Authors Notes:
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the late update, but lest assured I will answer all your questions in this chapter. At the advice of my good friend, Dulemina, I have decided post a long chapter. Though I originally intended to post a chapter 5K long, I soon realised that deadlines do not bring out quality, just quantity. But I have made a chapter 3.3K long, which is somewhere in between my intended target 5K and the length of my usual ones.
Since it is Christmas Day I would like to share a few thoughts that crossed my mind while I attended the midnight service.
While attending the service I thought, here was I enjoying the Christmas day; today I might eat whatever I want, whenever I want, have fun with my family members, do whatever I want because it is Christmas. But then I thought about the millions of children of my age who do not have my luxuries. After I thought about that I lost my hunger, I realised that against their misfortune my plans for the day was mockery, just petty excuses to get away from the reality.
What I am saying is that whenever we celebrate something like Christmas or any other happy occasion, we should remember the unfortunate in our prayers or spare them a penny. Who knows? You might even save someone's life. Sometimes that one good deed will come back to you in troubled times, reminding you that, you might not be the greatest guy in the world but, you are not most irresponsible either! Either way what does it cost you? A thought? A penny?
You all might be thinking what this all has to do with Naruto, though in a weird way it does have a relation. Remember the death of Jiraiya? It is one of the most touching scenes in Naruto. It is wonderful that the proverb 'Failures are the stepping stones to Success' actually became true in his case. If you think about it, Jiraiya's life was full of failures – just like Naruto's. He did not curse his life and blame somebody for his suffering; rather he grew up to be a strong ninja experiencing all the hardships of life. He even helped somebody like himself – Naruto. And because of that instead of being remembered him as a Sannin or the teacher of the Yondaime Hokage, he immortalised himself as the teacher of Naruto, just another guy like him.
So this is all I would like to share with all of you - Never give anything the fortunate, they can always repay you. Help the needy and the downtrodden because they will always be in your debt and also because that makes all the difference.
So here is the Christmas update, Merry Christmas to you all.
Chapter 6
With Naruto
..and you are?" said the other Naruto, extending a hand.
"I am-am N-naruto", said Naruto shakily taking the extended hand.
Fool! thought the evil Naruto. He pulled the real Naruto and gave him a powerful kick to his stomach and whispered in his ear "Did you really think I will greet you happily?"
Naruto coughed up blood, that kick really hurt, "Huh?"
"You really are stupid", said the evil Naruto laughing pushing off the real one, "No way we are going to be Hokage this way"
Naruto held a hand to his stomach to numb the pain. He then looked up at his look-alike and then he saw, he saw how cruel his face looked, he saw both sorrow and anger etched all over his face. He saw the anger he had kept inside himself all time he was isolated and tortured by the people of Konoha.
"At last! The idiot sees the truth. Yes I am you, the real you, the one you have been afraid to let out all time. I am your worst nightmare." said the evil Naruto now smirking.
"I am the anger and hate you have repressed and kept all the years of your pathetic life" continued evil Naruto, now making the familiar clone seal, "and now that you have come here willingly, I can obliterate you and take control of my life."
TAJJUU KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU
After the smoke cleared, there stood 1000 evil Narutos' smirking at the real one.
"Well…SHIT!", and Naruto shot off.
"Running won't do you any good" laughed an evil one, "you asked for this", with this all the evil clones started to run after Naruto.
Who is this guy? , thought Naruto as he did his best to run away from the incoming army, If what he said is true then I have to be very careful, I get chills just hearing this guy talk! I especially don't like the sound of the 'taking over' part.
Then Naruto suddenly skidded into a stop, why am I running from him? If he is me, am I actually running from myself? , then he smiled, I am going to be the Hokage, dattebayo! I won't be running away from anyone now. Especially not from myself!
He then turned around and showed his smile at the oncoming army, he then shouted "Hey, my evil twin! Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves never runs away. Believe it! "
"Yo! That's me you fool. You are never going to be the Hokage, I am!", shouted an evil clone.
"We'll see about that" , said Naruto and he also made 1000 clones.
"Guys! Lets beat these people and show them who is the real boss!", shouted both Naruto and evil Naruto to their clones, and both the armies clashed with each other.
Both the armies were evenly matched. Some Narutos were fighting with kunai, while some others were throwing shuriken at each other. Some were even brawling, throwing each other on the ground, rolling over and getting wet from the swampy floor. The originals had 10 clones with each of them and were currently trying different tactics to overcome each other.
"You can never defeat me my insolent self! You couldn't even stand up to single person who hurt you, then how do you think you can defeat me?"
"Oh yes I did. I defeated Mizuki." said the real Naruto.
"Him? Him?" , said he evil Naruto and started laughing with his clones, "You think you defeated him? Oh man! You will believe everything others say. Did you really think you defeated Mizuki, a chunin, just with shadow clones? It was just an accident. You accidently activated your Mokuton and killed him."
"I? I k-killed h-him?" asked Naruto in shock, disbelieving.
"Yes you did. You killed a person. You- we are a monster. That is why noboby will accept us" said the evil Naruto, sadness evident on his face "Join with me, let me take control. After that I will make our dream of being the Hokage become reality."
Everyone stopped fighting. The mindscape became very quite.
Naruto asked softly "What do you intend to do after taking control? What is your plan to become Hokage?"
"I will show the people of our village that we are not to be messed with. People respect power, Naruto. I will obtain power and force them to respect us. With respect and power I will become Hokage."
Should I believe him? Should I let him take control? , thought Naruto then- "What about friends? What about the people who care about me?"
"Who? Which person cares about you? Are you talking about Iruka and Sandaime or the Ichirakus', you and I both know that they are just pretend."
Naruto thought about what his evil self said, even though what he said seemed to be true he still felt uneasy. This is wrong. Even if he seems right, I can feel it in my bones that he is wrong
"No" said Naruto "whatever happens I won't give you control."
"You won't give me control? YOU DARE REFUSE ME! WHY?" said his evil twin killing one of his own clones.
Naruto looked at him directly in his eyes and said "Because whatever I am, I am not you. You said yourself that you are my anger and hate, but that is not the only thing that I am. I, Uzumaki Naruto am more than that. I am a true ninja of the village hidden in the leaves. And don't worry, I will become Hokage, not just your way. Because, a Hokage is not just a position of power and respect. It is a ninja who is loved and adored by the people of his village, he is a person who is chosen by his people to protect them" said Naruto, now determined to prove evil-self wrong. He stood up tall and pointed at his headband with his thumb.
He smiled and said "I want to be that Hokage, not your bastardised version. So don't get your hopes high about taking control over my body, my evil-smartass-self" said Naruto now getting ready to fight again, the evil ones were now seething in anger "Because that is only going to happen over my dead body"
"When did you get so smart?" said the evil Naruto "So you won't give up eh? Very well then, we will settle this the hard way."
And then the cries of battle filled the air.
Meanwhile with Simon
"Well, Kyuubi, do you know the origin of Hagoromo's power?" asked Simon.
Kyuubi gave a slight grunt "Yes. If you are talking about Shinju and Kaguya, then yes, I know."
"Ok, then I will tell you something about the circumstances that led me here. First of all, you should know that God exists, whether you call him Kami or anything else, the fact remains that he exists and most importantly that he is the only God"
Kyuubi looked quizzically "Come again?"
"Yes, you heard me correctly the first time. Now let me come to the point, he, a very very long time ago created a world with life and the entire universe along with it. The world had all the usual stuff, plants, animals, seas and humans. But something happened that he did not expect" said Simon seriously "What he created started a chain of similar creations and finally resulted in thousands of alternate and parallel universes."
"The world and the universe he created is the world I come from" continued Simon "But each universe that was derived from it is similar to it in some way but, at the same time all are unique. For instance, almost every universe has a singular world with life and a yellow star as its source of light and energy, but at the same time people who can use chakra is limited to your world. This chakra or energy is the remnants of God's power which is a constant in all the alternate and parallel universes. This power gets diluted as the number of people who can use it increases. As you have already guessed, this power, in your world manifests as chakra."
"Well that explains the existence of the Juubi"
"Yes, it more than explains it. The Shinju was all of the God's power left in your universe, in the rawest of all forms, as a tree without any soul. Its very existence was to safeguard that power, and that is the reason of its change into the Juubi. Even now the Juubi's power recognises its origin, that's why you knew where I was from."
Kyuubi was now standing on his hind legs "That still doesn't explain who visited my father when he was alive"
"Yes, about that. That was one of the angels, i.e., one of the servants of God. Angels are how God's power manifests in our world. In our world, since nobody has any special power, a person is selected once in a century to bear that power. These people are called angels, I am the current one. And since we are people God intended to create, after our service life we can return to our home, in heaven. After that a new angel is appointed, but sometimes even after living a full century some angels refuse to return, they join the ones who have already gone renegade. These angels who have left their home are called the fallen."
"The angel who visited your father" continued Simon "was the angel of that century in our world. He was called Raphael. He came here to meet your father, the first person in your world who actually used the power given to him for good. He came here so that your father could make arrangements so that he could prepare everyone for the end."
"When exactly is it?"
"I don't know. Nobody knows except God. But what I do know is that, it wouldn't matter much if the fallen angel who has come to this dimension succeeds in killing Naruto."
Kyuubi roar strangely, his tails thrashing against the floor "You seriously think that that brat can help us? That he just-just take away all the hate in us- the tailed beasts?"
"Oh yes he will. But first you will have to help him"
"Me? Help him? Dream on fool, I've got better ways to spend my time in my imprisonment", Kyuubi now roared menacingly, the metal bars of his cage shaking, "Did you really think that if you came one day and said this I would forgive them for my treatment? I AM THE KYUUBI THE MIGHTIEST OF THE TAILED BEASTS AND I WILL HAVE MY VENGENCE!", he finished with an almighty roar.
A bright aura surrounded Simon, his suit glowed and the 'A' on his front grew more pronounced. A small spark of blue lighted upon his palm, very quickly it built up into a flame and covered his entire arm. Clear bright blue flames lit up the whole cage in its brilliance.
"DO NOT MESS WITH ME!" shouted Simon, his face flushed in anger. Kyuubi was just realising that all his tails were on fire.
"AARGH!"
"Are you really that dumb? Can't you realise that he is special. Just look at how many shadow clones he can produce, eve a Kage can only produce as much as 200 without dying- this guy can produce a freaking thousand!"
He howled, his face contorted in pain, his pupils dilated in anger "YOU DARE? You dare challenge me?"
"No. I do not", said Simon realising his sudden burst of anger "I was making a point. DO NOT ever mess with me. You will regret it. I will tell you this- all angels are granted absolute control over an element of their choosing", he now looked at Kyuubi in a threatening way, "Mine is fire. Let me tell you this, one more of that sort of behaviour from your and I will burn you for a full week. Are we clear?" He then flamed up his arms once more and extinguished them to emphasize his point.
"Yo-" started Kyuubi, then he thought about the threat, I'd rather not get burned for a whole week.
"Yes, we are."
"Very well then, shall I tell you the stories about my adventures to other dimensions?" said Simon cheerfully, as though nothing had happened.
"Yes, tell me" said Kyuubi, this guy sure is crazy, much more than that brat.
(Meanwhile-
Naruto just poofed off an evil clone, why do I get the feeling I should give Kyuubi a thumbs up next time I see him?, then he thought of the Kyuubi, its terrible eyes looking at him, I sure am crazy if I am thinking like that.)
Meanwhile in Konoha
"Shikaku, tell me, what did you find in Orochimaru's hideout?", asked Hiruzen to Shikaku Nara, who currently was leaning against a chair almost at the verge of sleeping.
"Huh?"
Why should the best ones be always so lazy?, sighed Hiruzen mentally and looked pointedly at Shikaku.
"What?" exclaimed the Nara "You called me up during my evening nap, what did you expect?"
"Tell me something, how many of those naps do you have every day?"
"About seven, maybe more. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing, just curious", said Hiruzen while he thought, as expected. "About the report?"
"Yes, about that, I found remains of some Sound Ninja along with many experimental equipments which includes a very delicate eye-transplant equipment. By the way Hokage sama, you did a neat job with the Sound Jonin there, glad to see that you are still in your prime."
"What are you talking about?"
Shikaku looked puzzled, "Well one of the Jonin I found died from high degree fire burns, similar to the burns associated with Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet, your signature move. Aren't you the one who killed them?"
That guy even fooled Shikaku, one of the best minds in the village, thought Hiruzen, cursing mentally. He raised up his right hand signally the ANBU in the room to leave, after they left he activated a silencing seal on his desk.
"Shikaku, what I am about to tell you right now should not reach the ears of a third person"
"Hai, Hokage Sama"
"I did not kill any of the ninja whom you found in the laboratory"
Shikaku was now looking very puzzled "Then who killed those men? If not you, then who saved Sasuke?"
"I wish I knew. I am just as puzzled as you are. As about who saved Sasuke, I do not think he required saving in the first place. I found him in the Forest of Death healthy and happy, just like he said I would find him"
"Who said what? And why the hell Sasuke be happy?"
Hiruzen said dejectedly "No clue. But keep a close watch on Sasuke, I have got a bad feeling about this. I will fill you on later after I confirm my suspicions."
"Hai Hokage Sama. And what about Naruto?"
If possible, Hiruzen's face grew more sadder, he slowly got up, walked up to the window and looked out without replying. Shikaku clearly understood what he meant and left the room without another word.
At the same time, the Uchiha compound-
Sasuke shouted-
Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu
Tobi dodged effortlessly from the path of the fire ball. Sasuke followed up ten shurikens, which would have reached Tobi if he had not blocked them with his gunbai.
Sasuke smirked "You are not bad! I guess that is because you are an Uchiha, huh?"
Tobi also smiled under his mask, this is perfect. If it goes on like this he will soon be able to beat Itachi and I would have powerful ally.
Meanwhile Sasuke was also reminiscing about his meeting with Samael.
Flashback
Samael to a lying down Sasuke- "What is your opinion about your brother?"
Sasuke sat up. He was hurting all over, both physically and mentally. Tears flowed down his eyes, he remember the terrible images of his father and mother getting killed. And the truth hit him, the truth that his brother killed his family, his whole clan, and left him all alone.
"My brother? Why did he do this? Why did he kill them all?"
Samael laughed, a cruel, vicious laugh. A laugh which told Sasuke that he not going to like the answers to his questions.
"Just what he told you. To test his power. But now tell me, what do you intend to do now?"
"I-I have to kill him" said Sasuke, drying up his tears "I have to avenge my clan. That is the least I could do for my dead clansmen"
"What if I help you do that?"
Sasuke glared at Samael, the latter still had a smile on his face, "No! I will kill him. I alone kill him"
"Ok then, I will give you the power to kill him. The power worthy of the Uchiha, the power that is rightfully yours"
"What power?" asked Sasuke curiously.
"That I will tell you later. But the question is would you accept my offer?"
Sasuke was now thoughtful, why is he offering me help? Who is this guy and what does he want from me?
"Why are you helping me? What are your intentions?"
This boy is intelligent, thought Samael, unlike Nagato I have to be careful with him.
"I will tell you the truth" said Samael in a business tone "I give you something, you give me something in return"
"Hm…"
"I will even offer you to bring your parents back to life"
Sasuke looked shocked "You can do that?" he asked incredously.
"I cannot, but I one of my friends can. But he will only do if you do something for us"
"Ok. I accept your offer" said Sasuke "Anything for bringing back my parents"
Boy, you made the deal with the devil, thought Samael, mentally rejoicing, you are in so much trouble.
"Very well then. First meet Tobi, your new Sensei, he will be training you from now on. And if it helps you, he is also an Uchiha"
At that moment a vortex appeared in the air, when it cleared Tobi was revealed with his Sharingan. Seeing that Sasuke smiled and left some of the pain in him leave.
Flashback End
After that Sasuke had been training day and night in a secure area of the Uchiha compound with Tobi. To his credit after a week, he activated his Sharingan.
Back with Naruto
After 2 hours of fighting there were no clones left, both Narutos were lying on the wet floor of the mindscape, exhausted and completely beaten up.
The evil one was now chuckling "I am actually surprised, you actually fought with me and brought the fight to a standstill! I underestimated you, there is more to you than what meets the eye"
Evil Naruto was now looking at the real one, the latter was keeping his silence.
"That is why I am letting you leave today. Do not think for a moment that you have won. It is just that you cooled down some of my anger"
He now extended a hand toward Naruto, who was looking at it hesitantly. The evil one smiled, "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I may be evil but I am honour bound to my word"
Naruto shook his evil twin's hand.
"I am acknowledging you as a worthy opponent, Naruto. We will fight again, but next time be prepared, because if you are not I will kill you" finished the evil Naruto with a threat.
"Well" said Naruto, unsure, "I guess it is goodbye then?"
"Yes it is. Now run off before I change my mind"
From his tone Naruto guessed that he was not messing with him and fled the scene as if the devil himself was behind him.
That's it guys. I think I answered most of your questions.
Don't forget to review.