Chương 127

"And you... my answer remains unchanged. I am not asking you to forgive your brother. I am not asking you to abandon justice. I am asking you to let go of the hatred you carry." Her eyes swept across the impossible landscape surrounding them.

"Hatred narrows one's vision until the entire multiverse shrinks into a single destination. The Mystic Arts demand the exact opposite. Before you can protect countless realities... you must first learn to see beyond yourself. Besides, it was you who chose this path. None of the contract with Khonshu was forced. So if you can make a deal with someone, whom you don't understand, on what grounds should we teach you Mystic Arts." The Ancient One said. This made Sasuke close his knuckles with anger.

Not anger on her but for himself. At that time when he was in mental agony, and this person came with a promise and help. And he was desperate. And now one door had been closed because of his own actions. Meanwhile, when Naruto learned about the fact that he couldn't learn because of the Nine Tails, he was beyond disheartened. Jiraya and others also felt bad for Naruto and Sasuke. But both of them vowed to themselves to learn mystic arts someday.

Now Naruto felt it was his mission to reach a partnership with Nine tails, while Sasuke vowed to end his brother's life and then come to learn the mystic arts. Rei remained silent for a while, allowing Naruto and Sasuke to absorb the Ancient One's refusal. Then another question, one that had been troubling him ever since Sasuke had manifested the Moon Knight attire, finally surfaced.

"There is... one more thing I don't understand." The Ancient One turned toward him.

"What troubles you, Rei?"

"One thing I don't understand is how could Sasuke here could use the powers bestowed upon him by Khonshu in our world. Isn't both of the worlds isolated? Then how could Khonshu's influence reach my world?" The Ancient One remained silent for several moments before answering.

"You misunderstand the nature of boundaries." With a gentle wave of her hand, two glowing spheres appeared before everyone, floating several inches apart.

"Imagine these as two separate realities." Another movement of her fingers caused a single golden thread to extend from one sphere to the other.

"The moment you crossed from your universe into this one... they ceased being completely separate." The thread brightened.

"You became the first bridge." Everyone watched as the golden thread slowly thickened into a luminous pathway. Tiny streams of energy began flowing in both directions.

"Worlds influence one another through connection." the Ancient One explained.

"Not immediately... and rarely dramatically at first. But every stable bridge allows ideas, energies, possibilities and even metaphysical laws to seep across." She looked directly at Rei.

"You were the spark." The glowing pathway expanded further as faint ripples spread through both spheres.

"And sparks have a habit of becoming fires." Rei's pupils shrank.

"... No..." He had always believed his Contract was an exception. A perfectly isolated privilege that allowed only him to ignore the walls between universes. Never, not even once, had he considered that simply crossing those walls might weaken them. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"The process has already begun. Khonshu reaching Sasuke is merely evidence that the connection now exists." A chill ran down Rei's spine. He had always known that gods existed in both realities. This world possessed beings like Khonshu, the Vishanti and countless other cosmic entities. His own world had the Ōtsutsuki, beings worshipped almost as gods by entire civilizations, while devouring them later. If even one of those powers found a stable path into the other universe...

This made Rei's entire mood turned sour.

"Then why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Rei for the first time felt like he was losing the plot and thus his natural instinct was to ask the person who should have stopped this spark to do her work.

"Rei, I think you have some misunderstanding. I am not an omnipotent God. I cannot look beyond certain points and you are one of those people whom I can't look into. You are a disruptive variant for sure, but that is not enough for us to clamp you down. Besides, you had already taken that step of arriving here, no matter how much we tried, that bridge was already made and there was nothing we could do for what is about to come."

"The only logical step you can do is to get strong and make sure whatever monstrosity comes out of the two worlds, we all are equipped to handle." The Ancient One said. Jiraiya was the first to break the heavy silence.

"... Monstrosity?" He frowned thoughtfully.

"What exactly do you mean by that? You make it sound as though the very act of connecting two worlds will eventually create something neither side can stop." Tsunade folded her arms while Kakashi quietly watched the two glowing spheres still floating between the Ancient One's hands.

"And another thing," Kakashi added.

"If Rei became the bridge... doesn't that mean his ability alone is responsible for this? Or was this always possible?" The Ancient One gently dismissed the illusion before looking at all three of them.

"No." Her answer came without hesitation.

"Rei may have become the bridge, but bridges cannot exist where no crossing is possible. If two realities are utterly incompatible, no traveler, artifact or spell can permanently connect them. The fact that Rei succeeded tells me something far more important."

"Your universe and ours are already surprisingly compatible. Their fundamental laws differ, yet they resonate closely enough that a stable connection could be established. Rei did not create that compatibility. He merely became the first spark that revealed it."

"I know nothing about your universe," the Ancient One continued.

"I do not know what ancient beings, cosmic entities or forgotten civilizations exist there. But if your reality possesses powers comparable to those that dwell within ours..."

"... then I advise every one of you to prepare yourselves. Because our universe contains beings capable of extraordinary feats as you have already seen with Khonshu. Should equivalents exist within yours, the growing connection between our realities may one day attract their attention." Kakashi suddenly remembered the tales he was hearing of Odin and Asgard, and their heroic history of how they conquered the 9 realms and how their forefathers were really powerful.

Jiraya and others didn't understand the notion very deeply, but Kakashi knew and had seen the Rainbow Bridge. If there were civilizations remotely as powerful as Asgard in their world, then they were really in danger.

"Jiraya-sama, Tsunade -sama, I will share with you both more details of the world here later." Kakashi said, and both of them nodded as it seemed Kakashi wanted to say something but this wasn't the right time. Rei meanwhile had clamed down as she was explaining those things. For a moment he was ready to lash out at everyone because of the fact that he was losing his ever present knowledge of both the worlds.

This had allowed him to maneuver things according to his wishes and gain his abilities by manipulating the plot, but now he was told that the advantage he had was slowly losing and there was nothing he could do about it. But he also knew that he was much powerful than he ever was. And he would always do his best to safeguard what was precious to him. And help humanity along the way because he couldn't live alone in the world. Sasuke slowly looked toward the Ancient One.

The frustration within him hadn't disappeared, but it had settled into quiet determination rather than blind anger.

"... Then I'll return." Everyone turned toward him.

"After I kill my brother... I'll come back to Kamar-Taj." His voice remained steady.

"When that day comes, I'll ask you once again to teach me the Mystic Arts." The Ancient One regarded him silently before offering a faint, almost sorrowful smile.

"I hope you do return." she said gently.

"But I also hope you discover something before that day arrives." Sasuke frowned.

"If you truly believe that your brother's death will bring you peace... that the moment vengeance is fulfilled your heart will finally become quiet... then I fear you may be disappointed. Whether I am right or wrong is not for me to decide. It is a truth you must discover for yourself." Rei finally stood and bowed respectfully.

"Thank you... for answering our questions." He paused briefly.

"I'll do everything I can to prepare for whatever lies ahead. And... if Khonshu or any other influence from this universe begins affecting ours beyond what we can handle..." He met her gaze.

"... I hope you'll lend us your strength." The Ancient One inclined her head.

"If such a day comes, Kamar-Taj will not ignore it. The safety of reality has never been confined to one world alone." Her eyes finally rested upon Sasuke.

"And you... be cautious. Not every command Khonshu gives will be one you wish to obey. There may come a day when your greatest battle will not be against your brother..."

"... but against the path your own patron asks you to walk."