Chapter 1: Awakening
By: DragoonMen
'Human Thinking'
"Human Speaking"
Technique/Jutsu Use
'Bijū/Non-Human Thinking'
"Bijū/Non-Human Talking"
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me so don't bother.
Published: 04/Dec/2020
New Modern Era Arc
95 Years After Hidden Village System
—Land of Fire—
Hi no Kuni Countryside
"How did it came to this?" Naruto wondered with sadness. A depression that lately had been afflicting him.
He stood across the battlefield that formed the extinct country of the Land of Fire but he was by no means alone.
Jigen stood before him. The millennia-old man proved to be too much for him and Sasuke. An opponent that —dare he say— was more powerful than Kaguya could ever hope to be.
"Why remain fighting?..." The stern voice of the man that had caused all this suffering resounded in the silent wasteland.
"When everything else is gone." He inquired to Naruto, wanting to know what drove the so called "Strongest Shinobi of the Era" to push forward even when he knew that all was lost.
"I can't..." Naruto closed his eyes with a tiredness that he have never felt in his entire life, finding the will to open them once again too hard for him.
Jigen pressed on with his little interrogation, hoping to break the weary 'Kami no Shinobi' before him verbally. A task that no man, not even Pain could do.
"Yes-yes you can." He assured him.
"All the Shinobi in this world are dead and those who refused to abandon their violent ways will join them soon." He spouted, letting the fact sink into the head of the Number One Most Unpredictable Ninja.
"Your friend Sasuke will not be here to save you this time." Naruto trembled slightly at the look Jigen was sending him but did not show it too much.
His best friend had left begrudgingly after he had ordered him to do so, knowing that both of their deaths would crush the fighting spirit of the remaining Shinobi. That bastard better find a way to stop this madman or else his sacrifice would be for naught. He could only hope for the best.
"Only one of you could survive. Why did you let him?" Jigen asked with curiosity. The fact that Naruto could have fled the battle and left Sasuke in his place piqued his interest when the former is practically the 'face' of the resistance.
"Someone has to continue leading the battle against you." Naruto retorted, little specks of blood flying from his mouth and painting his new blond beard with dots of red.
"Either way, help will not arrive. Not this time." Jigen notified, hoping that the notion would put a damper to the Uzumaki's drive to renew the confrontation, defused him from trying to fight.
"You are dying, you should turn on your tail like a dog and run. Are you that naive?" The Ōtsutsuki sneered at him, his mirthless chuckles breaking the short silence for a while.
"It's not over until I say so." The Kyūbi jailer responded with determination.
Jigen did not look convinced by that however. "Mmm..."
"I promised to everyone to defeat you and I never go back on my word. That's my Ninja way." Tears streamed steadily from Naruto's eyes as he recited those words by heart, remembering the faces of the fallen that had placed their hopes in him to win. He had to do it, if not for him, for them.
"A promise that you will never hope to fulfill." He felt another Chakra rod stab him on his heart. Jigen strange abilities were tricky to say the least. Powers that he had never seen before.
"Kit, we have lost. You have to leave now." Kurama urged him, throwing his head down in defeat. He had little reserves of Chakra and they were emptying out by healing the mortal wounds inflicted on his partner.
Naruto grasped the Chakra rod with both hands and with a grunt he began to put it out of his body flesh until he sported a new hole on his chest.
"I will tell you this Nanadaime-sama, run. Run and don't look back. Allow me to prove you that your words are just that-meaningless words." Jigen was not fazed by the blond's show of a strong will, treating the grotesque scene as a walk-through-the-park kind of thing.
"You will never defeat me. You know it but you are too stubborn to admit it. I will let you escape to prove you that your Nindo is nothing but a lie." Jigen began to separate from the ground, reaching the sky in seconds, giving the Uzumaki room to run off.
"Then let me correct that!" Naruto shouted as he extended his palm where a Rasenshuriken formed and was instantly sent in the enemy's direction.
Jigen put his hand forward, facing the Rasenshuriken. "Foolish to the end." The attack was caught by Jigen and absorbed via his hand.
After absorbing the Kage's technique, Jigen spoke. "Let's see if you aren't going to run after this." Jigen said calmly as ever.
The man in the air produced a massive Chakra Ball which looked as if the moon was now in the hand of the marked man, throwing it right to the ground, knowing that the radius of the explosion would be unavoidable, even to the blond. The sphere impacted, painting everything in white.
Naruto felt the attack make contact with the earth and shivered. He knew that this was the end and had he been in another time he would have face it head-on, proving to everyone that his Nindo would always ring true and that he never backed down against any challenge. That he would die a hero's death, true to his words and ideals, inspiring the newer generations to continue the fighting against the alien threat.
But Naruto peered at his back at that moment and he froze. A mistake.
He saw all of them. Boruto, Himawari and Hinata waving at him, next to them were Iruka and Kakashi also saluting him. He could see every one of his precious people, all of them smiling. Some of them now stood among the dead.
He could see all of the Konoha Twelve along with their families smiling and gesturing in his direction, beckoning to him to meet them. To join them.
'Like if they are giving their farewell to me' It was a hallucination, probably caused by his fatigue.
Naruto turned to the fighting ground once more, the attack from Jigen was increasing in size, consuming everything on his path. He watched as the attack got nearer and nearer to him at a fair velocity.
'I-I can't do this' Naruto thought with fear, his body already moving on its own, trying to put as much distance between him and the seeming anti-matter bomb that Jigen had deployed.
He began to stagger slowly, his body hurting to levels that no human could endure.
"Run Naruto, run!" He heard Jigen shout at him in a joking manner, regaling the fighting as a child's play.
Naruto kept going forward, even a blind man could see the limp in his gait, a clear sign that told that he should not be moving anytime soon.
"I won't make it." The Uzumaki muttered. The white light poured over his shoulder, telling him silently that his end was right behind his back and approaching fast.
'I need to go faster' His staggering slowly turned into a normal stroll, albeit his speed just increased by little, whizzing with every single step like an obese man would do after running for a mile.
The blinding light from behind became more dazzling and now he could hear as the earth behind crumble, making his adrenaline release into his body like a flood. The fear of dying bolstering his body, seeking for anything to help him get out of this one.
'Faster!' He forced his pace to accelerate, running like wind as blood droplets from his wounds fell into the earth like a steady rain.
'Mooore!' He sprinted through the land, slowly putting a minimal distance with the sphere of light, slowly outrunning it.
"I need to survive. Boruto and Himawari... they need me." He whizzed with each syllable.
After Hinata's death in the first days after Jigen declared a surprise war on all Shinobi of Earth, Naruto had been left with the burden of his children. If he died, then they would be left orphaned. He refused to abandon them.
'Like me...' He vowed to Kami that he would never let his children to know the pain of loneliness that he suffered when he was a kid, to face their future alone. Never.
Dust was raised as the Naruto Uzumaki stopped running and started becoming a yellow blur, his clothes smoking with the air friction.
Jigen watched as yellow lightning began to envelop the body of the Seventh Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato thanks to his Byakugan. The alleged Ōtsutsuki was perplexed with this new development even after seeing the Uzumaki's Ultimate Tailed Beast Mode. A form that had left him severely weakened but not enough to beat him.
"I have to come home..." Naruto coughed. Memories of his former village began to flood his head. His precious home village that was now reduced to a smoking desert reminded him of the happy times that he would never get to know, not after this.
Even if he defeated Jigen, the dead would never come back. He would never get to kiss his wife. Nothing would remain the same. If he managed to pull this out, that is.
"Run Naruto, run!" The words of the raven-haired menace were shouted again in mockery but they struck a chord inside his head, the fear of dying and leaving his kids behind making his legs move faster, becoming a blur. Not caring anymore for upholding his promise to never run from a fight.
His eyesight was becoming null thanks to the blood loss and exhaustion but the blond continued running, like if his legs had a mind of their own, never giving up.
The lightning arching over the last Hokage of Konoha began to get brighter, his clothes slowly burning and brushing off his body.
Inside the blond man, the awakening of a long lost Kekkei Genkai came out at last due to his bearer moment of need.
He had ultimately put his body in a situation where the strain that his body was in was too much —even for a Jinchūruki— that it finally called for it. He had finally gained his birthright at last.
Suddenly, a vortex materialized in front of Naruto and in just a millisecond it disappeared, along with the Uzumaki man.
Jigen blinked still floating after not seeing the Kage-level Shinobi anymore and when he opened his eyes again he was met with an apocalyptic view.
In Naruto's last known location an explosion ensured, spreading all over the area in an orange fashion.
The alien possessed man could feel the waves of energy radiating from the epicenter where the explosion erupted and began to fly to the atmosphere. This was no Chakra technique at all.
The tsunami of light continued its relentless march all over the surface of the earth and beyond, encompassing everything.
In a far location, Sasuke who had left the battle with Jigen per Naruto orders watched as a strange mantle of energy reached the castle where the Shinobi Union had made it his headquarter to continue the resistance against the mass murderer that had put the Elemental Nations in jeopardy.
Sasuke and all Ninja were washed away by the light as all people left on Earth gazed with fascination and fear as the light took them upon its mantle.
Jigen in outer space witnessed as the explosion instead of stopping after gulping down the planet started to reach into the space beyond.
The Ōtsutsuki man did not move anymore, knowing that it was pointless. He could flee of course, but endlessly it would be a humiliation. A punishment fit for a being like him but one he did not wish to kowtow to.
Whatever Naruto had done some minutes ago was something that he had never seen in all his eons of life. A massive wave of energy that rivalled those of black holes heading into all corners of the Universe. He could feel it.
"I will not give you the enjoyment of seeing me flee." Jigen said to no one in particular, hoping that if Naruto was watching him, he would know that he would never make him rout back.
The blond man had somehow managed to turn the tables against him but he would not run. He would take it, whatever it was.
So, the black-haired man stood idly as whatever Naruto had done raced to meet him, knowing that it was pointless to run from it.
'I won...' That was the last thought that Jigen had before the light took him in. He would never know that he would be the last person in the Solar System that would witness such event.
The Flashpoint
OoOoOoO
—Cosmic Treadmill—
Blue lights like thunderbolts circled Naruto like a tunnel, endlessly forward and behind.
A never-ending path.
The flashes of all colors speed through his form like bullets but never damaging him.
Due to the blood loss, the eyesight of Naruto began to diminish so he could not bear witness to the magnificent display of the Time and Space rupture that he has just created, only use it.
His clothes were long gone due to the incredible speed that he was using, melting from his body like wax and leaving him in his birthday suit minutes ago.
Even with his momentary blindness, he continued to run as the memory of the good old days hit him. His memories taking his mind to a time where he wished he could live again while his legs were hellbent on escaping a threat that he had long evaded.
Said scene inside his head began to manifest before him erratically, setting the destination point unconsciously. A breach in reality and time.
And at that moment, Naruto went through it like a knife.
OoOoOoO
—Land of Fire—
Unknown Location
Night settled over the land as the cicadas living through the forests of Hi no Kuni buzzed in their leaves, giving the wilderness a peaceful tune of natural music. The wind howled as the gale traveled the land, cooling the usually hot climate that was so standard of the Land of Fire.
The insects and animals in these parts suddenly felt a strange sensation as the air began to stink with a faint scent of ozone.
The animals left the area where this was transpiring quickly before they were trapped in whatever their sixth sense told them was an imminent danger.
A vortex opened in the clearing of this unknown forest where a figure suddenly exited it like a bullet, crashing into the pond below, sending water up like a fountain.
Naruto stopped his legs from running when he felt water start to pour into his lungs, flailing his hand desperately upwards to crave for the so needed air.
Naruto swam upwards, he did not need his eyes to know that the surface was there. In seconds, he reached it.
"Oooh!" Deep breaths rang through the night. Naruto clawed his way out of the water and into the sand so slow that it contrasted with whatever he had done moments ago horribly.
He turned on his back once he felt the water reach his feet only, vomiting water from his mouth and feeling sore in all places.
'I must have plunged into a lake' It was a fair point and not one so far fetched from the truth.
His fatigue bested him and he passed out, naked on the shore of the pond, letting the mosquitoes nearby made a feast of him.
The moonlight fell on him, sunbathing him in its light. Naruto slumbered on the ground peacefully, unaware of what just happened.
His face was facing the sky and stars, the moon that stood above him was one that he had never witnessed before but he would never know about it. Not right now.
OoOoOoO
Miyagi Keisuke was having a wonderful day. The Fire Daimyō was finally releasing some of the taxes that were imposed on when the war began to help their nation survive the conflict, meaning that he could now relax and stop working his lands like a stupid ox and treat himself some well deserved time for him.
The aged man was practicing Tai Chi, a martial art that hailed from the Distant Lands across the Land of Water. The old man found that the practices of the katas gave his mind and body a type of relief. He was by no means a fighter but learning a type of Taijutsu was not unwelcome.
'Perhaps I could have become a Ninja' The old man chuckled at the idea, imagining a Leaf headband on his forehead.
"Nah." He mumbled, resuming his session. The idea of him ever becoming a Leaf nin was ludicrous.
The man breathed and repeated, adopting all of the stances and postures incredibly well, the fresh air of the morning colliding against him due to his location on the rooftop of his home.
However, like all things, it has to come to an end, abruptly might I say.
"What in the world?" Keisuke asked to himself. He watched as a blond mane of hair stumbled upon his crops from his rooftop, a bright mop of hair swimming in the tall rice fields, hiding the trespasser from his view.
Mr. Miyagi narrowed his eyes. "Hey!" He shouted, the moving mop of hair halting his odd antics.
"This is private property!" The old man finished but the stranger did not leave the area, rather he went in his direction.
"Hey!" Keisuke called out once again but his voice fell on deaf ears.
"Stop it!" Several splashes in the water pools of the crops could be heard now meaning that the trespasser was now near his house.
"Don't..." The senior man descended from his roof, grabbing his cane on the way, ready to use it to defend his home if necessary.
OoOoOoO
Naruto was stumbling with the rice roots on his path. After he woke up, he began to walk aimlessly much like a drunk but not because he was an alcoholic.
The fight with Jigen had left him dizzy, the damage he had taken was not something that he could brush off like a simple scrape, even for a Jinchūriki like him.
He had been walking for who knows how long until his ears heard a voice in a distance. He began to walk in the direction to where said sounds were coming, trying to follow it so he could get some help. His vision was blurry but he could still hold his own, maybe.
Finally, after leaving the sea of green leaves that were plaguing him and slapping his face, he found himself face-to-face with a blurry man, swinging some kind of stick crazily in front of him in a funny manner.
Naruto watched with wide eyes as the man before appeared to be saying something to him, the voice just ringed on his ears, making no sense whatsoever.
"Help me..." Naruto whispered, reaching for him with one of his arms, invading his private space.
Thud!
The stick hit him on his head.
'Asshole!' The blond could not help it, the stupid man had knocked him out when he just wanted his help.
OoOoOoO
"Hey..." Naruto frowned when he felt a hand rock him, slapping it away like a fly.
"Leave me alone." He hushed to him, trying to sleep once again, whatever place he was resting was really cozy.
The hand began to annoy him once more. "Wake up, young man." A soft voice talked to him.
'Young?' He was in his thirties for Kami's sake, he was no younger than his Oba-chan. May Kami help her found her way to the Pure Lands, angry as she might be.
"Mmmm..." The blond opened his eyes groggily, meeting the face of a grey-haired old man.
"What happened?" Naruto rubbed his eyes, getting a view of his surroundings that he found himself in.
"Good, you are awake." The senior man handed him a cup of water which he almost tore it off from the helping hand.
Naruto pinned down the glass of water until little drops where all that remain inside the piece of ceramic.
"Where I am?" He wiped with his arm any excess of water that could be in his pink lips, trying to get up from the bed with the other.
The old man pushes him down again before the youngster hurt himself even more. "Slow down, will you. I am trying to explain that to you."
However, Old Keisuke did not take into consideration that Naruto would grab him by his shirt and demanded him to do it now. "Where is him?!"
"Who?"
"Jigen!" The Uzumaki yelled like if he was dumb for not knowing that.
"Who is that?" Naruto would have face fall into the floor if he was not on bed at hearing such question. Everyone knew who Jigen was by now.
"Haven't you heard of him? He is the bringer of the end of times!" The injured blond exclaimed.
However, Miyagi looked at him with disapproval. "By Kami, that is why I don't drink. Alcohol kill your neurons, you know..."
"Stop that! I am no drunk." Naruto ignored the subtle accusations from the old fart.
"Then why were you parading naked around my fields?" Keisuke crossed his arms over his chest, expecting an answer. A smug expression on his sagged face.
"Naked?" He grabbed the sheet covering him and raised it up a little, feeling a light breeze on that place. Not a single piece of fabric covering him.
"Ohhh..."
"Oh indeed. Who are you?" Naruto seemed reluctant to answer the question which the older of the two noticed.
Mr. Miyagi cleared out his throat and spoke. "Let me start first. My name is Keisuke Miyagi, and yours is...?" He left room for the answer, hoping to lure him out of his shell.
"Naruto..." He muttered but the man managed to catch it before it dispelled.
He quirked an eye at him. "Naruto? What a strange name." The senior scratched his bearded chin in curiosity. "Did your parents really call you after a ramen topping?"
Naruto rolled his eyes at the jape. "No, it is supposed to mean maelstrom, you prick."
The old man did not buy it. "Sure, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night."
The man pressed on, wanting to know the reason that this young lad was walking naked and directionless in his land. "But really, what were you doing before I found you?"
"..."
"Were you celebrating?" He started throwing out his theories for such situation.
"Like what?" Really, what there was to celebrate. All the Ninjas on Earth were dead, not a reason to feast and make merry.
"Really, have you been living under a rock too?" He sounded almost as if he was making fun of him for his ignorance.
"Pardon me for not being the gossip type of guy, please." Naruto said sarcastically.
"I forgive you." The old man chuckled, if he did notice the sarcasm in his sentence or not Naruto did not know.
The old man tried again. "But really, were you drinking because of the news or not?" He said seriously this time, breaking his easy-going facade.
"About what?!"
"The war, sleepyhead. The war is over. Happy days." He mocked him but albeit gave him his answer.
Naruto's mouth was open in confusion, trying to formulate an intelligent response to that. "Uh oh... the fifth one?" The old man roared with laughter making the blond fume in anger.
"So you did not know how to count too? Must be a bad thing being you, poor man." The man enjoyed the look that the bedridden boy was sending him but he felt for him.
'You have no idea...'
"I am serious."
"The Third one of this continent. Kami forbids another one from breaking out, at least while I am still alive." He meant that, wartime was a hard time for everyone.
Naruto jumped at that. "The Third Shinobi War?!"
"Yes, yes. Are you sure that you are not injured or deaf?" Keisuke asked him, rubbing his own ears.
"No-noo. I am just shocked that is."
"Well, you shouldn't be... it's been like a month after that happened. Gone are the days where the excitement was high."
Naruto nodded, looking around him inside the house once more. "Where I am?"
"You are in our village. It's not much I know but hey, it's home." He welcome him into his community.
"No no. You don't get it. What country I am in?" Naruto looked at him straight in the eye.
"Ohhh, a wanderer too?" Naruto did not laugh at his sneaky remark so the grey-haired man dropped the subject quickly.
"You are in Fire Country, son."
Almost instantly, Naruto started questioning him. "Who is the current Hokage?"
"That would be Lord Third. Hiruzen Sarutobi." Naruto's heart skipped a beat when he heard that name. His Jiji-san was alive. Words could not describe how happy he was.
Mr. Miyagi continued after seeing the strange happy expression on the stray he had brought home. "But not for much longer. I heard that there is a new successor to his title..." Naruto could not believe what he was hearing, his eyes widening, threatening to spill out of their sockets.
'No, it's impossible...'
"A pretty lad. I heard that he killed an entire battalion of Iwa Shinobi by his lonesome self. His name is Mi-." He did not get to say the full name yet before he was cut short by the boy.
"Minato Namikaze."
"So you are not so hopeless after all."
Naruto ignored the remark, going in for the matter ahead. "Am I right?"
"You are." The senior nodded.
"I need to leave." Naruto said to the man. He could not lose more time. After all, a world of probabilities was right in front of him. He could make things right before they even started, correct his timeline to make an even better one.
"And go where exactly?" Keisuke inquired to the seemingly homeless lad.
"Home..." With Shinobi reflexes he stood up from the bed.
Mr. Miyagi looked at him awkwardly. "Well, you will need some pants to do that." He chose to not look down, averting his gaze from that particular area.
"Oh..." Naruto blushed and covered himself, wondering if he truly deserved to be Hokage with the clumsiness that seemed to plague him wherever he went.
"Oh indeed." Mr. Miyagi went to his closet to search for spare clothes, surely he could give the boy something to stop embarrassing himself from everyone around.
End of Chapter
A/N: The story is beginning so give it a chance.
I inspired myself from the movies about Flashpoint and the Paradox, hoping to put some ideas inside the story.
Don't get too close to Miyagi because he won't around for much longer, just for this intro. I tried to break the cycle of Naruto always being found by Konoha and being interrogated just for appearing out of nowhere.
I will tell you this, I will go for the sneaky type of history, one where Naruto won't give himself away to his parents like an idiot. So if you were hoping that Naruto would spill the things right away, then you are in for a disappointment from myself.
I will try to find a decent match for Naruto because I am no fan of Loli and it would be weird trying to pair to Hinata when she is still in her father's body lol.
Also if you were wondering why Miyagi keeps calling Naruto a young man. Stay and find out in next chapter.
See you soon.
DragoonMen