Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

"Okay Lord Naruto... I need you to relax... this magic will let me view all your human memories."

The last day of therapy, and the last therapist.

He was going to try one final approach to unlocking Naruto's memories, by going directly into his memories to try and jump start them himself. By watching all of the memories, he would focus on the memories that were locked away by Naruto's own inability to remember. It was the best bet for Naruto to overcome the voices in his head.

"I'm relaxed."

Naruto layed down with the man laying down across from him, the tops of their heads touching each other. Naruto had no real problem with a guy going through his memories, since he could barely remember them himself.

"I'm here for you if you need me Naruto."

Naruto sent a thumbs up to Sirzechs.

"Okay, now take some deep breaths and countdown from 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4..."

Sirzechs watched the countdown.

"Oh... wait... stop...maybe this is a bad-" Naruto started to talk, before the therapist finished what he was counting down with and both him and Naruto fell asleep.

Sirzechs watched.

-Inside the Memory World-

It was beautiful.

The world through Naruto's eyes was filled with hope, even from his earliest memories there was so much love and hope. The therapist could only feel and see the world, but there was a problem. The memories had started not at birth like he had intended, but they had started at the moment that Naruto started to learn how to use Senjutsu.

The magic let him view all of Naruto's human memories, but it would seem that Naruto truly did forget about the memories themselves. He had impressions of them, and he could remember his pain and what caused the pain, but he had not the true memory of it.

He saw the world.

"It's... it's so beautiful."

The world shined with life energy that he had never been able to sense, but Naruto could sense it. Through Naruto's eyes, his memories, his ability to sense, he could feel the world for the truly beautiful place that it was.

Senjutsu.

All life.

He could sense all life all across the country, from the smallest insect to the largest creature. He could feel the breath of life that ran through the soil, the trees, the air. He could see the energy that flowed around nature and through it, penetrating all of it without ever once breaking the flow of the universe. He could feel the energy flowing through him as well as he became one with the universe.

It was enlightenment.

He felt turned to stone, and this was where the memories should end. After this point, Naruto was no longer a human. After all, he was a stone statue.

The memories didn't end though.

Instead of appearing inside of Naruto's mind, he continued to sense everything that Naruto had sensed. He was in total darkness, but he could still see everything so clearly. The raw beauty that could not be seen by the eyes of those who weren't of nature, beauty that eyes could not capture.

"No... I shouldn't..."

Time started to speed up.

Naruto's memories were the memories of the planet, he was seeing the memories of nature itself as he felt every single death that happened all across the country. He felt the lives return to nature, more lifes be born, and more lives get cut short. The endless cycle of non-stop life and death, he could sense and feel the beauty of it all.

Years passed.

All life ended.

He sensed the moon, the energy of nature that flowed through it, collide with Earth. He felt all life go extinct just like that, but the energy of nature still existed. The universe still moved on even without life, life was both pointless and amazing just because of how it ended. Time flowed on even without anyone to observe it, and still he was one with nature. He could still sense everything, but the world had become darkness.

Years.

So many years that it was impossible to count.

A spark of life appeared, growing from nothing. Plants started to grow once more, and nature started to gain the golden hue of life. It was amazing, beautiful, to watch as life began on a planet. It was impossibly beautiful, because he had gone braindead through the years that passed in these memories. That spark of life had awakened him in the memories he was stuck in, because so long had passed that he had forgotten how to end his own magic.

So many years.

He watched as the country he was on was filled with life that spread and spread, growing with unchecked power. Nature fueled itself, it created and continued to destroy itself. He felt lightning strike trees and destroy them during storms, he could sense the eruption of volcanos that burnt life to the ground, but gave rise to new life to take it's place.

It was all there.

All of history, all of the history that they didn't know.

These memories were it.

Life spread, and bloomed, and bred, and died.

Years passed by, and so many years passed. Life had truly taken over the planet once more, so many billions of lives had come and gone during the time. All lives, not just the big ones, but the small ones as well. The insects, he could sense so many lives that it was mind breaking. He could sense and trace all of their lives.

His brain wasn't meant for this beauty.

This was what it was like.

He was more than a man, he was everything. He was one with nature.

He had died as a man.

That was what it meant to be a Sage, to stop living and become one with nature. It was to become all and none, to embrace infinity and nothingness. To ascend to a greater existence of not only power, but knowledge. So many years passed by, but they could no longer be counted, counting them was a waste.

This was ascendance.

Life died out again, and it was beautiful. It was beautiful to witness death become part of the endless cycle of life, but this time some life had survived. They were small sparks, but they were there. They were the spots where nature didn't touch, where the power of the cosmos around could not interact. The sparks of live, as the years passed and they moved, it could be seen as they spread and breed as well.

How many years passed?

Who was he?

He was the infinite nature that surrounded him, he was all of everything. He was all of nothing, he was everything that every would be and ever could be.

"No... you're not... keep your mind."

A voice spoke to him.

"You're not the Sage Naruto, you're a demon... remember."

No, why would he want to become anything other than nature itself. To be part of this never ending cycle, able to watch over it all like a god. To be the living history that would always be around, until the true end.

He forgot everything.

Why did he need to endure the pain of being a man?

He just watched.

Eventually, he couldn't even feel the beauty anymore. His mind just broke, no longer able to comprehend anything other than being part of nature. He forgot everything, absolutely everything, including the history that he had witnessed. He just watched as time moved on, emotionlessly and broken as the memories that Naruto had accumulated over the time he spent in his statue prison.

He forgot what he was here for.

-Outside of Naruto's Memories-

"He's..."

Sirzechs covered his mouth with his hand, horrified as he watched the spark of intelligence and life leave the man's eyes. He watched as countless emotions went over the man's face, even his nose started to bleed.

He touched the man to try and wake him up.

It was brief.

-Inside of Naruto's Memories-

"So... so beautiful..."

Years and years passed for Sirzechs.

He watched the countless years go by and the endless cycles of life and death, as nature granted him the vision of the golden hue of the universe around him. He saw things through the eyes that Naruto had when he was a Sage.

Enlightenment.

Sirzechs wanted to give up his mind and just enjoy this forever, he wanted to give up what it meant to be a man and become one with nature.

He wanted to give up.

Never give up, because that is what it means to be a Shinobi.
I'm not gonna run away. I never go back on my word!

-Outside of Naruto's Memories-

Sirzechs forced himself to let go.

He gazed at the clock, and not even a second had passed, but to him that second was a lifetime of memories. He had watched the fall of countless beings, but he could truly appreciate the beauty of it all.

"I'm... I'm crying." Sirzechs felt tears drift down his cheeks.

He had died as a man.

He had become one with infinity, he had seen everything. He had seen things that no person should be able to endure and remain a person. No person's mind should be able to endure such years without breaking.

Naruto endured it.

Naruto endured it for longer than any of them, but he didn't break.

Naruto had endured.

Sirzechs collapsed to his knees as he cried, he truly cried as he understood the pain that Naruto had gone through. Not just the pain, but the beauty of being one with nature, but never allowing himself to be consumed by nature. Naruto had endured the constant temptation to just allow his mind to die off and become one with everything.

Naruto had endured.

Everything, Naruto had felt every life perish, every life born. The creation of life and it's destruction from start to finish, time and time again.

"Sirzechs... SIRZECHS are you okay!?"

Grayfia, his wife, rushed to his side when she noticed that he was crying harder than he had ever cried in his life. His cries were filled with so many emotions that she had never heard from his cries before.

"He... he endured... he endured it all alone... for so long."

"Wh-what?" Grayfia was worried.

"... He's gazed at it... he's a Sage... he's one with nature... he endured it all... his mind never broke... he never gave up... through out it all." Sirzechs had heard Naruto tell his story to them.

This was experiencing that story.

He experienced first hand a fraction of what Naruto had experienced, and just that fraction was enough for him to nearly give it all up. He almost abandoned his memories of his family, he almost gladly abandoned it all. The eternal hell that was trying to remember who he was, and not finish becoming one with the endless abyss.

He had become part of infinity.

The silence.

The silence of nature as he got to watch everything from an outside point of view, the beautiful silence that was being an observer to all things. He had achieved enlightenment for brief moments, but he had been forced to pull back for fear of giving in.

"What are you talking... it's okay... it's okay."

"It's not okay... how did he do it... how did he endure all of it... why did he do it... why... why didn't he just give up? It would have been easy... he would have been happy... he put himself through hell... he endured an endless hell... because of hope... because he hoped for the day he could breath once more." Sirzechs screamed, he screamed and cried at the top of his lungs.

Naruto never backed down.

Naruto never gave up.

Naruto wanted to give up so many times, so many times he was tempted to give up, but he never did. He always remained who he was, he retained the fact that he was suppose to endure. He endured everything and anything. He felt the pain of every death he could sense, he felt the joy and sorrow of watching so many lives vanish.

"I've seen eternity... I wanted to break... I wanted to abandon you... I wanted to abandon everything. I'm lucky... I'm lucky I remembered to break the connection... I remained who I am." Sirzechs cried not just for Naruto, but for himself.

He hated what he had almost succumbed to.

He had almost abandoned everything dear to him.

"Naruto saved me... his... he called out to me when I tried to give up. Naruto... he's reliving his hell, just for the chance to get his memories back." Sirzechs cried more for Naruto. Naruto was awake through the entire time that he was being forced to watch his own memories.

He saved him.

He tried to save both of those in his memories, he kept calling out to them so that they didn't fall victim. Naruto had figured out that he might still be considered human, even when he was a statue and that those memories might be counted among the ones that the magic would force them to view.

...

"... I'm sorry... I should have remembered Sage Mode sooner... I shouldn't have put any of you through that." Naruto woke up, his eyes open once more.

Sirzechs hugged Naruto.

"No... I'm sorry... you experienced it all a second time... how did you endure it... how did you endure that endless hell?" Sirzechs had to know, he had to ask. He needed to know how Naruto never gave up, despite how tempting it would have been.

He needed the answer.

Naruto smiled.

"... Because that is the path I live by, it's my nindo. I never give up."

That was all.

That was how Naruto remained who he was, he had such resolve and ability for the simple reason that he could endure anything so long as he had hope and his unbreaking will by his side. He never gave up, and that was what made him different... no it was something even more fundamental. There were many people who claimed that they would never give up, and many people who believed in such a thing.

Naruto was different.

His heart was endless.

His endless love allowed him to truly be the man that could say he didn't give up. He would die for his friends with a smile, he would take the world on all by himself to protect a single person. Even though his memories faded, and he couldn't remember his friends, they were still so precious to him in his heart that he refused to give up on them. He kept the love he felt for them alive, he kept their history alive inside of his heart.

"Naruto... thank you."

"Sirzechs?" Grayfia asked, confused.

"For what?"

"... Thank you for being born... thank you for enduring all that pain and suffering... because you've blessed my life with a friend like you... thank you for becoming part of my life." Sirzechs wrapped his arms as tight as he could around Naruto. He wanted to convey everything in his physical action, he wanted Naruto to feel his words.

His utmost sincerity.

This was the blessing that even a devil life him could recieve.

The ability to know the man before him.

Chapter End!
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