Tsunade and Shizune watched the spectacle in the distance.
There, where the two attacks had collided, the whole world seemed for a moment to have fallen into a colorless state. Cracks spread across the entire sky, as though a bottomless darkness wanted to swallow everything.
But on the other side stood a golden light.
It looked like the morning sun just rising over the horizon.
"Lady Tsunade," Shizune asked softly, "do you believe Lady Artoria will be victorious?"
Tsunade slowly shook her head.
Her brown eyes narrowed as she searched the distance for that point where the tremendous clash of power was taking place.
"I would ask the question differently, Shizune," she said calmly.
She lifted her chin slightly.
"Not whether she will win."
A faint, dry smile crossed her face.
"But how quickly she will defeat him… and how great the damage to our world will be."
Then a colossal beam of energy shot through the distance.
It drove back the darkness, cut across the land, and finally vanished high in the sky.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed a little more.
"You see?" she said softly. "The Sage is dead."
She let out a slow breath.
"She defeated him."
The clouds parted as though a divine hand had torn them apart.
Color returned to the world once more.
And everywhere the stream of energy had touched the earth, golden particles drifted down and breathed a faint trace of life back into the dead land.
Shizune was silent for a moment.
Then she asked carefully:
"Lady Tsunade… do you truly wish to leave our world behind?"
Tsunade slowly turned toward her student.
She searched Shizune's eyes.
And in them she saw no doubt anymore.
Only the desire to discover something new.
Something greater.
Something beyond this dying world.
When Artoria returned to her floating realm after her victory over the Sage, she saw that several people had already watched the battle from afar.
Tsunade.
Shizune.
Naruto.
Kaguya.
Kurumi.
And a heavily injured Jiraiya, who apparently had not managed to let go of his old habits even on this morning.
When Artoria landed before the small group, she slowly raised her hand.
In her palm rested the sphere of the afterlife.
With the help of her power, the small sphere rose from her hand and began to float above Avalon.
Then it merged with the realm.
A warm light spread across the beautiful island.
In the next instant, the last souls that had remained in the afterlife appeared all across Avalon.
Naruto's eyes widened when he spotted a group of people with red hair among them.
Without hesitation, he ran off.
"Kaa-chan! Kaa-chan!"
When Kushina heard the unfamiliar voice, she turned around in surprise.
Before her stood a little boy with blond hair, though a faint red already shimmered at the roots. And his blue eyes…
She recognized those eyes at once.
She ran to him and pulled him tightly into her arms.
"My Naruto! Mother missed you so much!"
Then she froze.
Her voice trembled.
"Are you dead too now? Why did you have to appear here so early?"
Another woman gently placed a hand on Kushina's shoulder.
"Kushina," she said softly. "It is better this way than to have been devoured by that monster."
Kushina turned her head.
"Mito-sama…"
In the next instant, another voice rang out across Avalon.
"Grandmother!"
Tsunade was already running.
Not far away, Nawaki's eyes flew open the moment he saw her.
"What? Big Sister is here too?!"
Then the boy, barely older than twelve, suddenly began to cry.
"Excuse me," a calm voice suddenly rang out across the stirred-up crowd. "If I may interrupt you all for a moment."
All eyes turned toward the woman with the long golden hair, the majestic armor, and the spear in her hand.
Artoria.
"When I defeated the Sage, he left behind your afterlife. I merged it with my divine realm. That is why you are now here."
Her gaze briefly shifted to Naruto and Kushina.
"And do not worry. Those two are not dead."
When Mito and Kushina heard that, their tears only flowed all the more.
Artoria waited a moment before she continued.
"But I have something else to say."
Her voice grew firmer.
"I need female warriors to protect my realm. That is why I ask every woman here to become a Valkyrie."
A small sphere of golden light appeared before each and every woman.
"If you accept it, you will receive a body again. A body with which you will also be able to leave Avalon."
The golden spheres shimmered softly.
"You will grow stronger. You will age more slowly. And your power will continue to grow."
A faint, almost satisfied smile touched her lips.
"Even the weakest among you will attain a level of power this world could only describe as that of a Super Kage."
At first, many of the women looked at the golden spheres in silence.
Doubt, hope, and pain lay in their faces.
Then the first stretched out her hand.
Then the next.
And finally many more.
Among them were Kushina.
Mito.
Tsunade.
Shizune.
In total, twenty-four women made that choice.
Golden light enveloped their bodies.
Their age was pushed back until it stabilized at around twenty years old.
When the light faded, their bodies were young, strong, and filled with new vitality.
"Thank you… thank you…"
Those words could be heard from every direction.
Then Kurumi spoke up.
"And what about my brothers and sisters?"
Artoria looked down at her.
"They too will appear here on Avalon in a few years, my little vixen."
While Avalon underwent that tremendous transformation, the floating realm slowly began to move again.
Then Avalon broke through the boundary into the multiverse.
And drifted out into the endless expanse.
End of Act 1
Hi everyone, it's me, MultiverseObserve.
This story started with only a single idea, and I simply began writing without a plan. I think by now you can tell.
So now there are two possibilities:
Option 1:
We move directly on to Act 2. For that, I would take a break, plan everything out properly, and only then continue writing.
Option 2:
I completely revise Act 1 with a clear roadmap, and in a few months we return to exactly this point again — only much cleaner and much better structured.
This time, I'm leaving the decision to you.
I'll read through your opinions over the next week and then let you know how things will continue.
See you soon.