Hei guys, here is the new chapter. I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter and I apologize for maybe some lengthy explanations. However I feel it is necessary to explain how things will be.
Now I need to respond to you generous reviewers :)
M Night S: A nice start? Thanks for your review :D
Kingof252 : Thanks mate! I hope you will stay for the rest of the chapters that will be coming
25BAM50 : There will be more chapters coming indeed
Alright that is all with the reviewers for now :(
Do let me know how I did by dropping a review, I appreciate constructive criticisms or just to let me know what you liked about the chapter. Enjoy!
CHAPTER 2: EXPLANATION
In a dark room, Uzumaki Naruto was flabbergasted upon hearing the suggestion of this… this stranger. However the powers Ryo Azuma had revealed earlier in the battlefield allowed Naruto to give Ryo the benefit of the doubt.
"An… alternate world?" Naruto asked with a confused tone.
"Well that's one way to put it. Since you are the child of prophecy, I will be rewinding time back to the day you were born and there will definitely be some difference to the world you knew."
"Like what…?"
Ryo shrugged. "I honestly cannot tell… This is the first time in my duty of protecting your world to actually reverse time. I'm sure that there might be some changes once we reverse time so it will, in a way, be an alternate world to the one you are used to."
Naruto nodded in understanding and then asked another question. "Wait, you said you're a Guardian of watching over our world. If that's true, why didn't you help us earlier?"
"I cannot interfere in every little affair. You all have made it without me for the past four hundred years so I thought you all would do fine in this. Furthermore as the 'child of prophecy' I thought that would seal the deal. However, I guess nothing is certain; especially ever since the Rikoudo Sanin entered your world."
Naruto cocked his head to the left in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"First let me explain first why we Guardians are assigned to protect worlds. We serve a much higher power and all these worlds are created by our masters. Thus we have been given the responsibility to protect the worlds assigned to us by our masters to make sure nothing happens or it would result in an unbalanced system."
Naruto nodded and Ryo continued his explanation. "Of course our masters have enemies but they cannot involve themselves directly in destroying the world so normally they would send their minions to do their bidding. Of course their minions are far weaker than us Guardians so we normally have no problem cleansing these monsters from the world they infected."
Ryo took a deep breath and resumed. "The Rikoudo Sanin… formerly known as Itazaki Hiro, was a Guardian of your world before I took over. His duty was to protect your world from destruction and the ten-tails appeared in your world. Hiro waited for some time, watching the ten-tails wreaking havoc in your world. After a period of time, Hiro realized the ten-tails would destroy your world if nothing stopped him so he entered your world to defeat it."
Ryo paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. "As you should know, he defeated the beast but even despite being a Guardian, it took Hiro some time to actually defeat it. Because the ten-tails was so strong he actually had to seal it within himself to protect your world. By doing this, he could no longer resume his duties as a Guardian since he had the ten-tailed beast within him. Thus I was appointed to continue his work while Hiro stayed in your world, where he would later become known as the 'Rikoudo Sanin.'"
"So… The Ninjutsu and everything we've learned…" Naruto said slowly.
"Yes, they are all the techniques of the Guardian Itazaki Hiro or the 'Rikoudo Sanin'. Ever since he passed on his teachings to his descendants, it is almost impossible to predict how well your world would continue since you all possess the abilities of one of our Guardians… Not to mention that your world now contains miniature versions of that ten-tailed beast."
"So the other world does not have a Guardian passing on his descendants?" Naruto asked.
Ryo shook his head, laughing at the question. "Of course not, your world was a special case because of the power of the ten-tails. Other worlds have their own problems respectively and some situations calls for the need of Guardians to intervene on such matter. However even today, I do not know how such a powerful monster like the ten-tails managed to enter your world. It is a disturbing fact to me that such a powerful creature actually managed to enter a world such as yours."
Naruto felt insulted by the remark, popping a vein on his head. "What do you mean by that?!"
Ryo raised his arms, trying to calm the young blonde. "I didn't mean it that way. I just feel it odd that such a powerful creature; a monster so powerful that would actually force a Guardian to abandon his duty because of the sheer power of the creature. In the past, the minions infecting the world would not be so powerful compared to the ten-tails…"
"So what are you trying to say…?"
Ryo shrugged. "I'm just worried… that perhaps… No, never mind. Maybe I'm just overthinking things…"
A moment of silence passed between the two. Ryo for one wondered if perhaps there were darker powers at work even in this dark, world of Guardians. Ryo wondered if the enemies of his master had somehow managed to discover a method to create such a powerful monster and implant them into a world. However Ryo doubted that since if that was the case, other Guardians would have reported similar cases. So far only the world of Itazaki Hiro had a powerful monster that infected the world.
"So are you… stronger than the Rikoudo Sanin?" Naruto asked while scratching the back of his head.
Ryo raised an eyebrow at the question, contemplating the answer. "Well, every Guardian is different from another. We do not have the same abilities so we cannot tell who is stronger from the other. Although I have to admit that the Rikoudo Sanin does possess one of the most powerful techniques among us Guardians."
"So what's your skill…?"
Ryo smirked and then opened the palm of his hand. "I master the control of Lightning." So as to prove his point, Ryo then created a ball of lightning in the palm of his hand. Then he commanded the lightning to spin around him and after that Ryo shaped the lightning into the shape of a large dragon, roaring at Naruto.
"It may not seem like much but the power of lightning, I can do a lot and added with my skills with my sword…"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Alright fine, I get it. So how do we set things right? How do I get to save my world from destruction?"
Ryo dispelled the lightning dragon and returned to the issue at hand. "Like I said, since you are the child of prophecy, I can bring back time from anywhere until to the day you were born. Any further would be impossible unless I brought someone else that had lived before you."
"Then why didn't you bring Kakashi-sensei?!" Naruto demanded. "His team mate was Obito! If you brought him, you could go to his timeline and… stop Obito from becoming evil!"
"Cut me some slack Naruto…" Ryo replied. "Firstly Kakashi was in another dimension when I dragged you into this dimension. Also I have no time to actually watch your world all the time, so I do not know everyone's names. Besides it's too late now and I only got you, so we will have to make do with that. Besides you have a part of the ten-tails within you, isn't that right?"
"Watch how you refer to me, human!" Kurama hissed in anger.
However Ryo showed no fear, smirking at the threat. "That kind of saying may have worked on the lower ones but I'm a Guardian, eight-tails…"
"I'm the nine-tails you idiot!"
Ryo blinked a few times, feeling like an idiot. Even Naruto sweat dropped from the idiocy of this so-called Guardian.
"Sh-shut up! It's just a one-time mistake!" Ryo retorted although it was clear to Kurama and Naruto that Ryo knew nothing of the beasts.
"Forget it… Anyway 'Guardian' what's the plan…? How do we stop from letting the bastard ten-tails from destroying the world?"
Naruto then had a thought pop into his mind. "Hei and will Kurama be fine? I mean… he is part of the ten-tails so if we go back into an alternate world… Will…"
"Don't worry, Kurama will still be Kurama. While it is true he is a part of the ten-tails of your current world, Kurama is still a being by itself. Therefore even if we reverse time and move into an alternate world, Kurama will still hold some memories of this previous world… although it might take some time for the two of you to remember.""
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well reversing time is not something us Guardians do, it is still an experimental-sort of technique. There may be some 'bugs' such as taking some time to recover your memories…" Ryo clarified.
Naruto and Kurama were silent for a moment before both burst out in anger.
"What's the point in turning back time if we might get back our memories too late!" Kurama roared.
"Yeah, then we won't be able to prepare ourselves for the upcoming events!" Naruto added in.
"Both of you, calm down…" Ryo said slowly although Kurama and Naruto ceased to listen. It took another two minutes before the two finally calmed down. "While it is true that it might take months, perhaps even years before the two of you regain your memories, I will be there watching over. Worst comes to the worst, I will train Naruto personally until he regains his memories so that he will still be strong by the time he becomes a… Genin is it?"
Naruto sweat dropped at Ryo's lack of knowledge of the ninja system. "You… you really don't watch over our world much, do you?"
"Can we drop that, please? Look this time I will be living in your world to make sure your world will be safe, so don't worry!" Ryo stated. After a moment, he took his sword from his back and touched the strange seal he had on the blade. "Alright, I'm going to reverse time now. Give me a minute."
Naruto and Kurama sighed but decided to trust Ryo. After all, their old world was probably now under the Eye of the Moons Plan by now and the only one they could trust right now was Ryo. However Naruto had to admit that with such a powerful ally by his side this time, he had no doubt they would succeed this time.
As for Kurama, he thought of how small he and Naruto actually were. He could not believe that they were part of just one world over probably thousands of other planets and how hundreds of Guardians were watching them.
Suddenly from the seal of Ryo's blade, a beam blue in color burst out of the seal and shot towards the gateway from where Ryo had dragged Naruto from. The beam penetrated through the door, leaving a trail of burnt marks and light. After a couple of seconds, the beam slowly faded away and once again, the strange black room was once again greeted with darkness.
"Alright it is done…" Ryo said softly and then looked at Naruto. "Are you ready for this?"
Naruto took a deep breath, recalling all of the good and bad memories he had in his life. He recalled all of the major events, his graduation from the academy, the death of the 3rd Hokage, meeting his father, mother and then the 4th ninja war. His great regret however was that he never truly confessed his true feelings to Haruno Sakura. He regretted he could not share an intimate moment in the previous world but he knew these feelings were too late. Now he hoped to change that with his second chance.
"I'm ready…" Naruto said with a look of determination in his face.
Ryo Azuma stared at Naruto for a moment and the look of determination that Naruto carried was something that Ryo liked. It was almost the same look that the Hiro had when he accepted his fate to stay in the world as the Rikoudo Sanin and passing on his role as a Guardian to Ryo Azuma. Ryo had to admit that Naruto was indeed a descendant of that Guardian.
"One last thing before we go Naruto…"
"What is it?"
"We only have one shot at this." Ryo stated plainly. "I can only reverse time this one time. If we fail, the world will be doomed. Each world can only be assigned a new Guardian every 700 years so there won't be another Guardian to take over this world for a very long time. We cannot fail, do you understand?"
Naruto merely gave a confident grin and raised a fist. "One chance is all I need to set things right!"
Ryo merely grinned before he nodded, urging for the two of them to enter the gateway. Ryo led the way, running towards the gateway while Naruto followed closely behind. Unlike the time when they entered the black room, this time when Naruto entered through the door, he was greeted by a bright light that blinded his vision. He could not see anything and he could not sense anything. As the seconds passed, he slowly lost control of his body and after that, he slowly lost his memories, not recalling everything that had transpired…
***Grassland***
Not far from Konoha, a couple of ninjas patrolling the area on an ordinary day. The sun was already close to setting and the ninjas were looking forward to a change in their shift. Two Konoha Jounins were chatting with one another to pass up the time, talking about their family lives when out of nowhere, a lightning suddenly blasted nearby, shocking the two Jounins despite their ninja reflexes.
"What the hell was that?!" One of them said in shock.
Before his friend could reply, another struck the land once more forcing the two Jounins to hop behind and even drawing their kunais. They knew this was not normal and prepared for something to occur. Then suddenly, a gateway appeared before them and a few seconds later, Ryo Azuma appeared through the gateway.
"Alright… Now where the hell am I…?" Ryo asked himself, surveying his surroundings when he noticed the two Jounins eyeing him suspiciously.
"Hei, can you tell me where I am?"
"Who are you?!" The Jounins asked, never lowering the kunai. "If you're hostile, we'll kill you before you can do anything!"
Ryo rolled his eyes and knew he had no time to waste. He was about to just walk away when he noticed the headband that the two Jounins were wearing and knew they were Konoha ninjas, the same headband that Naruto was wearing. He now knew he was at least close but now he needed to know where Naruto was.
"Hei, any of you know Naruto?" Ryo questioned.
"We have no obligation to answer that!" One of the Jounin replied. "Until you tell us what you're doing here, we won't let you go!"
Ryo realized this was not going to progress any further. "Listen, just take me to your leader… What's it called… Err… Hokage was it?"
"Like I said, we are not going anywhere until you tell us who you are and what you're doing here!" The Jounin on the right cried.
The other Jounin then added in, "Besides the Hokage is busy right now! His wife is going to go into labor so…"
"Shut up you idiot!" The Jounin hissed.
Ryo's eyes widened when he realized now where Naruto was. He had reversed time to when Naruto was going to be born so no doubt that Naruto was the Hokage's son. However he had no idea where the Hokage was and nor did he even know how he was going to find him. Still he at least had a clue so he needed to act now.
"Alright, thanks for the info. I'll just get to Konoha then…"
Ryo sprinted to his right, guessing that was where Konoha was since he could see a very large wall in the distance. However the moment Ryo ran away, the two Konoha Jounins quickly took action, not wanting to risk the safety of the village from being attacked by a stranger. Both Jounins tossed several shurikens and kunais towards Ryo.
Upon hearing the whistle of the ninja tools being thrown at him, Ryo sighed and stopped dead in his tracks. The Guardian quickly drew out his blade and blocked them all flawlessly with the large blade. One of the Konoha Jounins arrived first, leaping into the air with a new kunai drawn to attack Ryo.
Ryo quickly counter-attacked, spinning around with his blade drawn and fused his large sword with lightning. Ryo easily avoided the kunai swung at him and Ryo attacked, touching the blade of his sword gently on the Konoha ninja. The electricity on Ryo's blade moved towards the Konoha ninja and began electrocuting the man. It lasted two seconds but it was powerful enough to knock the man out, the Konoha Jounin's hair spiky and black from the burns.
"DIE!"
The other Konoha Jounin screamed, sprinting towards Ryo. The Guardian then raised his left arm and opened the palm of his hand. From his palm, he shot a lightning bolt towards the remaining Jounin. The bolt was so quick that the Jounin could not even avoid it, the bolt of lightning zapping the Jounin square in the chest and throwing him three meters backwards and immediately knocking the Jounin unconscious.
"Geez they were persistent." Ryo remarked but then turned serious once more. "Now I need to find Naruto before anything might happen."
***In a secret location***
The chamber echoed with the screams of Kushina Uzumaki in pain as she pushed for Naruto. The attendants continued to encourage her while Minato had a worried expression but he too encouraged her with whatever words came to mind. After a couple grueling minutes, Naruto was finally delivered and the attendant wrapped Naruto in a blanket.
"It's a healthy boy!" The attendant announced along with the cries of Naruto.
Minato wiped tears of joy upon the safe delivery of his son. "I… I'm a father…!"
Kushina was still exhausted but she could finally see her son that she had carried for nine months. Naruto was still bawling his eyes out but to her, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. As the attendant carried Naruto next to her, Kushina looked at Naruto with loving eyes.
"Naruto…" Kushina said while panting heavily. "I… finally get to see you…"
However Minato knew that he could not enjoy the moment right now. He had another important task that he had to do and Kushina knew what it was. The two immediately began preparations to strengthened the seal once more. However they never got far when two screams echoed the chamber and a second later, two dead bodies lay on the floor.
"Biwako! Taji!" Minato exclaimed in shock.
Before Minato and Kushina was a stranger with a mask with one-hole for his right eye. The stranger doned a black cloak which covered all of his body and in his hands was Naruto.
The stranger then said with a threatening voice. "Yondaime Hokage Minato… Step away from the host… If you don't this child won't live a minute longer…!"
Minato and Kushina could barely register what was going on as the stranger threatened the life of their precious baby.
*CHAPTER END*
BAM! The incident of when Obito attacked Minato! What will happen? Can Ryo help in anyway...? Will Minato and Kushina fall in this alternate timeline? Find out in the next chapter!
