Without the interference of Yomotsu, Shion's sealing process went even more smoothly.
"Return to nothingness!"
Shion clasped her hands together one last time, letting out a melodious cry.
All the purple rune chains suddenly glowed to their utmost, finally merging completely into the energy mass that had been compressed to its limit.
"Whoosh!"
A long and grand hum resonated throughout heaven and earth!
The suffocating evil aura rapidly receded like a tide. On the altar, only a complex and exquisite three-dimensional seal remained, emitting a soft purple light. Within it, the now silent physical body was sealed.
The evil demon was finally completely sealed!
As the light faded, Shion slowly descended from the air, her steps slightly unsteady. The mark on her forehead gradually disappeared, and her body swayed, almost causing her to fall. But Naruto caught her, and she could only lean weakly and temporarily in his arms.
The continuous exertion of divine power left her feeling a wave of exhaustion, but even more so, a sense of relief and liberation.
It was over.
The destruction foretold in the prophecy had not come, and she had not died.
Shion subconsciously looked at the golden-haired young man who had always stood by her side.
Naruto gave her a thumbs-up, revealing his warm and brilliant smile, like the sun: "Well done, Shion!"
"See? I told you you could do it! What kind of nonsense prophecy was that? It wasn't accurate at all!"
"Shion, you're amazing!"
"As expected of the Priestess of the Demon Country!"
Hinata and Ino also walked over, congratulating her happily.
Shion looked at Naruto, at his smile, and the scenes from their journey together flashed rapidly through her mind:
He blocked a fatal sneak attack with his bare hands, he effortlessly absorbed destructive Ninjutsu, he firmly declared he would break the prophecy, he enlightened her to unlock her sealed power, he easily subdued Yomotsu at the last moment, and there was his constant encouragement and trust...
Her once-frozen heart began to pound uncontrollably.
An unprecedented emotion, like a new sprout breaking through the soil, instantly filled her chest.
She took a deep breath, as if using all her courage, her cheeks flushed, but her gaze was unusually firm as she looked at Naruto.
"Naruto—"
"Hm?"
Naruto looked down, his azure eyes gazing at the beautiful Priestess in his arms.
Shion lowered her head slightly, nervously tugging at the corner of her clothes. Her voice, though not loud, clearly reached everyone's ears: "I... I... like..."
"Rumble!"
Just then, the sealed shrine began to shake violently.
The cliff face and the ground started to crack, with fissures continuously extending and expanding. The scorching magma beneath the altar churned fiercely, showing signs of an imminent eruption.
Only at this moment did everyone remember that this was a volcano!
The shrine where the physical body was sealed was built inside the volcano, and it had once used the volcano's power to suppress the physical body.
"This is bad, the volcano is about to erupt."
"Hinata, Ino, let's get out of here quickly and leave this place fast."
While calling out to Hyuga Hinata and Ino Yamanaka, Naruto scooped Shion up in a princess carry, then rushed to the front, leading the others away from the soon-to-erupt volcano.
Because it had been re-sealed, the previously rampaging Ghost Army finally returned to dust.
Without the obstruction of the Ghost Army, the four evacuated the volcano at the fastest speed, arriving on a cliff opposite it, overlooking the volcano erupting with magma and thick smoke.
"Shion, what are your plans next?"
Naruto set Shion down from his arms and asked, looking at the distant volcano.
Shion's cheeks were flushed, and her previously accelerated heartbeat had not stopped. But she couldn't muster the courage to confess directly again, so she could only say evasively: "I want to pass on this power of mine to the next generation of Priestesses—"
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, gazing at the fiercely erupting volcano.
Even in her peripheral vision, she didn't dare to steal a glance at the golden-haired young man beside her.
"Naruto—can you lend me your strength?"
The implication was, I want to have children, can you let me have children?
Naruto was stunned at first, not yet reacting.
It was Ino Yamanaka and Hyuga Hinata who were incredibly sharp, sensing the hidden meaning in Shion's words. One was instantly wide-eyed with surprise, while the other's cheeks flushed crimson.
Naruto was not as clueless as in the original movie, failing to grasp Shion's meaning, but with his official wife Hinata present, he couldn't directly agree to Shion's request to have children with him. He could only respond tactfully: "If you need any help in the future, just come to me!"
"Really?"
"Then it's a deal, you have to help with anything, okay?"
Shion giggled.
"Hm!"
Naruto nodded with a serious expression.
Hinata and Ino Yamanaka, standing nearby, kept pondering their conversation, completely unsure if Shion's confession had been successful.
Naruto's answer was simply too ambiguous.
Even after escorting Shion back to the Demon Country and completing the mission, returning to Konoha Village in the Land of Fire, the two girls were still thinking about this question.
Naruto handed the mission's reward settlement to Hinata; after all, it was money from Konoha Village, and he might as well take it.
The main reward was paid by the Demon Country.
Afterward, when Kurenai Yuhi learned of this enormous reward, her eyes turned red.
If she had also participated in this mission, according to the reward distribution ratio, she could have paid off the money she owed Naruto in one go, becoming debt-free.
Naruto returned to his home in the Hot Spring District.
With nothing else to do, he finally took out the Silver Rank Underground City key he had obtained after defeating the Demon God King.
"Could it be the Solo Leveling World?"
"After all, the Godhood mission requires collecting Fragments of Light and Fragments of Darkness, which are things from Solo Leveling, right?"
Naruto gripped the Silver Rank Underground City key, inserted it into the void, and then twisted it to open the portal to a new world (Underground City).
Passing through the silver-gray oval portal, a brief, blinding white light obscured Naruto's vision.
After a while, the sensation of spatial distortion gradually subsided. Uzumaki Naruto shook his slightly dizzy head and looked around. This was no longer the familiar Konoha Village, nor the Goblin Slayer World, or the Demon Slayer World, or the Kōtetsujō World, but a strange city filled with modern architecture and towering buildings.
The air was filled with an indescribable feeling.
It seemed to hide many powerful auras, yet it was also mixed with the ordinariness of common people.
"A modern world, huh—"
"Speaking of which, Solo Leveling also has a modern world setting, but I'll have to wait for the system pop-up to know the specific world."
Naruto habitually observed his surroundings, not rushing to move, but waiting for the pop-up.
[Peaceful Z-City]
[Source World: One-Punch Man]
[Recommended Level: 10 ~ 30]
[Introduction: This is Z-City in the early stages of the catastrophe. The Hero Association has not yet been established, and the monsters that appear are of lower levels, posing a low threat.]