The battlefield was a different world—literally.
When Naruto opened the rift into his own dimension, it wasn't with malice, but with confidence—the kind that came from having stood on the edge of oblivion and come back stronger than ever. The invitation wasn't a trap. It was his version of mercy, to spare the Earth from the destruction their clash would cause.
What lay beyond the rift was a realm of awe and madness.
Dozens of floating planets, each glowing with energy from forgotten immortals. Rivers of light and stardust curved through the sky. Moons danced in slow, hypnotic spirals. Storms of crystal lightning arced across nebulae. This was a place that belonged to Naruto now. Forged by his will, stabilized by Nyx's corruption—a throne world.
The dimension bent around him. He didn't walk here. He ruled here.
He and Shuten stood atop a floating citadel, crafted of blackened gold and pulsating energy. It hovered above the battlefield like a throne suspended in judgment. Around them, heroes and legends gathered—some flying, some teleporting in, others emerging from glowing portals prepared by magic or technology.
The Justice League was present, armed and grim. Titans, Lanterns, Amazons, and mystics gathered behind them, ready. Even the lesser-known heroes, those who owed Naruto favors or simply believed in the man he once was, had shown up.
Yet none of them could shake the feeling that they were the underdogs.
Shuten leaned over the edge of the platform, her expression amused, eyes sparkling with cruelty veiled beneath affection.
"Look at them, Darling. So proud, so desperate… so weak. They really think this is a rescue mission. How adorable."
She let out a lilting laugh, her voice echoing unnaturally through the dimension. The sound crawled over spines like silk and venom.
Naruto remained still, arms crossed, his golden hair waving gently in the non-existent breeze of the dimension. He looked down at the armies assembled against him—familiar faces filled with fire and conviction.
"Hope is a beautiful thing," Naruto said softly. "But they've twisted it. Turned it into a weapon, thinking it's enough to overcome me."
His voice wasn't loud, but it reverberated, carried by the very air around them, heard by every soul below.
"They brainwashed me. Betrayed me. Lied to me. Now they come into my realm… thinking they can pull me back like a lost dog?"
Shuten chuckled again, now twirling a ribbon of spiritual energy between her fingers.
"They still don't understand. They think of you as human. As a hero. But they never really saw you. Only what they wanted to see."
"A immortal who played human," Naruto replied, a small smirk tugging at his lips. "And now they'll face the immortal they rejected."
From below, Superman rose into the air with Kara, He'el, and Superboy by his side, their bodies glowing with raw solar energy. They had spent two full days under the sun's core—Kurama guiding the flow of chakra through their bodies, helping them unlock physical limits they never thought they could break.
Their auras clashed against the space itself, golden and blue flares burning through the atmosphere.
"We're not here to fight you out of hate," Superman called, voice steady. "We're here to bring back the man who saved countless worlds. You may not remember that, but we do."
Naruto's eyes glinted, cold and curious.
"So you burn yourselves to the brink of death… for a memory?"
"For a friend," Kara said. "For our Naruto."
Shuten scoffed.
"Foolish girl. Your Naruto never existed. Just a puppet. This man is real—free, unleashed. And he has no need for attachments."
Naruto stepped forward, raising one hand. A pulse of power flared, and behind him, the planets of his realm aligned as if responding to his command.
"You want to test your belief?" he said. "Then come. Show me that your hope is stronger than my truth."
The battle began in a flash of light and fury.
Kara and Superman clashed against Naruto in a speedstorm that shattered two nearby moons. Lanterns created fortresses to hold Shuten, only for her to melt through them like water through cloth. Titans launched coordinated strikes that were redirected into illusions, breaking their own ranks in confusion.
And yet—they fought on.
Despite being mocked.
Despite being overpowered.
Despite the pain.
Because somewhere, beneath the weight of divine arrogance and twisted memories, they still believed in the boy who once saved everyone with nothing but his will and smile.
The dimension shook under the weight of battle.
Stars dimmed and planets cracked as the war between hope and corruption raged on.
Kara, cloaked in the divine shroud bestowed upon her by the convergence of ancient Kryptonian relics and Kurama's energy, led the charge. Her body glowed, veins pulsing with radiant power as she weaved through Naruto's destructive strikes. The cloak was not just armor—it was living energy, absorbing power from every strike, every near-death moment, and returning it to her tenfold. Each blow she delivered resonated with something more than just strength—it carried the weight of her love, her heartbreak, and her refusal to give up.
She wasn't alone.
Raven fought beside her, a storm of shadow and soul magic, her eyes glowing with dark amethyst as she chanted ancient mantras that tore open the space around them. Her magic—wild, divine, and desperate—was the key countermeasure to Naruto's immense chakra and Shuten's spiritual poison. But even she found herself overwhelmed, her voice cracking, her barriers shattering under the relentless pressure.
"I can't hold this forever!" Raven shouted, sweat pouring down her brow, her wings of shadow beginning to fray.
Zatanna, hovering beside her, struggled to reverse the poison magic that laced the battlefield. Every time she finished a spell, Shuten twisted the energy like a puppeteer, forcing her to backpedal and speak backward with increasing desperation.
"Mraw nruter—ah! I said warm return, not burn alarm—!"
Shuten laughed, twirling around Zatanna's spellwork and sending back a wave of venomous mist that clung to their lungs and souls.
"You're all so fragile," she sang, her voice almost musical. "So desperate to save someone who's already gone."
On the other side of the battlefield, Diana and Donna stood their ground. The battlefield had changed their blood.
Donna, daughter of Titans, had finally unlocked the power of their true legacy—her skin shimmered with divine script, each line burning with strength ancient and absolute. Her fists could fracture continents now, and every blow she landed against Naruto left echoes of divine power that cracked the floating platforms beneath them.
Diana, her body coursing with golden blood gifted from Hercules, had transcended her mortal lineage. She now pulsed with Olympian might, her blade infused with the essence of divine war. She had drawn power from the core of her ancestors, her eyes glowing with Olympian fire.
But Naruto…
Naruto had no such limits.
He moved like a phantom of annihilation. His eyes were cold, focused—not with hatred, but a lack of recognition. To him, they were no longer his people. Every technique he used was devastating in its precision—tailored to neutralize their strengths.
And he did not hold back.
Kara screamed as Naruto's blade sliced through her side, the cloak barely managing to restore the tissue. Diana's left arm was severed in a flash of crimson, and Donna's right leg turned to stone as Shuten's poison took hold. Superman fell from the sky, crashing into a moon after Naruto reversed his solar energy with a strange, inverted chakra seal.
Limbs were lost.
Blood spilled.
Hearts broke.
But still… they fought.
Naruto's equipment was not of Earth. Forged in dimensions where immortals feared to tread, his armor absorbed their strongest blows and retaliated with black lightning, his sword a perfect fusion of chakra and magic capable of slicing through dimensions.
Worse still, he was growing stronger.
For every drop of power his opponents released in desperation, Naruto fed on it, draining the latent spiritual and magical energy of the dimension. The realm itself bent to him, its laws twisted in his favor. Every movement they made gave him strength, every attack became fuel for his retaliation.
"He's leeching us!" Zatanna screamed. "The stronger we get, the stronger he becomes!"
Kurama, who had been supporting from afar, growled in frustration.
"Damn it! I warned you this was his throne world! He built this place with Nyx—it listens to him, not to you!"
And Shuten—with every swing of her dual fans, she unleashed spiritual venom, not to kill, but to make them suffer. Her poison wasn't just physical. It touched the soul.
Victims saw visions of being abandoned by Naruto, living lives where they were unloved, forgotten, or betrayed. They felt what it would be like to be truly erased from his heart. Even Raven faltered under it, forced to relive a future where Naruto had willingly chosen Shuten and discarded them.
It was cruel.
It was unnatural.
And it was working.
Still—Kara pushed forward.
Her cloak, now glowing a deep violet from battle absorption, wrapped around her like a second skin. Her eyes met Naruto's in one explosive moment of power.
"I don't care what you say," she whispered through gritted teeth. "You're still in there. I know it. And I'll bring you back… even if I have to drag you out of hell myself."
Naruto said nothing at first, blade glowing with chakra, face unreadable.
Then he tilted his head, calmly, and said:
"You're welcome to try."
And with a flash of golden light, he moved.
The battle for Naruto's soul had only just begun.
The battlefield had long shed its name—this was no longer a fight.
It was a trial by flame, steel, and blood, and Naruto stood at its center, unshaken, untouchable.
The air was thick with the scent of ozone, scorched stone, and the sharp tang of blood. The stars above trembled as mystic storms clashed across the fractured skies of his realm.
And then… he moved.
Jaime Reyes charged ahead with the full force of the Scarab unleashed—blades of pure plasma lashing out, sonic cannons roaring, jet thrusters flaring. He aimed for Naruto's flank.
"I don't care what they say—you're not invincible!" Jaime shouted, his armor glowing brighter than ever before.
Naruto didn't speak. He turned his palm outward.
And with one motion, he shattered the Scarab's power core using a gravity seal. Jaime's body plummeted like a comet, armor cracking, nerves screaming. The Scarab tried to reboot—
But Naruto appeared before him in an instant, slicing through the symbiotic armor with a blade of compressed reality chakra.
"No one asked for your loyalty," Naruto muttered coldly. "And no one needed it."
Jaime's scream echoed across three planes of reality before silence fell.
Hawkgirl soared in from above, her mace glowing with ancient Thanagarian runes.
"You hurt my people. You betrayed our trust. This ends now!" she roared, bringing the mace down with all her fury.
Naruto raised a single finger.
A chakra thread surged upward and caught her weapon mid-swing, twisting it violently. She was yanked out of the sky and slammed into a crystalline mountain that cracked under the force.
When she rose, dazed and bleeding, Naruto stepped forward—and without a moment's hesitation, he snapped one of her wings at the joint.
"You're no warrior," he said, eyes cold. "Just a relic swinging at shadows."
Cassie, heart full of courage, had tears in her eyes as she faced him.
"You were supposed to be one of us," she whispered. "You were supposed to care."
With her divine rope glowing, she charged, aura flaring with divine thunder. Her punch cracked the sky.
Naruto caught it with his bare hand.
He didn't flinch.
Then he twisted her wrist until bone snapped, lifted her, and slammed her through the floating arena, sending her body tumbling down a chasm of crystalized emotion. She didn't scream—only wept silently, her golden rope falling beside her like discarded hope.
"I don't remember ever swearing loyalty to you," he said. "You were just another believer in a immortal that never asked to be worshipped."
Poison Ivy had grown wild and terrifying in this realm. Vines like titans, trees that bent space. She tried to bind Naruto with a forest of living thorns charged with every toxin known to man.
"Even immortals fall to nature," she hissed, eyes glowing green.
Naruto's aura flared once—and the entire forest ignited. Every vine withered in an instant, reduced to ash by chakra-infused fire that warped time itself.
Pamela tried to retreat, but a whisper of wind was all she heard before Naruto was behind her. He drove his fist into her solar plexus and released a pulse of chakra dissonance, completely severing her connection to the green.
"Nature bends to my will here," he said. "You brought a blade of grass to a cosmic war."
She fell to her knees, broken not just in body—but in soul.
She had arrived late.
Her eyes were already wet when she landed, the sight of her son standing against them making her heart twist into knots.
"Naruto… please," she whispered, voice trembling. "It's me. It's mom."
For a moment—just a heartbeat—his eyes wavered.
Then… cold returned.
"I don't remember you," he said, almost pitifully. "But if you're in my way—"
Before she could react, he used her own chakra chain technique against her. Golden chains erupted from the ground, binding her, tearing through her defenses.
He drove a sword through her side—not to kill—but to maim, to ensure she couldn't rise again.
"You're nothing to me. A stranger wearing a memory."
Kushina's scream echoed louder than all the rest.
Black Adam stood defiant, fury written across his face.
"You dare strike at immortals with no reason? You've lost your way, boy."
"No," Naruto replied calmly. "I've found it."
Their clash shook the skies. Adam's lightning struck Naruto, thunder roaring across the dimension.
But Naruto didn't dodge.
He absorbed the lightning.
Then, with a wave of his hand, he manipulated Adam's magic word, scrambling it, severing his connection to his divine patrons.
Adam fell from the air, powerless.
Naruto landed beside him, grabbed his cape, and dragged him across the earth, leaving a trench of humiliation before tossing him like discarded trash.
The battlefield was soaked in blood and broken pride.
Those who once stood by Naruto now lay shattered.
But he hadn't killed any of them. Not yet.
They were alive.
Broken… but alive.
Shuten stood by his side, clapping softly with a smirk on her face.
"They thought they could save you," she said, voice honeyed with poison. "How cute."
Naruto didn't smile.
He only stared across the battlefield at Kara, at Raven, at the ones still standing, and raised his blade again.
"If they want to save me… they'll have to do better than that."