Yup I posted two chapters too a new story at once, and chapter three is in the editing phase but I started slipping in my editing, so I decided to let it wait until tomorrow.
That said the only thing I want to do is thank HareTaSora for being a real pal and proofreading these chapters, and more than that just being a good friend in general check his stuff out it's all really great!
Now enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think!
Naruto awoke with much less fanfare this time. There was no confusion.
There was no forgetting what had happened
A heavy emptiness, a familiar emptiness settled in his chest
"The hero would be lying if he said he forgot what it felt like, the soul crushing feeling of being well and truly alone, it was an empty pit without comfort or light, if ever there was a hell for the heart it was loneliness the ultimate and truest connection all hearts have with death an endless abyss that many who experience it drown in…"
Naruto didn't bother shouting at the voice or even responding he stood up…because fuck that, fuck just giving up, images flashed across his mind's eye his parents, Jiraiya, Iruka-sensei, his team, old man third, Konohamaru, Teuchi and Ayame, Bii, Gaara, the Biju, Gamakichi and the other toads, Haku, Neij and the rest of his comrades how the hell would he face them if he just laid down and died?
He was somewhere right…somewhere was somewhere and that meant he could eventually go somewhere else…he needed to MOVE no matter how badly it hurt.
He ignored the tears that bit at the corners of his eyes, scrubbing them away. He took a deep breath…in…and out…in…and out…good.
So, he walked…he wasn't sure for how long but eventually he no longer saw anything remotely familiar.
But it remained greyed out, damaged and cracked, remnants of worlds that once were he wondered where exactly he was, he wondered how many 'worlds' were out there…how many had suffered the same fate as his…
"The question lingered in the heroes mind, the implication were there more beings like Kaguya, how would he fight them…no…if there were…he would fight them…and he wouldn't lose no one deserved to suffer as his world, as these worlds have he'd get stronger limits were nothing before him he'd broken them before shattered them taken a blade to fate's eyes before and he'd do it again as many times as he needed too."
"Finally saying something I agree with you damn voice…" Naruto muttered grumpily, still annoyed at the voice in general if not out and out spiteful towards it in general.
But that raised a question quickly falling into a lotus position he began meditating.
He frowned there were nine orbs for lack of a better word flowing in his chakra network bijuu chakra he couldn't use them directly, but this meant the gifts open to jinchuuriki from their bijuu were available to him.
But that raised another question, how was his chakra control…a brief faint flare and he sighed in relief it was solid hell it was still perfect…what about his six paths sage powers though?
A flare of intense pain raced up his arm and forced him out of meditation a scream was wrenched from his throat as he fell forward onto his hands and knees dry heaving falling onto his side he shuddered
"F-fuck…well…that's out of the question…gonna…gonna need a minute…"
As He recovered, he didn't just lay blankly waiting for the echoes of pain and nausea to fade, he still had the power of his past life, but something was wrong…
He felt like he already knew that though, but how he did he wasn't sure why
But it didn't matter next was sage mode.
Returning to his meditative position he instantly knew it wasn't going to happen…the natural energy in this…wherever he was didn't exist in a malleable form…in fact it didn't FEEL natural at all like a thick syrup that flowed like a drenched groggy sloth unsure if it even wanted to move it was like it was drifting in and out of sleep.
"Well…so much for that…that leaves-" with a stray thought and a flash of light, the so-called Keyblade reappeared in his right hand he frowned looking at it but sighed no point not using everything at his disposal to get stronger.
"not much of a sword guy…but I guess I can learn as I go…whatever this keyblade thing is, it's powerful feels like shark-face's samehada times a hundred… but...less alive at the same time…way less… which makes figuring out how to use it way harder…whatever I saw Bii and Sasuke use swords…and I mean Itachi could go from not using a sword to using one with his Susanoo and so could Kakashi-sensei so shouldn't be too hard to get the hang off…right?" the whisker cheeked blond shinobi questioned himself.
Deciding rather than continue walking to who knows where and who knows what he'd take the seeming strangeness of this place and the fact he was fairly sure he'd been walking for several days and didn't feel any hunger, thirst, or exhaustion so why not abuse that fact to train his ass off without break?
So, train his ass off he did.
First thing first he needed to get the hang of fighting with a sword, so he summoned shadow clones…and instantly noted that known of them had a keyblade
But he and a hundred shadow clones brainstorming on a solution finally checked the pouches on his chaps.
And he blinked kunai, shuriken, ninja wire, exploding tags, smoke bombs, flash bombs and even senbon in seemingly infinite amounts of all those things in the top two pouches of his chaps.
The bottom right pouch held something that put a stop to his training.
His mementos, his head band first of all, Jiraiya's books including the tale of the utterly gutsy shinobi.
The toad sealing scroll.
He didn't even question HOW these pouches seemed to work without any clear seal work act like a master level sealing scroll that was somehow constantly active
There was more, pictures…of everyone…pictures he recognized and lots he didn't…like one of his parents, his mom obviously pregnant, standing with his dad who was happily holding her massive smiles on both of their faces and Jiraiya behind them grinning like a loon giving them both bunny ears.
He broke down at that one.
For a kid who'd only gotten to meet his parents through miraculous fantastical circumstances it was the greatest gift he could ever be given, combine it with his mentor and godfather who he had barely gotten a chance to mourn before the war…and not a soul worth a damn could blame him for doing as he did.
It took a bit for him to get back to work sorting through the still seemingly full pouch.
He also found his shinobi alliance headband…and Jiraiya's signature Headband.
Alongside something He was sure he'd lost Tsunade's necklace!
He wasted no time putting that one on
He then tied all three headbands onto his right shoulder and blinked as they FUSED with his jacket replacing the zippers on that side Jiraiya's on top the Allied Shinobi headband in the middle and his Konoha Headband at the bottom
In the left side pouch were books and scrolls, knowledge useful precious knowledge, Uzumaki clan scrolls, jutsu scrolls for every element, secrets from clans some he knew some he didn't, kenjutsu scrolls and taijutsu scrolls.
And training equipment from weights to targets and more, an endless supply of sealing ink, chakra paper, blank sealing tags and blank scrolls of all sizes!
Forgetting his keyblade for a moment he and his clones trained in everything else using the in depth intensive act to repress his concerns and trauma's like he always did.
He learned every wind jutsu he could find first and foremost he'd always wanted to learn more wind release techniques but had just never had the time.
Every lava release jutsu was next he remembered Son Goku, Dodai-san and the fifth mizukage and really wanted that utility and power as an option especially if he was set to run into ANOTHER Kaguya level threat, then moved onto the next element and the next he didn't learn EVERY jutsu he just learned the ones that called to him mostly ones he'd seen comrades, friends and teachers use.
Particularly the jutsu Jiraiya had never got around to teaching him, anything made by Jiraiya or used primarily by Jiraiya or Kakashi yes including the Chidori he learned
He also made it a point to learn Sasuke's Jutsu the Kirin, the Chidori Eiso and his repertoire of fire jutsu.
Taijutsu too.
Neji's kaiten, Gai and Lee's style, he was even able to learn a few clan jutsu and taijutsu styles.
Unfortunately, most of the Inuzuka and Aburame techniques were out of his reach for what should be very obvious reasons.
Although he did use the technique the Inuzuka used to strengthen their hearing and sense of smell.
He wasn't comfortable using the Yamanaka techniques the idea of messing with another mind after what had been done to the bijuu and all the shinobi resurrected with the edo tensei didn't sit right with him, he did learn the telepathy technique though being able to communicate without speaking was too useful to turn down…even if at present he was totally alone.
He did learn the Partial Expansion Jutsu from the Akimichi techniques but as the rest required him to pack on the pounds which with his Uzumaki metabolism he honestly Couldn't do that was it, they did have a few taijutsu techniques he could make use of and integrate into his developing hand to hand style though.
And the shadow bind jutsu and its various subsidiary techniques from the Nara clan's secret jutsu although aside from that they honestly didn't have much beyond a bit of taijutsu and shuriken jutsu meant to complement their shadow bind techniques.
A few things aside from the Aburame and Inuzuka techniques were out of his reach for one reason or another.
Genjutsu, he had no interest in for one, his only experiences with it outside of fighting against Itachi or other Uchiha were with team eight's sensei, and he was never the biggest fan of her the lady acted all haughty and better then everyone but was a total party girl and according to Shino wasn't the best teacher overall.
The Hyūga's taijutsu style he could only learn so much of and incorporate into his own hodgepodge brawler style because ultimately most of it required the Byakugan, which he very much did not have.
The strength of One hundred was another it was complicated as all hell and he didn't and couldn't get passed the basics which were essentially just more efficient ways to boost your strength and body with chakra, and how to train to do so subconsciously and more effectively while maintaining a good level of control over it, which was useful…but having Tsunade and Sakura's monstrous mountain erasing strength and near instantaneous regeneration would have been better.
But sealing? that he learned and absorbed like a prodigy, by the time he'd run out of material and started experimenting he'd realized that time wasn't even PASSING at all in wherever he was.
he did try to escape using advanced experimental seals…the Narrator as he'd taken to calling the voice had a field day with that one.
In case it wasn't obvious it had failed atrociously and outstandingly.
It was probably the only thing he'd ever purposefully given up on in his life, not for lack of trying but because after the literal thousandth attempt the narrator gave him the first useful piece of information, that it was well and truly impossible even for him to escape the space he was in that way he DID take IMMENSE pleasure however in the faintly frustrated undertone the Narrator had when announcing that fact.
HE did however try a few more times out of a combination of both spite, and out of the hopes that if he did it enough times the Narrator would cave and start answering his questions but after about a hundred attempts more with no comment from the Narrator at all whatsoever.
He stopped realizing either whatever the Narrator was wouldn't or COULDN'T give in and seemed to only have before because whatever forces were at play realized without that crucial information, he WOULDN'T have stopped and given literally Infinite time to try he'd just keep at it if for NO other reason than to avoid thinking about everything he'd lost.
Finally, he moved on to kenjutsu. It helped a lot, and he was comfortable fighting with the keyblade…hell he was even comfortable using jutsu with it to an extent.
But he hit a roadblock… ultimately, he was limited on what jutsu he could use with the keyblade out, and how well kenjutsu in general translated to the key shaped sword with seemingly magical abilities he had no explanation for.
Until something hit him on the head, very literally it fell from the sky? If this space even had anything you could call a sky and landed on his head while he was sitting cross legged brainstorming on what had become his impromptu training grounds.
'Keyblades for Dummies' the title was NOT appreciated or enjoyed.
The Narrator's flowery rambling of divine providence solidified Naruto's thoughts that someone or something was helping him…he just wasn't sure what or why.
But reading the book or really studying it, he learned some handy tricks like how to make his keyblade float around him so he could use more intensive jutsu.
How to control his keyblade for ranged attacks and various other combat tricks, hell it even helped him channel chakra through the damn thing and use otherwise useless with a keyblade, kenjutsu techniques.
It had a bunch of information on what the keyblade was…that only raised more questions the book didn't answer much to his frustration.
But in the end, he went from being comfortable fighting with it to feeling like he'd never NOT fought with the keyblade.
But at that point he'd trained all he could, and he realized he was avoiding a big issue.
He needed to start moving again.
Not even a moment after he started to move on after storing all his training supplies and the like back in the appropriate pouch, the Narrator after an eternity of silence after the arrival of the Keyblade training manual he REFUSED to use that book's name.
"His training complete the Hero resumed his walk through the Remnants of ten thousand long dead worlds, the ruins of realities whose hearts had been vanquished in unnatural ways, killed by greed…pride…wrath…or most commonly the simple pursuit of power…or like his, the desperation of a defeated foe…or even the desperation of a failing hero."
Naruto fielded that information away but otherwise didn't react after what must have been years… not that time was actually passing he came to…something.
Before him sat a giant orb of light flickering like tv static in its center an ocean that was steadily turning grey and at the center of that ocean was a small group of islands
Outside the orb was written in a strange font on something that looked like a showy sign that or rather what was once a showy sign framed by tiki masks, UFOs and rocket ships that were now cracked, rusted, splintered, and dilapidated.
The flicker of monochrome tv static across it to solidify the fact the sign was far from whatever splendor it once had
"Alienated Islands' it read. It was actually impressive what it read could still be made out at all.
Frowning, Naruto pressed his hand against the strange massive orb and then felt like his stomach was being sucked through a vacuum screaming like he was on the most excessive and extreme rollercoaster to ever exist. As quick as it had started it ended and Naruto suddenly found himself back in equilibrium.
And he realized two things in quick succession.
One he was falling
Two he was upside down
With a yelp he quickly and concisely let loose a surge of wind chakra slowing his fall.
Then he felt it…
Distress, fear, desperation, panic, and a myriad of other frantic negative emotions.
He also felt two distinct types of strange natural energy one felt both raw and somehow...artificial? not fully but partially…the other felt like a more active and far, FAR more aggressive version of what he'd felt outside this new more natural space.
Frowning he wasted no time using bursts of wind chakra he guided his fall towards the source keyblade already in hand.
As he got within range of the myriad of negative emotions, he saw a beach people dressed in ragged clothes that form the looks of them were only recently reduced to a state of disrepair, wielding makeshift weapons.
And aggressively struggling to move passed the line of desperately defending people strange creatures dark color palettes and a dark colored bastardized version of the symbol on his belt emblazoned on them
Without wasting a second, he rocketed into the swarm of monsters as they began to overwhelm the natives, his keyblade flashing out in one hand a Kaze no Yaiba raging in the other.
He ignored the confused gasps of the people fighting and the confusion of the strange natural energy signatures he felt upon arriving the first type at least, it was clear what he was fighting was the second more familiar one.
He spared a glance against this better judgment seeing a myriad of strange creatures who quickly shook off their confusion and rushed to join him attacking the strange, marked creatures along with some large notably not human figures laughing and shooting some kind of lasers from a weird device at the monsters.
Naruto ignored the being's nonsensical shouts of encouragement for what he called his 'creations'; instead focusing on eliminating the aggressive entities clearly attacking the locals.
He spun slicing with will of fire through these strange monsters careful not to hit his new allies, holding those trying to strike his blind spots at bay with wild lashes of Kaze no Yaiba as he threw Will of Fire charged with chakra at any of the monsters that tried to attack the blind spots of the strange creatures helping him fight.
The fight was quick after the horde of strangely adorable and notably powerful creatures joined the fight with the maniacally laughing non-human who claimed to be their creator if his riotous shouts of encouragement, we're anything to go by.
The monsters overall were ill prepared for an opponent of his caliber alone let alone a horde of adorable doom in addition.
And he was left standing keyblade in hand as the last of them seemed to fade into dust
"W-Who are you?" a girl about his age at the lead of the group wielding what looked like a kitchen knife tied to a broomstick? asked him nervously.
She was pretty with her long dark hair
Dusky skin and curvy- no bad thoughts! That was the Jiraiya in him talking…and the not having seen a real-life woman in what felt like decades but wasn't because no time had actually passed given his lack of aging among other things.
"Uh…hi…uh…sorry been a while since I've met anybody else" he shook the runaway thoughts out of his head realizing as the destructive, yet adorable creatures moved back protectively around the humans and their self-proclaimed creator joined them leveling his strange weapon at him he NEEDED to reply before things got unnecessarily ugly.
Aside form the annoying voice haunting him and the constantly screaming and thrashing chunk of ten tails sealed away inside him, he hadn't met another living thing in what felt like a very long time but was actually likely no time at all, he didn't need to accidentally turn the clearly on edge group into enemies by being antisocial or weird…
"I'm uh…Naruto…Naruto Uzumaki." He briefly wondered why he introduced himself like that, but that fleeting thought faded away as the uneasy girl who was clearly the leader took a cautious step forward
"Why did you help us?" She asked, eyes narrowed at him, the strange yellow sparking koala like creature that was now perched on her shoulder snarling at him its antenna sparking ready to unleash a lightning bolt on him as it had on several of the attacking monsters during the fight.
"Well…you were in trouble…what other reason do I need?" blinking in genuine confusion on why she asked such a dumb question Naruto suddenly groaned as his stomach rumbled furiously
"Okay wow…I forgot what it was like to be hungry…by the sage I'm starving. Do you guys have any ramen? Know what doesn't matter, I'll take whatever you're willing to share. I'm waaaay too hungry to be picky." The blonde suddenly felt his head throb and his vision spin as his mouth dried out exhaustion and dehydration hitting him suddenly as well
Falling flat on his face into lusciousness his last waking thought was the hope the passage of time wouldn't hit him as well while he was out, his keyblade vanishing in a flash of silvery light as for the third time since Kaguya had done whatever she had done to destroy their world Naruto Uzumaki fell into unconsciousness.
"And with that the Prologue ends….I wonder if you can do it hero…can you sever the threads of fate that have condemned these hearts lost deep within the dream of slumbering worlds set to be devoured by nightmare…shall you rewrite the story even as I read it…or will your own broken heart lay claim to you…I can't wait to find out…" Not a soul heard the voice as it spoke
The islander's rushing to their collapsed saviors side both worried and cautious wondering why he suddenly collapsed, time will tell if that cautiousness was warranted or not.