Chương 79

The moment they stepped outside the chamber, all four of them realized that the view from the window had actually done a poor job of showing how grand Asgard truly was. Seeing it from afar and standing within it were two entirely different experiences. Golden roads stretched endlessly before them. Massive pillars decorated with ancient carvings stood taller than some of the buildings in Konoha. Elegant bridges connected different sections of the city while crystal-clear rivers flowed beneath them.

Everywhere they looked there were warriors, nobles and citizens walking about their day. Yet despite the immense size of the city, everything seemed orderly. It almost felt unreal. Naruto meanwhile had completely forgotten how to behave.

"THIS PLACE IS HUGE!" His voice echoed through the corridor. Several passing Asgardians in the palace turned toward him. Naruto immediately straightened himself.

"Ahem." Then he pointed toward another golden tower.

"THAT ONE IS EVEN BIGGER!" Sakura smacked the back of his head.

"Will you stop embarrassing us?"

"How am I embarrassing us? Look at that thing!" Truthfully, even Sakura was struggling to remain calm. She had read stories about kingdoms and fairy tales before, though with very vague interest, but standing inside one was a completely different matter. Sasuke remained silent. That alone was enough to tell everyone how impressed he was. Even Kakashi couldn't stop looking around. The architecture, the craftsmanship, the sheer scale of everything made him feel as if he had stepped into another era entirely.

As they continued walking, a familiar figure approached them. A beautiful woman dressed in elegant royal attire smiled warmly. Frigga.

"Welcome to Asgard." The moment she spoke, everyone turned around to look at the the beautiful woman that radiated nothing but warmth and hospitality. She looked like someone who everyone would love to call her as their mother. Even Naruto and Sasuke felt that. Rei stepped forward.

"Lady Frigga."

"Rei." She smiled before looking toward the newcomers.

"So these are your friends." Naruto immediately bowed and Sakura followed, even Sasuke showed proper respect. Only Kakashi gave a polite nod. They did this because Rei seemed to respect this woman. Frigga seemed amused by all of them. She wanted to see how Rei would bring his friends, but it was fine. Next time maybe.

"Yes, Lady Frigga. This is Naruto, this is Sasuke and Sakura. And this is our teacher. Kakashi." Rei said.

"Teacher? Someone like you have a teacher too?" Frigga joked and this made Rei smile too.

"Uh! That is policy of our village." Rei replied to which Frigga nodded.

"Guys. This is Queen Frigga of Asgard." The words made everyone, even the nonchalant almost stumble. They expected Frigga to be someone high in ministry or some of that sort. Not the Queen herself. They bowed to her with much more enthusiasm then last time, including Kakashi which earned a laugh from Frigga.

"You don't have to. Consider Asgard and this palace as your home." Frigga said. And this made the rest relax their stiff shoulders a bit after hearing that she was the Queen of this palace and the 9 realms. A kingdom that span over multiple planets, though they didn't have the territory under control but seeing how grand the place, one had to believe that at its prime, the kingdom was more glorious than it now was. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Meanwhile Frigga could vaguely guess what was running on their minds and thus offered herself to ease the tension between them and the rest.

"Would you like me to show you the palace?" The answer came instantly.

"YES!" Naruto shouted. A few moments later Frigga was personally guiding them through the royal palace. She showed them ancient murals depicting the history of Asgard, halls that had existed for thousands of years and chambers filled with artifacts from countless realms. Naruto kept asking questions every few minutes, Sakura listened attentively to every story, Sasuke quietly examined everything while Kakashi stored every bit of information in his mind.

For the first time since arriving, all four truly felt that they weren't simply visiting another country. They were more horrified to know that the ages of the people here were vastly different from the humans they knew and were. Thousands of years.. One could live that long? They were born in the wrong kingdom apparently. The tour continued for quite some time after that. Frigga seemed genuinely delighted to answer Naruto's endless questions while Sakura listened attentively to every explanation.

The rest were curious too but didn't have the cringe factor like Naruto to ask them, and thus they just listened, which was also joined in by Kakashi. The deeper they went into the palace, the more ridiculous everything became. Entire halls were larger than the Academy building. Libraries contained books older than Konoha itself. Training chambers built for warriors who could apparently live for thousands of years looked more like fortresses than practice grounds.

Eventually Frigga guided them toward a massive section of the palace. The distant sounds of metal clashing echoed through the corridors. CLANG. BOOOOM. Naruto immediately perked up.

"What's that?" Frigga smiled.

"It seems my son, Thor is training." They were now a bit curious as they heard about the exiled prince's return. Rei only said that he helped Thor a bit and in return, he was welcomed back here, though they were sure that there was more to the story. So they just followed. A few moments later they stepped onto a large balcony overlooking an enormous arena. And immediately understood why the sounds had been so loud. The arena itself was gigantic. The entire structure was made from golden stone and enchanted metal.

Multiple warriors occupied different sections while spectators watched from elevated platforms. At the center stood Thor. The Prince of Asgard swung Mjolnir and collided with Volstagg's axe. BOOOOM. Volstagg was immediately thrown off and landed quite a distance away. Volstagg laughed loudly while charging again. Lady Sif joined from the side. Fandral attacked from another direction while Hogun calmly searched for an opening. Thor met all of them head-on.

"Again!" Thor shouted. Mjolnir collided against Lady Sif's spear. CLANG. Sparks erupted everywhere. This carried on for quite some time before Thor stopping himself once he saw Rei and new people that he had never seen before. Thor stopped mid-swing and lowered Mjolnir. The moment his eyes landed on Rei, a grin appeared on his face. Then his gaze shifted toward the unfamiliar group standing beside him.

"Oh!" Thor immediately walked toward them.

"The shinobi."

"You know about us?"

"Of course." Thor replied.

"The small warrior spoke about you. I am glad that you can find your way here." Naruto immediately looked proud while Sakura wondered what exactly Rei had told the Prince of Asgard. Thor approached and gave them a proper introduction.

"I am Thor Odinson, Prince of Asgard." Naruto shook his hand immediately.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Sakura Haruno."

"Kakashi Hatake." Thor greeted each of them warmly before Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun and Lady Sif also approached. For a few minutes everyone exchanged introductions before Naruto's attention inevitably landed on the hammer in Thor's hand. The weapon looked surprisingly ordinary for someone as big as Thor and from the looks of it, he could fight too. They had seen how Thor would throw the hammer and it would return to his hand again. This was fascinating for them. Even for Kakashi.

All this time, they had been thinking that the shinobi world was powerful but now seeing Thor and other fight made them realize that this universe too wasn't simple. But those kinds of thoughts could return later. For now they need to socialize and know more about each other. Especially Sasuke, who now found new forms of powers that nobody in his entire bloodline had seen before.

"What can the hammer do?" Naruto asked.

"It can control lightning and also lets me fly." Thor replied as a matter of fact.

"What?" Thor began to explain how this was a magical artifact and only the worthy could lift the hammer.

"... no matter how strong you are, if you are not worthy, you cannot lift it."

"That sounds fake." Thor laughed.

"I assure you it is not." Naruto was already walking toward the hammer, that had been lying on the floor.

"Move." Thor smiled looking at Naruto as he had seen this scene multiple times in his life, but everyone failed to lift it. He didn't stop Naruto as he grabbed the hammer. And then pulled. Of course, nothing happened. What did he think he was? Captain America? Rei wasn't sure if anyone from their world could even lift the hammer. Everyone had been tainted in one way or the other.

Maybe Naruto could after the Pain assault, and now even that was on the rocks as Rei had changed the future a lot and he wasn't going to let that fake man destroy his well built home. Meanwhile, Naruto's expression turned red as he tried every way to pull it off the ground.