I finished my own Original Story, it is entirely free and on Wattpad. Check it out, Destiny Rebellions- A Queen's Champion... if you love A Mortal's Might you'll love it. It was inspired heavily by that story and this one. Please check it out and tell me if you love it. I will be publishing it one day, so check it out before I pull it off of Wattpad.

This chapter meant a lot to me, I think I made him realistically powerful and skilled...

Shin looked at himself at the water's edge, smiling at how utterly different he looked from Naruto. His blonde hair was no longer spikey, tied into a thin braid down his back. He was not garbed in orange but the typical Ninja Monk outfit. His whisker marks were hidden by a grey mask not unlike Kakashi's and his face was entirely covered by another mask this one a simple grey that only revealed his two eyes. He was taller than Naruto was, and buffer, with thick corded muscles not unlike Lee's. He looked happier too, despite losing Sora so recently.

It had been a week since losing Sora, and Shin barely made it through the funeral. He spent the entire time oozing chakra and killer intent at the idiots mocking Sora's death. He hated them all, every one of them bar Chiriku. He collected his friend's ashes when he was cremated and carried them in a bag in a scroll, ready to disperse them whenever he felt ready and right.

Like right now, a days walk away from the temple, by a beautiful river. He pulled out the bag and poured out a small sample of ash into it.

"I am so sorry, Sora... you will never get to see the world. I will see it for us, for the both of us. I miss you, to think we only got to spend three months together... I will never forget you, my friend. No one was your equal, not Sakura or that fool Sasuke. You were my first real friend...rest in everlasting peace."

He stayed, but for a few moments longer, then stood and walked back to the path he had been walking. He was close to where he had been found, where Chiriku had discovered his near-dead body all those months ago. He could see the crumbling ruins of what was once Orochimaru's base, he could smell chemicals spilled everywhere. He could feel dread, like his heart knew memories his mind lacked.

He was terrified and yet he moved forward, leaping onto the ruins, tossing aside boulders and pieces of a building as he made his way into the facility. It was only when he reached it's core and saw a symbol on the ground that his memories, his final memories returned... only they did not return in flashbacks, only as raw knowledge.

"... I was here... with Jiraiya, I ran ahead like an idiot and fought a creature made of flesh and chakra. It tackled me, biting me hard. It transmitted something into my body, it ached horribly but I felt a surge of Kyuubi's chakra, and before I knew it... I was waking up to Chiriku's face. No... that can't be right, Jiraiya wouldn't just let me die without carrying my body back, Tsunade would kill him if he didn't do at least that much. Maybe... maybe it was a curse mark, whatever is in that mark let Sasuke mutate into a flying creature. If that worked for me but Kyuubi purged it, maybe it took more than just my body. It took my soul, at least a piece of it." He focused on his knowledge of sealing, of souls and biology. In truth, a part of why he even got into all of that was not just for healing but to understand who he was, what he was. "Whatever that substance in the seal is, it clearly caused cell division but mixed with Kyuubi's chakra which does something similar... I really am a clone of Naruto, only I have his memories unlike a true clone because I have a piece of his soul... that really explains a lot. I am like the piece of Kyuubi that Sora had, only with a consciousness I am not dissipating, or acting like a newborn. Or so I guess, I can only guess... a good theory really but that is all it is... wait, didn't we find a base of Orochimaru in Sea country, with that girl Isaribi? That would be a good place to backtrack, get a clue where the other bases are so I can figure out what the heck I am."

Standing tall, he laughed.

"I am not Naruto, I was born of him but I am not him. If I am right and I think I am... then my future is my own. Naruto can have his life, I'll have my own! No one can stop that... I am free from the burden of my past... now and forever."

He would end up searching through the entire building, finding no scrolls for jutsu or anything useful but a handful of kunai, some scalpels, several scrolls on genetics, some notes on experimentation... and, to his utter joy, an entire undamaged scroll on the Cursed Seal itself. Reading it in the dimming light of the day, he saw that his theory about his being a soul fragment was very possible as the Curse Mark was designed to latch onto the Yami, a piece of the soul filled with repressed factors of the heart. When the Curse Mark was expelled, it must have extracted that aspect of Naruto's soul...

Naruto's Yami, that is what he was... or at least what he used to be. He was free from that though, he had grown into his own person and he was proud of that.

Shin sealed it all away, all of what he found except the weapons which he decided to use to get used to using Kunai once more. He knew from seeing Sasuke use them how powerful they were, it would be stupid to not use them in battle. He would not let the monks see that he was using them, but he did not care if they would judge him. He no longer considered himself a monk. He was a Ninja, the lessons of the Monks were merely to gain power so he could choose the path he wanted...

That is all.

:::

Shin ended up healing a dozen monks when he arrived at the Rice Temple, which was a third of the size of the Fire Country temple and with a far smaller library. He decided to spend no more than a month at any one temple, learning all he could before leaving. From their temple, he would learn a few seals for various effects, two fire jutsu and the beginnings of fire chakra manipulation. He had copied and brought with him a scroll on Wind manipulation so he could work on mastering both.

He spent no time making friends, too determined to master as much as he could in order to gain enough power to choose his dream, whatever that would be. If there was one thing he missed from once being Naruto, it was having a greater purpose. For Naruto it was being Hokage, for him... he had no concept of what it would be. He needed something though, especially after losing Sora...

Having a purpose would make the world right again, or at least distract him until he healed.

Or, so was his hope...

On a smaller scale, he found a purpose in healing and teaching a few select monks how to use the Mystic Palm. He figured that it would help him gain some clarity and make an impact. Giving people power to do what they needed to, to not rely on others. He might even make a name for himself, and that he could not wait for. To be known as Shin Uzumaki, far and wide, for making a difference... that sounded nice...

He might even make pit stops in towns and offer his services there... anything to distract him, to make a difference...

Anything to gain peace.

Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.

This was a blast to write, I really am proud of this.

Love, your Ninja Overlord,

Mika.