ARTHUR WOULD SOON return to the emperor's side after defeating Fujin.
The scene was busy but controlled. Guards lined the corridor of the estate, along with the four monks, including Jigen. When Ardian saw Arthur, his eyes immediately went to the bandaged arm.
The wound looked fresh, but what struck him most was that Arthur didn't show any other signs of injury—no scratches, bruises, or bloodstains. It was as if he had come through unscathed.
Jigen was the first to speak. "What happened? Did you confront Fujin?"
"I did," Arthur calmly answered, looking at his arm. "I managed to eradicate him and his army. They're retreating to their land as we speak."
The reaction was immediate, and many were astonished due to the weight of what he had just claimed.
It took little time for Arthur to explain where Fujin's forces were. If no one believed him, those here were more than able to verify it for themselves. Yet Ardian didn't need any verification whatsoever; he believed Arthur's words.
When Ardian fully accepted this news, he let out a huge sigh of relief. Even the faces of his followers all turned from shock to hopeful.
That simple statement, that Arthur had defeated Fujin, soon brought a wave of cheers from the surrounding crowd. Many clapped, and some shouted words of praise. Such applauses were a tad unfamiliar to Arthur, but he accepted them nonetheless.
Ardian watched with a deep sense of gratitude. He felt an overwhelming sense of devotion to Arthur, knowing that such a feat was no small matter; this supposed child had done more than anyone could ask.
Without waiting for Arthur to ask what reward he might want, Ardian immediately made a bold declaration: "From this day forth, let the entire Bennett household's name be recorded for generations to come. And let his kin and his kin's kin always be protected."
Arthur remained calm at this sudden, almost out-of-place, announcement. His "family" was just himself—he had no relatives nor any heirs in this time period or his current one. The idea of his name being carried on, of a legacy that extended beyond this narrative, was quite intriguing.
Still, because it was Ardian saying these things, the area fell silent for a moment before erupting into another round of cheers.
The same day, a feast was arranged with food and drink brought in to celebrate the victory.
Arthur initially declined due to the unneeded attention, but Ardian was too insistent. There was simply no room to reject.
The mood was festive, and it seemed that the entire country owed something to Arthur—at least, that's how Ardian saw it.
Throughout the evening, people praised him and raised their glasses. Arthur himself accepted the praise politely but kept his own counsel. He didn't desire fame or recognition. What he needed was to extract all that he could from this land before moving on to the Tailed Beasts.
Then when that was over, he would need to recreate his time travel device to return to his own timeline. He was in no immediate hurry to leave this time period. For the longer he stayed, the more powerful he could become.
As the night deepened, Arthur excused himself and headed toward the banquet hall. He was almost there when Jigen appeared beside him, stopping him in the corridor. They were alone now, and Jigen's face carried a look of suspicion.
"I didn't believe it at first," he admitted. "When you said Fujin's army was retreating, I sent out some monks to verify without the emperor's notice."
"And?"
"They confirmed it—your words were true…"
Arthur looked at him, waiting. "Is that all you wanted to say to me?"
"No. I want to know how you did it. How exactly did you defeat Fujin?"
"I simply cut the head off the snake," Arthur plainly said.
Jigen scoffed with what almost appeared to be a small smirk. "That easy, huh?" Then he slowly turned to walk away. "I look forward to seeing what you do next, Mr. Bennett."
"Likewise, Jigen…"
Arthur watched him go, feeling a strange sensation about this monk. Yet even now, he did not truly know who this Jigen character was. Perhaps he would never know.
Either way, Arthur looked up at the sky in thought. He wondered how much time he would have to spend here—not just this timeline—until he could return to earth. It felt like years had passed since he arrived here. Even his hair had grown long, falling past his shoulders without him noticing.
No matter, he knew that staying longer meant more interactions and more samples to gain from the remaining Tailed Beasts.
As he turned toward the banquet hall, a sudden sensation disrupted his thoughts. His vision blurred, and a strange light sparkled around his hands. He looked down and saw small orbs of light floating from his palms. Calm despite the oddity, he checked his entire body. More light particles escaped, and he felt himself growing lighter.
Before he could react further, there was a flash of light. Then, he was gone. Disappeared completely.
Outside the hall, Ardian was the first to notice. He hurried out, calling for his steward. "Did you see that? A strange light. Outside! Did you see it?"
The steward hurried after him. "Your majesty, I saw nothing. Please now, return to your guests."
"Okay," Ardian agreed. "But do call Mr. Bennett back to the celebration. I wish to hear more of how he thwarted such an adversary."
"I'm sure he just went out to get some air."
Ardian looked back toward the hall with a smile and said, "I hope so. This feast was made for him, after all."
✟
In the laboratory of Elysium.
A group of scientists worked with frantic urgency. Despite the air conditioning, sweat dripped down their faces and necks. They were tired, and their faces were pale from long hours of stress.
What they were doing was focusing on a complex code running across their screens, trying to locate one person within a digital universe.
Many of them owed their exhaustion to that same person: Arthur Bennett.
His sudden awakening had triggered alarms, forcing them to work overtime. If he hadn't stirred, if he hadn't woken up and caused their jobs to be at stake, they wouldn't be in this situation now. But he had, and now they were racing against the clock to find him.
One scientist, slouched in his chair, rubbed his eyes and sighed loudly. "How hard is it to find one character in the system?!" Clearly he was frustrated.
Another, more calm but equally tired, responded, "It's not entirely our fault. The system keeps generating new codes for the game to keep going, and it won't stop."
"What does that even mean?" a third scientist asked, frowning.
Another female scientist, who had been quiet up to that point, scowled at the question.
"The computer's running on multiple NPUs," she explained. "It's gathering data from everywhere—artwork, stories, interviews, fanfiction, you name it. She paused for effect. "Afterwards, it's blending it into the game."
"Yeah, we get that part, but why is it—"
"It's pulling in everything related to Naruto," she interrupted, knowing the question, "and that's what makes finding Subject G so difficult."
Because Arthur was a player, unlike the other simple characters, his details had been absorbed into the system's pool of information, making him blend in as if he were truly a part of the programming.
Every time they thought they had pinpointed him, he would vanish again as if he were a moving target.
After another half hour of fruitless searching, one scientist finally pushed back from his console. He stood up, rubbing his temples, to ask, "Why not try using CTRL+F?"
One of the others looked confused. "And what the heck would we be searching for? Subject G uses too many aliases. John, Hoshi-whatever. We can't keep track of all that."
"Crafty fellow," another chimed in while typing away.
A female scientist, who had been meticulously reviewing her notes, suddenly snapped her fingers. "Wait. Instead of trying to find Subject G directly, let's look for the characters he's interacted with. You know, the one he's impacted the most. Maybe that'll lead us to him."
"Like who?" another asked.
She quickly accessed her records by scrolling through data logs. Her eyes widened as she found what she was searching for. "He's been interacting with the Tailed Beasts. Specifically, Gyūki's code. That's where we should focus."
When the room heard that, something sparked in their eyes. They hurriedly began inputting commands. The system then quickly responded with rapid updates by scanning through the web of data.
Within an hour, they finally located Arthur's character in the system.
"Lock on him and bring him back immediately!" one of the lead scientists ordered. But as they prepared to extract him, a new problem emerged. A warning flashed across the screen. "Now what?!"
"Something's wrong with his character profile," someone read.
Everyone leaned in closer to identify the issue. The monitor displayed a close-up of Arthur's avatar. His design had changed drastically, and there was what appeared to be an abrasion locking some of his traits out of the official system.
That explained why he couldn't use the Flying raijin.
The room erupted into debate. Some argued to debuff his character further—make him weaker to prevent this from happening again. Others favored restoring his original skills, regardless of the risk.
In the end, the stress of the situation and the time spent searching persuaded them to unlock his previous abilities. They agreed to restore his powers, even if it meant risking instability.
"Just send him back the way he was," the lead scientist demanded. "I don't care if he's half dead; just get him out of there."
With that decision, they pressed a button, and the neural processing unit activated to pull Arthur's character from the system. There was a flash on the screen, but it was quickly followed by an update sign, signaling that the transfer was in progress.
In the quiet aftermath, the scientists leaned back. They were exhausted but relieved from having finally located him, fixing his profile, and sending him back into the original system.
"What are we going to do with this newly generated system?" one of them asked.
"Just leave it as it is," the lead answered. "If we tamper with it now, someone's bound to see it, and we'll never hear the end of things."
They each agreed to keep things quiet from any of their co-workers not involved in this mess. And by doing so, all of Arthur's involvements in the past would translate to the present.
After they each settled into their consoles, the chairwoman of the company finally entered. They all quickly straightened themselves, despite their heavy exhaustion.
"You all look ready to keep working today," Ursula said with a smile. "Don't tell me not a single one of you took a break."
"No, ma'am!" the lead responded. "We were just excited to see what Subject E was trying next."
"Subject E?" Ursual repeated. Then she scoffed, uninterested by Subject E's performance whatsoever. That was because they all knew who her favourite subject was. "Well, feel free to clock out. I'll see you all tomorrow morning."
They each kept a deep bow as their CEO closed the doors to her office.