Chapter XIII

Who Is Naruto?

It is said that there is only nothingness in the darkness where broken hearts roam; others say darkness harbours tranquility and peace of soul that calm hearts in crisis. One thing certain and unanimous is the belief that a paradoxical silence reigns in this familiar absolute. However, I hear a regular sound translated into an echo; it is this droplet melody hammering the aqueous surface that makes me open my eye. I don't recognize the surroundings … in fact, there is only emptiness around me. A dark infinity and an expanse of water in which my whole body wades. There is no light source, but I can see. The cold and humidity have seeped into my flesh, so deeply that they reach my bones; I guess I stayed there too long unconscious…

Why was I unconscious, by the way?

But above all, where am I?

Is this a dream?

Yet it all seems too real to me for that to be the case. Lucid dreams, I'm used to them even if they are often nightmares engendered by my past. This difference of sensations, of perceptions, of my senses, I convince myself that it is real even though nothing is logical. After all, the memory of going to bed is crystal clear. In search of answers, I get up. Not knowing where to go, I decide to walk in front of me. Only my steps break this agonizing silence by sinking into this pond that reaches my ankles. Nevertheless, I remain on my guard.

I thus wander in a time that I cannot determine. Suddenly, my hairs stand on end and goosebumps overtake me; a feeling that someone is watching me agitate me, and make me uneasy. I hear a voice, a few words, as if my head was underwater. I turn abruptly and look around. There is nothing, but my heart is racing, forcing me to take a deep breath.

'Calm down,' I repeat to myself as I carefully scan my surroundings.

I turn around and freeze. In front of me stands a large mirror that projects my reflection, but something is wrong. This silhouette performs the movements that I make, yet this gaze is not mine—rather, I do not recognize myself. Mechanically, I put my palm against the strange glass to touch my inverted twin. On contact, it is cold, excruciatingly icy even to the point that a sharp pain stings my skin. I should remove my hand, but something compels me to stay.

"Who is Naruto?" asks the reflection in front of me, causing me to miss a heartbeat.

He observes me, plunges his empty eye into mine and seems to be trying to read through my dark iris. I hold his gaze. His question disturbs me; I don't know what he means. However, the strangeness of the situation pushes me to remain silent. This silhouette lowers his head and avoids eye contact. Like a mirage, this entity morphs in front of me, as does the timbre of his voice:

"What is Naruto?"

I now recognize the teenager instead of my reflection; his blond locks camouflage his eyes. Dumbfounded, I don't react. His broken voice in search of an answer runs through my whole body like an electric current that tears me a shiver of dread that I can hardly translate into words. A feeling of guilt overwhelms me.

"What does Naruto mean?"

This voice is the same, but it comes from my back. Suddenly, I turn on my heels. Far away, I see Naruto, crouched, in a ball, hiding his face behind his knees which he embraces despite the tremors which seem to possess him.

"Naruto!" I shout as—autonomously—I race to reach him.

However, no matter how much I run, the distance between us remains the same—rather, it widens further. In response to this phenomenon, I stop.

Am I under genjutsu?

Doubtfully, I join my hands together to destabilize the flow of my chakra to free myself from it … but nothing happens nor changes. This makes me flabbergasted; I am confident in my abilities. The only illusion I was never really able to shatter was that of the Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Why are you calling me Naruto?" he asks again, still in a desperate tone.

Hardly, I ignore the boy with blue irises and concentrate on stopping this technique, whatever it is. I close my eye and accumulate more energy. In doing so, for unknown reasons, my chakra escapes in large quantities from my body and an unpleasant and disturbing sensation takes hold of me; I am getting exhausted at an alarming rate to the point of accelerating my breathing which is struggling to find air. I open my eyelid again and notice with horror that my bluish essence is carried away in this strange tornado which is heading in the direction of my student. I try to stop the flow, but I can't. My limbs no longer respond to me. I am paralyzed. And then, as the boy's blond hair ignites as well as this tail coming out of nowhere waving through the air all around, the very obviousness hits me brutally.

My chakra is being absorbed.

Naruto is absorbing my chakra.

Just like that black entity had.

While I am dangerously drained every second, I contemplate in my helplessness this nascent inferno produced by the teenager who seems to curl up more on himself while the jolts win him even more.

"Why do you say I'm Naruto?"

Again, his voice tears the silence suffocated by the flames which are gradually engulfing this universe of darkness. It reaches to me, to my ears, and crosses me like a blade in the heart to sow an indescribable evil that shakes my whole being.

"I'm nobody and yet you say otherwise…"

My vision blurs as my lungs get poisoned from the fiery smoke. I fall to my knees, hold on with difficulty on all fours; I only have a bit of chakra left. If this doesn't stop, I might…

I collapse in spite of myself in this water. It engulfs me and I sink, I sink, swallowed by the depths of an endless ocean. The pain subsides as fluid seeps into my oxygen-depleted lungs. My eyelids now heavy taking me where no one returns, I hear him, in an echo, his voice, once again, one last time:

"Naruto... Why did you give me that name?"