Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Realizing it might not be the smartest idea to stick around on a Floor that had just experienced a cataclysm, Vahn promptly abandoned the idea of securing the second Thorn fragment. He currently lacked the power to defeat a Floor Ruler, and, even if he was tempted to try, both the Jahad Empire and FUG were guaranteed to send powerhouses to investigate the area via a Warp Gate. FUG could not risk the Thorn falling into the hands of the Jahad Empire, so, at the very least, they would send a Slayer in to recover it before Jahad’s Army could deploy.

Fortunately, by pure happenstance, the Jahad Army had recently been experiencing some turmoil due to their Commander-in-Chief, Adori Jahad, killing several high-ranking officials. There had been no official reason given, but, thanks to Yuri, Vahn knew it was entirely the result of Ureko paying the proud Princess a personal visit. This resulted in a rather destructive battle, one which ended in Adori being spanked in front of several High-Ranking Officers before Ureko fled with a rather ornate pair of panties in hand.

Due to the chaos caused by Ureko’s recent actions, the response time of the Jahad Army had been greatly affected. The loss of several Commanders stalled deployments considerably, and, though she hadn’t received any official orders, Adori had been pushing her forces into the 76th and 78th Floors in an obvious attempt to pressure and seek vengeance against Ureko. The only reason a war hadn’t broken out between the two forces was that Adori didn’t have an ’official’ reason to send her forces into the 77th Floor. There was also the simple fact that, even if she did give the order to advance, it was far more likely that the forces of Wolhaiksong would emerge victoriously, shattering the long-standing belief that the Jahad Army was ’invincible’.

Even if Jahad personally showed up to deal with Ureko, there was a ’very’ real chance that he might not be able to defeat her. This actually went both ways, but, as the uncontested King of the Tower, he couldn’t risk exposing the fact that there were people beyond his ability to defeat. It was for this reason that Wolhaiksong had been allowed to grow into an organization that was openly compared to both the Empire and the Workshop without consequences. Had Ureko been even a little weaker, the organization would have been crushed or subsumed long before its rise to prominence.

In the end, FUG had a much easier time recovering the fragment of the Thorn than they otherwise would have. Ureko’s recent actions were a contributing factor behind this, but the primary reasons for their success was the support of the Po Bidau Family and the excuse supplied by the Workshop.

Po Bidau Gustang was actually one of FUG’s secret Elders, and, as could be expected from someone purported to possess an ’omniscient’ intellect, he had developed numerous contingencies against having his memory altered or erased. He had never trusted Jahad, so, at several times throughout the day, he would create ’backups’ of all his memories to be analyzed for any irregularities. Because of this, he was able to ’recover’ from having his Ego shattered in a comparably short period of time, and, though he was technically just a copy of the original, the fact they shared the same thoughts, memories, and even personality made it impossible to tell the difference. Rather, since he still had the same soul, it wasn’t incorrect to say he was the ’exact same’, just with a fundamentally different, albeit nearly identical, Ego. (A/N: The easiest way to comprehend this is to imagine that the current Gustang is basically a reincarnation of himself with a copy of his former self’s memories.)

With the Ruler of the 30th Floor belonging to the Po Bidau Family, Gustang was able to stonewall the Jahad Army thanks to his partnership with the Workshop. Since the military lacked the authority to investigate matters related to the Workshop without direct orders from Jahad, they had very little choice but to leave the matter in Gustang’s hands while providing aid to the millions who had been affected by the gravitational anomaly. This provided the Workshop ample opportunity to come up with an excuse to explain what had happened, ultimately culminating in the ’admission’ that one of their experimental Warp Drives had malfunctioned.

Though it wasn’t particularly well-known to the vast majority of Tower residents, it was relatively common knowledge among the higher-ups of the Jahad Army that the Warp Drives of Flagships had a strong influence on the fabric of space-time. They allowed the city-sized ships to move at speeds significantly faster than light, effectively teleporting anywhere within, or between, Floors of the Tower. This was a technology developed exclusively by the Workshop, so, while it was difficult to believe such an accident could occur, it wasn’t inconceivable.

Since the accident had occurred in a region outside the jurisdiction of the Empire, the Jahad Army ultimately withdrew after failing to uncover anything substantial related to the incident. Even their plants within the Workshop and the surrounding regions turned up nothing related to the massive explosion. The only noteworthy information they were able to obtain pertained to the destruction of one of FUG’s secret bases, but, even after questioning the Guardian directly, they were ultimately unable to learn anything about who had attacked and their motives for doing so...

Though his reasons for doing so had changed slightly, Vahn drastically reduced his pace during the six-month period between the conclusion of the Workshop Battle and the start of the Hell Train. As a result, it took him nearly four months to pass from the 31st to the 35th Floor, the location of Train City, the First Station of the Hell Express. His primary reason for this was the lay low for a while, not because he was particularly concerned about the forces conspiring against him, but because Hinata and Kushina were expected to give birth within this period of time.

Vahn had always tried to put his family and loved ones above all else, so, in the months leading up to the birth of his newest son and daughter, he did his best to spend an increasing amount of time in the Emerald Grove. The reason for this was that the pregnancies of both Kushina and Hinata had been accelerated due to the influence of the Law of Progress. As a result, it was difficult to ascertain when, exactly, the two would be born. His children had always developed uniquely in comparison to other fetuses so there were always a number of variables he couldn’t really account for during each pregnancy.

Fortunately, despite the uncertainties involved, Kushina ended up giving birth to a very healthy boy who, rather than resemble an infant version of Naruto, looked more like his counterpart known as Menma. He still had the same basic appearance, completely with whisker-like marks on each of his cheeks, but, rather than yellow-blonde hair, he had a small mat of nearly-black hair atop his head. His eyes were also closer to aquamarine than Kushina’s sapphire blues, so, for the first time, Vahn actually had a son that closely resembled him...

Understanding that Kushina had likely wanted Naruto to resemble him more than someone like Minato, Vahn was very-nearly brought to tears when he first noticed the similarities between him and his son. He had never really thought about it prior to that moment but it seemed like a part of him had always wanted a child that closely resembled him. Most of his other children had inherited the traits of their mothers, and, while he loved each of them dearly, he couldn’t deny that he felt a special bond with Naruto the moment he first laid eyes upon him. This earned him a gentle chiding from Mavis, who was acting as his assistant, but Kushina just laughed it off before encouraging him to take as much time as he needed.

In the days following Naruto’s birth, Vahn spent most of his time attempting to shadow Kushina in order to help out in any way he could. This generally resulted in her shooing him away and telling him to look after Hinata, but, with the latter continually telling him to do the opposite, Vahn found himself teleporting around constantly. Fortunately, this didn’t last for too long as Hinata ended up going into labor only five days after Kushina.

Though it was a different feeling than the one he got from Naruto, Vahn’s heart immediately turned to putty following the delivery of his youngest daughter, Hana. She seemed to have been born with a remarkable intellect, as, unlike Naruto, she didn’t release an ear-piercing cry upon having her butt lightly smacked. Instead, she issued a few adorable baby noises before ’glaring’ at him with her off-white, lavender, eyes. This caused a grin to spread across Vahn’s face, and, though his instincts told him that Hana was going to be a little troublemaker, such things were the spice of life for a parent.

With Hinata being pretty liberal in her allowing him to look after Hana, Vahn soon found himself in a position where he was regularly babysitting both of his children. They quickly became the newest members of his ’cuddle crew’, and, more often than not, he could be found using Latias as a pillow while Naruto and Hana slept against his chest.

If there was anything Vahn could complain about following the births of Naruto and Hana, it was that the two grew like beansprouts. This was true of most of his children, but, due to the effects of the Little Garden, Hana was both speaking and waddling around at less than two months old. As for Naruto, he was quite a bit slower in the speech category, but, due to his Uzumaki heritage, his body was developing even faster than Hana’s. He also learned how to transform into a fox kit pretty early on, and, as a result, quickly developed a propensity for sneaking off to play in the forest. (A/N: Most toddlers can walk between 10~14 months. The Law of Progress effectively speeds up development by a factor of five.)

Since there weren’t any particular dangers in the forests surrounding the Emerald Grove, Vahn and Kushina agreed to allow the boy to develop his curiosity under the watchful eyes of Xerneas. Latias had also taken a considerable interest in both of his children, so, whenever Naruto snuck off to play, she was usually right behind him. As for Hana, she developed the unusual habit of following people around and secretly spying on them. This behavior was reminiscent of the way the ’original’ Hinata behaved in her Record of origin, greatly embarrassing the young mother who thought her daughter was turning into a stalker.

Fortunately, virtually everyone within the Emerald Grove could easily detect Hana, so, whenever she tried to spy on them, they would quickly expose her location. This caused Hana no small amount of frustration, and, as a result, she actually ended up awakening her Byakugan. She wasn’t able to use it for very long, but, every now and again, the residents of the Emerald Grove would abruptly feel as if someone was spying on them from somewhere out of view.

Though they didn’t want to inhibit the development of Hana’s curiosity, it became apparent pretty early on that they needed to educate her properly. It wasn’t that big of an issue while she was still young, but it was bound to become a problem if she developed voyeuristic tendencies during her adolescence. She needed to learn how to socialize with people directly rather than spying on them from a distance; so, despite being around two-months-old, Hana began learning how to read and write from Mira while apprenticing under Mavis in order to learn communication skills...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’What is this, The 6th Day?’,’Kushina done good (OwO)...’,’ _・)’)