Chapter 3:

His eyes opens and he finds himself within a dark, empty space. It's where nothing exists, well, except for a tiny dot that feels a million miles away. Naruto felt old, as if his body was being taken over, something extra terrestrial, manifesting every inch of his already misshapen soul.

He didn't like this irritating feeling, like thousands of sharp, tiny needles piercing his brain. It drove him insane. In all suddenness, the young shinobi booked it. He didn't understand why, even if he did know the reason. It didn't make any sense to him. It must be clever instinct because luckily, without realizing it, his body began to fade.

He didn't notice until his once-strong body falls limp, and he finds himself on the floor. He felt something in his mouth, dirt? Whatever it was, it was terribly disgusting and he desperately tried to claw his way to the light. He felt…if he doesn't make it. He would lose himself. The old Naruto, the natural born hero, the unpredictable shinobi, the young trickster, the savior of Konoha…it would all be for a naught. The real him might disappear forever…

"I have to make it…I will make it…I've been through so much. There's no other choice but to make it…" he heaved his heavy chest. His tired heart felt like it would drastically implode with all the physical strength he could muster, "Everything I've done, it can't go like this! Not like this! I had so much I wanted to do, I have new people to help. I can be useful! Please! Just one more chance!" he begged to the thin air, obviously no satisfying answer was given.

Every small inch he made closer to the blinding light, the sooner his body would sadly fade. His waist had already taken a turn to the worse and his ribs looked no better in this complex situation, but no matter what. He knew better than to stop and check his current condition. He knew it'll just be a waste of time. He continued to claw his way through, begging to whichever god does exists.

The feeling of his fresh nails being slowly torn back from it's flesh, sliding forward on who-knows-what and seeing a pool of blood underneath him, being dragged along too. The smell of blood, rusty…what a common and delightful smell. A smile appears from Naruto's lips. The birth of war, the only time he is truly useful…

Naruto didn't realize it until he does and slaps his face, giving himself a break, "No! I'm not like this! I'm never going to be like this!" but despite his brave efforts to put up a cool front, a tiny part inside of him said to give up, "But I always strive to be great…I know War is where I truly shine since people can depend on me, but even a monster…wants peace…wants his friends back…wants the rightful title as Hokage…I want my…mom and dad back."

Then give up…

The mysterious voice tells him and Naruto didn't argue back. He rested his stained colored hands on the floor and stared beside him, "M-maybe…I should give up…"

In the side, he could see a reflection of himself slowly, but surely disappearing into the dark abyss of nothingness, but that terrifying fact of being nonexistent didn't frighten Naruto one bit, instead, oddly enough, it was his eyes. They had no light in them and what made his spine shiver is: He didn't care…

But then, in the reflection, an image of a red haired man appears, standing before his dead-like body. Naruto felt something tick inside him as he realizes this familiar character, "N-Nagato!"

He wanted to sit up and greet this nostalgic visit but he couldn't force himself up, no matter what he tried. It's already completely amazing throughout all the blood loss and pain, he still was conscious, "Nagato! What are you doing here?!" he could only force a tired smile, but Nagato didn't respond, instead, he said something confusingly off-topic.

"Those who don't understand true pain can never understand true peace. Naruto, you mustn't forget…"

Naruto felt an adrenaline rush running through his worn out veins, pushing them to a maximum overload. He looked ahead, angry at himself for giving up, "Thank you Nagato, even if my friends forgotten me, even if my parents are truly dead, even if I can't hold the title for Hokage, I can't forget the true pain that I've went through! I can't forget about the enemies I conquered to gain true peace for everyone. I may be a machine made for war, but I'm never alone and even if my will dies here, I can't allow the others who suffered, who felt true pain because of me to have their will die here too. I shall pass on their will along with mine to someone else, just like you all passed on to me! Madara, Obito, Nagato, everyone! I'm sorry!"

He recharged himself with the fury of not only himself, but the others as well and desperately crawled to the white light. He knew, he understood that no matter how hard he tries, he will never make it, especially now but that doesn't stop him. His arms begin to fade but that young man goes so far as to use his teeth to pull him through, "Just…a…little…more!" he demanded his disappearing body to go an extra mile, he forced himself to sacrifice his teeth, eyes, nose, brain, anything! He just had to move on. And when finally enjoying the fruits of his hard work, he notices he got a lot closer than he should have.

The light is only one pitiful stride closer but it was too late. The only remains he had left was his eyes, everything else had long disappeared, but before he closes his eyes and accepts his fate, from the white hole, a hand appears and offers the torn down shinobi assistance, Naruto stares at it reluctantly, questioning himself, "All these years, when I have done things myself and moved mountains just with sheer will…would I finally accept aid?

Born in a society where aiding a Kyuubi was more than disgrace…even if one were just a former host. How can he finally rely on anything right now? He did get betrayed by everyone but before he sinks into his depressed state. The words of Nagato still linger strong. It doesn't matter if someone hates you, but if they're willing to help you out, you should just accept. Even if one day that same person were to stab you in the back. You will always know that they did care enough to help you. Does that justify love? Does that justify friendship, betrayal? No. It doesn't. But it sure as hell a beginning to an understanding.

"To be once loved…" Naruto felt his body regenerate and with one fine go, reaches out to the hand as it pulled him through. His friends loved him, the people in Konoha even adored him at one point. His parents still love him and even the Kyuubi kept a soft spot for the troublesome shinobi. This all happened and there's nothing in the present or the future could take that with him, "…relish it." The hand pulls him towards the light as he embraces it, surrounding his body.

"N-Naruto…" a girl in front of him, rubbing her eyes to keep herself awake ironically tries to wake him up, "You're supposed to get ready for the show…"

"Louise, you're crashing on me. If anyone walks in they might get the wrong idea, wait a second, did you get any sleep last night?"

"I…" she struggled to speak, "I was concerned that yo- my slave would disappear…" she quickly corrected herself but it didn't help the fact that she is tired.

To add into this whole mess, whenever Louise would doze off, Naruto would completely blank out too. He didn't understand the specifics, but if he had to guess. He is forced to 'shut down' whenever Louise goes unconscious. This might be troubling for the future since his direct energy source could be attacked and he would go down as well, "I guess I really am a machine…" Naruto chuckled, "What?" Louise looked at him a little bit puzzled, "Nothing…" Naruto sighed.

He snaps his hand in front of her to catch her unreliable attention, "Louise, snap out of it. We're going to sleep again and skip the whole show and tell nonsense."

"Eh?!" Louise's old, once-upon-a-time expression of being tired switches to a more, serious, back-to-business attitude, "I finally get a awesome familiar and when the one time I could show him off without being judged, he decides to call the whole thing off?!" she brandishes a leather whip, and beckons Naruto to come over, "Perhaps you need a little discipline…"

Naruto waved his hands in the air, "We all know how that turned out, right?"

"Pshh, I only missed because I wanted to."

"Look," Naruto said, avoiding this fight altogether, "That's not even what I mean. It's just, you know, do you think you can handle it? Considering what I've seen so far from you, you haven't missed a single day of rest. It's a lot harder if you're used to that type of luxury.

"What?!" Louise looked even more pissed, "I'm a wizard and you're a familiar, do you honestly think your life is a lot difficult?"

"Yes." Naruto answered truthfully, but added a sly smile to try and reduce the tenseness from this situation.

"Naruto…you might be able to live off without me later, but that's later, as of right now. You need me to live and it's only right to serve me when I'm in need. Aren't you a hero like you've told me?" then, she suddenly looked unsure if she should say the rest she meant to say but she did it anyways, "A-and…the other reason I couldn't sleep is because…well, I was thinking how cool it would be to have my own hero."

Naruto observed her and could clearly see she was in some dream state, so besides her worrying for his existence. She actually thinks he's pretty cool?

"I'm not used to this." Naruto chuckled, really amused, "You must have the wrong guy."

"But I don't. I know you're a hero, not because you've told me but if I have any talent at all, I would like to think it's having a good judge of character."

"You? A good judge of character?" Naruto laughed, but he found it pleasing, even if it's this one time. It feels good to finally be appreciated, even if it's from a girl he barely knows, "Alright then, lets go 'show-off'." Naruto grinned widely before disappearing out in the hall ways. Louise followed behind him, yelling at the top of her lungs, "It's not showing off, you slave, it's called show and tell!"

In a wide and open field, a talented magician and her tremendous looking familiar just finished their demonstration of what a text-book duo should look like. Jean Colbert, the announcer, congratulates the beautiful red headed girl with her victory, "Very well done Kirche. Top notch work!"

The crowd that gathered from both school staff and important officials that spent their visit at the school made it quite the audience.

Kirche ravishes in the crowds cheers and picks up the roses tossed by several shy male teenagers who found her to be a untouchable sex idol. Jean Colbert however took the moment to warn the crowd about the next contestant, if the crowd wasn't filled with important officials he would've thought twice to embarrass Louise but he couldn't risk having the school thrown to the dumps because of her carelessness, "Now for a warning, our next contestants haven't arrived, so I would make this quick. They're extremely dangerous and though I would highly disagree any of you will die, there is a chance someone would get hurt."

"Aw, Louise the Zero again?!" a student blatantly showed his disagreement of having her up there. He even done a disfavor to everyone else by leaving, and the ones that did stay to enjoy the rush, said things like, "Well we all lived a good life!" Not only were teens the only one to show discomfort towards this, even the young children were frightened, "Mommy, I'm scared…" one little kid would say.

Naruto and Louise heard the whole thing, as they quickly sneaked around the crowd and to the back entrance. Louise looked angered, as if she had heard someone close to her had died and she wanted revenge, while Naruto merely took it all in and kept it in a safe box where he distributes it to the poor. (this line is just a joke, don't take it seriously).

"Just they wait…" Louise growled, "They don't even know whats coming to them."

"I bet…" Naruto smiled, "Just lend me your strength Louise and all your doubters would disappear…anyways, besides that, how are you feeling."

She didn't look well. It could be that she was always pale, but the dark rings under her eyes proved otherwise. Naruto went along with it though, he couldn't let her down when she's in this determined state, "Naru-I mean, slave!"

Naruto quickly seizes her hand and kisses it, "Yes, m'lady?" Louise's anger quickly masks itself with confusion by Naruto's actions, she steps back, holding her hand, "W-what do you think you're doing!"

"Well," Naruto was unsure himself, but knew why, "You always insists to call me as your inferior so maybe if I made you my queen. You'll understand."

"You can't! That's way too embarrassing."

"Okay, how about we both drop it and call each other by our names then, deal?"

Louise looked hesitant at first but nodded her head in agreement. The two then waited for the signal to get on stage and took their role as Master and Familiar. There was still a good bit of crowd left when they arrived. It looked like almost everyone would risk their lives to see something like this, and Louise's father is well known man in the politics, so his competitors would love to have a wound to show everyone back and discredit her father's reputation.

The curtains rolled backwards as Naruto and Louise took the stage, looking deeply into each others eyes, "So, how about a good luck kiss?"

Louise didn't let it get to her, but she looked shaken, "Naruto, please, be serious…"

Naruto looked at her pleading eyes and his smile disappeared, "This is really important for you, isn't it?"

"Yes…"

"Then, let's make fireworks." Naruto grinned.

His body poofs into thin smoke and reappearing are two shadow clones, "Rasenshuriken!" he screamed, as the clones almost instantly create a star shaped orb, half the size of Naruto and he tosses it into the air. The rasengan violently mixes with the air and twirls madly between the wind until finally exploding.

"Whoa!" the crowd look in shock, and as all eye return back to Naruto. Ten more took it's place, each holding a kunai knife Naruto created before he went to sleep last night. In a quick push, the clones jump away except one and throw the kunai's in blinding speed. Naruto catches five of them and uses the same Kunai's to block the lethal attack.

The crowd were in shock, looking at the exploding Rasengan that created colors of different kind. Naruto was familiar with the making of fireworks so he mixed together his attack to make it look like the colors were from the original Rasenshuriken. When all eyes return this interesting shinobi, already ten of him had taken place. During the night, he had created Kunai knives for today as well, and each clone bared it's sharp ally close to themselves, except for one which stood in the middle of it all.

The clones soon jumped away from the original and through their kunai's in blinding speed, to show off his unnatural physical ability, Naruto had caught only one and blocked the rest. The sound of clangs made it look like it was a thundering storm nearby, but it wasn't over. Naruto threw his kunai to one of the clones and as it hits the unprepared clone, he appears right behind, catching the thrown Kunai and throwing it to another, repeating the process until all clones disappeared with the only smoke remaining.

It was hard to keep up, but that itself made it so much more spectacular.

When Naruto finished the last clone off, he turned his head to look over to Louise who should be overwhelmed by his greatness, but instead, he finds an exhausted young girl, breathing heavily on the floor. He looked around for help and in a distance could see Jean Colbert rushing in the side towards the Infirmary tower. The crowd had got up on their feet, genuinely worried for Louise.

It was just what he expected. The stares Louise receives aren't from hate, it might be from jealously or someone was trying to be funny, which doesn't make anything better but at the very least, it was born with hate.

Naruto pushed her hair to the side gently, staring into her eyes, "Fight!" he chuckled. Louise stared at him, in a drowsy state, "Naruto…you really are a hero…"

"Don't get too serious with me Louise. You only just seen a little of my moves." He felt like boasting, even if it's cocky of him, "Just wait till you see my best move!" he laughs, but Louise looked serious, "Naruto…be my hero for a little longer. I know it's selfish of me to deny you home passage, but be my hero for a little longer. Together, we can make great things, so please…I'm tired of being weak…and I know looking for help-"

Naruto cut her off. He knew what she was going to say because like it or not, the two hold a lot of things in common, "Louise, looking for help doesn't make you weak. I'll help you no matter what."

Louise smiled, it was like finding someone who finally understood her, "Naruto…will you be my slave?"

"I thought I told you to stop calling my that." Naruto growled.

"I know, I know, but if it makes me your queen, then it looks like I'll be calling you slave from now on."

The magicians slowly gather around Naruto and Louise, only to whisked Louise away from him. The two tried to hold hands forever, but the Magicians forcefully break them apart, "Please Naruto, you didn't give me an answer. Will you be my slave, for a little while longer!?"

The two slowly became more far and far apart, but it didn't stop Naruto from screaming back, "Yes M'lady. I would be your slave in shining armor until I'm sure you can be yourself! I won't leave you Louise!"

A/N: RR