Chapter 572: Sanctuary
Somewhere in an unknown dimension,
Izuna and Minato travel across the sky inside Izuna's Susanoo.
Minato glances at the various stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies flash past them at an incredible speed. Izuna notices Minato's incredulous expression and remarks.
"We are currently moving through warped space making us cover the same distance light covers at a thousand times its speed."
"So fast?!" Minato gasps in surprise.
"It's not that fast!" Izuna shakes his head.
"There is a trick to this speed. We aren't moving in the normal space. We are moving by warping the space between two points. This method shortens the distance between two space coordinates and gives the illusion of an extremely fast speed. Otsutsuki and other powerful species use this method to travel across space.
Otsutsuki uses their divine power to move across the warp space. While other highly advanced civilizations use all sorts of mechanical devices to achieve the same effect." Izuna explains the principle behind the fast movement.
"Minato-san, you can try to study the surrounding space. You might learn the ability to blink to any object or place in your vision without the use of any fuinjutsu seal." Izuna suggests to Minato.
Mm…
Minato nods in understanding.
"By the way, Izuna-kun, where are we going?" He asks out of sheer curiosity.
"We are going to a place called 'Sanctuary'."
"Sanctuary?! Is it some sort of safe place?" Minato asks curiously.
"Sort of." Izuna affirms it.
"The 'Sanctuary' is a place where the remnants of several civilizations gather. These people lost their home world in one form or another, and now they gather here to protect each other's interest from those so-called God civilizations."
"Are they also the victims of those Otsutsukis? If they are, how are they able to protect themselves?" Minato asks in surprise.
"Well, they aren't as powerful as the Otsutsuki or other powerful civilizations. It's their hiding method, that is too powerful and can't be detected by the Otsutsukis. If Otsutsuki figure out a method to locate them, then they won't hesitate to wipe them all out." Izuna shakes his head.
Soon, the duo arrives in a barren solar system. This solar system is similar to several solar systems around it and possesses no living being on any planet.
"We are here!" Izuna gesture to Minato.
Swoosh…
Both of them fly towards an ordinary satellite of a planet with over a hundred satellites.
"It's this place!"
Izuna glances at his surroundings and then takes a small ethereal crystal from his pocket.
"Hmm… this thing…" Minato senses a familiar aura from the crystal.
He swiftly takes out a metal fragment from his storage. The metal fragment also releases several spatial fluctuations similar to the crystal in Izuna's hand.
"What's this?" Minato asks him.
"This is a void stone. This mineral possesses special spatial properties that can open space channels, white holes, black holes, and portals. Minato-san, the space artifact of your clan, was an alloy of this mineral." Izuna confirms Minato's guess.
Izuna infuses his chakra into the void stone. The void stone releases a blue glow and floats in the air. Several unknown fuinjutsu runes light up on its surface.
It slowly opens a russet-colored spatial passage. Izuna gestures Minato to step in. The portal closes after both of them enter it.
"Izuna-kun… that's…"
Minato feels slightly dizzy after the spacewalk.
"Minato-san, the 'Sanctuary' is located in a separate, isolated dimension. It has several space nodes located throughout the world and a special key is required to open the passage."
Izuna waves the void stone in front of Minato.
"This is the key. It's bound to the soul and energy signature of the user. Nobody else besides the owner can use these keys. Also, there are several other restrictions on their usage to prevent any enemy from sneaking within the 'Sanctuary'. I will explain these details to you later. For now…"
Both Minato and Izuna turn to a massive planet in front of them. The radius of this planet is almost a hundred times the radius of the shinobi world.
"This planet is so huge!" Minato gasps in surprise.
The size of the planet isn't the only thing that surprises Minato. There are several massive rings around the planets. Several energy chains link these rings to the planet to create a barrier. These chains extend from the surface of the planet and bind several other heavenly bodies around the planet in a stable orbit.
There are three suns in the solar system and the planet orbits around all three of them.
Minato stares at everything with an open mouth. Both of them land on the surface of the planet and Minato has yet to close his mouth.
"This is a magical place." He finally speaks these words.
Izuna chuckles to himself, and Minato's reaction reminds him of himself.
'Back then, he thought he was in the Star Wars universe for a second.'
"It's not natural, right?" Minato whispers to him.
"Mmm…" Izuna nods.
"This entire dimension is artificial." He adds.
Ah…
Minato gasps in shock.
"Just how powerful was the creator of this place?" He asks.
Before Izuna could answer, several other alien lifeforms in strange clothes arrive in front of the duo.
The newly arrived beings have varying appearances. Some of them have multiple horns on their head, a few have four arms, and others have varying skin tones from red, blue, and green to yellow. While a few even have insect-like appearances. A few of them are almost twice as tall as the Minato and Izuna.
The life being in strange clothes walks in front of Izuna and bows.
They speak some unknown words and Izuna replies in a similar language. Izuna nods at them and the group retreats.
"Izuna-kun, what did you say to them, and why they were so respectful to you?" Minato asks.
"Well, it's a bit complicated. Let's just say that I am a VVIP at this place." Izuna shrugs his shoulders and gestures for Minato to follow him.
"Minato-san, I will let you experience the vastness of our universe in this place."
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At some distance from the battlefield,
Tsunade confronts the huge wooden golem in front of her. She clenches her fist and infuses some chakra into it.
Shoom…
The next second, Tsunade vanishes from Tobi's sight and reappears in front of the wooden golem.
"Heavenly Fist of Judgement,"
Bang…
She punches the chest of the giant wooden golem.
BOOM…
A powerful wave of chakra disperses from the back of the wood golem. The ground surrounding the golem collapses and a massive hole appears in the chest of the golem.
Powerful shockwaves spread from the point of impact. The chakra wave continues to travel forward and strikes a small hill in the distance, punching a massive hole in it.
"What the…?"
Tobi's eyes widen in shock.
"How is she so strong?" He swiftly dodges a punch from Tsunade. Tsunade's punch lands on the ground and creates a massive rift.
Tsunade continues to chase after Tobi while punching things around her. Tobi dodges her every attack by the breadth of hair.
'If any of these punch lands on me, I will be a goner!' Sweat trickles down Tobi's head.
During the battle, Tsunade continues to adjust her strength and after five minutes she gets a measure of her strength.
Hmm…
Tsunade pauses in the middle of the battle and glances at her fist.
"My strength seems to have improved by at least ten to fifteen times after releasing the first seal. Previously, I could only rise by ten times after releasing the complete seal."
She flexes her arm and turns to Tobi.
'It's time I unmask the face behind that shell.'
Swoosh…
In the next second, Tsunade appears in front of Tobi. She curls her finger into a fist and lightly punches Tobi's face.
Bang…
Even though it was a light punch, the force behind it shatters the mask and sends Tobi rolling across the ground.
"My speculation was right. It's you!"
The Zetsu shell shatters to reveal Yamato's face. There is a huge black-blue mark around his right eye.
The Zetsu shell regenerates in an attempt to shroud Yamato. However, Tsunade is much faster.
She flickers beside Yamato and stomps on the hard shell on his chest. Her stomp crushes the Venus fly trap-like shell. Tsunade infuses some chakra into her palm to form a chakra scalpel.
Swish… swish…
She swiftly slashes it across Yamato's body to remove the Zetsu shell.
"This thing has fused with Yamato's body. It is slowly parasitizing him to take over him."
However, using her medical skills, Tsunade operates on Yamato without any operating tool and pries open the white shell from his body.
She only takes five minutes to dismantle the white Zetsu shell. Tsunade glances at Yamato's tragic state and shakes her head.
The infection was much deeper than expected. She had to remove several of Yamato's fused muscles and tendons.
"I can leave him like that."
Tsunade takes a small vial from her storage and drips a drop of green liquid into Yamato's mouth. Tsunade heals Yamato's body with a Mystic Palm technique.
'I hope he recovers soon. Both Master-disciple duo seems to have a grudge against him.'
Orochimaru ruined Yamato's childhood, and now Kabuto made him a lab rat.