Chapter 49 - Whole again

'It's been so long since we've had a girls' night.' a girl said wistfully. Her blonde hair was wrapped in a towel and a bathrobe hugged her body in a world of fluff.

She let herself fall on the couch in the living room and a sigh of satisfaction left her lips. But then, she pointed an accusatory finger at the girl next to her:

'Barbara, you've got some explaining to do!'

The other girl, also having her red hair wrapped in a towel and wearing a bathrobe, giggled at her friend while looking at her nails. She blew softly on them to dry up the freshly applied nail polish and then said:

'That's why I wanted to have this sleepover with you. I know we haven't spent much time together as of late.'

The blonde girl grumbled something unintelligible but she took the remote and turned on the TV. It was a late night telenovela and the two friends immediately became enraptured with it. It was such a mundane and girly thing to do that nobody would imagine that the blonde girl was an alien with the power to bend steel, while the redhead was an accomplished hacker and trained martial artist. In their everyday lives, Kara Kent and Barbara Gordon were acting like any other normal girls in their late teens or early twenties when they hung out.

'So,' Supergirl began, 'Any progress with your crush?'

'It's more than just a crush, ok?' Batgirl retorted.

'Don't avoid the question!' the blonde countered.

The redhead huffed and crossed her arms to her chest.

'Not much, huh?' Supergirl concluded.

Barbara sighed.

'Yeah, not much. She's a really sweet cutiepie and she doesn't ever shy away from hugs or kisses on the cheek...but we've been doing that before too. It's like nothing changed. We're still best friends, but nothing more.'

'HELLOOO, I thought I was your best friend?' Kara pouted, making Barbara laugh.

Something particularly juicy happened in the telenovela - 'Juan' was caught in the act of sleeping with the wife of his brother, 'Alejandro' - and the girls forgot what they were talking about for a moment, their eyes glued on the screen. Soon, the episode ended in a cliffhanger and Kara had to use a great deal of focus to not crush the remote control by accident due to her strength.

'Gah! This telenovela always ends its episodes in a cliff!' she said infuriated.

She sat up from the sofa and made a beeline to the kitchen. Barbara immediately sat up too and ran after her yelling, knowing what the other girl was about to do:

'Kara, don't you dare take my ice cream!'

Barbara was very careful with her eating habits. She cared about how she looked and she had to put a lot of effort into it. She would never eat ice cream at night and even when she dared to eat some, it was only in days when she registered a considerable caloric deficit. Because she ate ice cream so rarely, she always treated herself to the best and most expensive thing she could find on the market - and Kara knew that.

Unlike Barbara who had to be very careful with her diet, Supergirl had no such concerns. Due to her Kryptonian physiology, Kara has never had to worry about eating too much, not doing enough exercising or eating too many sweets. Therefore, whenever she stopped by Barbara's house, she would plunder her fridge with no remorse whatsoever.

By the time Barabara got to the kitchen, Kara was already half-way finished with eating a cone of ice cream. The redhead gave up. She seriously considered buying a second fridge and hide it together with everything she wanted the blonde to not find...but then she remembered that Supergirl had X-ray vision.

'I'm gonna make a frigging bunker, bury it in the ground and cover it with lead! I heard that X-ray vision can't see through lead.'

A few minutes later, after the figurative fire was put out and Barbara forgot about her annoyance at the blonde, she asked:

'What's this thing I hear about the large underground shelters that the government started to build all over the country, near the large cities? Does Superman or the Justice League know anything?'

'Didn't Batman tell you anything?' Supergirl asked.

'Well... I haven't been in contact with him in the last few weeks.'

'Ehh how so?'

Barbara shrugged.

'There's just nothing to do, I guess?'

Kara had an expression of scepticism on her face.

'There are millions of people in Gotham, I'm sure there are dozens if not hundreds of crimes happening every day.'

'True,' Barbara agreed 'but there are no premeditated crimes. Not anymore.'

Having the feeling that Supergirl wasn't quite clear what she was trying to say, Barbara explained:

'As you know, because of Batman's and Catwoman's new methods in the past 2 years or so, criminality is at an all-time low in Gotham. But on top of that, Naruto also returned to Gotham.'

'Did he start killing criminals left and right?' Supergirl interrupted.

'Nope.' Barbara said 'He did nothing. But people are afraid. I know, I know, no need to tell me: the ordinary people worship the ground he walks on. But the criminals are terrified. I'm not exaggerating when I say that organized crime has been completely abolished. Ever since he came back a few months ago, there haven't been any attempts at robbing a bank, no kidnappings no hitmen offering their services for hire.'

After a small pause, she said:

'As Batgirl, I was dealing with organised crime mostly, those like Penguin. I was tracing their transactions, hacking into their shell corporations' databases or even freezing their bank accounts. Once in a while, I would also help Batman on the field, busting criminals. But now, there is nothing to do. All that ever happens nowadays is usually just petty crimes or, if someone commits murder, they do it in the spur of the moment - and this isn't something that can be completely stopped.'

'Whatever is there to do nowadays, Batman and Catwoman are more than capable of taking care of it on their own. They no longer need any help. I'm...just an extra.'

Feeling Barbara's mood become a bit depressing, Supergirl tried to change the subject.

'So what are planning on doing now? You still wanna be just a simple librarian? You could do so much more with what you know.'

Barbara shrugged.

'I haven't decided yet. From what I've heard from Naruto, there's going to be a large-scale invasion this year. Thinking about college seems rather trivial when you realize that the world could come to an end in a few months.'

'Hey, don't speak like that! Doctor Fate said it himself that the future is not set in stone and that things are looking much better this time around. For a change, the heavy hitters of the League are alive.' Supergirl said, ending up smirking towards the end, clearly also including herself in that list.

Batgirl returned her smirk.

'Look at you! A girl with the power to level mountains is watching telenovelas and goes to her poor human friend to steal her ice cream.'

Supergirl had the decency to at least look sheepish at the last part.

'Anyway, you still haven't told me about those shelters.' Barbara reminded.

'Well, as you know, there are many rich and influential members within the Justice League's ranks. Convincing the government that the threat of an alien invasion is imminent was much easier than we had thought at first. We never thought they were going to be so docile.'

'No kidding.' Barbara snorted. 'It was only a few years ago that the Thanagarians nearly took over the Earth. If it hadn't been for Hawkgirl turning against them, we would've not made it.'

Supergirl nodded and continued:

'The ones about to invade us are the Yellow Lantern Corps and an evil version of my cousin from an alternate dimension.'

Batgirl gasped, realizing how dangerous the situation was.

'But fortunately, Doctor Fate knows which cities are going to be attacked in their initial assault. Thanks to that, we can plan ahead and face them on our terms. So the government began early on to build underground shelters close to those cities for the civilians to be evacuated there... there are tens of millions of dollars thrown into it. I think that-'

Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door.

'Who could be knocking at this hour and at your door of all the places?' Supergirl wondered.

Barbara threw her a dirty look. What Supergirl was implying was not lost to her - that she was a sad loner that nobody visited.

When she opened the door, an uncomfortable-looking Misaki was waiting for her with an awkward smile marring her face.

After receiving her inside and noticing Misaki's weird mood Barbara asked her:

'Hey, Misaki, what are you doing here? Is everything alright?'

'Sorry to bother you at this hour-' Misako began only for Barbara to cut her off:

'Nonsense, that's not an issue! Tell me what happened. Is everything ok at your place?'

Misaki swallowed hard, not knowing how to go about it.

'Naruto and Galatea... they're going at it...' - another gulp - 'They're like beasts!' she erupted, her face flushing red, just at the thought of what she has just witnessed only half an hour before.

Barbara asked worriedly:

'Oh my god! Are those two fighting for real? Right now?!'

'NO!' Misaki half-yelled before covering her face with both of her hands.

'Then what happened?!'

'Gosh Barbara, why are you being dense now?!'

'Well, miss know-it-all just tell me straight what happened!'

Misaki blurted out in a mixture of anger and great shame:

'They're fucking! Fucking like beasts, like animals in heat!'

By the time she finished her words, the blush on her face extended up to her neck and even to the tips of her ears. She was so embarrassed that she actually started crying.

'They...They destroyed the bathroom wall! They're demolishing the house!'

Barbara couldn't help it. She couldn't contain her giggles and burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

Scene break

When the two girls entered the living room, Supergirl looked at the newcomer with vivid curiosity.

'Wow, Barbara, no wonder you turned gay for her! She's gorgeous!' she exclaimed excitedly as if Misaki was not even there.

Barbara was not an easily embarrassed girl - after all, it was her that used to tease Misaki all the time. But at that moment, her cheeks became of the same colour as her red hair and she was breathless when she half-yelled:

'KARA!'

The blonde grinned unrepentantly before looking at Misaki, and saying as she raised her hand for a handshake:

'Hey. I'm Kara, Barbara's best friend! Nice to meet you!'

Misaki smiled in amusement at the blonde's introduction and decided to play her game.

'Nice to meet you too! I'm Misaki. Barbara and I are like sisters.'

'Sisters...' Barbara and Kara thought at the same time.

A friend will never be as close as a sister - Supergirl thought and an invisible arrow stabbed her in the chest. On the other side, Barbara felt it even deeper and Supergirl figuratively beat the last nail in the coffin when she said:

'Girl...you've been sister-zoned!'

That proved the last drop that spilt the entire glass - Barbara jumped on her!

Scene break

A very soft rumbling sound woke her up - her 5 senses were much more sensitive than that of a human.

'Damned fox, what the heck is it doing in my room?' Galatea thought still not quite fully awake. She faintly recognized the purr she was hearing as the noises Kyuubi made when Misaki pet his furry tails.

But when she saw no sign of the fox cub anywhere, she realized that the rumble was coming from somewhere near her tummy - and it wasn't her stomach. Further analyzing was stopped however when she felt someone's breath on her skin and the memories of the previous night came back to her.

She opened her eyes and the sight that greeted her filled her heart with happiness: naked as the day they were born, she and Naruto were lying together in each other's embrace. They were sitting on their sides, with Naruto between her legs, his only arm wrapped around her waist and his face buried in her tummy, right below her breasts.

Looking at how clingy Naruto was in his sleep, she gushed:

'He's adorable!'

Her hands gently caressed his hair and the 3 scars on his left cheek. In the next moment, the quiet rumbling sound intensified and Galatea finally realised that the sound was actually coming from Naruto...

Completely unlike her, Galatea let out a girly squeal and her arms and legs unconsciously tightened around him, pressing his body harder against hers. To her disappointment, however, that rumbling sound ceased as Naruto woke up. He crawled himself out of her embrace, up until he reached her eye level and the first thing he did was to peck her lips before saying:

'Morning, beautiful!'

Galatea's response was to press her lips against his in a deep kiss.

'I love you!' she said when they parted and continued to caress his scarred cheeks, all the while looking into his blue eyes.

Naruto slightly turned his head to kiss her hand and leaned into her touch while also saying:

'Love you too!'

It was the most beautiful morning that either of them has experienced in their lives - just lying in bed, in their loved one's embrace, gently kissing and caressing each other while whispering sweet nothings.

Eventually, Galatea touched a particular spot on his neck and Naruto sucked in a breath. Their love-making from last night had started out gentle and loving but it soon became wild and rough, their passion and hunger for each other getting the better of them. One of the walls of the bathroom collapsed, the bed in Naruto's room was reduced to a bunch of wooden splinters (they were currently in Galatea's room) and even the floor was cracked. The entire house looked it had gone through a massive earthquake.

Naturally, their bodies were the first to bear the burnt of their eagerness but, thanks to her incredible regeneration factor, Galatea had healed in a matter of minutes in her sleep. For Naruto, however, it was a different story. While he was also healing much faster than the average human, there were still marks visible from their activities: purplish-red hickeys littered his neck, some faint red scratching marks crisscrossed his wide back and long bruises stretched across his sides from when Galatea locked her legs around him and lost control over her great strength while experiencing a 'little death'.

That said, Naruto was sore all over.

'If I was a normal guy, you would have killed me last night.' Naruto said and laughed lightly at her embarrassed expression.

'But you're not. Just one of the reasons I love you.' she said and pecked his nose. 'Besides, now that you're awake, I know that all those bruises and hickeys are gonna disappear in less than an hour thanks to your chakra. A shame, really.'

'I know, right? You're the same with that bullshit regeneration factor of yours. Can't even mark my own girlfriend as mine because of it.' Naruto grumbled.

Galatea's cheeks flushed prettily at his words kissed his lips again. Taking a look around the state of the room, she couldn't help saying:

'Our bodies might regenerate fast, but that can't be said about the house too.'

When she said that, Naruto's mind finally went to the one thing he had forgotten about until then - his sister.

'Oh crap! She must be traumatised!'

Scene break

Boiling hot steam filled the air for hundreds of feet as a miniature sun was making the water of the ocean below churn and evaporate with its heat. Suddenly, a circular wave of heat burst from it and incinerated everything in its path. After that, the apparent sun slowly began to lose its heat and, eventually, a silhouette appeared from within. It was an athletic and tall woman, dressed in a tight white body suit. She was Galatea.

A few good weeks passed since Naruto started to help her train in manipulating her chakra. Unsurprisingly, due to her Kryptonian inheritance, Galatea had a fire affinity - and a very strong one at that. And it has to be said that Orochimaru had really succeeded in creating the ultimate 'human' weapon: Galatea's talent in comprehending anything related to fighting skills and techniques was unreal. Now, it was only the beginning of June but she had already mastered her Fire Release manipulation to a level that was not below that of Uchiha Madara!

Walking on water and watching from afar, Naruto said to himself bitterly:

'Why am I even surprised? Her entire set of powers is thanks to the yellow sun's radiation. Her body is like a giant battery of fire that's as hot as the sun...of course that she'll become an expert with manipulating fire chakra in record time...'

It wasn't that he was envious of her success. No, Naruto was happy for her and he even felt proud that it was thanks to his help that she had reached that level. What he was bitter about was that he felt like he had been left behind, in the dust.

'I'm no match for her now. We're not equal anymore...heck, even Superman and Wonder Woman are probably stronger than me now...'

His battle-strength was much lower than before. He could still use his Dead Bone Pulse kekkei genkai and his Black Lightning techniques but he could no longer make hand seals. That meant that he could not create shadow clones anymore nor use Kawarimi. And these two techniques and their variations had been a game changer before - that's how he had defeated the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Hawkman, not to mention how many times he escaped thanks to them and how many times he used them as a diversion to create openings for launching his attacks.

In addition to that, his speed, his sense of equilibrium and his overall coordination had become impaired with the loss of his left hand. His hand-to-hand combat obviously suffered as well.

'I have to do something. I NEED to do something\1'

'When the invasion comes, I want to fight next to her. I want to stand by her side, as her equal!'

Scene break

Later that night, sleep didn't seem to find him. Galatea who had been sleeping with her head resting on his chest stirred awake too when he tried to stealthily sit up from their bed. But he didn't notice.

Dressed only in a pair of shorts, he went outside, in the courtyard, his bare feet brushing against the dewy grass. He recalled his first fight to the death against Galatea, when he lost control of himself and his Shikotsumyaku - when he became something like a humanoid dragon for the first time. Then, he thought about how, more recently, Doomsday seemed immune to whatever he had thrown at him, all of that only until Naruto went through that demonic transformation again and skewered the alien's body from within.

'That power was out of this world!'

The first time that he entered that state, it was out of blind anger, because he thought that his sister was going to get crushed and buried alive in Orochimaru's secret underground facility. The second time, against Doomsday, he entered that state again but out of desperation - Doomsday had brushed aside all of his attacks and then even ripped his arm apart from the shoulder. However, the second time, he was still clear-headed enough to notice the source of his transformation and the reason behind its great power.

'It was natural energy!'

In his past life, Naruto had been a Sage. Someone that mastered the use of senjutsu and the Sage Mode. His memories of the training he had undergone at Mount Myōboku were still as fresh as they could be. But, in this life, Naruto had never even attempted to gather natural energy.

When he was weaker, he knew that he did not meet the requirements for attempting to become a Sage - his body was way, way to feeble and his chakra levels were barely reaching those of a chunin, which was nowhere near enough. Becoming a Sage required extremely high chakra levels. Proof of that was that, in the history of the Shinobi world, there were barely a handful of people that managed to master the perfect Sage Mode - Naruto only knew of Hashirama Senju, Namikaze Minato and himself. He had also heard something about Kabuto obtaining the same ability at some point but he doubted that he had done it through natural methods.

That said, when Naruto's body finally became powerful enough to bear the strain of the natural energy and his chakra reserves reached a satisfying level, he had not seen the point in trying to become a Sage. At that moment, he had already reached the top of the figurative pyramid on the entire planet. There were barely a few people that could put up a fight against him and last more than 3 minutes.

Now, however, after ending up as a cripple, he was starting to look for new ways to become powerful again. He didn't want to be left behind by Galatea. Secretly, he was afraid that he would become inadequate to stand by her side.

Galatea sat up from the bed and went after Naruto. Although she did not mention it to him, she did notice the fact that Naruto seemed to have something weighing on his mind in the past few weeks and she had her few suspicions about the reason behind that. Coming out of the house, she was about to call out his name out when she noticed that he was sitting on the grass in a sitting position, with his eyes closed and with his hands on his knees, appearing to be meditating. She decided not to disturb him for a while.

Naruto meditated and tried to gather the natural energy around him. There was a subtle shift in the wind and he quickly fell into a trance-like state, a feeling of becoming one with nature. His very soul sang in bliss and a peaceful smile appeared on his face...but that only lasted for a few seconds. In the next moment, something akin to a tsunami of negative emotions and feelings crashed against his consciousness. The inner peace he felt from connecting with nature was instantly broken, despair and rage taking its place. They were not his feelings. They were Nature's feelings. The planet itself was in pain and suffering.

His skin started to become grey and scaly and 2 horn-like bones began to grow from his forehead, protruding through the skin. Bone spikes burst from his spine and from his ribcage. A feeling of fear appeared in Galatea's heart when his eyes opened and she saw his slit pupils and the black sclera of his eyes. He looked like a demon. The first time she had seen Naruto become like that, in her creator's secret underground facility, she was nearly killed by him.

'Naruto!' she cried out.

Against her better judgement and despite the wariness she felt, she decided to close in instead of distancing herself from him. Her hand reached for his face and she cupped his cheek, slowly caressing it.

At that moment, a sigh left from Naruto's mouth and his body returned to normal in a matter of seconds. He was still in control of himself when Galatea called out for him but if he had continued to gather natural energy for a few seconds longer, he would have lost it and entered a berserk state again.

His first attempt at becoming a Sage in this life was a failure.

Scene break - a few days later

'This is impossible!'

He was following the same techniques as he had done in his past time, yet he was failing again and again.

'This world sure is fucked up.'

He didn't recall any instance in his past life where nature expressed so much negativity as it was doing in his current life. In all the fairness, however, apart from the medical field, the technology in the Elemental Nations was not anywhere close to that on Earth. In Elemental Nations there were countless places where nature still remained virgin and even during the devastating wars between the shinobi nations, nature itself had not been harmed in an irremediable way because, at the end of the day, the powers that shinobi wielded were part of nature too. On Earth, however, nature had been tormented for centuries by humans' creations. Pollution, nuclear tests and entire ecosystems destroyed by the aggressive expansion of the urban settlements have taken a big toll on the planet.

Nature was suffering. The strength of its feelings was quickly overwhelming Naruto whenever he connected with it and tried to create senjutsu. Whenever he tried to mix the natural energy with his chakra, he felt exactly like in his past life, when Kyuubi's vile chakra was clouding his mind and filling him with rage, making him go berserk. He was a human - and that was enough for him to be seen as an enemy by nature.

Naruto remembered one of Sasuke's partners from their past lives - Jugo. He was such a kind and gentle man when he was himself that birds were willingly landing on his fingers and eating from his palm. But once he consciously absorbed the natural energy around him and entered his clan's bastardized version of Sage mode, he would become something else. His appearance would take on that of a demon and he would attack in a rage everything in front of his eyes.

After a few days of continuous failures - he always stopped before he got the feeling that he was about to lose his control - Naruto decided to take on the 'swim or sink' method. But for that, he needed to be alone, in a deserted place, devoid of people. And that's how, he ended up in the middle of nowhere in the Chihuahuan Desert, in Texas. There were no human settlements for tens of miles around or more.

Making a connection with nature did not take long. After only a few minutes, he was already starting to gather the natural energy in the surroundings. Once again, his skin became grey and scaly, the sclera of his eyes blackened and his pupils turned into slits. The nails on the fingers of his hands became deadly claws, two horns grew from his forehead and bone spikes burst from his spine and torso. Soon enough, a tail that was spiked at the end - similar to that of a dragon - grew out from his tailbone and he rose up to his feet.

Naruto's consciousness had already become overwhelmed by nature's rage who fiercely resisted against a human using its energy. But despite breaking his meditative posture, his body still continued to gather the natural energy around him. As more natural energy kept being absorbed into his dantian, his body also continued to transform. Two enormous draconic wings rose from his shoulder blades and extended for more than 8 feet to each side of him. They were greyish-black and covered in tiny scales that gave them an almost metallic lustre. Bone spikes protruded from each of the wings' tips, giving them a particularly vicious appearance.

Finally, from the mutilated remains of his left shoulder, bones started to grow and flesh followed right after. He was finally becoming whole again! His left arm was regrown and it looked like it had never even been ripped in the first place. There were no scars or other signs of it.

But then, just like only 1 year before, when Naruto went through a lightning storm that seemed intent on incinerating him on Prison Island, the skies became black once again. The air filled with static energy and small arcs of electricity began to crawl across his skin. An enormous vortex appeared in the sky, and the black and crackling with lightning clouds started to revolve around it.

*boom*

A deafening thunderclap shook the earth and the atmosphere alike and the world became blindingly white. A lightning bolt unlike what any human has ever seen suddenly shot from the vortex of clouds towards the rampaging humanoid dragon below. The mindless berserk beast that Naruto had become released a roar of agony so powerful that a shockwave burst from his mouth and raised up huge clouds of sand in the air. However, although the lightning strike was hurting it, the damage it was causing was insignificant. The tiny scales covering his skin were way, way too durable.

But the humanoid dragon was not given a chance to even breathe before another gigantic thunderbolt completely covered it and the sand beneath its feet crystalized and broke into shards of glass! A large crater was formed in the ground and it only deepened as the lightning bolts coming out of the vortex in the sky continued to strike for 7 more times in quick succession. After the ninth lightning strike, however, the heavenly tribulation lost its strength. As soon as the black clouds came, as quickly they disappeared, the sky immediately returning to its azure-blue appearance.

From the large, burning and smoking crater in the ground, a man appeared. It was Naruto. He was naked as the lightning storm had destroyed everything that was not as resistant as his body.

Naruto brought his hands in front of his face and then he proceeded to touch and feel his left arm, almost not being able to believe that he was finally whole again...that he got his missing left arm back, that he could actually regrow it from the scratch!

A grin appeared on his face - he could feel the incredible changes in his body. Although his appearance hadn't changed much aside from him regaining his left arm, the inside of his body was a completely different story. With the eyes of his mind, he could see now 3 chakra hearts pulsating in his chest. He no longer had a heart made of flesh and bones. The chakra pathways inside of his body had become dozens of times wider and the chakra pool - his dantian - seemed infinite, like an ocean. Furthermore, Naruto no longer had a chakra of his own. In his dantian, through his meridians, through all of his body, what was coursing now, was senjutsu, the end product resulted from mixing his chakra with natural energy!

When he took note of all the changes in his body, Naruto finally realized the magnitude of the situation: that he was not human anymore. That he was no longer bound by the laws of nature.

That he became a god.