"I'm not willing… I'm not willing to accept this! If only I could regain my youth, you wouldn't stand a chance against me!"
A black sphere rose into the sky. The near-death Slug no longer had the strength to resist. Amid his unwilling roars, he was swallowed by the power of Planetary Devastation, pulled into the mass of rubble until he became a perfectly round stone sphere.
"With this, the final piece of the puzzle is complete."
Naruto placed his hand on the stone sphere. One second later, it was absorbed into a dimensional space.
Five years seemed to leave no trace on Naruto's body—he looked exactly the same as he did five years ago. In other words, he hadn't turned into that possibly-bald buzz-cut Naruto from the film THE LOST. He still kept his Shippuden-era appearance, though this version looked more like the Fourth Hokage.
The reason Naruto hadn't changed wasn't that he had wished for a Saiyan physique. He wasn't even sure Shenron could give him that kind of body. At least, Porunga and the Earth's Shenron definitely couldn't. As for the Two-Star Dragon, the Black-Star Dragon, or the Super Shenron from space—maybe—but as far as Naruto knew, this world didn't have those three at all.
The real reason was a wish he made earlier on Namek: to awaken the hidden bloodline within him.
The blood of the Ōtsutsuki.
The Ōtsutsuki clan might lose completely in terms of raw power compared to Saiyans or even Namekians, but there is one thing they surpass most races in the Dragon Ball world by far—
Lifespan.
For an ordinary Ōtsutsuki, living several thousand years was nothing unusual.
Although Naruto had awakened the blood of the Ōtsutsuki, he wasn't a true, pure member of the clan. Or rather, he wasn't only that. He also carried the blood of humans from the shinobi world. Which meant he was neither of them entirely—but a hybrid of both.
According to the Dragon Ball world's "hybrids are stronger" rule, that was the foundation of the current Naruto.
Of course, maybe there were other reasons as well—but Naruto didn't know them.
As a side note, humans from the shinobi world weren't completely inferior either. Their power level might not compare to humans from the Dragon Ball world, but they had three to four times as many cells. And assuming equal talent and that everyone could learn to use ki, then in theory—given the same environment—humans from the shinobi world would grow stronger faster.
His growth over these years had exceeded even his expectations. Hybrid power scaling was utterly terrifying, and combined with the potential unlock from the Namekian Grand Elder before his passing, Naruto no longer even knew how strong he had become. Bulma had modified a scouter capable of reading over one million in combat power, but it had already overloaded and broken four years ago.
So Naruto came to the Dark Galaxy, seeking out Slug, the ruler of this region. Partly to test his own strength, partly because Slug was useful.
He originally came with the mindset of "if I can't win, I'll run." But to his surprise, Slug was no match for him at all.
There was one more thing worth mentioning. For some unknown reason, on the same day Naruto's power surpassed the maximum scouter limit, he discovered something interesting: the flow of time between the Dragon Ball world and the shinobi world had changed. When he was in the Dragon Ball world, time in the shinobi world slowed dramatically—so slow that one minute in the shinobi world equaled an entire day in the Dragon Ball world.
Even if Naruto stayed in the Dragon Ball world for decades, only about ten days would pass in the shinobi world.
So to the people back home, all these years he spent here amounted to roughly half a day.
"I'm heading back," Naruto said as he looked into the pitch-black sky and activated his space-time jutsu.
Before leaving, Naruto also grabbed a number of powerful creatures from Slug's homeworld. Whether it was the nature of creatures from the Dark Galaxy or something else, their talent for battle was absurdly high—though their appearances left… much to be desired.
Planet Slug
Vegeta and Nappa had just destroyed a city on the planet. They were now resting in a forest.
At that moment, an alien resembling a mosquito—at least seventy to eighty percent—crept up behind them holding a laser gun.
Unfortunately, his movements were far too noisy. The two Saiyans sensed him instantly. Not only did he die, he also became their dinner.
Vegeta tore off the creature's arm and immediately began chewing it. Whenever a Saiyan expends a large amount of energy, they become ravenously hungry.
"Vegeta, looks like Raditz is done for," Nappa said while staring at the alien's bizarre appearance. He didn't dare take a bite.
Despite his size, his stomach wasn't as accommodating as Vegeta's. He refused to eat anything that looked too weird.
"What a disgrace. Getting scared senseless by someone with a combat power barely over a thousand. Did he forget his own combat power can exceed ten thousand?" Vegeta said with disdain. "Ever since that injury on Planet Shaz, he's become timid. He's slower, more hesitant. A guy like that doesn't deserve to be a Saiyan."
He took another bite of meat, but before he could swallow, he spat it out.
"Ugh. Tastes awful."
Through their scouter communication, the two had already heard everything that happened to Raditz on Earth.
"What do we do, Vegeta? Should we go to Earth? Isn't that planet pretty remote?"
"Of course we're going." Vegeta tore off another piece of meat and chewed. "Raditz may have been useless, but thanks to him, we learned something incredible."
"Those beads that can grant any wish—they're interesting."
"Are we going there to revive Raditz?" Nappa asked naturally. Saiyan bonds may be shallow, but after fighting together for so many years, feelings existed. And among the few surviving Saiyans, losing one meant one less forever.
"Nappa, are you joking?" Vegeta spat out the meat again and simply gave up eating. "Why not wish for eternal youth—or immortality?"
"That way we can enjoy the thrill of battle forever."
"Huh?" Nappa blinked, then saw Vegeta's serious face and immediately nodded. "That's… actually a good idea."
"Let's go, Nappa. We're heading to Earth."
Nappa hesitated. "What about this planet? If we keep going, we can take it soon. If we leave now, Frieza might—"
"If we can gain immortality, why would we care about Frieza?"
"…That's true," Nappa said, rubbing his bald head.
Vegeta whispered a thought meant only for himself:
If they can really grant any wish… then for me, Vegeta, becoming a Super Saiyan… might not be impossible.