The Fourth Beast

11

The Top Ten

VI

The Shinto Faction

(2 months left till the Core Stone resurfaces)

Naruto rubbed his chin as he looked at his reflection. He expected that his appearance would change after his ascension. He just hoped it was not a drastic change, but surprisingly the changes were very subtle.

Yes, his physical appearance went through some minor changes. His hair color changed to silver, a brighter shade than Kakashi's if it was even possible. He had a feeling that his old sensei would be proud.

Naruto blinked. Now that he thought about it, most of his sensei had silver-colored hair. Yes, each had their unique shade, but in the end, it was silver.

What changed the most was his Rinnegan. Well, that was a given. Honestly, a part of Naruto was very excited to see how his ascension would affect his eyes. And affect it did. He still remembered the feeling when he first activated his eyes after his ascension.

The first time he activated his Rinnegan in this dimension, he felt giddy, as if he had just received the best birthday present ever. But this time, it was different. The sight of his own Rinnegan mesmerized him. It was exceptionally striking to the point that it felt otherworldly. It sounded like he was being a narcissist, but that was the truth. His Rinnegan before was very different from the original as well. It had the standard pattern, but the sclera had a golden hue rather than the normal silver-purple one. But now? It was as if he had an 'Inverse' Rinnegan. When activated, the sclera of his eyes would be black, while the rings on his eyes would be white.

It looked freaking awesome.

"Are you feeling okay, Naruto?"

The seriousness in Amaterasu's tone was not lost to Naruto, but he still could not help but let out a lighthearted chuckle. It looked like Amaterasu was also becoming a worrywart like Yasaka. Well, he could not blame her for this though, since it was his fault, somewhat.

"Yes, I am fine, Ba-chan~"

And just like that, Amaterasu turned away, huffing. He knew she did not mind his new way of addressing her, it was just that she was not used to it.

The reason behind this was the recent turn of events. What Amaterasu told him two weeks ago was not something only she, Susanoo, and Tsukuyomi desired. It turned out that the whole Shinto faction was aware of it and was gladly anticipating the merging between the Avalon Kingdom and the Shinto faction. In fact, not a single soul in the Shinto faction would mind if Naruto would take the overall leading position after the merging.

This was a huge deal. They were not talking about a simple alliance but a complete union between them. Naruto knew, well technically, a lot of them knew that this would affect the foundation of how the Avalon Kingdom and the Shinto faction were currently running. Even after knowing that, everyone from the Shinto faction was eagerly waiting for this. But what baffled Naruto was that they were willing to let Avalon Kingdom take the lead after the union.

Naruto did not take long to figure out the main reason behind this. It was simple... 'Power'. Other than the main three, the Shinto faction did not have anyone who could be considered powerful. Amaterasu was a Super class being, but she was on the lower side, and as for Susanoo and Tsukuyomi, both of them were on the highest level of the Ultimate class. From the Avalon Kingdom's side, even without Naruto, they had Yasaka, Jiraiya, and August, all of whom were also on the same level as Susanoo and Tsukuyomi; Jiraiya and Yasaka almost breaking into the 'Super' class. Then there were Mephisto and Sesshomaru, who were also quite strong Ultimate class beings. And the list could go on. That was just the individuals only, then there was the Kingdom's elite army and advanced technology.