[Caterpillar] Side Story (Part 4) (Patreon)

AN: The last chapter of this Side Story is here.

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Side Story - Part 4

"Yo, Kakashi-sensei. Long time no see," Naruto said and smiled.

At the deeper but still familiar sound of his voice, Sakura's courage grew and she stepped forth as well.

"What happened to you? Why are you so... so old?! Is that one of your stupid henges again? And who are the woman next to you and that little girl? What-"

"More importantly," Sasuke suddenly cut her off, "What was that power you just used? And happened to Kaguya? How did you get back from whatever dimension she teleported you to?"

"Kaguya won't be a problem anymore," Naruto said and stepped aside to let them see the horned woman who was standing behind him obediently. Turning his attention to her, he ordered: "Use your dimensional jutsu and send us all back to the Elemental Nations."

"As you wish," Kaguya said and bowed, much to Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke's disbelief.

In the next moment, the horned goddess's area-of-effect space-time technique teleported everyone back to the Elemental Nations, on the main battlefield of the 4th Ninja War.

"By the gods!" Wonder Woman said. She had become a goddess herself but, at the sight in front of her eyes, it was the only thing she could utter.

The blood-red moon, the enormous tree that reached the skies, the immeasurable roots that spread over the land and the countless people hanging from the aerial roots of the God Tree wrapped in wooden cocoons... it was like a scene out of a post-apocalyptic movie, like a nightmare.

"You know what to do," Naruto said and Kaguya wasted no time in following his command. She understood that her survival depended on it.

As her hands came together in a Rat seal, the red eye on her forehead closed and the blood moon started losing its colour too, turning pale again.

But a sudden hail of lightning-coated shuriken forced Kaguya to break her hand seal and use her Rinne-Sharingan's ability to blast away the incoming projectiles.

"What's the meaning of this, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, his eyes narrowing at him.

"I won't let her break the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Not before I executed the 5 Kages first," Sasuke said.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto tilted his head at him, genuinely confused. To him, over 100 years passed since he was whisked away from the Elemental Nations. Momentarily, he couldn't make the connection between the 5 Kage and Sasuke's hatred for them.

"All the shinobi wars, all the people used as expendable tools for the sake of their villages, the massacre of my clan, and even the way you were turned into a weapon by your own father - all of these are the result of the previous kages' politics and indoctrination. The kages of the Five Elemental Nations are at fault for this cruel and unforgiving state of our world."

When he said those words, it finally clicked for Naruto.

"Look, I can understand wanting to get rid of the Raikage and Tsuchikage for all the shit they've done over the years," he said, his words shocking both Sakura and Kakashi.

Even Sasuke was looking at him wide-eyed, not having expected him to say something like that.

"However," Naruto continued, "Why would you want to kill Gaara, Tsunade, or the Mizukage? They've never waged war against others. It's quite the opposite, Gaara and Tsunade had to pick up the pieces and they worked tirelessly to sort out the mess left behind by their predecessors. They had also put their lives on the life for the sake of protecting the innocent when Akatsuki invaded Suna and Konoha. As for the Mizukage, ugh, bear with me, it's been over a century so my memory is a bit foggy, but wasn't she the one who put a stop to the civil war and bloodline massacres in Kiri...or something?"

"Are you messing around with me now?" Sasuke yelled at him.

"Naruto, please don't provoke him. There's no need for you two to fight again now after we've finally managed to end this war," Kakashi also said, trying to defuse the situation before it escalated any further.

"I'm not messing around though. I'm trying to understand why would he want to kill all the kage of the 5 Elemental Nations," he told Kakashi before asking Sasuke: "What is it that you are really after, Sasuke? Didn't you already get revenge on Itachi and Danzo? Right now, in my eyes, you look like an angry kid who is just lashing out at the world. What more do you want? Do you want to raze the entirety of Konoha off the-"

But Sasuke suddenly cut his words off as he shouted:

"Amaterasu!"

A tear of blood fell down from his right eye and a torrent of pitch-black flames engulfed Naruto's body. In spite of the power Naruto had shown against Kaguya, Sasuke believed that he would not have any way to defend against flames that were hotter than the sun if he was attacked by surprise.

"I thought you were smarter than this, Sasuke. Between the two of us, I was supposed to be the dumb one, remember?" Naruto said as he slapped the Amaterasu flames to the side and extinguished them like the weak flame of a candle flickering in the wind.

Sasuke was just about to use his Rinnegan space-time technique when a terrible pain exploded from his face.

"After you saw what I did to Kaguya, just what exactly gave you the confidence to attack me?" Naruto asked but, at that point, Sasuke could no longer hear him.

The last Uchiha couldn't make sense of what had just transpired. One moment he was preparing to cast Amenotejikara but a second later, he was embedded several dozen feet deep into the enormous trunk of the God Tree, the bones in his entire body seemingly broken, and his limbs paralyzed. The only thing could feel was the taste of blood in his mouth before he lost consciousness.

It had taken Naruto one single punch to end their fight and put and terminate their rivalry.

⁂

With the interruption out of the way, Kaguya proceeded to undo once again the Infinite Tsukuyomi that had been cast over the world. The God Tree creaked and dried up, its branches and aerial roots rising enormous clouds of dust as they broke under their weight and crashed on the ground. The wooden cocoons hanging from them shrivelled like autumn leaves and the people trapped within started waking up from their slumber one by one.

It was at that moment that the remnant of the Sage of the Six Paths also appeared together with the reanimated Hokages. But Naruto didn't pay the Sage and the other Hokage too much importance. Instead, walking past them without as much as a greeting, he went straight to the Fourth Hokage, to his father.

"Hello, father."

"So it really was you, Naruto!" Minato said, visibly surprised at his older appearance.

"Things happened. I'm much older than I look, actually."

The conversation stalled for a few moments before he turned to Diana, little Athena and Miyuki, and beckoned them to come next to him.

"During the fight with Kaguya, she used her space-time technique to send me to another world. Although it seems like only a few minutes passed in this world, it took me a very long time before I could find my way back. In the meantime, I got a family and a new home too. Father, this is my wife, Diana, and these are my daughter Athena, and my niece Miyuki - she is Kurama's daughter."

"Kurama, you mean the Kyuubi? He had a daughter?!"

"A pleasure to meet you," Diana said politely and gave him a short bow.

As for Thea and Miyuki, they hid behind Diana's back, not talking to Minato.

"Come on, Athena, say 'Hi' to your grandfather," Diana tried to push her but Thea evaded her hand and flew away, choosing to go to Kakashi and Sakura's side at the moment instead, with the little fox running after her too.

Naruto couldn't blame his daughter and niece for their behaviour. He and Kurama had not said any lies when they told their daughters stories about their homeworld so the two little girls knew what Minato had done to Naruto and Kurama in the past. While Naruto and Diana could keep a polite appearance, Thea and Miyuki were children, it wasn't easy for them to pretend.

"Looks like they don't like me all that much," Minato said and smiled awkwardly. "It's hard to think that you've grown up so much in such a short time but stranger things had happened before. It warms my heart to see you all grown up, married to a beautiful lady and with a pretty and healthy daughter too."

As Minato said those words, his body started glowing and dissipating into small pieces of light.

"Looks like my time is up."

"Please tell mom that I'm doing okay," Naruto said and, for the first time since he came back to the Elemental Nations, his voice betrayed the whirlpool of emotions he felt deep inside. "Tell her that I have a family of my own now: my wife, my daughter, Kurama and his daughter, and my mother-in-law too... Please tell her that I am happy, happier than ever...tell her that I love her."

Meeting his father after such a long time reminded Naruto once again of the 10-year-long dream caused by the Black Mercy, of the paradise-like world where his mother was alive, where Jiraiya was alive, and where they all lived as one big, happy family.

"I will tell Kushina everything, I promise," Minato said "I just... I hope their grudge towards me will lessen one day."

Naruto did not reply but seeing Thea and Miyuki's behaviour and Diana's cold politeness, Minato understood what their opinion of him must have been.

"Maybe, one day," Naruto said and briefly turned to look at his daughter who was proudly showing off her weapons to Kakashi and Miyuki who was sitting on her shoulder in a manner no different than how Kurama used to sit on his shoulder in the past.

Naruto was an adult now so he understood Minato's position and the responsibility he had carried on his shoulders as the Hokage. He understood why Minato had chosen to turn his son into a weapon - it was the best thing he could have done for Konohagakure. Without a jinchuuriki, the other Hidden Villages would have seen Konoha as weak and ripe for the taking. As the Hokage, maintaining the peace and prosperity of the village was far more important than the well-being of his family.

But at the same time, now that he was a father too, Naruto could simply not understand how Minato was able to sacrifice his family for the sake of the village - he loved his daughter so much that he couldn't even begin to imagine doing something like that to her. He would never put the well-being of others above his family.

Despite his mixed feelings towards his father, Naruto stepped closer to him and unexpectedly wrapped his arms around him.

"It was good to see you one last time, father. I don't resent you and, as I said, it's been a very, very long time for me. Time heals everything and, in the end, it all turned out well."

Knowing that he was a deity now, there was a real chance that he would never get to meet his parents in the afterlife. As a New God, he was immortal, never to die of old age. Therefore, Naruto did not want to part ways with his father for eternity on a cold note.

"Thank you, Naruto," was the last thing Minato said and a tear fell from his eyes before his body disappeared completely in a shower of lights.

⁂

Two days later, the Uzumaki family and most of the shinobi and kunoichi from Naruto's generation were all gathered together at a restaurant to hold a minor celebration for surviving the war. Many people had died in the war and the Shinobi Alliance had already held a ceremony to bury them and honour their sacrifices. However, one had to look with hope at the future and focus on the living.

There weren't only young people at the gathering; apart from them, there were also Tsunade, Kakashi, Iruka, Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, and quite a few others.

"O-Oi, is that her?" Kiba said in a whisper as he gestured discretely with his head at a very eye-catching woman standing alone in the corner of the room.

"Shut up, idiot, she might hear you!" Tenten whispered back harshly.

"What? I didn't say anything bad!" he shot back at her in annoyance.

Kiba wasn't the only one ogling at Kaguya, many other people in attendance were secretly staring at her. If her inhuman appearance with her deathly pale skin, the closed third eye on her forehead, and the big white horns coming out of her head were not eye-catching enough, the fact that she was the progenitor of chakra and a goddess certainly made her the centre of everyone's attention. However, nobody dared to step anywhere close to her.

"I don't see Sasuke-kun. Anyone knows where he is?" Ino suddenly asked. "Come to think of it, I don't see Forehead either."

"How come you haven't heard?" Kiba said surprised. "He's in the hospital. Rumour goes Naruto and Sasuke fought and it was a one-sided beatdown."

"I thought it was just a rumour. Did Naruto really get that powerful?!"

"Forget about that, why does he suddenly look like he's 10 years older?" Choji asked.

"From what Kakashi-sensei told me, it looks like Kaguya threw him into a dimension where time flowed several dozen times faster than here. Apparently, he's over 100 years old."

"No way!" Kiba, Tenten, and Choji said at the same time in disbelief.

"It does not make sense to me either," the usually quiet Shino also said, the insects buzzing around him noisily betraying his inner surprise too. "He does not look a day over 25."

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata muttered, her eyes pinned on the subject of her affection.

But when she saw the white-haired woman peck him playfully on the cheek, she closed her eyes and turned her head to the side. It took all her willpower not to start crying. She had been in love with him ever since she was little and she had hoped that one day, they would be together. However, in the span of a few days, her dream had been destroyed. The person she admired and loved the most was now forever out of her reach.

⁂

While the survivors of Konoha 11 were gossiping, Naruto, Diana, and Thea were seated together with Tsunade, Kakashi, Shizune, Iruka, and Yamato.

"This is so strange. Only a few days ago you were a rebellious brat who defied my orders and barged into the battlefield yet now you're all mature and grown up, married, and you've even gotten a daughter! Aah, I'm too sober for this conversation! Someone give me some sake!"

Wonder Woman found herself laughing at the Hokage's antics - she was exactly as Naruto had described her.

"I guess I can't call you a brat anymore," Tsunade said wistfully.

"I'm still going to call you baa-chan though," Naruto said.

"Damned brat," Tsunade cussed and downed a shot of sake, making everyone laugh.

"How did the two of you meet?" Shizune asked.

"Yes, tell us some stories about the other world," Yamato also said.

It wasn't just him, everyone was burning with curiosity.

"Better yet, I could also show you some pictures and short films if you wanted," Naruto said and tapped on his wristwatch a few times and a hologram came out of it.

Everyone at the table watched the spectacle of lights with wide eyes, never before having seen anything like it. In no time, their table was crowded from all sides as everyone else in the restaurant rushed curiously to see the appearance of the other world too.

"That vehicle can really take you in the sky, to the stars?"

"You mean to say there are thousands of other planets with people just like us? Whoa!"

Everyone was letting out similar questions and exclamations of surprise. Through it all, however, nobody failed to realize that most of the photos and videos that Naruto was showing them were in one way or another related to either his wife, his daughter, or Kyuubi. It spoke volumes of his feelings for them.

⁂

That evening, after the party ended and everyone went back to their homes, Naruto and Diana took their daughter with them and flew up to the top of the Hokage Monument.

"I used to sit here for hours almost every day, doing nothing but watching over the village at the sunset," Naruto said, touched by the nostalgic sight.

"It's peaceful. It's beautiful," Diana said and lied with her head on his shoulder.

As for Thea, she was flying by herself in front of the Hokage Monument, looking curiously at the sculpted faces.

"Oi! I hope you're not smearing their faces with paint or anything like that!" Naruto suddenly yelled and Thea started giggling.

"Don't worry, dad, I'm not you, I'd never do anything that childish," Thea said with a smug look on her face.

"That's true, you're more likely to steal your parents' spaceship, endanger yourself and your cousin, and get into a fight with a mad goddess," Diana said pointedly and the smug look on Thea's face disappeared like a miracle.

"Did you say something? The wind is blowing quite heavily, I can't hear you," Thea said and flew away quickly before her mother could scold her any further.

They both chuckled at her cheeky answer.

"What are your plans?" Wonder Woman asked. "How much longer do you want to stay here? A day? A week? Or more?"

Naruto shook his head.

"I'd rather not. I want to leave tonight because the time difference between this world and ours is too big. We did leave our clones behind but I'm sure that grumpy fox and your mom are going to miss us a lot. Kurama already took little Miyuki away on the first day."

Only a few moments after Naruto bid his father goodbye, Miyuki disappeared in a puff of smoke. Due to the time difference between their dimension and the Elemental Nations, the short period of time it took Naruto to defeat Kaguya and Sasuke and speak to his father had to have been a few years for Kyuubi. Spending such a long time without his daughter must've driven him crazy with worry and longing.

"What about your friends here?"

Naruto let out a snort of amusement.

"I'm an old man, Di, and they're kids."

He and his former friends did spend some time together but it quickly became clear that they had almost nothing in common anymore.

"Even before, we didn't really hang out. We were just comrades that went on missions together but I was so lonely and desperate for companionship that I mistook that as friendship."

But he didn't dwell on his past. Changing the subject, he said:

"I'm a little surprised though that not even one of them decided to follow me into our dimension, out of curiosity if nothing else. I mean anyone besides Konohamaru."

If the young boy respected the hell out of Naruto before, he downright worshipped him now. He volunteered to follow him before Naruto even finished his words... ...however, Konohamaru's parents wanted to hear nothing about it.

"Give it a few months, they've just come out of a world war where the fate of the planet was on the line. Many of their friends and relatives lost their lives in battle. They need time to mourn their loved ones, to heal, and to recover," Diana said.

"You're right," he said and then he stood up.

"Are we leaving now?" she asked.

"Yes but, before that, I need to have a conversation with Kaguya."

At the mention of her name, the Rabbit Goddess suddenly came out of a black portal and bowed before saying:

"Is there anything I can help you with, master?"

Wonder Woman's eyes narrowed at how Kaguya was addressing her husband but she sighed and decided to let it slide. She knew that Kaguya could hardly be considered sane and that after the beating that Naruto put on her, she looked up at him as if he was her master.

"Tell me your story. Tell me why you tried to kill everyone. What was your purpose?"

⁂ Two weeks later ⁂

Now back in their home universe, the Uzumaki family were in the middle of an interstellar voyage. Unlike the cheerful mood that was usually present in their family, things were a bit different at that moment.

Little Thea was upset at having lost her best friend and playmate, Miyuki. By the time they returned from the Elemental Nations, Miyuuki had already grown old enough for her to have grandkids of her own. Meanwhile, Athena was still only 13 years old. Although two weeks passed since their return, Thea was still bummed out about it.

But she wasn't the only one not in the best of moods. Naruto also appeared to be melancholic and something seemed to weigh on his mind heavily.

"Diana," Naruto called out after a while.

"Yes?"

"I'm wondering, will we one day end up like her too?" he asked while gesturing with his head at the Rabbit Goddess who was looking through the window of the spaceship, staring unblinkingly at the stars and planets in the distance.

When they found out the reason for Kaguya's actions - the betrayal of her lover and children and the existence of the Ootsutsuki Clan - Naruto decided to take her with them. He had given her his word that he would not kill her when she transported them to the Elemental Nations but they could not just let a mentally unstable person with as much strength as her unsupervised.

Therefore, after leaving two of their clones behind to watch over the Elemental Nations and summon them back in case the thing Kaguya feared ever came true, Naruto and Diana took Kaguya with them when they left.

"Her lover betrayed her, her children betrayed her, and the godly power that she achieved overnight negatively influenced her psyche too. On top of that, she also spent over 1000 years in a prison of rocks, in complete solitude... all things considered, she could've become even worse," Diana said. "But to answer your question, no I don't think we'll ever end up like her."

As she said that, she wrapped her hands around him from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder.

"We have each other, don't we?" she said and pressed her cheek against his. "We made a vow. We promised we'd be together forever - and forever is a very long time for us."

"Yes, we did," he said and turned around in her embrace.

He cupped her cheeks gently with his hands and kissed her. Although they had been married for 13 years, their love had only grown stronger with time and their passion had yet to fade.

"Ew, why do you always have to kiss everywhere?" Thea said and pretended to throw up, making her parents start laughing at her overdramatic reaction

⁂

A few hours later, a huge star-shaped space city appeared in their sight. Hundreds of spaceships were landing on and leaving from its dry docks every minute and the man-made lights coming from it were making it shine like a miniature sun in the darkness of the space. It was Genesis Stadium.

Since Naruto decided to spare Kaguya's life, he saw it as his responsibility to watch over her and maybe rehabilitate her one day. And what better place than Genesis Stadium to give Kaguya the chance to interact with all sorts of people and learn to enjoy what life had to offer?

At the brilliant sight of the star-shaped city, Thea momentarily forgot all about her gloom and let out a cheer. It was not the first time she was visiting the famous city but it was one of her favourite places in the whole world.

Despite the fact that Thea and Kaguya had battled against each other only a few weeks before, in a manner befitting a child her age, Thea appeared to have forgiven and forgotten all about it. Once they landed and went through all the necessary procedures before being granted permission inside the city, Thea grabbed Kaguya's hand and ran ahead of her parents, talking excitedly and showing her all her favourite shops and places.

Naruto and Diana grinned at the scene, their daughter's contagious excitement putting them in a good mood too. Although the Rabbit Goddess was a living example of what effect immortality could have on someone's mind and personality, Naruto was no longer worried. As long as Diana, Thea, and Kurama were in his life, he had no fear.

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AN: I hope enjoyed these few bonus chapters. I'm not sure if there are going to be more side stories in the future - this wasn't in my plans at first either, I wrote it mostly at the suggestion of the guys on aizen's discord. But if I get some interesting ideas in the future I might write another short side story, who knows?

I'd like to write one more Naruto/Justice League xover one day (maybe with a Naruto/Starfire or Naruto/Hawkgirl pairing next) but I can't think of an interesting and original plot at the moment - I don't want to just make a canon rehash.

Anyway, if you liked Caterpillar, check out my other xover fic, "The Fox and the Hare" - it's a Naruto/My Hero Academia story with a Naruto/Mirko pairing.

I also have a normal Naruto fic, "The Renegade" - it has a Naruto/Konan pairing and it's inspired by the Blood Prison movie. A fic where Naruto leaves Konoha behind and forges himself a different path.

That said, thank you for supporting me until now. Wish you all the best.