I gasped as I fell to the floor. So many memories, cold, god it was cold. Then the old man found… us? It didn't feel right to not think of these memories as my own, these feelings felt real. The pain sure felt real.
The orphanage, the pranks we pulled just so someone would look at us. The academy, Iruka, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata. Saved me from Mizuki-teme Iruka. Picked me up every time I fell Sakura. Tried to sacrifice himself to Haku for me Sasuke. Took on Pein for me Hinata.
I didn't know what pain was, whatever I was feeling physically before was engulfed and used as fuel to feed the absolute despair that came with just remembering her face. He lived this. Naruto was his name. I'd heard it screamed a million times, whether the nature good or gruesome. Naruto withstood this horror movie of a life.
"G-God-" I choked out, barely able to get words out through the hyperventilation. "W-what happened?!" I almost screamed, not that I had the breath to really do so. He knew, of course, what I was referring to. He'd lived with these memories for longer than I could fathom. The question was plain as day. How did you manage to lose? Lose the war, lose Team 7, lose her?
He was quiet for a long time. Then he spoke, "Gabe, he hits… kaa-chan," there was a slight pause as I'm sure he was hit with the same startling compulsion of memory association that I went through, "he hits you." It wasn't a question, but a statement. An angered look appeared on his face. A look I now knew meant whoever was on the receiving end had messed up badly.
We both were silent, then we started asking questions we knew the answer to, but asking them nonetheless. Then I asked a meaningful one. "I don't understand. We died, wandered for months in defeat, then we just die?" I asked in bewilderment. The life he- we lived was so fantastical; There wasn't a way in any lifetime we just dropped dead with overwhelming failure. That's not what we did.
"I-We didn't die. I can't remember what happened, but after Madara and Obito succeeded and set the moon's eye plan onto the world we were the only thing left alive. It took both of them the last remaining bits of their chakra to do it".
He paused and looked at his hands with thinly veiled anger. "I can't remember what happened, but I woke up in the body of what I now know was a caveman, Kurama gone, no trace of the seal. I tried that entire cycle to figure out what happened but I-" he physically collapsed in agony mid sentence, face red from exertion and obvious pain.
The lightbulb went off. "That's why I can't remember, whatever this is that affects you, blocks you from remembering doesn't it?" I asked while leaning down to face him.
He nodded, "I can't ever remember details, just slight overviews. I know how long it's been happening, but I couldn't tell you how many times it's happened".
"How long?" I gulped as I asked.
"Eons".
This kid, no, Percy stared at me with a myriad of emotions gushing from his bright green eyes. Fear, guilt, sorrow, pride, confusion, and no small amount of pity. He'd seen everything. From Jiraya to Hina-chan. Team 7 to Team Taka. He knew about Kurama and the bond we'd shared. The cold nights we'd braved under empty sake boxes outside the tavern before Old Man Third saved us. At the same time condemning us to a lifetime of abuse at the hands of the villagers.
On the other hand, I knew everything about him too, and unlike the 12 year old eyes that couldn't pierce the veil unless they knew what to look for, my eyes had been around for an eternity. These monsters had died countless times by my hand. Well, hand, knife, sword, club, shield wall… There was hardly a living creature on this planet I hadn't hunted.
"You've lived a hard life-" I started before he scoffed and fired back, "Yeah, a hard life for a step kid. I didn't have to become a child soldier at the age of 12 while the force I belonged to actively tried to kill me". He laughed in a way that both of us knew to be fake.
I almost cringed, he was twelve, and he absolutely reeked of seawater…
"Listen," I started, "there are things you don't know, that I've learned since this began. You need to be cautious. There are things out there that make Kisame look like sushi". He visibly paled at that, probably thinking that if anything like that existed there wouldn't have been a chance for him at all.
"This isn't my first time sharing a soul with someone-" I tried before he cut me off.
"Kurama…" he spoke the name with so much emotion it was almost startling. Of course, for him, he'd just been with the fox up until a couple minutes ago. Whereas I'd spent thousands of lifetimes apart from him. The memory fuse was so strong it felt like the both of us actually lived each other's lives.
"Yes, I'll never forget what Kurama did for me, no matter how many centuries pass". I sighed and straightened back up to full height, easily dwarfing his pre-teen frame. "I need to rest. Doing that drained me massively, I don't have a massive chakra fox to mooch off of anymore".
"You're also not an Uzumaki anymore either". He supplied, with a small smile. It was an easy smile to return.
"I don't know when I'll wake up. Like I said, I've never arrived in a body with the personality attached. They're always gone, like they never even existed. It's been many years since I even opened my mindscape, but I should be safe in here while you take out there". I supplied, already feeling the remaining energy fading from me like a river the day after the flood.
"Out there," he paused and a frown etched his face, "out there? What am I going to do? Waste my time at Yancy? We're-I'm the Nanadaime Hokage! I'm not built for practical education! I'm a warrior". He finished his outburst and I couldn't help but feel relief, followed by a wave of depression.
He clearly took to the fuse easily. It was hard enough for me to differentiate between the strong feeling of self from my life as Naruto and my life as Perseus, and I had lived much longer than him. For Percy, he had only lived a regular civilian life for 12 years, dotted and sprinkled with monster sightings that the mist protected him from. To him, his life was just too uniform to take precedence over the onslaught of trauma and grief that he'd just assimilated. This was going to be difficult, but far better than the alternative. If he'd rejected the mind meld, his brain would have blank slate restarted, not knowing which was true and instead accepting neither. Leaving him in a catatonic state both body and mind.
Not something either of us wanted. The decision I made in that moment would set off a chain of events felt throughout the cosmos.
"Perseus," that got his attention if the look of annoyance was anything to go by, "sorry, Percy, you need to get a grip. You're not just you anymore. You're more than just Percy Jackson. You're Naruto Uzumaki, which technically means you're also Hashirama Senju and Asura Otsutsuki. You need to act like the child of prophecy, even if the prophecy fulfilled only brought destruction". I rattled off. I knew this was a lot, but I didn't have much time.
"This is all so confusing". He muttered back to me while staring at his hands. "I mean, do I even have chakra?" He tried to make a rasengan, but nothing happened. "Great, 18 years of training and the thing I busted my ass off the most to build up can't even be used. This feels like the academy all over again". He sulked.
I couldn't help but laugh. He joined easily.
"God I hated Mizuki". I spoke as the laughter died down.
"You and me both". He shot back.
Silence reigned for a minute or two.
"Okay, I'll do it. You rest, I'll go out there and survive yet another awful school while you regain your strength," he started, but before I could thank him he clipped my intake of breath with a demand, "but the second you're one hundred percent you and I are figuring out what the hell happened to us. I refuse to believe we just gave up in the end. I can't stand the thought of failing them. Failing her".
I had to admit, hearing someone else talk about Hinata this way wasn't something I thought I'd ever hear. Kiba was the closest thing to a suitor she ever had, and that was comical really. It still stung, of course. She was the only person that ever truly loved me. Loved me for me, not what I could do for them, who I could bring back for them.
At the same time there was a warmth that filled my heart. It had been so long since I'd talked that way about her.
"It's the promise of a lifetime". I said with a grin. He rolled his eyes and reached his hand out. I took it, and he disappeared. Two windows of light appeared on the dank wall behind me, and as I turned around the stairs of our apartment peared back at me as we walked down them, bags in hand.
I conjured a chair and sat back in it, closing my eyes after watching him slide into the car next to Sall- Kaa-chan.
Sage, this was just as hard to process as when Kurama and I assimilated.