HOPE FOR HOMEWORLD
The Village
Naruto opens his eyes as he gradually regains his consciousness. A minor throbbing in the back of his head, he lets it fester as he looks around. To his left his mother and father, to his right his daughter and Ming Dai. Nowhere to be found is Hinata. It confirms all his worst fears from before, she is dead, he failed.
Naruto sighs, drawing all eyes in the room to him.
"Hello Naruto," Kushina says, smiling, "How are you doing, does your head still hurt?"
Naruto sits up, they are all now fixated on him, like children with nobody else to look to. He quickly perceives that the primary emotion in the room right now isn't fear, it's not suffering, anxiety or concern, it's desperation. Once again everyone is looking to him as their saviour.
"Of course not," Naruto says, "I don't have to endure any pain for long."
Naruto raises his hand to the back of his head and brings 'life' energy to it. He massages the small bump for a second and feels it completely disappear. His wounds from the fight before are all gone too, this is his power, a healing factor higher than anyone else in the world.
"Everyone in the has to bear all the burdens, and I just get to keep moving forward, like it's easy," Naruto grumbles.
"That's nonsense," Himawari corrects her father, "You put up with more than any of us and no matter what you say I know that you're hurting now dad. I've seen you lose people before, I know how it gets to you."
"Has it occurred to you that perhaps I don't want to talk about how I feel," Naruto snaps, "Why has this all got to be about how I feel, you lost your mother, why is nobody-"
"It hurts, it sucks," Himawari admits, "But right now I've got to power through it, because you need to be safe before I can grieve, that's what my mother wanted and you know that to be true."
Naruto would normally be more receptive to Himawari's arguments but he has just lost his wife, he is not in the mood for this kind of talk. He realises that Himawari may know Hinata better than any of them, that she, having lived longer, actually knows her mother better than Naruto does. Naruto doesn't want to think about Hinata's last thoughts though, about her fear, about her anger, about her rage. He has thought about that sort of thing before, and it always leads down a dark path.
"This sentimental chat is nice, and I'm sure it's necessary, but not under these circumstances," Dai says, changing the direction of conversation, "Naruto, what happened sucked, but this won't be the last time you lose someone in this conflict. We will all lose someone, but I need you to endure the pain and move forward."
"I was supposed to be different you know, that's why everyone had such high hopes for me," Naruto hypocritically continues, "I was supposed to save everyone, my element is 'life', that's why I was given this element, but I couldn't even save Hinata."
"Oh don't give me that," Dai groans, rolling his eyes, "Do you think we want you to be some sort of god? Furst thinks he's a god, he may even be right, but we believe in you because you're the best of us, because you're one of us. You're human Naruto, you make mistakes, but don't let you hold it back, not when we need to act fast."
"I'm sorry Dai, but I need to change things, I can't let this happen again."
Himawari approaches her father, "If you're not going to stand up and fight with us then what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to listen to my teachers. Juan and Nina were right, I need to be stronger before I can be of any use to you. That's why I'm going to start my training, right now."
"How about after we protect the village?" Dai suggests, "The imperial guard are probably on their way here right now."
"No, I'm beginning now, I'm not going to lose anyone else, I'm going to meditate on my element."
Dai's mind returns to his master's demonstration of meditating on his element. It puts someone into a state of absolute focus which they can only leave by choice. When meditating on one's element, one cannot see the outside world, their senses leave them and their wellbeing is left entirely in the hands of their friends as they enter a pure meditative state.
"If you do that we will be alone," Dai says, "I need you to activate the village's defences."
"I'm sure you can do it."
"No I can't, you are the only one who can do it."
"Why?"
"It depends on potential to activate it, it would take me a week to do it, we need to do it fast," Dai explains, "Your potential is the best among us, only you can activate it fast enough."
"My potential isn't that much higher than yours, I won't be able to do it fast enough either."
Dai begins to reply but hesitates. Sora was Naruto's master as well. The headmaster thought it was important that Naruto's true potential wasn't revealed to him, that Naruto felt he had to completely fulfil his potential in order to defeat Furst. He felt that even for Naruto it would be impossible not to be overconfident when scoring the highest potential measurement of all time.
Naruto begins to circulate 'life' energy around the extremities of his body, the ritual preparation for meditating on his element.
"Naruto, you can't do this," Minato says, "We need you right now."
"You need someone strong enough to fight for you, that isn't me right now."
"That man is you Naruto, don't leave us for heaven's sake, we need you."
"I'm sorry, I have made my decision."
Himawari angrily grabs onto Naruto's jumpsuit and raises him slightly off the ground, forcing their eyes to meet. "You're doubting your own potential, that's fine, I don't care right now if you think you're not that great. But don't you trust my mother's judgement, my mom thought you were worth dying for, so don't' you dare throw that away in a self-pity tantrum."
"I don't believe in myself right now, that's why I ned to do this," Naruto says, "But I do believe in all of you. I'm sure you will get us through this."
"Not without you!"
"I'm sorry."
Naruto closes his eyes.
"Dad!"
There is no reply, Naruto's body hangs there, his muscles limp as he ceases his responses. Himawari lowers him to the ground, shaking out of fear. He's left them, he's left them to fend for themselves against the odds. He could be out for years trying to make this breakthrough. In one day, Himawari has effectively lost both parents.
Dai presses his head into Naruto's as he checks the shinobi's eyelids for the telling sign of meditation. He spots it, a faint white light glowing behind them. Naruto is now meditating on his element, cut off from the outside world. Dai mutters his apologies to the Uzumaki family and tells them they are now on their own.
"What do we do now then?" Minato asks.
"Give me a moment to think, the fool could be out for years," Dai says, "Now we're in a really tight spot."
Naruto's Inner World
Naruto looks over his shoulder and spots the stone tablet in the same position it has always been. Below his feet the rippling water and besides that nothing but the silence and the darkness. So, he approaches the stone tablet and sits in a comfortable cross legged pose before it and just looks at it. His mind starts to work quicker than before, he begins to contemplate the meaning of his element, of 'life', and to realise significant things he missed the first time around.
For one hour he stares at the tablet continually, his attention not wavering one bit, clearly he is being aided by the state Sora taught him and the others to enter. A state where one cannot be communicated with, a state where one is cut off. That is how it normally goes, but Naruto is not a normal man.
He hears a familiar voice call out to him.
"So, you decided to shut up ship, to wait until the pain subsided?"
Naruto starts and looks around. It is Kurama.
"Oh, so you can still talk to me, it's been a long time."
"You've been busy, I didn't want to distract you, but now even watching you is boring."
"Go away Kurama, I'm not in the mood."
The nine-tailed fox looks down at his host. He has always been a curious one Naruto, so pure, so emotional. He is irrational when everyone cries out for him to be rational, yet he has rational thoughts where others are blinded by rage and anger. Naruto was the only one not to give up on Sasuke, yet he is the only one who is giving up on himself.
"Well see that's the thing, you shut us off from the outside world, now you're the only thing I can look at," Kurama grumbles, "And no matter how much you may want to run away from me, I am in your head, you can't escape from me."
Naruto sighs but looks away, "What do you want Kurama?"
"I want you to stop, you have no sense of time in here, we have no view of the outside world. But, I'm not going to waste much time, I'm going to get you to stop this meditation and go back to reality. That's something that only I can do."
The irony is there, lost on Naruto but not on Kurama. Long ago the nine-tails gave up and cursed humanity for what it had done to him, only a young man from the Hidden Leaf could wake him up. Now it is Naruto who has been let down by the world around him, now it is Kurama's turn to come to the aid of his partner.
"I came here because I am of no use out there," Naruto says.
"You came here because you were trying to hide from the pain! It's said, I know, I've seen you go through this before," Kurama recalls, "But are you going to run forever? Long term sulking isn't worth it, you've always handled yourself a bit better in the past."
Naruto stands, turns aggressively and paces towards Kurama.
"I always had Hinata in the past!"
Kurama remains unfazed as his host raises his voice. He waits and watches as Naruto calms down, as the Hokage berates himself silently for losing his temper with a friend. Even while sulking he thinks of others. Kurama knows this is the case, that Naruto is only doing this because he believed his own rationalisations about becoming stronger, no matter how stupid they may be.
"Yeah, now you have nobody," Kurama remarks sarcastically. "Don't be ridiculous Naruto, you've still got plenty to live for.
"You have your friend, you have your parents, you have your daughter, her daughter! They are all waiting for you to wake up, they all depend on you. But you can't get past this if you shut everyone out, I know you've seen where that road leads, that was Sasuke's road."
"I won't end up like Sasuke," Naruto says.
"If you don't let people help you that's exactly where you are going to end up. You were there to pull him back when he went too far, there won't be anybody who can pull you back. There is nobody else like you Naruto, nobody else can go so far."
"That's why it hurts!" Naruto raises his voice again.
Kurama once more waits for his host to calm down before letting him continue.
"That's why it hurts," Naruto continues more calmly, "I was supposed to be different."
"Different, not perfect," Kurama replies, "Nobody expected you to deliver them a flawless victory, nobody expects you to deliver them victory at all. They are just daring to hope for the first time, that's what makes you special."
Naruto turns his back to Kurama again. Perhaps that has been his greatest problem in Homeworld, he has been acknowledged since the beginning. He came to this world and he was already a hero. In his own world he had to fight much harder to achieve the same status. He lost so many, his parents, his master, his friends and then he had to fight a war that everyone begged him not to fight in.
"… I'm scared Kurama, scared that I'm going to lose them again. I can't bear to go on like this, wondering when I'm going to lose the next one."
"Then you're right, you have to become stronger, but you also need to wait. Right now you need to go back and help them, otherwise you will end up with nobody left to protect."
Naruto snickers, "You're not very sensitive are you?"
"Pah, I'm the nine-tails, this is as sensitive as I get."
Naruto smiles, the first time has smiled since she died.
"If you're scared of the emperor you're just like everyone else, but that doesn't matter," Kurama says, "What matters is that you don't give up, because that's what you're about to do."
Naruto sighs, "Hinata didn't believe in giving up, that was her ninja way."
"And she learnt it from you."
"Yeah."
"You need to have courage Naruto, just like she did. You will need more of it than anyone else and it all starts now. So, you need to stand up, stand up for Hinata."
Naruto nods. "Thank you, Kurama."
"Not like I've got anything better to do."
"Ha-ha, I suppose not."
Naruto smiles and nods to himself.
"Alright, let's do this then."
The Village
Naruto wakes up and immediately uses the one true sense to ascertain his surroundings. Ming Dai stood in the corner of the room pondering. Himawari sat a table, trying to stop herself from crying any more. His mom, comforting his father and telling him there was nothing he could have done. How could they have fallen into such a terrible situation? Not in terms of the odds they face, but in terms of how much hope they have lost. It's time to change that.
Naruto gets to his feet.
The real Uzumaki Naruto has returned.
"He's awake," Himawari says as she jumps up.
Dai looks around and smiles, "You came back?"
"Kurama convinced me I was just sulking, he said I should wake up."
"He was right," Kushina says, "Tell him… tell him thank you, from me, wouldn't you?"
Kurama shouts angrily, "Tell her she should have been more like this 20 years ago when she was keeping me prisoner."
"He heard you," Naruto says, "He says you're welcome."
Naruto smiles as he Kurama comically berates him and demands he says something more in-keeping with his 'nine-tailed dignity'. Every second that passes, he notices small changes in each of them using the one true sense, a slightly different smell, slight differences in muscle tension in their face. Hope is returning to them, that is his power, just as Kurama had suggested, a power well beyond his divine energy and his chakra.
"It's a good thing you're awake, we're in the territory of King Weiss Max, owner of the laboratories and yet another genius royal," Dai explains, "He is almost certain to know that we're here, even with all our precautions. He's probably sent the local division of the imperial guard after us."
Naruto starts as he hears something outside, a song. He has been blocking it out in favour of more significant things until now, but there is definitely a singing coming from outside. It's a most beautiful song, sung powerfully by many voices.
"What is that song?" he asks.
"It's an old song we used to sing here in Homeworld a very long time ago, back when Endou Akashi was the emperor," Dai explains, "News of Sora's death has officially been broken to the village now, this is a funeral song."
"For the headmaster?"
Dai nods, "Furst can control a lot of things, but he can't stop the whole world singing, he can't stop them paying their respects to a hero."
Naruto watches the micro-contractions in Dai's facial muscles, he is hurting, doing his best to hide it but under the surface he is hurting just as much as Naruto is. Sora was a father to Ming Dai, the only one who the young man could ever rely upon, the only one who could protect him from his royal father. They have both lost much to the tyrant who rules this world, they both have a stake in seeing him removed from the throne.
"I'm sorry Dai."
"Yeah, the two of us can cry on each other's shoulders once we're out of the woods."
"I felt scared, I still do, I'm betting you feel that way to," Naruto says, "But I'm going to try and change that, I won't sit by and do nothing anymore, not while you're all depending on me."
"It's not just us Naruto," Kushina says earnestly, "It's the military, the people of the Hidden Leaf, the shinobi, the Hokage, the billions of people in this world in every pocket-world. You're so important to so many people, most of them don't even know it, so don't be sad, let us help you."
"I will, thanks mom."
"So what are you going to do now?" Himawari asks.
"Whatever it takes to dethrone Furst," Naruto says, "You know, I really like this song they're singing."
"Yeah, me too."
"I'm going to make sure this song never loses it's meaning. To do that I have to honour Sora's efforts," Naruto explains, "I'm going to make sure his faith is reward, I'm going to do this, I'm going to free Homeworld. I just need you guys to point me in the right direction every so often."
"That would be easier if you didn't sulk again," Kurama says, drawing a smile from Naruto.
"We'll be happy to help you," Dai says, "Right now the right direction is a broken mechanism left in this town by the dark dimension. Do you think you would be able to handle that?"
Naruto shrugs his shoulders.
"Let's find out shall we."
Author Note
Hi All,
Sorry this is a slightly shorter chapter than normal.
I'm also sorry that I didn't upload a chapter yesterday, unfortunately I had work commitments.
Thanks for understanding, and for your support,
Cbehrills
Guest Response
Regarding powers so far and what group they fall into I will try and put something in the author note for the next chapter if I remember.