops to upload the backup into one of Delta's clones.
As he was working, a sudden power surge caused sparks to fly out of the terminal and forced him to step back.
"What?" Amado frowned. "Did something short? No, that's not possible."
Before he could come up with a conclusion, all three pods that held Delta's body started sparking. As if on instinct, Amado ran in the opposite direction before the three containers exploded. All three of Delta's bodies were destroyed, alongside the terminal that interfaced with them.
Amado was thrown back and collided against a wall, coughing in pain.
"The fuck is going on?" A sudden thought in his mind made him panic. "No …" He shakily got up to his feet and ran to a lower level of his lab. "Please don't be destroyed. Please …" He mumbled to himself.
***
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