Location unknown, Date unknown.
We all had teleported out of the basement and found ourselves outside in a mountainous region with green valleys as far as the eye could see. The gentle breeze moved through my fur while I sat next to Hagoromo-sensei and watched my siblings spread out to explore their surroundings, some sparring with each other over small disputes. Gyuki and Son Goku were off to the side and conversing about where they wanted to go, Isobu, Matatabi, and Kokuo were watching a fight breaking out between Shukaku and Saiken, and Chomei was bouncing around, looking at everything in childish awe.
"It isn't over, is it?" I inquired quietly, and Hagoromo smiled at me peacefully.
"No, it is not...this is just the beginning for you," Hagoromo stated and I chewed on that for a while until I decided to ask him for the truth about where I was.
"How come you never showed me a map of this place?" I asked and Hagoromo shifted with an uncomfortable expression on his face.
"Because I was afraid...I'm afraid of a lot of things, Alex. I am afraid of the wars this world will face, afraid for my two sons, I am afraid for you all...being afraid is humane and a little fear is what shapes us. You, in particular since you have lost those you've cared about after ending up here suddenly. Losing family...is losing a part of yourself," Hagoromo stated and I sighed tiredly.
"You're not wrong...but it still doesn't answer my question," I pointed out.
"What if this world is unlike the one you remember? What will you do if you do not recognize anything? If you come to the conclusion that here, there is no human family ahead of you? There is nothing?" Hagoromo inquired slowly and cautiously.
"If my family died out, I would stay with their descendants," I declared after some careful consideration.
"If there were none?" Hagoromo asked which took me by surprise.
"I..." I trailed off, not having an answer to that.
"Over the years, I had come to a sketchy conclusion as to how you are here. There was once a myth that different worlds exist in many planes of reality..." Hagoromo trailed off quietly.
I didn't know where he was going with this since I was never a spiritual man, and I had never calculated the possibility that reincarnation existed before I died...but I was here, so anything could be possible.
"Have you ever dreamed of a world so vividly clear?" Hagoromo asks suddenly and I lowered my head in thought.
"Yes," I answered truthfully and questioned, "Are you saying that all of this is nothing more than a coma dream?"
"No...have you ever heard the term 'astral projection'?" Hagoromo inquired.
"I've...heard of it. Supposedly, there is a method where you are able to project yourself out of your own body and explore different planes of existence," I explained.
"Correct...on occasion, it can happen spontaneously when you are asleep or meditating. The consciousness divides itself from the body and enters different astral planes. Now, the consciousness usually goes and wanders around the same world you are in, but it is different in some cases," Hagoromo stated.
"How so?" I asked curiously.
"There are thousands of parallel worlds that weave in and out of your own timeline," Hagoromo said.
"I...do not understand, Sensei," I said in confusion, though I felt a chill run down my spine as I listened and hoped that he wasn't going to say what I thought he was saying.
"Think of it as the threads of a very long braid. Let's say that where you come from, you have a yellow string and where I come from I have a red one. Now, the yellow string is moving in a straight line...I know it isn't but for simplicity's sake, let us say it is. Eventually, because it is a braid, the red string will loop over it," Hagoromo told me.
"Okay...I think I am beginning to understand, so what you are saying is that's where time crosses?" I inquired.
"Precisely. However, different worlds cannot simply combine since it would interfere with the laws of space, but they can overlap. When the yellow and red strings cross, the border between worlds becomes very thin," Hagoromo explained and I started stroking the bottom of my muzzle thoughtfully.
"Interesting...so theoretically a thousand different worlds cross over us at different time intervals?" I wondered.
"You're catching on quickly...good," Hagoromo complimented me.
"So, you're saying that I'm from a different world? All this time you've never shown me a map to confirm it?" I questioned skeptically.
"A soul can be very delicate after a loss...I did not want you to go mad with grief," Hagoromo admitted.
"So instead you lied to me all these years. Wouldn't it have been better if you had informed me of this information in the first place?" I inquired with a sharp tone, my eyes narrowed in anger.
"Perhaps I would have if you had been reborn as a human...but you had taken the body of a Tailed Beast, and a powerful one at that," Hagoromo stated.
"What the hell do you mean by 'taken' exactly?" I demanded crossly and Hagoromo sighed tiredly, looking much older than he currently was.
"When you were dying from blood loss, you were scared, confused, and alone. My theory is that when your soul was separated from your body, it panicked. Using what was left of its diminishing Chi energy, it crossed into this world and anchored itself into the strongest body it could find...making up for the weak essence in spirit," Hagoromo clarified.
"So...you're saying that I possessed this body and merged with its conscious, destroying the original and taking over completely?" I asked in disbelief.
"Unconsciously...I truly doubt that you meant to come at all," Hagoromo agreed, nodding somberly.
"If you are right...how often do worlds cross twice?" I inquired tentatively after going over the information for a long time.
"Thousands of years...if not millions," Hagoromo told me grimly and I felt my world shatter from hearing that.
"Fuck..." I trailed off quietly while lowering my head, my claws digging into the ground and my ears flattening in despair.
Unwilling tears welled up as I considered how Hagoromo-sensei was probably right about waiting for the right time to tell me the cruel harsh truth...I had settled into this new life and come to terms with my new form, even though it made me uneasy at times. If he had told me earlier about the truth, I would've never accepted it myself and could've snapped from grief and despair. It was never easy when you lose people you care about, but losing everything you knew and having the knowledge that you could never get it back makes hell seem like paradise. While I was grieving from this new harsh reality that was shown to me, Hagoromo-sensei didn't pat me on the arm, console me, look at me with pity and didn't even say anything...he just remained quiet until I was done crying from this huge loss I had just experienced.
"What...do I do now? Where do I go and how do I find my place in this world?" I questioned quietly.
"You find a new path, a new way of life. Search for a reason to awaken in the morning. Like your siblings, someone will one day show you how to live your life with arms wide open," Hagoromo said wisely as he gestured to my siblings.
"I have paws, Sensei," I quipped weakly, still trying to process that I had lost everything I've ever cared about.
"True, but you have strength," Hagoromo stated, his purple ringed eyes twinkling with faith and hope.
"Heh...I don't feel strong," I muttered sorrowfully.
"You just have to find it then mold that strength to your liking. You will learn, I know it," Hagoromo assured me which made me feel a little bit better.
After that, we settled into a comfortable silence for a while, watching the sun starting to plunge beyond the horizon and the sky turning to a dark red.
"You know...nothing is more difficult than seeing friends die. The worst part...is having to bury them and tell their families what had happened. It never gets any easier," I said suddenly and Hagoromo nodded in agreement.
"How do you achieve peace?" Hagoromo asked out of the blue and I chewed over the question, feeling like I was being tested.
What was true peace? People fought wars over their opinion of peace, but that was contradictory. So, was it that was the stronger of the two that won the battle was their reason the true meaning of peace? I frowned at that since that didn't make sense...that was like saying if Hitler won the war my grandfather fought in, he would bring peace and mercy to the world. So what was peace? How do you achieve peace? Was there ever a true meaning to peace? It was in human nature to cause conflict ever since we discovered the killing power of rock and bone back in the stone age. I frowned as I recalled being in war and how it changes you either for the best or worst. I knew that there were people out there who wanted me dead for being an American in my past life or being a Tailed Beast now, but two opinions...both sides fighting for a single cause their leader tells them. Deception, death, torture, was it all necessary if humankind could put aside their differences?
"But what would make them put aside their differences? You could have power, but the wrong reasons. You could have the right reasons but hardly any power, so isn't the answer is that you must have a reason that binds everyone together, and you must have the power to do so?" I wondered aloud and Hagoromo smiled as he caught my train of thought, nodding at me.
"You are stronger than you realize, Alex. I know that conflict will start up again after I'm gone and I trust that you will find a way to bring humankind together again...I thought I could bring true peace by giving humanity the knowledge of chakra, but I was young and foolish...now I know that the reason why humanity worked together is that they all had a reason to. But now that the reason is gone, this temporary peace will disappear and bloody conflict will start up again. I have had temples built for you and your siblings so that you all can protect them and be protected in return...but those consumed with greed and power will come for you all for your power and one day a great calamity will befall this world. A prophecy was foretold to me long ago that an individual with bright blue eyes will bring about a miracle to the world...I hope you find that person one day Alex and that you two will finally bring true peace to this world," Hagoromo told me calmly while I listened and stewed over the information I had learned.
My siblings and I were being sent to live in temples so that we could protect them from the world, but people with evil intentions will eventually hunt down my siblings and I for our power and to use us as weapons in their wars...the most interesting thing is this prophecy about a person with bright blue eyes who'll manage to bring true peace to this world. I didn't know if this was true...but if this person does exist, then I can only imagine how interesting he or she will be and only time will tell if or when my siblings and I will meet this Person Of Prophecy that was foretold.
"These temples, where are they?" I inquired curiously.
"They are in different regions around the world and the one I'm sending you to is in the North, in a forested region surrounded by a mountainous zone," Hagoromo explained and I nodded.
I looked at my siblings, seeing them doing their own thing and knowing that it was going to be a rough road for us after Father passes on from this world but I needed to stay strong for their sake or there will be no hope for anything in this world.
A/N Finished. Now, what did you think about this chapter? I hope you liked it. I'm still struggling on how Alex should interact with Mito, Kushina, and Naruto so a little help would be nice. I want to ask you all something. How do you think about Alex finding a way out of Naruto's seal temporarily so that he could fight alongside Team Seven throughout the series? If you all have any suggestions or ideas on how that would work, I would love to hear them. If that's all, stay tuned.