Person talking, "It could be."
Person thinking, "I don't like this idea."
Demon speaking / Invocation talking, "No doubt you are someone to be reckoned with."
Demon thinking / Invocation thinking, "His heart is dark."
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.
Chapter 11
"So we have to go east, and you said that this place has many natural defenses. How do you know all that, Naruto-senpai?" Sai asked as he looked to the sea.
Naruto growled and replied, "That's none of your business. Anyways, all the villages have some kind of natural defense. Don't they teach anything in Root anymore?"
Sai gave a fake smile and answered, "Sorry, Naruto-senpai. But there's little information about this village. And I just thought it was strange that you knew something about a village that disappeared before the Second Shinobi War." Sai finished returning to his typical blank expression.
Naruto sighed, "Sai, just shut up. Now make one of those hawks of yours. Maybe you can be helpful after all." Sai nodded as he created an ink hawk.
Both jumped, and it flew to the direction that Naruto had instructed Sai, who spoke again, "What do you expect to find there, Naruto-senpai? Danzō-sama hasn't said anything about that. He just wanted me to follow you."
Naruto shrugged, "I don't know. I just want to go there, and if I find something important, I'll take it."
"Well, you could have asked your father," Sai replied smiling falsely again.
Naruto raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean?"
Sai gave his emotionless stare and answered, "We're aware that you're the Hokage's son. Although we can't talk about this with other people besides you because we all have the seal, everyone but you."
"Well, that's fine for me; for the first time, I agree that you all have that seal. But how is it that everyone found out about it?" Naruto asked out of curiosity.
Sai replied, "Danzō-sama told us."
Naruto nodded and asked no more. He just kept watching the sea.
They continued flying for a few minutes until they saw an island. "Sai, over there!" Naruto shouted pointing out the place to Sai, who nodded and began to decrease the height.
However, Sai suddenly felt that they were falling at a faster rate than expected, so he shouted, "Naruto-senpai! It seems that something is attracting us toward the land. I can't control my ink hawk; we're going to crash into the ground!"
Naruto grunted and shouted, "Well, do something, goddamn it! I don't want to crash into the ground."
Just then, the hawk exploded, and both fell even faster. Both of them opened their eyes in shock since an enormous pressure surrounded their bodies.
Naruto couldn't think of anything but his first experience with the gravity seals, but this time, it was much worse because he couldn't cancel whatever it was that was attracting them towards the land.
He couldn't do anything because his hands felt too heavy.
Even though Sai kept the same expression, he felt a bit of fear of crashing into the ground; both couldn't do anything.
They saw the ground and prepared themselves for the impact. Naruto covered himself as much as he could while Sai continued watching.
Nonetheless, just when they were about to touch the ground, something glowed on the ground, and it reduced their speed sharply, which made them regain their mobility.
Naruto then put a foot on the ground as he thought, "What the hell was that?"
Kurama replied, "Maybe it was one of the seals that your ancestors placed on this island before falling. Maybe these seals were designed to react to any intruder, and surely, these seals recognized you as an Uzumaki and canceled the effect. Anyway, that's what I believe."
Naruto, listening to his tenant, answered, "You may be right, I just hope not to find any more surprises." Kurama just nodded and continued observing his Jinchūriki.
Naruto turned around and saw that Sai was staring at him with a very strange gaze, "Sai, don't look at me that way; you look weird."
Sai kept looking at him the same way and answered, "Sorry, Naruto-senpai. But this is my usual look, but I feel something that you call 'curiosity.' Curiosity to what has happened."
Naruto stretched a little bit and answered, "Why do you think I know what has happened? We fell and then we stopped. I don't know what the hell has happened, but now we must continue with our walk."
Sai nodded and followed Naruto, who already had advanced a little.
Sai then caught up with Naruto, who kept looking around the village. "This village is very different than the other ones in which I have been. The buildings look very modern, and the structures seem to be of a very durable material. Several years have passed, and some buildings remain standing; it's impressive." Naruto stated.
Naruto, for every step he took, he could feel his head burning. However, he dismissed it and kept walking until he could see a quite battered doll on the ground.
He approached and grabbed it, but in doing so; his pupils dilated.
Naruto shook his head and saw he was elsewhere. "Where am I?" Naruto wondered as he looked around.
He instantly concluded that it was Uzushiogakure, but before getting destroyed.
He looked to the side and saw that a red haired girl was watching him; he believed it was an illusion until the girl pointed him and motioned for him to follow her.
Naruto thought that was very unusual, "Ha! Pathetic! Don't tell me that you are still afraid of ghosts, Naruto?" Kurama asked amusingly.
Naruto shook his head again and replied, "No, it's not that; I just think this is very strange. Besides, that girl looks familiar. But I can't recognize her."
Naruto followed the girl through the streets of the village, which were empty; he didn't know why and wouldn't stop to find it out.
He kept walking for several minutes until he got tired and shouted to the girl who was still running, "Hey! Wait! Where are you taking me?" Naruto could hear one thing, and that was a giggle from the girl, who ran a bit faster.
Naruto growled as he thought, "I hope this is worth it. And seriously, where the hell is Sai?"
Kurama was watching all this with attention too because that girl also looked familiar to him, "I have no idea; this isn't a Genjutsu. So maybe you're inside of one of the defenses of the village, but I don't know. You just follow that girl; I think she'll show us something important." Kurama replied.
Naruto nodded and ran even faster until he was standing beside the girl. He could see that she was about nine years old and had violet eyes, round face, and long red hair.
These features reminded him about the descriptions that Kurama gave him about his mother.
Naruto then realized that the girl smiled as she turned on a corner to enter into a temple. Naruto did it too, and as he came in, he saw several flags hanging around the temple with the whirlpool symbol and statues of people that Naruto didn't know.
Naruto then moved closer to the girl, who was pointing to an altar on which a small sphere with strange inscriptions and of a golden color was. Naruto asked, "Do you want me to touch that?"
The girl just nodded. Naruto shrugged and walked slowly toward the circular object, which began to glow for every step that he took.
Standing in front of the sphere, Naruto looked at it with interest and then he looked with a raised eyebrow to the girl, "Are you sure that nothing bad will happen me if I touch it?" The girl nodded and again she pointed towards the sphere.
Naruto sighed and put a hand on the sphere, in doing so, he felt that everything began to spin at breathtaking speed while hearing a voice in his head, "Young Uzumaki; you honor us with your presence. We had lost all hope that one of our descendants would come to our lands. Uzumaki Naruto, by coming to this place you have agreed to see the memories of your ancestors, by coming to this place you have agreed to accept our heritage, by coming to this place you have agreed to be our future."
Naruto heard this as he held his head because he could hear that voice deep inside him.
Naruto tried to contact Kurama, but he got no response, so he shouted, "Who are you?! How do you know my name?! What the hell are you doing?!"
The voice continued, "Naruto Uzumaki, by coming to this place you have agreed to share your memories with us."
Naruto growled and replied, "What the hell are you talking about?! What do you mean by 'us'? Besides, I didn't accept anything."
Naruto then heard many more voices, which made him put both hands on his head, "Naruto Uzumaki. You are our legacy; you are our future. You are a true Uzumaki; you shall see our tragedy."
Naruto noticed that everything around him began to glow and that structures began to form around.
Naruto stood up shaking his head, feeling a hand on his shoulder along with a voice, "This way, Naruto Uzumaki. You shall see how those people who called themselves our allies betrayed us and helped to make us fall into disgrace."
Naruto then looked to the side and saw an old man who wore a blue ninja armor. He had long white hair, a mustache, and a squared-off goatee.
Naruto then realized that the man started walking, but he yelled, "Stop!"
The man stopped and asked, "What do you want, Naruto Uzumaki?"
Naruto sighed and asked, "Who are you? And how do you know my name?"
The man moved closer to Naruto and replied, "I am just a representation of my former self. I am just here to guide those who will be in charge of guiding our people. About how we know who you are, we already told you. You have agreed to share your memories with us by coming here. Now follow me."
Nevertheless, Naruto didn't do it and stated, "You haven't answered me anything, but I'm sure if I ask you that again, you will answer me the same. What I want you to tell me now is: who was that girl of a few moments ago?"
The representation of the old village leader replied, "We have seen your memories. That girl was the one you call mother. Now let us continue."
Naruto was surprised and asked, "But how? I never saw her; you can't show me something I've never seen."
The appearance replied monotonously, "You did not, but he did."
Hearing this, Naruto assumed he was referring to Kurama, so he nodded and asked one last question, "Why do you say 'us' and not 'I'?"
The appearance then turned around as he continued his way; he motioned Naruto to follow him who did it begrudgingly. "Because we are different representations of your ancestors. We keep the body of our former leader due to respect and appreciation." Naruto nodded and followed the old man.
Now he realized that the village streets were full; men, women and children, everyone with red hair, and the elder ones with white hair.
Everyone seemed jubilant, and Naruto couldn't help smiling with happiness, which he found odd.
"Everything started here," the representation stated and then Naruto noticed that they had suddenly appeared in a room with several people. He instantly recognized one of them. He was equal to the man who was showing him this; he assumed that he was the former leader of the village.
Naruto could also see other people next to him, much younger, all with red hair.
In front of them was another group. Naruto moved a little bit and could see the headbands of Konoha.
Naruto carefully listened to their conversation, hearing that they had come to withdraw some things to strengthen their alliance.
The leader had nodded, and Konoha's ninjas retreated from there. After that, everything had changed as before; now Naruto was in another room and saw several bodies on the floor. "Here, those who called themselves our allies caused our tragedy." The representation spoke and once again.
Naruto, meanwhile, heard another voice, "Are you sure it's here, Aoi?" The voice asked. Naruto looked to the side and could see the ninjas of Konoha, some of them were cleaning the blood from their Katana. "Hai, Shodaime-sama told us that this is the place where the seals of the barrier that protects Uzushiogakure are. If we destroy these seals, then this village will fall. And once we do this, the attack will start. Everyone is ready; we just have to launch the signal once we finish here."
Naruto clenched his fists in anger; he wanted to do something and stop these men, but he knew that he could do nothing because it was a vision.
He then saw that the men put several seals on the pillars, which had the most complicated seals that Naruto had ever seen.
When they finished placing them, one of the men stated, "Shodaime-sama did a good job tricking that Uzumaki bitch to create these counter-seals. Hehehe, she'll never know what really happened here."
Then all the men nodded and defused the barrier seals. They quickly went out of there, and one of them threw a fireball into the air.
Again, everything changed and Naruto realized that now there were several ninjas from different villages within Uzushiogakure, wreaking havoc everywhere.
He could recognize ninjas from Iwa, Suna, and Kumo. Three of the Five Great Shinobi Countries were attacking one village, plus Konoha that had caused all this.
Naruto clenched his fists tightly since he could do nothing. He could only watch and see how a bunch of cowards killed his clan.
"Dieeee dirty bastards!" Someone yelled.
Naruto turned around and saw that an Iwa ninja threw an Earth attack at a group of kids who looked pretty scared.
"Nooo!" Naruto yelled as he tried to do something to stop the attack, but he could only watch in horror as the jutsu crushed these children of no more than five years old.
"Damn it!" Naruto yelled as he fell to the ground, hitting it with both fists.
He then heard another man yelling, "Damn bitch! Now I'll show you what it's like to be with a real man!"
Naruto turned his head slightly and saw a Kumo ninja grabbing a girl no older than the kids that were crushed before.
The man threw her to the ground and violently stripped the girl, who had tears in her eyes while she screamed for help.
Naruto, seeing this, made a Banshō Ten'in to attract that despicable man to his hands to finish him off, but nothing happened, and he could only watch helplessly.
But just when the man was about to commit such barbarity, Naruto could see that an Uzumaki man approached behind the man and placed a seal on him, causing him to squirm on the ground.
Naruto sighed in relief and saw that the Uzumaki led the girl to somewhere else.
But things didn't stop there, and many didn't run with the same fate of that girl. And seeing all this caused Naruto's heart to twist. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in years; it was sadness.
He could see that the Uzumakis were doing their best to defend themselves. They had managed to kill several of the invaders, but the attackers were extensive, and they quickly began to overshadow them and push them back.
Naruto wanted to do something to help them because each death made him feel miserable and useless.
Then everything changed again, and now Naruto was in the same temple where he had been at the beginning, just not so dilapidated. "Ashina -sama, the room is sealed. We're ready to perform the separation, my Lord." Naruto heard a middle-aged woman saying.
Naruto saw the clan leader nodding as he sat on the floor and clasped his hands —just like several Uzumaki—, and forming a circle among themselves. "We can't allow them to pass further from this point. We must save our secrets and not allow these people to obtain them, or it will be the end of the Elemental Nations. We will use the Discharge."
Naruto didn't know what the "Discharge" was, so he just simply observed.
He could see that several Uzumaki nodded to that, but others were a little scared. "The Discharge will kill us, just like every living being in the village, now bring the Apple; we must end this."
Naruto then saw the girl from a few moments ago bringing the same sphere that Naruto touched a few minutes ago, but this time, it was glowing intensely.
The girl then went to the center and put the 'Apple' on the floor.
"Now I want you all to keep a bit of your Chakra within the Apple. I'm sure that an Uzumaki will return someday, and with this, we are going to explain what happened on this unfortunate day."
All the Uzumaki nodded and kept some of their chakra inside the sphere, which became blue briefly.
Ashina then spoke again, "Done; now we must prepare ourselves for the separation. It's the only way to save the civilians from the Discharge." Everyone nodded again and several seals glowed and spread throughout the room.
Naruto then appeared in the place where he and Sai arrived, seeing a large land expansion behind him, with some buildings, which still didn't look damaged.
He concluded that this place would be Nami no Kuni.
After that, Naruto saw that some strange seals appeared, which seemed to spread all over the island, but didn't go further his position.
He watched in amazement as the earth began to split and the place where he was moved away from the other portion of land at a considerable speed.
"Amazing!" Naruto could only say since he reappeared in the temple. "The division was successful, Ashina-sama. The civilians will survive. Besides, we have activated the memory suppressor seals so that they will forget everything related to us."
Ashina nodded and stated, "It will be better if they don't remember anything about us, so they will not suffer our same fate. But now we must activate the Discharge and stop the invaders."
"Hai, Ashina -sama!" everyone shouted.
Ashina then rose up from his place and walked slowly towards the Apple.
He took it with one of his hands and raised it as high as he could. Naruto then saw that Ashina released the Apple, and it began to float.
The Jinchūriki watched the ball spinning at an impressive speed before it suddenly stopped, releasing a beam of white light, which began to expand itself rapidly.
Naruto saw that the Uzumaki held their heads, as they fell writhing on the floor.
However, after a while, they stopped abruptly, stood up from the floor and the next thing Naruto saw made his eyes open in shock.
Everyone grabbed a Katana before stabbing themselves.
"No..." Naruto whispered releasing some tears, but then everything changed again, and now he was outside the temple, where several ninjas were trying to break in.
Nonetheless, the light beam appeared and caused the same effect on all of them.
The beam continued its way until it covered the whole village, killing everyone on that piece of land.
Many Uzumaki —who were fighting— accepted the decision of their leader in silence, but the invaders knew nothing and could only receive the beam, ending their own lives.
"Damn it!" Naruto yelled hitting a wall beside him.
He then saw that the representation reappeared beside him and stated, "Your pain is something that certainly gives us tranquility, young Uzumaki. Certainly, you're the one."
Naruto then realized that they reappeared in the temple, but, this time, it was the current one. "Why did everyone kill themselves?! Wasn't there another solution?" Naruto yelled angrily.
He didn't know why, but seeing all that caused him an immense sadness and all he wanted was to be there to help his family.
"That was the Apple's Discharge, Naruto Uzumaki." Ashina's representation replied quietly.
"But what do you mean by that? What's the Apple?" Naruto asked.
Ashina raised a hand, and a sphere identical to the Apple appeared in his hand. "The Apple of Eden..." Ashina spoke, pausing for a few seconds, "This was what made us so feared. This artifact was our greatest invention, although we only used it to energize all the seals in the village. But somehow, the Elemental Nations found out of the other features of this object. We never intended to hurt anyone. But fear guided the leaders of the other villages. Hence, they decided to kill us, but they also wanted to have this in their power."
Upon hearing this, Naruto raised an eyebrow and replied, "But that wouldn't prevent the other Nations from sending their scouts and try to get your "Apple." Indeed, it would be easier for them to get it once the village had no defenders."
Ashina nodded, "You are right, Naruto Uzumaki. But you have witnessed what would happen to any intruder who wished to get into our lands."
When Naruto remembered that, he nodded and asked. "You're right, but what was the 'Discharge'? Why did everyone commit suicide?"
The appearance made disappear the ball of his hand and answered, "The Apple has many capabilities, young Uzumaki. To provide energy is just one of dozens of it. Not even we managed to get all its secrets. It's a great artifact that has hundreds of years of existence. It was created several generations before ours. We have the belief that the Apple contains the power of the Rikudō Sennin; that's what makes it so powerful. We, with the passing of time, managed to improve it, but we could never get all its secrets due to different factors."
Naruto asked, "That's great, but what the Discharge was? And what were those factors?"
"Do not hurry, young Uzumaki." Ashina stated, but then continued, "The Discharge uses a main feature of the Apple, which is to control the mind of the affected person and make them obey its orders without being able to refuse it. No matter how strong your will is, you cannot say no to the Apple's order. But the downside is that it uses too much of the vital energy of the user. That was one of the major impediments of our ancestors. Some of them used the Apple believing that it had no consequences, but they ended up dying quickly. Though we have the characteristic of an incredible longevity, excessive use of the Apple causes our life to be much shorter. But that is only when you try to use its main features only."
Naruto was surprised to hear everything that a small sphere was capable of doing, but then he yelled, "But if you had something like this in your possession, why didn't you do something before all that happened?!"
"As we have said, we never had the intention of hurting anyone with the Apple; we just wanted to live a peaceful life. But you are right, if we had done something, none of this would have happened. That's why you are our future, Naruto Uzumaki. You will be the one who will decide what to do from now on with the Apple. Now it belongs to you and don't worry about the side effects. I am sure that 'he' will not let anything bad happen to you, we can feel a great connection and friendship between you." Ashina stated.
"But how were you sure that an Uzumaki would return here one day?" Naruto asked out of curiosity.
Ashina moved away from him and answered, "We were not sure about that. Though most Uzumakis died that day, many managed to survive thanks to those who migrated elsewhere. We thought that maybe the children of those people would return one day to want to know more about their roots. We can feel that your blood is truly powerful, Naruto Uzumaki. Although your father is not an Uzumaki, you had the good fortune of inheriting our qualities. When you are ready, reattach our lands, Naruto Uzumaki. You are our future. And now you shall know the other thing that made the Uzumakis feared. If you can survive this, you will be our future, if you do not, we will patiently wait for another Uzumaki to come to this place. The Apple belongs to you from now on; use it wisely. And make that the Uzumakis arise again!" Ashina stated as he began to fade away.
Naruto noticed this and shouted, "Wait! I still have many questions!"
However, the representation ignored him and vanished completely.
Naruto then heard a noise coming from the altar where the Apple was, and he noticed that a beam of light wrapped him.
Sai had been looking at Naruto with interest since he didn't know why he suddenly stood frozen; he had grabbed that doll and didn't do anything else for a while.
Sai approached him and asked. "Are you alright, Naruto-senpai?"
Just then, Naruto fell backward and looked around with surprise, "What the hell? How did I get here so fast?"
He then grasped his head while saying, "Ah. Damn, my head burns."
He then noticed that Sai was looking at him emotionlessly, "Hey, Sai...Did you see something?"
Hearing this, Sai shook his head and asked, "What do you mean, Naruto-senpai? You only grabbed that doll and stayed still for about 30 seconds."
Naruto's eyes opened a little as he thought, "Only 30 seconds? Hey, Kurama, did you see something?"
Kurama growled and answered, "No, I could only see until you touched that sphere. For some strange reason, I find it very familiar. Do you have any idea what it is?"
Naruto nodded and was about to say something when he felt that his head was about to explode.
He grabbed his head tightly as he began to shout, "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Naruto rose up from the ground as he began to walk around, still holding his head and stumbling with each step, all without stopping screaming. "Aaaaah! GRRR, AAAH!"
Sai quickly ran to Naruto and asked, "Hey, Naruto-senpai, what happened?"
Sai got no answer since Naruto was still in the same state.
Afterward, Sai noticed that Naruto stopped and fell hard to the ground, so he approached and grabbed him by his head. "Hey, Naruto-senpai, wake up."
He then began to slap Naruto's face a few times, and he didn't give any sign of reaction.
Sai sighed and said, "This is a problem, if something bad happens to Naruto-senpai, Danzō-sama will be infuriated."
He created an ink hawk again and put Naruto on there. He went up and headed for Konoha.
Meanwhile, Kurama saw Naruto in his mental landscape with great concern, "Hey, Naruto; what's wrong?" Kurama asked as he approached Naruto's body, seeing him writhing on the floor.
He received no answer, and though Kurama was trying to find out what was wrong, he couldn't, since something or someone was preventing that.
Therefore, Kurama calmed down as he thought, "What the hell is wrong him? I can see that he is suffering a lot; I've never seen him like this."
He then tried to give him some of his power to calm him down. But as much as he tried, his energy wouldn't get into Naruto.
"AAAAHH!" Kurama heard Naruto screaming one last time before becoming unconscious within his mental landscape too.
Kurama saw Naruto's body turning pale as he trembled. The Biju guessed he had a great fever, so he approached him and covered him with his tails to give him some heat. "Don't worry Naruto; I'm sure you'll get well," Kurama stated with concern in his words.
He wouldn't let his only friend dying in this way; he would do everything within his possibilities to help him.
Kurama then snuggled Naruto closer to him, to provide him more heat.
Konohagakure no Sato - Six Hours Later
Sai after arriving at the village had thought about where to leave Naruto since no one could know that they were on a mission. And since there were no materials to treat him in Root, he decided to leave him in front of Konoha's hospital. After that, he disappeared and went to his base to report Danzō about everything.
Naruto, who still looked pretty bad, was lying right in front of the doors of the hospital, then an ANBU —who was patrolling the area— saw Naruto's body and quickly landed near him.
He took his pulse and just then, someone else landed next to him, "What did you find, Inu?" Asked that ANBU, unable to see what he was checking.
Inu then got up, and the ANBU could see Naruto's pale, sweaty and tired body.
Seeing this, she quickly approached Naruto to take his pulse, which was quite weak, "What happened to him? Quick, Inu. Help me to get him to the hospital."
Inu nodded, and both picked Naruto up.
"We need some help over here!" Yugao shouted as she put Naruto on a stretcher that was inside the building.
A doctor quickly came over and asked, "What happened, ANBU-san?"
"He needs your help," Yugao replied, showing Naruto's body, which began to bleed from his ears and nose, increasing Yugao's concern even more.
The doctor nodded and looked at the stretcher, but when seeing Naruto's body, he sneered and stated, "Sorry, ANBU-san. Right now…, we're full and don't have personnel who can take care of him. So please, do me a favor and take him out from here."
Then he turned around and started walking away, but he stopped as he felt a cut on his cheek.
The doctor turned around and saw the stretched out hand of Yugao.
"Now, you bastard, this is the order of an ANBU. Do you want to spend the rest of your life in a cell? I'll look forward to making your stay unpleasant."
The doctor didn't flinch and walked away again as he stated, "You can do whatever you want. If the demon dies, it'll be the best thing for the whole village."
Yugao growled and was about to attack him, but Inu stopped her and said, "Stop, Taicho. Inform Hokage-sama about this; I'll make sure to protect Naruto-san. Don't worry."
Yugao looked at Inu; she nodded and used a Shunshin to reach the Tower quickly.
Hokage Tower
Minato was reading the mission parameters that he had given Naruto yesterday. He thought it was strange that someone had exclusively asked for him, and for some reason he had a bad feeling.
He sighed as he thought, "What is this feeling? Why do I feel that something important is about to happen?"
Just then, he saw that Yugao appeared kneeling down before his desk.
"Oh, Usagi-san, what is the reason for your visit?" Minato asked quietly with a smile on his face.
Yugao then looked up and replied, "It's about Naruto-kun."
Minato changed his expression to one of seriousness and asked, "What happened?"
"We don't know, but Inu and I found him at the doors of the hospital. His condition is severe. We don't know what happened to him, and worst, the local doctors refuse to provide him care. Hokage-sama; I think that Naruto-kun is dying."
Minato's eyes opened widely; he got up from his seat, put on his coat with flames and seriously spoke, "Usagi, go to the Yamanaka compound and tell Inoichi to proceed to the hospital immediately. Tell him it's time; I'll handle the rest."
Yugao nodded and watched him disappearing in a yellow flash.
Yugao then got up and got out of there, heading to the Yamanaka compound.
Back in the Hospital
Minato appeared in front of the hospital doors. He hurried into the building and saw Naruto in an effectively deplorable state of health next to an ANBU.
He growled with anger when seeing that doctors just passed around without caring that Naruto was there.
He hurried over there and saw that the ANBU knelt before him, "Hokage-sama, we don't know what happened to Naruto-san, and I'm sure that Usagi-san has already reported that the doctors refused to provide him medical attention."
Minato seeing Naruto in that way felt his heart twisting, so he picked him up and yelled, "I need a fucking doctor!"
After saying this, several doctors approached him, "What's going on, Hokage-sama?" the same doctor of a few moments ago asked.
Minato pointed with his eyes to Naruto's body and yelled, "Can't you see?! Hurry up and tell me what he has!"
The doctor seemed not to notice the concern and anger in Minato's words, so he replied, "Hokage-sama, don't you see? He's the demon. Just leave him there alone. If he dies, the entire village will be happy, and we wouldn't have to worry about this abomination anymore."
Minato grunted and yelled furiously, unaware of his words, "He's not the demon, he is my son! And you better hurry, or you'll regret it!"
Everyone stopped abruptly; some of them dropped their things, and others covered their mouths with their hands.
Minato heard whispers, but no one seemed to be moving. Therefore, he released his killing intent, which made them tremble in sheer terror.
Minato handed Naruto to the ANBU before grabbing the doctor by his shirt. "Did you not hear me? Do you want to die?" Minato asked while a blue ball appeared in his right hand.
The doctor quickly shook his head and replied, "No, I don't want to die, Hokage-sama! I'm sorry, I will take care of your son immediately!"
Minato's eyes opened wide at that. "Did I call him my son? Argh! Shut up, Minato! It's not the time to think about this now! Inoichi will come in a few minutes, and he'll take me out of my doubts once and for all." He thought.
Minato then saw that several doctors came and put Naruto on a stretcher while they took him into surgery.
Minato followed them and upon arrival, he realized that the hands of all the medics were glowing green while they passed their hands over the body of Naruto, who was barely breathing.
Just then the door opened, and Minato could see that Inoichi, "Hokage-sama, I came as fast as I could."
Minato nodded as he continued watching to the medics working. "Thank you very much, Inoichi. Once the doctors finish, you'll make me enter into Naruto's mind."
Inoichi nodded, seeing the doctors working intensely. After intense minutes, one of the doctors approached Minato, who took him from his shoulders and asked, "What does he have? Will he be okay?"
The doctor sighed as he shook his head. "Hokage-sama, it's a miracle that he's still alive; his brain is inflamed, and it doesn't want to stop for some reason. We don't know why. Besides, our Medical Ninjutsu isn't working on the patient. He has gone into a coma, and we don't know when he'll wake up. It could be in a few weeks, a few months, a few years or a lifetime. He's also having trouble to breathe, so we must take him urgently to a room and put him on a ventilator."
Minato felt his heart twisting even more, but he couldn't say anything because the doctors took Naruto to a room.
Minato quickly ran behind them and entered the room. They quickly connected the ventilator to Naruto, as well as an intravenous serum, since Naruto was dehydrating quickly.
After having everything ready, another doctor approached Minato while wiping some sweat from his forehead, "Hokage-sama, your… son is stable right now. We apologize for our attitude at the beginning. We didn't know that he was your son. Now we'll withdraw and leave you alone." Then all the doctors left the room.
Minato approached Naruto as he put a hand on his forehead, realizing that he had a pretty high fever.
Minato heard someone knocking on the door, and he told him to come in.
Inoichi entered and looked at Minato, who nodded. "All right, Hokage-sama. You'll go in there; I'll observe everything. However, I won't be able to be there physically, only you. I'll get you out immediately if something bad happens."
Minato nodded as he took a deep breath. Then he looked to Inoichi, "I'm ready." Minato stated, Inoichi then nodded and performed a few hand seals.
Minato closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he realized that he was now in a sewer. "Hokage-sama, Naruto's mind is extremely complicated; you have to find your way on your own. I can't help you from here." Minato could hear Inoichi's voice echoing around him.
He nodded and started walking around the various corridors of the place. For some reason, he felt that he was taking the right path.
Seconds later, he heard whispers. Thus, he hastened his steps.
He arrived at a place where a huge cage was, and in front of said cage Naruto's body was, which was shaking uncontrollably.
He skipped to him, but before he could grab him, huge paws came out from behind the bars.
Minato jumped back while hearing a furious voice, "What are you doing here, you bastard?! Get out of this place immediately or you'll be sorry!"
Minato moved closer and saw Kurama behind the bars. "Kyūbi, it's you. Then that means..."
But he couldn't finish because Kurama growled and yelled, "GET AWAY FROM HERE, BASTARD. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COME TO THIS PLACE OR TRY TO AMEND YOUR MISTAKES. NARUTO ISN'T STUPID, AND UNDERSTAND THIS WELL; HE WILL NEVER COME BACK TO YOU!"
Minato frowned and replied, "Shut up, you damn demon! You're nobody to tell me what to do with my son…"
However, he couldn't continue because Kurama interrupted him again, "HAHAHAHA! Now he is your son? Damn stupid human! Don't make me laugh! You have no idea what Naruto went through because of you! And just by coming here, do you think you can amend your mistakes as if nothing had happened? Go away; you're just wasting your time!"
Minato lowered his head at this, but then he got it up and firmly said, "Well, it doesn't matter! I'll do my best to correct my mistakes; not even you will be able to avoid that. And besides, it's your damn fault! Everything was because of you!"
Kurama chuckled, "My fault? Did I force you to take that stupid decision? But I thank you that you did it. If you hadn't done that, Naruto wouldn't even be half of what he's now."
Minato was about to say something when he saw and heard Naruto complaining and nosebleed.
Minato worried, so he approached him and cleaned some of that blood before looking at Kurama, "Why aren't you helping him? What have you done?!" Minato asked, glaring towards Kurama, who tried to break his cage.
"Worthless human, you better leave this place. I'm losing my patience!" He then sent some of his Chakra at Minato, who opened his eyes in shock as he moved away.
"How is it possible that you still have power?! I took care of extracting all the power that you had!" Kurama ignored this and kept sending more of his chakra towards Minato.
As he dodged that dangerous Chakra, he heard another voice, "Hokage-sama! I'll get you immediately out of there. You've already got the information you needed."
Kurama then saw that Minato's figure vanished from there, so he sighed and then the entire mental landscape returned to be as before.
He approached Naruto and wrapped him up again, "Naruto, you better wake up soon; it seems that you'll have problems." He sighed and began to sleep.
Minato noticed that he reappeared in Naruto's room; he looked back and could see Inoichi with a severe facial expression, "What will you do with this information, Hokage-sama?" Inoichi asked looking at Minato, who put a chair at Naruto's side as he began to caress his face.
Then he turned his head to look at Inoichi, "Well, I plan to tell Naruto the truth once he wakes up. Besides, I'm sure that this information is already spreading across the village. Tell the ANBU that they have to inform the council members that we'll have a meeting tomorrow afternoon. Inoichi, thanks for your help, you can leave."
Inoichi nodded and replied, "Whenever you like, Hokage-sama, now I'm going to tell my daughter that her… boyfriend is in this state. I'm sure that she won't like the news."
Minato nodded and said, "Don't worry, go and tell your daughter; I don't have any problems if she comes by. Moreover, I should thank her; she gave my son the happiness that I couldn't give." Minato then clenched his fists while a solitary tear ran down his cheek. Then he placed his eyes on Naruto again.
Inoichi nodded and said nothing more. Although he was genuinely surprised by this information, he didn't want to upset his Hokage with questions that could hurt him even more than he already was. Then he left the room to go home.
Meanwhile, Minato began sobbing and cursing himself for what he had done, now all he wanted was that Naruto forgave him and came back with him and Menma.
The Next Day - Streets of Konoha
Menma was heading for a training session with Kakashi, who decided to train his team with much more "cruelty" than before.
He kept walking, noticing that many people around him were throwing him strange looks, as if in sorrow or something like that.
He didn't mind it and kept walking until he heard some people talking about his father. He stealthily approached and listened, "Did you listen to what happened yesterday?" Asked one man to another one.
"No, what happened?" Replied the other man.
"How is it that you didn't hear the rumors? You're an idiot," replied the other one.
"Hey, don't call me that! I can't be aware of everything that happens in the village; I have more important things to do than hear the gossip. Anyway, what happened?"
"Listen to this, yesterday, Yondaime-sama entered furiously in the hospital demanding that they provide help to someone. Guess who," replied the man.
"I don't know; who was it?" Just then several people began to inch closer to listen since many of them didn't know anything about it.
"You know, 'that boy.'" After that, everyone thought about it.
However after a few seconds, they understood it, and one of them shouted, "Why would Yondaime-sama want to help the demon? That demon should be dead."
The gossiper shook his head and answered, "No, you don't know what really happened. Yondaime-sama said that he is...his son."
After he had said this statement, they opened their eyes in shock, just like Menma, who almost fell from his hiding place, "Whaaat?!" several people exclaimed.
The man nodded and stated, "It's the truth. The medics heard that from Yondaime-sama; they said he was angry and that he was about to kill several medics because they didn't provide medical care for Naruto-san. Besides that, he looked apprehensive about his condition."
Everyone was surprised again, and one person in the crowd shouted, "But why didn't we know about this? Why did Yondaime-sama never say that he was his son?" Everyone nodded at that statement.
"Well, as I've heard, Yondaime-sama assigned Naruto-san a mission to see our behavior. Yondaime-sama wanted to know how people would behave when they knew that a villager had the Kyūbi sealed within." Obviously, that wasn't true, but rumors always appeared out of nowhere.
An old woman asked, "So, was it a test? Did Yondaime-sama just want to know our behavior? How would we react in such a situation?"
The man nodded and replied, "Yes, it was a test, and I think Yondaime-sama is disappointed with us. He hasn't left the hospital since yesterday. According to what I've heard, Naruto-san was on a very dangerous mission outside the village. And he returned quite wounded, and after that, he went into a coma. Doctors believe that he will never wake up again."
Many covered their mouths while some of them fell to the ground, hitting it with their fists. "How couldn't we realize this before? He's identical to Yondaime-sama, and he's obviously the brother of Menma-sama. We were so stupid," one of the men on the ground stated.
An elderly woman approached him and stated, "I have always thought it was strange. I have always believed that he had some kind of relationship with the Hokage's family. That was one of the reasons I never said anything against him. I always had my suspicions."
Meanwhile, Menma just sat there in silence without moving or saying anything. But then he dashed towards the hospital; he needed some answers, and he could only get them from his father.
He ran as fast as he could and in a few minutes, he arrived at the hospital, which several ANBU surrounded while the civilians tried to enter to apologize to the Yondaime and his son.
Menma jumped to the hospital roof and entered the building. He went to the receptionist and asked with fatigue, "Where is... Where's Naruto's room?"
The receptionist, seeing the Yondaime's son, replied, "Menma-sama, your brother's room is 301. But I suggest you to..." but before she could finish, Menma quickly ran to the room.
He walked upstairs, and when he was in front of the door, he opened it abruptly, just to see his father looking out the window. "Oto-san, we need to talk."
Minato then turned around, and Menma could see that his eyes were swollen from crying.
Minato then sighed, "I know; Menma...we have much to talk about. Take a seat. I will tell you the whole truth of the Kyūbi's incident; you have a lot to know about that day."
Menma's eyes opened a little as he took a seat. He turned his head slightly and looked at Naruto's body, and once again he felt a tightness in his chest when seeing Naruto in such a way.
Perhaps that was why he felt the same when he thought Zabuza killed Naruto; it was because he was his brother.
Afterward, he shook his head to pay attention to his father, who wiped his eyes a little bit before sighing, "Menma, you're the true Jinchūriki of the Village."
Notes:
Hehehe, sorry for the cliffhanger. :P
Well, chapter finished. Naruto had his mission in Uzu; there he saw many things. And he got something important.
The Apple of Eden is an object of the 'Assassin's Creed' game; it's a very powerful artifact.
It was something crazy. Initially, I didn't even thought about it. Not even when I was writing the chapter.
It came to my mind when I was trying to give a cool name to the sphere that Naruto touched and then I remembered the Apple of Eden.
I want to say that I don't think that Naruto will use that artifact too much, but it will be important in the story.
He will use the Apple to show the power of Uzushiogakure and once Naruto gets out of his coma, his new goal will be to rebuild Uzu.
About Naruto's coma, when he touched the artifact, all the information the Uzumaki's stored there (seals, secrets, etc.), were transferred to Naruto, and it was so much information that caused him to go into that state.
Minato took advantage of the weakened state of Naruto to enter in his mind since perhaps this would be his only chance to do it. In the next chapter, Minato will tell the whole truth to Menma, and the secret that Naruto is Minato's son will expand at an impressive rate, not only in the village but also across the world.
Minato is someone famous, and news like that doesn't remain hidden for long.
I think Kurama's reaction was understandable; he doesn't want Minato near Naruto after all that he caused him.
This won't be an Assassin's Creed crossover.
That should be all, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask them in the reviews.
Farewell and until the next time.