Chapter 189 – 189. The End…?

Tired, Shiroken returned home. He quickly found himself surrounded by the Bijuu and in Tsunade’s embrace. They worriedly asked. “Where were you? We were worried about you. You said it’d be fast but…”

“There are far too many of them than I expected, forgive me, I couldn’t kill them all this time.” Shiroken apologised.

“Hey, don’t be sad, you did well. I’m sure they won’t be here anytime soon now.” Kurama tried to cheer him up.

“Let’s go to the Palace, you take some rest.” Saiken worriedly pushed him with his tail.

Nodding, he went to his room and directly fell asleep. However, even in his sleep, he only had dreams about the choice he had made, what will be the consequence and will it even be successful.

“Shiro… SHIRO!… Wake up, dear.”

Tsunade’s voice breaches his ears, he looked around, noticing it was already night outside. Tsunade was beside him, looking absolutely stunning in her nightgown.

“Why were you mumbling?” She asked him.

However, he just moved over to her and hugged her body, pressing his face between her chest. She already knew this was not a sexual situation, she saw he was agitated.

She too hugged him and pulled over the sheets on them, then she softly caressed his long white hair and asked, “What happened out there? You’ve been acting strangely since you returned.”

Tsunade suddenly felt his hold on her waist tighter, as he answered, “Madness, Tsunade. The Universe is rotten. I have killed a thousand Patriarchs and billions of Otsutsuki, but the Universe is infinite and I don’t know how many more there are.

“There were entire planets turned into breeding farms, so they can get chakra fruits. They are crazy beings.”

“You are just one single man, Shiro. If you break now, all will be lost. What you can keep on doing is keep getting stronger and beat them slowly. There has to be an end to it.” She suggested to him.

He agreed, “Yes, there has to be an end. Can I sleep a bit more like this?”

“You can sleep every day like this.” She replied, chuckling. She just turned off the lights and slept with him in her arms.

…

Next Morning,

Shiroken didn’t look or act depressed anymore. A radiating smile was plastered on his face. He was going to stay here for 5 months before resuming the eradication of the mad aliens.

He hoped to roam around the world with Tsunade this time, meeting as many people as he could.

“Saiken, any new flavours?” He asked the chubby giant.

“Umm… I and Isobu made a fish flavour cake. It’s not tasty though. People say it’s an acquired taste and only a few like it.” Saiken sounded more confused, as he didn’t like it either and couldn’t understand how others could.

Shiroken chuckled, “Keep up the good work then. I’m happy you found something fun to do.”

Saiken giggled and got to work again. Shiroken then went around all the other Tailed Beasts, eventually ending up near the Dragon, Kurosaki’s cave. “How are you, big man?”

“Come in, kid. Such a jolly little invention this television is. It’s entertainment in your house.” Kurosaki was totally into technology now. The dragon even orders online.

“You are becoming what your grandkid should be.” Shiroken mockingly joked.

But the old dragon had a thick skin, “Haha, when your heart is young, there is no need for shame. Kuronosuke is too innocent to even try all this, it will take him a few more decades to really grow in the brain.”

“Dragons and their long life spans,” Shiroken sighed.

“But with that long life span comes the hardships of breeding. Ah, speaking about that, why have you not had a kid yet?” Kurosaki asked.

“Because I never wanted to, though that might change soon. Well, I won’t hold you on to it now, enjoy your show.” Shiroken left him to it.

…

He met all the living Uchiha, the Uzumaki, Jiraiya, all the big politicians. He found the little girl he met and saved on the day he woke up from that crystal coffin. She had grown up now and has a successful clothing business.

He saw various random people he had in the past, all of them were living a decent life. It was certain that he had done what he wanted to achieve. The social harmony and balance that was needed were now here.

His status was like that of a god by now, there were small shrines with his idols, something that he banned, as this was step one of cultism. He’d rather only be in their minds as a fading memory.

…

Time passed, slowly a few people close to Shiroken started to realise that something was wrong, he was travelling so much and meeting people as if they won’t see each other again. The last visit was to Mount Myoboku, where he talked with the Great Toad Sage. Nobody knew what they talked about, but after that day, Shiroken asked everyone to gather around on Saiken’s farm in a week.

The past entire week, he spent time with Tsunade, he ate with her, slept together, flew in the sky. He gave her everything that she ever wanted, for he didn’t know when he’d be able to do that again.

“Why did you ask us to be here, Shiro?” They all arrived at the right time. It was mostly the 9 Bijuu, Monari, Jin, Shirajin, Tsunade and a few others, like Shisui, Haku and others who were close to him.

He sighed and looked at everyone, “I have an announcement to make, I will be leaving very soon.”

“Of course, we know that. You need to go and kick some Otsutsuki asses.” Shukaku blurted, punching the air.

He shook his head, “No, not that kind of leaving, I mean… you know, physically stopping to exist.”

Now there was silence for a minute. Monari walked to him and asked angrily, “What do you mean? Say it clearly.”

He did explain, “Everyone, this entire Universe is not just a random thing that happens to exist. It runs on some laws and those laws are unbreakable unless the creator of the Universe intervenes.”

“As you already know, I am a strange being, made out of Natural Energy, I haven’t been able to find anything like me in the space either. I am an anomaly, with no beating heart and god knows what is holding me together.”

“What I do know is that I can control Natural Energy like Chakra, I can get stronger by absorbing it. At one point, I will get so strong that my very existence will be breaking the laws of the Universe, and the Universe will then reject me.”

“There is a reason why none of the Otsutsuki in their thousands of years of existence has been able to achieve the status of Otsutsuki God. It’s because they are not allowed to. So, to circumvent this problem and my eventual demise, I am going to do this.”

“DO WHAT?” Tsunade asked, already tearful.

“Become one with the Universe itself, since it is made of Natural Energy, I will become conscious inside it, controlling all of it. I will be everywhere at all times at the same time. My physical body as you see it right now will cease to exist, but I will still be alive.

“And as long as I try hard enough, I believe that I can have a physical manifestation as well. Hagoromo has already done something like this on a smaller scale” He explained in the least words possible, not wanting them to think what he said was impossible, which he personally thought was.

“But… why now? You have a lot of time until you reach that point of death, right?” Saiken questioned him sadly.

“Because by doing this, I shall also kill all evil Otsutsuki in one go. As I become the master of the Universe, I will be able to kill any being I want, no matter how strong. The Universe is suffering because of them and I must save it before it dies.” He replied.

“I WON’T LET YOU LEAVE!” Tsunade ran up to him and held him tight.

Shiroken didn’t fight back, as he heard what she said in his ear, “Don’t do this, you will just be proving that I’m a curse, that everyone I will ever love will die.”

“I’m not dying, Tsunade, I am just changing my body composition.” He argued.

“Shut up! Y… you can’t do this… if not for me… then for our child.” She blurted.

Shiroken smiled and hugged her, pressing his head on her shoulder, “I am doing this for him, Tsunade. Our son must have a safe world to live in, not threatened by the Otsutsuki. Not having to fight those monsters.”

“Y-You knew?” She gaped.

He smiled, “Nothing hides from me, love. The day you told me that we should have kids, I decided to do it. I want to give you all the happiness in the world that you desire. But, for that everlasting happiness, I must do this. I am not dying, Tsunade, that is not my wish. I want to be with you forever, see our son grow older and become a handsome young man, I want to have a whole army of children with you.”

“The one thing I was craving for the past centuries was a biologically related family and I finally have it. And I sure don’t want to leave it, but for now, all this power I have is a debt I owe to the Universe, and all debts get repaid one way or another.”

A teardrop fell from her eyes into his shoulder, “How long? When will you return?” She asked.

“I want to return before our son is born. I want to be with you when he sees the world for the first time.” He replied, yet not giving her a word, as even he had no idea what lies ahead.

“I love you,” She whispered.

Shiroken replied with a kiss on her lips, as slowly his body started to turn into white dust and fly away. He was an empty husk anyway.

“SHIRO!” The Bijuu shouted.

He raised his hand to stop them, “I will return, my dear parents, I am not leaving you all. But please, take care of the world while I’m gone, I too will try my best.”

“YOU CAN COUNT ON US!” Chomei resolutely agreed. He was also crying though, but having no eyes, no one knew.

Kurama had a deja-vu again, this time much worse, as Shiro was his dear son. “We taught you to always keep your word. I hope you keep them.”

Shiroken nodded, “Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, Gyuki and Kurama.” He gave a bow, his shoulder shivered, he would have cried if he could, but his biology restricted it, “Thank you for taking me in, for someone like me, a strange little baby fallen from the sky. You all had no reason to, but you did. All those days and nights you spent taking care of me, haha, all your raids for cows on villages… thank you for everything.”

“Don’t say that, you are just like us. We took you in because we felt connected to you.” Gyuki said, his eyes turning into a waterfall.

Shiroken’s legs started to disappear by now, he had limited time left to speak, so he spoke faster, “And Jin, you are my first ever friend, and the best brother I could ever ask for. If it weren’t for you, all this wouldn’t have been possible. Monari, you came a bit later into our lives, but thank you for taking care of the little me, for all those secret treats you gave me.”

“You two will always be immortal, for as long as you wish to be. Shirajin too will be the same. Boy, take care of your mum and dad. Study hard and become a good lad.” He addressed Shirajin, who was not so dumb as to not understand what was going on.

“We will be waiting for you, Shiro,” Jin and Monari cried.

“ME TOO, UNCLE!” Shirajin shouted.

His face too started to get dismantled into small particles, “I hope… the world will always be this way. I will forever be watching you all. So… wait for me…”

“Tsunade, everyone…Don’t cry.”

“Goodbye…”

The last small part, his eyes, also disintegrated away. Tsunade who was holding him all this while, suddenly felt no touch, a sense of emptiness took over her heart and she fell down, silently tearing up. Monari ran up to her to support her.

The Bijuu looked up at the sky in sadness while talking to each other in mind, “I hope he doesn’t leave us like the old man.” Kurama breathed.

“He won’t… he pr… *sniff* promised,” Saiken added.

*THUNDER*

“It seems even the whole planet is crying,” Gyuki muttered, as the world saw a rainy storm all of a sudden.

…

1 Month passed,

Those who knew that Shiroken was gone could not feel as happy as before. The world had lost all his clones as well, so crime increased to some extent, but all the Bijuu and powerful Shinobi came together to quench it.

Tsunade was pregnant, it was her 4th month already and she was made to rest by Monari. She wanted to work too to not let Shiroken down, but was stopped.

“No, not before you deliver healthily. Shiro will kill me if something happens to you,” Monari softly pushed her back on the bed.

“Look at your eyes, still crying at night?” She caressed Tsunade’s head.

“I can’t… he told us not to cry, but I can’t stop myself.” She bursts into tears again. Monari hugged her, knowing that in pregnancy, feelings get heightened.

*Pat Pat* “Then let them all out at once.”

…

5 more months passed, Tsunade was waiting for Shiroken to return, as this was her 9th month and the baby would be born anytime now. However, as days passed and she felt more and more movement inside her belly, she started to get anxious.

“Will he break his promise?” She wondered.

Monari, too, was silent, having no idea if Shiroken could even return. “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s on his way. He’s most likely watching us as we speak.”

Tsunade took relief in that fact. The world has seen many strange unexplained deaths of evil men in the past few months, all felt it was most likely Shiroken’s doing.

In that hope, she put herself back to sleep. Where was Shiroken? Was he even successful? It was unknown, one could only speculate.

…

When Shiroken completely disappeared, something happened. The next step was to expand his mind and feel the natural energy all around the Universe, keep on replicating it and get stronger.

However, merely after the first 30 seconds, everything blacked out. His senses died, and he too… most likely died.

However, that was not the end. As he found himself standing inside a giant endless white room with clouds all around him, he couldn’t even see his own feet, but there was land.

To his shock, he noticed one more thing, his arms were tiny, “I’m a kid again?!” he exclaimed. Quickly feeling his own face, he found it to be chubby, his hair too was short. “How?”

But then, in an instant, dread took over his mind, ~Tsunade… my son… everyone.~

“BWAHAHA… Welcome to the Hall of Judgement, my boy.”

All of a sudden he heard a loud booming old voice from behind him, he quickly turned around, only to get shocked even more.

[A/N: Those who want a sad ending, the story ends here. Shiroken dies in the end, it’s impossible to have one’s consciousness spread across the universe and still have a sound mind. Tsunade gave birth to a baby that also had white hair. He was a mix of both, born with a natural talent in Senjutsu and Chakra.

The is about the real ending because I don’t write sad ones. Shiroken’s origins shall be explained as well.]

[Last two chaps will come tomorrow.]

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Special thanks to *DougErNuts* *Oluwatimileyin Olayemi* *BirdRant* *Franklin Walley* *Brennan Tubbs