Chapter V: "Blind rage, Bitter tears "
12 years ago.
What await me when my conciousness return was Hell.
I've seen Hell.
The familiar town had been reduced to dust, ashes and rubbles.
The great wall of flame was still roaring.
I was the only one still alive.I must have been really lucky, or my house was built in a very lucky spot.I don't know which it was, but the point is, I was the only one left alive.
I wanted to run away from this Hell, but my body cannot even move.
The fire was still roaring.
Everything around me was burned up. What was used to be living, moving people were turning into charcoals right before my eyes.
The dark clouds loomed overhead, covering the whole sky, twisting into agiant spiral.
Lightning and wind, danced together on my grave.
That told me, at least it would rain soon.
…That's good. The fire will be put out once it rains.
In the end...
It hurts.
I say so on behalf of all the people who couldn't even say so.
That was 12 years ago.
After that, I was miraculously saved.
But what was left of me is only the husk of a kid named Mizuki.
If you take away a child's parents, home, friends and all such things, there's nothing left for him.
In other words, in order to let my body live…
My heart died.
But, there was still one thing that refused to die alongside my heart.
The haunting image that was burned into my soul.
I will never able to forget...
…Not even when I go to hell.
The towering shadow of the Nine-Tail Fox, looming over the horizon.
The crimson orbs, stared to the core of my soul.
He used to have everything.
Money, social status, relationships,etc, all served in a silver plate to a child with golden spoon.
The spoiled kid, as someone who didn't know how privileged he was, never once be grateful to what he had.
Instead, he dreamed of being a godforsaken ninja. Well, if anyone have ever seen the Twelve Guardian Ninja, they would also be led to believe that the ninja life is all about glory and badassery.
And his parents, being the pampering type as they are, once again spoiled him rotten.
Well, turned out he isn't gifted by his parents alone, he is also gifted by life itself. Being the top of the academy since the first year, he was an undisputed genius.
If this isn't the textbook example of a Chosen One, then what is ?
He believed that he is fated to be the greatness.
And then, the Demon Fox came.
He used to have everything.
And now, he had nothing left.
"How was the kid's injuries ?"
" I would say that his survival alone is a miracle in itself. How the fuck one can even live without almost any part undamaged ? I literally have created a Frankenstein's monster by saving him. This is more like a flesh marionette with Mizuki's damaged brain inside its head. Not fully flesh, as I have to use many mechanical parts in places of ones that we ran out of. The whole world is in one big crisis of human's body parts supplying... *sigh* I don't think he can ever be fully recovered. He might have to spend years bedridden, maybe even forever."
" I see… "said Danzo, whose eye and arm hasn't been replaced with Sharigans and Hashirama's cells. And looking way younger than he is in canon Naruto.
He was staring at him.
Maybe he had already known that he was just pretending to sleep, but still made the conversation anyways. He wanted me to hear it.
"What a waste to the Leaf… "
"Yes, Danzou-sama, he was used to be a great Jonin in the making. But, with these sequelaes, I doubt that he could ever complete his academy. I mean, his whole body wont be able to move at all anytime soon, and even when he recovered, he will be never able to reach even a dim light of what he could've been. I doubt that he will be able to run or yell without seriously damaging his body. With his damaged brain, spine, charka network and reserve, at the very best, his charka using skill will be capped at Academy students' level forever. "
Tears rolled down his cheek, as he silently wept.
Even his path to move on was also cut short…
"Well, his knowledge is still there. He can still be a teacher..."
Thus the ending of Mizuki's tragedy.
From the boy who have everything, to a man who have nothing to loss.
Holy shit, that's the mother of a lore dump.
Guess that explain the blood trail on the road, and the blood puddle he just thrown up several seconds ago.
As well as the patched up face of Mizuki I am seeing now, normally hidden behind a transformation justu.
Y'all must be asking that how the fuck I knew about all that. Well, time for my own lore dump, I guess.
Back to where we left off.
Raising imagery within the caster's heart as pseudo-matter…
…To project the world within yourself to the outside world.
And to project the inner world, one must've fully understood it beforehand.
That's why I am meditating.
Do some stretches before you start to prevent stiffness.
Sit in a comfortable position with your back straight.
Take a few deep breaths to calm your body.
Close your eyes and visualize your charka.
Think about the chakras running up and down the center of your body.
Start at the core of charka, gather it at the base of your spine and move up to the crown of your head.
Breathe deeply and release tension, let go of all thoughts beside focusing on your chakras.
Let your breath move the light and energy through your body like a wave, cleansing out all imperfections, imbalances.
When your mind reach the perfect calmness, start sensing your own soul, your "self" .
Feel it, and gently reach inside.
I opened my eyes, and found myself floating on the surface of a borderless sea.
Instead of the familiar star sky, I only found a gigantic and blinding bright orb of light.
I stood up to take a look at the water surface.
The perfectly calm water didn't have any milk way underneath, but an endless black void.
I stared at the void…
… And the void gazed back.
I found myself drenched with sweat.
And blood, flowing out of my mouth, throat and eyes.
They are burning in heat and pain, crying for help in vain.
But I paid no attention to that, as my brain was overloaded with info dumps.
Of my body, the clothes, the scroll, the grass and the earth, and everything around.
I can see everything. I can sense everything.
Concept of creation. Structure, composition material, history.
I can feel that, my eyes are turning into those of the Nine Tails.
I can feel the concerned look on the face of the many Jounin and ANBU, as well as my foster grandpa, who were hiding around.
Lmao, so there is no epic scroll stealing operation in the first place.
"wHaT aRe yOu LaUgHiNg fO-" Mizuki tried to scream, only to throw up blood once again.
He collaspe onto the ground, eyes still glaring at me angrily.
Oopsie, I forgot that time doesn't stop during inner monologue and flashback in real world.
Mizuki took a strange syringe out of his pocket, cackling maniacally, blood and sweat soaking his whole body. Then he injected it into his vein.
His whole body starting to fall apart, reveal the many mechanical parts I've seen in the flashback.
And then, flesh and skin starts growing from what was left of Mizuki. Not even a minute passed, and Mizuki is already back, in his full glory…
And the form of a tiger furry.
Mizuki's cursed seal. Manga-only will never know what the fuck is this.
"SURPRISE, EVIL FOX ? YOU AREN'T THE ONLY DEMON HERE ! AS LONG AS I GOT MY REVENGE, I DON'T MIND BECOMING THE VERY THING I'VE HATED ! I-"
Apparently being able to yell without throwing up blood means there is nothing to stop Mizuki from torturing my ears.
I project and throw a kunai with all of my might right at his forehead, but it just bounces off Mizuki harmlessly. A spark can be seen when the kunai crashed, suggesting that his forehead is now as hard as steel, or maybe even harder.
And Mizuki uses the body flicker to rush at me, way faster than your average Jonin's, maybe at least base form Might Gai's level. The fox's eyes help me seeing his movements as clear as daylight, but that doesn't mean my body is fast enough to react to that.
His claw tear through my chest, ignoring the chainmail I wore.
His smile become a Glasgow one…
Only for it to become a grit of anger one second later.
My consciousness fade to black…
And then, the real me step outside their hiding spots, weave handsign to summon 5000 clones, using the same principle he used to create his tanto and shuriken. This time, I project the blueprint of myself.
The Naruto army start to encircle the white-haired furry.
A rain of steel fall from the Naruto's hands, signal that the jumping officially begins.
The sun is rising.
Mizuki falls to his knee gasping for air, after his hand crushed the throat of the 5000th Naruto.
The ninja weapons and Naruto corpses covering the ground around him all disappeared in puffs of smoke.
"Finally, it's ove-" Apparently not, as Mizuki just got hit by a motherfucking big boulder.
When the clones busy ganging up Mizuki, the real Naruto somehow managed to find that rock, moved it uphill and pushed it down to Mizuki's head.
Mizuki decides to just fucking give up.
His body has became a monster's, but after all, his mind is still just Mizuki.
"So, how do you think about my performance, Gramps ?"
"It only worked because you are the fucking Nine Tails' host, but a win is a win, and a promise is a promise. Iruka, come here."
Iruka-sensei walk to me, and give me my customized ninja head band. It is the one the Canon Naruto wear in Shippuden.
"Congrats, Naruto, you have graduated. From now on, you will officially be a Genin."
His smile is still the same radiant smile from the original. Guess there are things that will never change, even in this strange world.
Behind him, Mizuki is being carried away in a sealed cage.
"By the way, Gramps, about Mizuki's partners in crime..."
"When some of them got cornered, they used a strange jutsu to blow themselves up. When we killed or knocked out the rest, a seal engraved on their body automatically do the detonation. The same thing happened when we used genjustsus." said an ANBU nearby.
"I see..."
"Don't worry about that, young master, we managed to secure one, by defusing the seal fast enough. We will be able to extract information and identify the culprits soon."
At that time, my eyes had gone back to normal, so I didn't know that...
...That ANBU was Kabuto.