A New World
III
“The one who makes the rules”
Naruto woke up with a jerk.
His senses immediately expanded and his body became alert as his rinnegan shifted into overdrive, promptly giving him a few insights regarding his surroundings.
One, he was not in the Dimensional Gap. Rather this was an unknown location, a large white room with luxurious furniture and decorations. Even the bed he was on was quite grand. Of course, the hidden magic and unique artifacts couldn’t evade his gaze. Luckily, he didn’t feel any harmful intent coming from them. And when his senses expanded further, he realized that he was back on the moon of that unknown world.
Two, he couldn’t sense Ophis. Yes, there was a possibility that she could be hiding in plain sight. Before, that would have been enough for her to elude Naruto’s eyes. But now, after the clash, his rinnegan was able to memorize her essence, her soul; meaning that moving forward, it wouldn’t be easy for Ophis to get the drop on him. But the fact that he still couldn’t sense her means that she was not in this world, or at least, nowhere near him.
Three, Shiva was standing around thirty meters away from his location. And he was talking with another individual. From the initial scan, this unknown individual didn’t seem anything extraordinary. His power source was unique but Naruto could see the similarities between that mysterious power and their divinity. While this person was strong, even by DXD’s standard, he was nowhere near Naruto or Shiva’s equal.
But before his rinnegan could zoom in on that person, Shiva moved. It seemed he noticed him waking up.
Shiva took one step and he was inside the room. Of course, he teleported near the door and not his bed. After all, surprising someone on Naruto and Shiva’s level when they were wary and tense wasn’t a good idea.
“How are you feeling?”
Instead of answering, Naruto asked his own question after he did a quick scan on Shiva with his rinnegan, “What happened?”
The muscles all around Shiva’s body tensed as he narrowed his eyes, “You went after Ophis, Naruto. The Beast of Infinity. Do you understand what you have done? The magnitude of it? It was nothing short of a suicide attempt.”
The God of Destruction rarely showed his displeasure. But when he did, everyone would back down. Naruto couldn’t do it, not this time.
“Ophis sealed this world, didn’t she?”
Shiva let out an audible breath, “Yes and no.”
This was not the answer Naruto expected.
“Yes, Ophis has sealed this entire universe effectively trapping us here. And no, she didn’t use the same sealing method as the one she used on EXE. She used,” Shiva paused, a flash of uncertainty crossed his eyes, “Something lesser, something simpler.”
One move and Naruto was out of bed, “What do you mean?”
In response, Shiva took a few steps toward Naruto, “We will discuss it thoroughly, but first,” He examined Naruto, “You didn’t answer my question.”
Naruto opened his mouth to refute but realizing where Shiva was coming from, he relented, “Physically, I am fine. As you can see,” Naruto raised his arms and widened his stance, “No injuries.”
Shiva’s gaze then zoomed into Naruto’s forehead which made him chuckle. He tapped his temple, “Don’t worry, everything’s working fine up there as well.”
“Considering the stunt you pulled… questionable, but,” With a look, Shiva stopped Naruto from interrupting, “Your clash with Ophis, let’s discuss it later along with Ophis’s sealing. We need to have a bit more information before we can start that conversation.”
“Such as,” Naruto waved his hands, gesturing toward the room but his gaze zoomed in on the mysterious individual, hidden behind multiple layers of walls and barriers, “Where are we?”
“Remember the moon we landed on in the beginning? This is a palace inside that satellite, created by,” Shiva tilted his head toward the individual’s direction, “Him, for us.”
“I suppose an introduction is in order,” Naruto dusted his clothes before straightening them.
Shiva nodded in agreement before slowly opening the door.
The hidden message was clear. They needed to be careful and not use any techniques, even the passive ones unless the situation called for it. Still, Naruto didn’t deactivate his rinnegan but made sure to turn off some of its active abilities.
After two minutes of walking, he finally saw the person.
He was quite handsome. His features were chiseled and regal, with a strong jawline and silver hair, a mane of lustrous curls, that fell in loose waves around his face.
As for his attire, he was wearing a tailored suit of the finest fabrics. A crisp dress shirt, the color of stormy skies, was neatly tucked into perfectly fitted trousers with a designer tie and polished leather shoes, both of which were decorated with mysterious symbols stitched with golden threads.
Though his appearance may be modern, there is an undeniable air of ancient majesty that clung to that person, quite similar to that of an old God. But, as usual, Naruto’s focus went toward his gaze.
His piercing eyes held the wisdom of the ages, displayed the bottomless magical knowledge, and were full of wariness that of a guardian.
But there was no malicious intent, not that Naruto could see.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet the one who has the courage to face an ‘Outer God’,” The individual gave a disarming smile, “My name is Ru.”
“Naruto Ōtsutsuki,” Naruto matched his smile, his political persona coming in full force, “And it’s a pleasure to meet the person who is lending a helping hand to us during our trying times.”
“Of course, we Gods should help each other when an ‘Outer God’ is involved,” Ru paused before correcting himself, “I suppose in your world the term ‘Beast’ is used to classify them.”
Naruto quickly exchanged glances with Shiva, “I guess you’re right, And while I can’t thank you enough,” Naruto took a more serious persona, “We need to know where we are so that we can strategize better.”
“Are you going after the Beast of Infinity again?” Ru couldn’t hide his curiosity.
“No,” Shiva interrupted and continued without giving Naruto any room to interfere, “We need to come up with a plan on how to reach our world DXD without alerting Ophis, at all. A single confrontation from Ophis will result in starting from zero.”
“We can work something out,” Ru nodded before meeting Naruto’s gaze, “But before that, I should answer your question first – where are you?” With a smile, more genuine this time, he waved his hands.
The walls around them became transparent and the floors beneath them started to move. This made both Naruto and Shiva tense up. Although they didn’t give any outer reaction, Naruto could tell that Ru felt their tension but decided to ignore it.
When the palace vanished, the surface of the moon made its appearance. But Naruto soon realized that it was no ordinary moon. The surface was smooth, unnaturally so, and he could see patterns, hidden to the naked eyes, covering as far as he could see. Something told him that this mysterious pattern probably encircled the entire moon.
“Welcome to IXI.”
Naruto looked at Ru who was standing with his arms wide open while facing them and facing away from earth, his earth.
“Before you ask, IXI stands for Isekai Infinity.”
“I apologize but does Isekai stand for ‘Another World’? Or there is a different meaning behind it?”
Naruto’s question surprised Ru, “You are familiar with the word. Curious. Well, I can explain it in a few sentences but it wouldn’t be enough to capture the true meaning. So,” Ru extended his arm and a book made of just magical words appeared on top of his palm, “Why not have a look?”
Shiva took a step forward. The message was clear – he would be taking the first look and would assess the situation before Naruto could have a go at it.
When the God of Destruction touched the semi-transparent magical book, the letters started changing at an extremely fast pace. Not only that, runes containing illustrations started appearing as well along with blocks of unknown symbols.
It took one second for Naruto to realize what the book really was, “A motion picture in the form of a book, interesting.”
Three seconds later, Shiva retreated his hand, “Fascinating.”
His remark made Ru smile who looked at Naruto expectedly but he didn’t budge, even though his eagerness was clearly showing.
Two seconds later Shiva nodded at Naruto. Getting the final confirmation that he needed, Naruto stepped forward and put his right hand on the book.
As he expected, moving images and visual data started playing in front of his eyes, which were hidden from everyone else.
Naruto was also right about the word ‘Isekai’ but surprisingly, in this universe, this simple word had an enormous meaning behind it.
In IXI, the concept of Isekai was slightly different. Here, it was a subgenre of portal fantasy where an individual, single or multiple, was suddenly transported from the ‘Core’ earth into a new or unfamiliar one, such as a fantasy earth, game earth, or parallel earth without the possibility of returning to their original one.
And all of these ‘Isekai’ earths along with the ‘Core’ one were maintained by a system known as ‘Infinity’. As for Ru, he was the only true God in this universe and his job was to watch over the system.
“Interesting,” Naruto removed his hand when the presentation was over. Of course, he had quite a few questions, such as how were these individuals chosen? Why were they chosen? Why was this universe functioning in such a complex way? And what was this ‘Infinity’ system?
So many questions but for now, he kept quiet since they had a bigger problem to solve.
“Thank you for explaining about IXI, the concept and the mechanisms of it. I have a feeling we will be needing a more in-depth look at it soon; but if no one minds, I believe it is time we discuss a certain issue,” Shiva looked at the dark space, away from the earth and toward the end of this solar system.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
Naruto and Ru nodded their heads simultaneously before IXI God pointed toward the space, “Shall we?”
No words were needed as all three of them left the moon and headed toward the edge of IXI.
It took them around two minutes to reach the edge.
Of course, if Naruto used teleportation or cranked up his speed through minor reality warping, he could have easily reduced the time to a few seconds. Shiva had his own methods and Naruto was sure that Ru also had his. But no one decided to show their hands.
Also, it was common sense not to use a portal made by individuals you don’t trust or know.
And Naruto wasn’t idle during this time. He replayed and examined the clash he had with Ophis to see if there were any alternative paths he could have taken. Was there any possibility for him to win that bout?
The moment Naruto sensed what lay beyond the edge of IXI, he became confused.
Ophis kept her word. The sealing was there. A powerful seal that encompassed the entire IXI effectively trapping Naruto and Shiva here.
So, he should be frustrated. He should be angry.
But he wasn’t. And the reason for this was that the sealing was full of holes.
Shiva was right. This sealing was nowhere near the one they saw on EXE. If Naruto wanted, if he pushed hard enough…
“I know what you’re thinking,” The warning tone of Shiva wasn’t lost on Naruto.
With a groan, Naruto looked away.
“I am a bit lost here,” Ru made that professional smile, “Can any of you explain what is going on? Why is our world IXI locked by Ophis?”
“We do not know for sure.”
“But you have theories,” Ru’s gaze shuffled between Naruto and Shiva, “That is more than what I’ve got… which is nothing.”
Shiva and Naruto exchanged looks before the God of Destruction stepped forward, “We are acquaintances of Great Red.”
“You mean you are worshippers of the Beast of Dreams,” Ru interrupted.
This made Shiva let out a small smile, “No. We are not worshippers nor are we his allies or comrades in arms, just simple acquaintances.”
The bulging of Ru’s eyes and the way his jaw hung open clearly indicated how surprised he was. This also showed that Shiva was the right person to explain their situation. After all, if Naruto were to explain, he wouldn’t have used the term ‘Acquaintances’.
It took Ru a few seconds to get his expressions under control, “I have so many questions, but,” He took a deep breath, “I think it’s better if I leave it for last.”
“Thank you,” Shiva nodded in appreciation before continuing, “I am not sure if you’re aware of the dispute between the Beast of Dreams and the Beast of Infinity…”
Realization hit Ru but he remained quiet.
“But we believe that Ophis, who was temporarily residing in our world DXD, set a trap for Great Red and his acquaintances. She broke the seal of EXE which caused multiple battles to break out. During one of them, Great Red entered the EXE universe giving Ophis the perfect opportunity to lock him inside there. And when she was done with him, she went after us,” Shiva sighed when his gaze landed on the sealing, “But I don’t know what is her angle here.”
“Any ideas?” Ru looked very interested.
Shiva met Naruto’s gaze again before sighing, it was as if he was debating whether or not he should be telling this to Ru. But a few seconds later, he made up his mind, “I think Ophis is testing you, Naruto.”
Now it was Naruto who had wide eyes and an open mouth, “What?”
“I do not know what transpired between you and Ophis when you went against her. But whatever you did,” Shiva pointed at the sealing, which could be considered rudimentary if compared to EXE, “We are seeing the result now.”
Naruto frowned, “A test? What is she looking for?”
“I don’t know,” Shiva turned to fully face Naruto, “And we are not going to find out.”
This confused Naruto.
“If you decide to go through her test Naruto, we will be dancing in the palm of her hand. She will have full control of our actions. She will dictate the rules that we need to follow and the parameters for our victory,” Then Shiva looked at Ru, “That is why we will take a different route.”
Naruto followed Shiva’s gaze and faced Ru.
The IXI God had no problem being in the spotlight, “I suppose I will have to put aside my questions, for now.”
“You will have your answers,” Shiva’s response was swift.
Ru nodded in acknowledgment before meeting Naruto’s gaze, “While you were unconscious, Shiva and I had a short discussion – where you are from, how you got here, what is your intention. During that talk, I shared an idea on how to get out of our world IXI without notifying Ophis.”
Now this caught Naruto’s attention, “Is it possible?”
“Well,” Ru made a thoughtful expression, “Me and a friend of mine use that method to move around the Dimensional Gap without alerting the Outer God… I mean the Beast. But we haven’t tried doing that when a Beast is literally standing outside the door.”
“So, what is this method?” Naruto asked.
“Interdimensional Portal,” Ru answered. He immediately shifted his gaze and looked at both of them, “I will share the foundation of how it works, the basic designs but I cannot disclose the details of its intricate mechanisms for obvious reasons.”
Ru was basically saying that he would not sharing sensitive details to individuals who he didn’t know and who came to his homeworld unannounced. Naruto saw no fault in that logic.
“If you can share just enough for us to know that it is a safe method,” Naruto shared a look with Shiva before finishing, “We will not pry further.”
Ru nodded his head in appreciation.
Naruto took a deep breath before asking the next question, “Why are you helping us?”
His question surprised Shiva more than Ru. And Shiva’s expression made Naruto let out a light chuckle. “Come on, it is not that surprising. Either you already asked that question or you were going to ask it soon.”
“Yes, at the end of this conversation,” Shiva admitted, “But, in my defense, it is quite rare to see you act so logically.”
Before Naruto could reply, Ru interrupted, “Pardon me but is this good captain bad captain roleplay.”
It wasn’t a question but rather a statement.
“No,” Naruto denied it but seeing the well-hidden skeptical look, he knew that he needed a different approach, “Ru, can you guess how our first interaction with EXE Gods was?”
“I was told that it didn’t go well,” His eyes briefly met Shiva’s, “But was not given any details.”
Naruto smiled dryly, “The one I met wanted to decapitate me the moment he saw me and admitted that he wished to take over our world by force. Why? Because he wanted to. There were no other reasons. And that was my first interaction with a God outside of our world.”
Ru grimaced but didn’t break his eye contact, “I can see where you are coming from. But I hope you are not going to judge every God based on your that one interaction.”
The smile on Naruto’s face became more genuine as he asked the next question, “What would you have done?”
This question caught IXI God off-guard. But a second later, he replied with a chuckle, “You got me there. I would be cautious as well. But, unlike you two, my first interaction with a God from a different universe went quite well.”
“You are not talking about us, are you?”
Another small genuine smile formed on Ru’s face, “He is from LXL, Limitless Labyrinth. Quite a decent individual once you get to know him but downright charming and interesting if you can earn his respect.”
“Maybe we can share the adventures we had on Dimensional Gap and our exchanges with Gods from other universes…,” Naruto deliberately paused.
And Ru caught on quickly, “After I answer your question.”
“After you answer my question,” Naruto smiled.
Ru looked away for a few seconds as if he was contemplating what to say. And when he made up his mind, he waved his hand.
A transparent screen appeared on top of his head.
…
Status Window
Name: Hidden (Ru)
Class: God, Unchained Gamer
Level: 100
Title: Hidden
HP: 99,999
MP: 10,000
STR: 1000
VIT: 1000
END: 1000
DEX: 1000
INT: 1000
WIS: 1000
CHA: 1000
LUK: ???
Specialization: Hidden
Special Perks: Hidden
Blessings: Hidden
Attribute Points: 0
…
Ru didn’t wait for Naruto and Shiva to absorb the information, rather, he turned around and waved his hand once more.
Multiple large screens appeared and through them, Naruto and Shiva could see that most of the beings, in various worlds, had the same transparent window on top of their heads. But Naruto also noticed that one, not all of them were aware of this fact, and two, the numbers for most of them ranged between single to low double digits. Even some of the special individuals’ attributes didn’t go more than mid-double digit.
“As you can see, our universe has a single ‘System’ that ties everything together. This method helped IXI to remain stable for a few millennia and, if I may be bold, I don’t see it changing unless,” His gaze met Naruto and Shiva’s.
“Unexpected variables appear.”
Ru nodded his head at Naruto before pointing at the transparent screen hovering over his head, “As for this, many are allowed to see the mechanism of the System through numbers and labels. And yes, to make things simple, the System shows these values similar to game attributes. With that in mind,” He waved his hands once more.
And two more screens appeared.
…
Status Window
Name: Naruto Ōtsutsuki
Class: God, Monster
Level: *Static*
Title: *Static*
HP: 100,000++
MP: 10,000++
STR: 1000++
VIT: 1000++
END: 1000++
DEX: 1000++
INT: 1000++
WIS: 1000++
CHA: 1000++
LUK: *Static*
Specialization: *Static*
Special Perks: *Static*
Blessings: *Static*
Attribute Points: N/A
…
Status Window
Name: Shiva
Class: God, Ancient One
Level: *Static*
Title: *Static*
HP: 100,000++
MP: 10,000++
STR: 1000++
VIT: 1000++
END: 1000++
DEX: 1000++
INT: 1000++
WIS: 1000++
CHA: 1000++
LUK: *Static*
Specialization: *Static*
Special Perks: *Static*
Blessings: *Static*
Attribute Points: N/A
…
“So, why am I helping you two?” Ru pointed at the screens, “Your levels and abilities are beyond what ‘Infinity’ System can comprehend. And that is why, you need to leave as soon as possible and not cause any instability to the System. I hope that answers your question.”
“How long do we have?” Shiva asked.
“There are multiple contingency plans so we should be good for a few months but,” Ru raised his index finger and promptly stopped Naruto from interfering, “I know that you also have your own time restrictions, and if we all cooperate, you should be out of IXI within a few weeks.”
A few seconds of silence reigned in that empty space. Something that Naruto believed they all needed to gather their thoughts.
Finally, Naruto broke the silence, “I think all of us are clear on what to do. So,” He stepped forward and pointed toward the worlds, “Shall we get started?”
“Perfect,” Ru nodded, “Give me a few minutes to make some initial preparations.”
Shiva and Naruto silently agreed.
With that, Ru left them.
A second later, Shiva spoke up, “Do you want to talk about it now?” Seeing Naruto’s questionable look, he elaborated, “Your clash with Ophis.”
“What’s there to talk about,” Naruto felt his body going rigid when he recalled the battle, “And before you chastise me – No, I didn’t face Ophis with the intention to fight and win. I am not that stupid. My plan was to distract her long enough for us to slip by.”
“That didn’t go well,” Shiva responded dryly.
“Clearly,” Naruto’s tone matched his friend’s energy.
Another bout of silence filled the gap, stretching out, heavy and dense before Shiva decided to break it again, “You have something in your mind.”
It wasn’t a question.
So, Naruto answered truthfully, “Ophis said something about ‘The one who makes the rules’,” Others would have missed it but Naruto saw the slight stiffness in Shiva’s body language, “I am guessing you know about that.”
Shiva didn’t reply immediately and Naruto gave him that extra breathing room. But the sudden shine appearing in Shiva’s eyes wasn’t something Naruto foresaw. And definitely not the response that came after it.
“This entity that Ophis talked about, think of it like the system of IXI but one that covers all the universes.”
“So, it is a mechanism that is maintaining all the worlds?” Naruto asked while trying to imagine what the so-called ‘End System’ looked like.
“More than that actually, this system is the one that makes all the rules – Rules that all the universes and the beings within follow, Gods or otherwise.” Shiva clarified.
“Since rules come before concept and only Beasts can manipulate rules, does it mean that this system-like entity is a Beast class being?” Naruto felt his mind running at an extreme speed, coming up with all sorts of scenarios.
“Short answer? I do not know.”
This statement surprised Naruto. And probably his expression mirrored that because it earned a chuckle from Shiva, “The only reason I am aware of this entity is because of my participation at the ‘Beast War’, the battle against the Beast of Apocalypse,” Shiva paused as if he was recalling a memory, “This unknown entity is the one who creates the rules and the Beasts are the only ones who can break the said rules – Just one line, that’s all I heard from the late Biblical God.
Naruto didn’t know how to react to this mindblowing information.
“Let’s revisit this topic when we are out of here since we have a more important matter to tackle,” Shiva’s words helped Naruto to focus.
His friend was correct. Right now, they had one goal only – Return to DXD, their homeworld as soon as they could. Everything else came later, even if they were world-shattering matters.
And just in time, Ru teleported before them.
“I hope I didn’t make you wait too long but the preparations are complete,” Then he turned around and waved his hand, making multiple screens appear before them once again.
“For me to use that interdimensional portal spell, I will need to rebuild an artifact. For safety purposes, after every use, the artifact in question is broken down into parts and hidden in various ‘Isekai’ worlds. I will need your help to retrieve them and yes,” Ru continued without a break, “I can do that myself but it will take longer since I have some restrictions.”
Seeing the questioning look, he elaborated, “Simply put, I am over-leveled. I will need to go through a lengthy process to adjust my levels and attributes before I can enter some of these worlds.”
“But we also have the same disadvantages,” Shiva pointed out.
“True. And that is why I will have to ask you to contain your power, and no,” Ru peacefully but swiftly raised his both arms, “Neither the system nor I will have any hands in this. What I am asking is can you lower your power enough so that the world doesn’t explode the moment you step inside?”
Naruto chuckled before sharing a look with Shiva, “I think we can do that.”
“Splendid,” Ru gave his signature polite smile, “Since we are in a rush so let’s get started.”
He stepped aside before waving his hand exaggeratedly.
“Welcome to a New world.”