Chapter 12: The Loot of a Thousand Worlds
( — 0.0.0.0.0 — )
The battlefield no longer seemed to belong to any known world.
Where solid ground had once been, there was now only destruction: mountains reduced to dust, enormous cracks, and remnants of structures floating within an atmosphere charged with energy.
Fragments of rock remained suspended in the air, surrounded by electrical sparks that escaped uncontrollably.
Then...
A golden flash crossed the battlefield.
Naruto appeared in the middle of the devastation, sliding several meters while holding Mjolnir and Stormbreaker.
He had barely raised his gaze when an enormous fist appeared in front of him.
He blocked.
Thanos' impact caused the ground beneath his feet to collapse, creating a shockwave around him.
But Naruto did not yield.
With a quick movement, he used Mjolnir's momentum to rapidly move out of the way.
And with the help of his web, he managed to swing toward Thanos' back.
A combined strike from both weapons slammed into Thanos' back, releasing an explosion of energy that forced him several meters backward.
Before Naruto could continue, lightning descended from the sky.
Thor appeared surrounded by a storm, unleashing a barrage of lightning that forced Naruto to use Stormbreaker as a shield.
The impacts made the weapon vibrate as the pressure increased.
Naruto smiled.
"You just keep being troublesome..."
With a movement of his hand, the energy around him changed.
The Power Stone glowed.
The next strike was not merely physical strength, but a concentrated burst of power.
The impact struck Thor and sent him flying across the battlefield, tearing through several rock formations before disappearing into the dust.
Only Naruto and Thanos remained.
The Titan stared at him with the same empty determination that drove him forward.
Then he raised his arm.
The Infinity Stones began glowing simultaneously, concentrating all their energy into the gauntlet.
Naruto's eyes widened slightly.
Thanos extended his hand and unleashed the attack.
A beam of white energy with multicolored flashes surged forward, destroying everything in its path.
Naruto watched it for a moment, analyzing the situation until he understood what he needed to do.
From his wristband, a group of nanobots began moving toward his palm, quickly forming a thruster.
The power accumulated within seconds before being fired directly at Thanos' energy beam.
It was different.
More unstable. More savage.
A smile appeared on Naruto's face.
"So... this is what it feels like."
He watched the clash between the two forces.
At first, nothing happened. Until a crack appeared in the space before them.
One line. Then another. And another.
Like glass slowly breaking, reality began to fracture. Space warped, time lost its stability, and colors ceased to make sense.
The collision between two powers capable of altering the universe had created something that even the Stones could not control.
A hole began forming between the two attacks.
A wound in existence.
Fragments of rock began rising as Naruto and Thanos struggled to resist.
But neither of them could stop what they had created.
The crack continued growing, absorbing everything around it.
Naruto drove Stormbreaker into the ground to stop himself.
Thanos unleashed the full power of the gauntlet.
Nothing worked.
Finally, both wielders of infinite power were dragged toward the anomaly and disappeared inside it.
( --- 0.0.0.0.0 --- )
Naruto appeared floating... or rather, being dragged through a tunnel of colors.
There was nothing in front of him or behind him. Only a uniform darkness, without any direction or point of reference.
He continued being carried by an unknown force, unable to distinguish what existed beyond that endless flow. But then, as he looked beyond the rippling edges of the tunnel, something appeared.
He was not alone.
In the distance, although it was impossible to know if distance even truly existed there, other similar tunnels crossed through the darkness. They intersected, separated, and changed direction in impossible ways, ignoring every rule of space.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, trying to understand what he was seeing.
"Where did I end up this time?"
For a moment, there was only silence. Then a voice answered.
[You have fallen outside the reality you knew.]
Naruto immediately recognized the voice.
"Aetheria..."
He waited for an explanation.
[This place is one of the many tunnels that exist outside the fabric of the worlds. It belongs to no specific reality, but connects all the others.]
Naruto observed the impossible paths stretching out before him.
[They are part of something greater. Some beings call it the World Tree... a structure that connects and sustains every timeline, every possibility, and every existing universe.]
The flow of colors vibrated with greater intensity.
[And right now, you are traveling through its trunk.]
Naruto simply nodded, trying to comprehend the magnitude of what she was telling him. But then, within that strange place, something changed.
From one of the folds in the tunnel, a figure emerged violently, tearing through the current of colors like a living anomaly.
It was Thanos, the same enemy Naruto had fought moments earlier.
The zombified Titan lunged toward him with a savage expression, consumed by irrational hunger.
Naruto reacted instantly.
He turned in the middle of the current and threw a direct punch, his fist wrapped in the energy of the Power Stone.
The impact was devastating.
A purple explosion shook the surroundings, distorting the colors as Thanos was sent flying, spinning uncontrollably through the tunnel.
Naruto propelled himself after him, moving against the invisible current that made every movement difficult.
Thanos managed to stabilize himself and charged at him again.
Naruto blocked instinctively.
The collision generated a wave that distorted the tunnel, as if reality itself were bending around them. For an instant, everything was plunged into absolute darkness before returning to normal in an explosion of energy.
Naruto was pushed backward, but regained control.
He extended his hand and once again concentrated the power of the Stones, compressing the energy until it vibrated intensely.
Then he fired.
A beam of energy tore through the distorted space toward Thanos.
But just before it struck, a current altered the Titan's trajectory and dragged him toward another tunnel.
The attack missed.
The beam struck the structure of the place, causing the entire tunnel to ripple as if it had been struck from within.
An expansion of light and energy spread throughout the surroundings, shaking even the distant paths that crossed through the darkness.
For an instant, everything seemed on the verge of collapsing.
Then, little by little, the distortion began to disappear.
Naruto silently watched as the wave faded away.
Thanos was gone.
And with that, Naruto was alone once again, being carried through that unknown place.
Time lost all meaning.
Naruto simply allowed himself to be carried by the current, floating in the middle of nothingness, without urgency or direction.
With Aetheria's help, he changed back into the clothes he had found in the Void.
The Asgardian armor was no longer necessary. Besides, the cape wouldn't stop flapping around in the current, making it more annoying than useful.
After all, Thor had already demonstrated how easy it was to grab him by it during their fight.
"Aetheria, how much time has passed?"
[Very little time has passed since you arrived here and fought Thanos.]
Naruto let out a soft sigh. To him, it already felt like an eternity.
Everything remained the same.
The same tunnel, the same colors, and the same sensation of going nowhere.
"Well... I'm bored now," Naruto muttered.
His gaze lowered toward the Infinity Stones.
They had brought him there. They should also be able to get him out.
Then he remembered the snap.
The Stones began glowing intensely, making the tunnel around him vibrate.
SNAP!
The sound echoed clearly.
A crack opened within that impossible space. The currents of color warped around the rupture.
In the next instant, Naruto disappeared.
The tunnel returned to its calm state.
Silent.
Infinite.
But it was not empty.
At an impossible-to-measure distance, something watched. A colossal being stared at the place where Naruto had been moments before.
Its golden skin glowed with a dull, ancient hue. Two heads emerged from the sides of its own head, floating above its body, covered by blue hoods that partially concealed their faces, leaving only their bright sky-blue eyes visible.
Its gaze remained fixed on the place where Naruto had been.
There was curiosity.
A faint interest.
But he was no longer there.
The anomaly had disappeared. And with it, so had the being's attention.
The being vanished, as if it had never been there.
The flow continued.
As always.
As if nothing had happened.
( --- 0.0.0.0.0 --- )
Naruto reappeared in the air, an abrupt sensation that felt unsettlingly familiar as he appeared.
The wind struck his face as he descended, and his eyes widened slightly as he tried to process his surroundings.
This time, the darkness was not total.
Beneath him stretched a colossal cavern, illuminated by a warm and almost blinding glow: gold, something he did not recognize.
Not mere fragments, but an entire small ocean of accumulated riches, forming mountains, dunes, and solid rivers of precious metal that reflected the light in thousands of flashes.
The core of a great planet... was a massive treasure hall.
But not an ordinary one.
Around him, embedded within the structure containing that impossible hoard, stood enormous cannon-like mechanisms. Each one channeled energy within itself, releasing beams of purple light that crossed the space in perfectly defined lines.
The combination was strange.
Overflowing wealth... sustained by machinery designed for something far more dangerous.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, trying to understand what kind of place this was as he continued falling.
He couldn't recognize anything that was happening around him.
Instinctively, he reached toward where he would summon Mjolnir, trying to slow his fall.
There was no time.
His body slammed into the ground with a dry crash, sinking slightly into a solid surface that did not match what he had seen from above.
The impact echoed with a metallic sound.
Naruto remained motionless for a second, processing what had happened.
Metal?
His fingers tightened against the surface.
Cold. Hard.
That was what he could feel as he held these strange circular objects.
Naruto remained on the ground for a few seconds, feeling the gold coins in his hand, before raising his gaze toward the sea of gold shining beyond him, while the cannons continued releasing their purple beams in perfect synchronization.
He frowned.
"Aetheria... where did I end up this time?"
The voice answered after a brief moment, as calm as always.
[You have arrived at the Loot of a Thousand Worlds.]
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"Loot of a Thousand Worlds?"
[A massive accumulation of wealth from countless worlds. Gathered by Captain Flint, a pirate who managed to travel across the universe to plunder it.]
Naruto looked around again.
"And those things?" Naruto asked, pointing toward the cannon that was releasing that purple energy.
The beams of energy vibrated in the distance.
[A self-destruct system.]
[This place does not merely store its treasure... it can also destroy everything if necessary so that no one else can obtain it.]
Naruto nodded.
As he sat up, he noticed that besides those gold coins, there were also different types of gemstones in multiple colors.
What exactly were those things?
He didn't know, but they certainly looked interesting.
Before he could begin examining the enormous place he had found himself in, he noticed where the purple beams were striking: openings scattered throughout several parts of the area where he had landed.
"Should I do something, Aetheria?" asked the blond Uzumaki as he walked around the strange place, where he noticed a large, unusual ancient ship in the distance.
[Yes, Naruto.]
[You'd better use the Space Stone and your inventory.]
Naruto listened to Aetheria's suggestion with a raised eyebrow, wondering what it was for. Even so, he shook his head and began doing exactly what Aetheria had suggested.
He raised his gloved hand and began concentrating on the power of the Space Stone. When he managed to feel it, he placed his hand against the ground, focusing even more on his inventory.
A bluish light began expanding from his hand, covering a large distance of nearly 150 meters. There was a flash, and everything within that range disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a completely empty metallic floor.
Naruto was surprised by what had happened before repeating the process throughout the rest of the place.
Some time later, he had managed to send all that wealth into his inventory, without leaving behind a single gold coin or precious jewel. Perhaps one or two had escaped his notice, but aside from those, absolutely nothing remained.
He dropped into a seated position, breathing somewhat heavily from the effort he had put his body through to accomplish it.
He also left behind the less impressive objects: strange devices he couldn't understand, discarding them as if they were garbage.
He had thrown away things that entire civilizations had fought over for a very long time... without ever succeeding.
Naruto, after resting enough, stretched slightly to straighten his posture.
Then, in the distance, he sensed a green slit appearing out of nowhere.
It vaguely reminded him of the TVA, so he decided to use the Stones.
SNAP!
The snap echoed through the place, and in an instant, a portal opened and swallowed him, carrying him to another world without him knowing where.
Shortly afterward, the slit became a triangular portal, from which others arrived.
They had the appearance of pirates, although, judging by their equipment and appearances, it would have been more accurate to call them space pirates or aliens.
A large man with an imposing physique, leaning on a robotic arm, entered with a wide smile, eager to behold his "legitimate" treasure.
But when he looked inside... he found nothing.
Only an empty, stripped-down space.
The only evidence that anything had ever been there were a few ancient technological artifacts and one or two small ships, where a few forgotten coins and jewels still remained... the ones Naruto had failed to notice.
And so, leaving those scarce remnants behind, not a single valuable thing remained of the so-called "Treasure of a Thousand Worlds."
A treasure coveted by countless civilizations... but obtained by a child who did not even belong to that universe.
A fact they would never come to know.
( — 0.0.0.0.0 — )