AN: Most of you seemed enthusiastic about the first chapter and wish to read more. Thank you for your support. I will try my best to make it a full-fledged story. Enjoy!
Chapter 2 - Illusion or Reality?
"Ah, how could I make such a mistake?!" a very tall and thin young man yelled at himself.
As he climbed down the stairs from the rooftop of the building where he landed together with the fanboy who had clung to him, All Might was stupefied to discover that the plastic bottle in which he had sealed the Sludge Villain was no longer in the pocket of his cargo pants.
That rush of frustration and exasperation was so intense that it made him slightly dizzy and he had to stop momentarily to not puke blood again.
'I can't even go searching for him anymore, I've reached my limit for today!'
As he passed by a window, a sharp glint shone in the corner of his eyes and the blond man turned his head to see a golden dome of light rising from between two buildings. But it only lasted for a few seconds before it disappeared. However, the aftermath deeply startled him as he saw the two buildings that the dome of light had touched started tilting towards each other. It looked like that golden dome of light had damaged the outer walls of the buildings. Colour drained from his face and, in spite of the great harm he was doing to his body by forcing himself to go back into his muscular form after having already reached his limit, All Might smashed his way through the window and launched himself towards the scene.
He arrived there just in time to see a boy in his mid-teens lying unconscious on the ground and pieces of dried up green mud and sludge scattered all over the place. He recognized those remains as the Sludge Villain that he had encountered only a few minutes ago. But All Might did not waste his already limited time thinking too much about the situation. Saving the lives of other people came first. Scooping the unconscious boy in his arms, he quickly jumped into the collapsing buildings to save the rest of the people trapped within.
⁂
Fortunately, All Might was not the only hero that had arrived at the scene speedily. Other prominent heroes such as Kamui, Death Arms, and Backdraft had also come to help the people trapped in the half-collapsed buildings. Fortunately, nobody had died but there were dozens of injured people and the property damage was significant as well.
"But where did that golden light come from. What kind of quirk is that?" - it was the question that everyone was asking on the internet seeing as the incident had gone viral.
Unfortunately for the curious people, nobody had managed to capture the actual moment in a photo or in a video so they were not clear on what had caused the buildings to collapse. What was clear, however, was that a villain with a powerful quirk had tried to attack a young boy who was on his way home from school. What made the situation go viral is that not only that two buildings had been destroyed and dozens of people had been injured but that the villain in question was found dead at the scene as well. And that had led to all sorts of speculations.
"Did that boy kill the villain?"
"But how? According to the authorities, he only has a Fox Quirk. It was a bad match-up against the Sludge Villain."
"Maybe he has two quirks?"
"Is that even possible?"
"I mean, there's Endeavour's son. He has both a fire and an ice quirk."
"Yo, hear me out: what if there is a third person? What if someone else was at the scene and killed the villain before running away?"
"A vigilante?"
While the media outlets and the people on the internet were fussing greatly over this matter, the boy in question was still unconscious, in the hospital.
⁂
Two days passed since the Sludge Villain's attack and subsequent death but the victim had to regain his consciousness.
"My son, is he going to be okay? Please tell me he's fine!" a blond-haired man said, his voice cracking towards the end. His eyes were filled with unshed tears. Next to him, a red-haired woman was crying in silence, her face buried in her palms.
Naruto's parents were greatly distraught over the news. Fatal accidents in today's society were much more common than several decades ago. Cases of young children dying due to their own quirks or cases of villains killing people were not rare, to say the least. When such a high percentage of people possessed superpowers, it stood to reason that the mortality rate among average people would increase as well. Regardless of all that, it had never gotten any easier for doctors to tell the truth to the parents of a dying child.
"Currently, I can't promise you anything. There are signs that he had almost died of asphyxiation. If his brain was left without oxygen for too long, I fear..."
The doctor let out a sigh and trailed off when his words made the child's mother break. Her husband could do nothing except for hugging her to his chest, even as tears were rolling down his cheeks too.
"Do not despair. There is still hope," the doctor said, trying to alleviate their suffering. "Your boy is a warrior. He might fight through this. There is still hope," he said, repeating himself.
Just as he finished his words, a nurse arrived in a rush and said:
"Doctor Tachikawa! He's awakened! The boy is awake and he asked for water!"
Without waiting for the medical staff's permission the two parents rushed towards their son's room at the same time.
⁂
A white ceiling, an oddly familiar and unpleasant smell of antibiotics, and the sound of medical machines beeping in the background. Naruto did not take long to realize that he was in a hospital. But before he could make sense of it, a burning sensation in his throat made him unconsciously ask for water.
A few moments later, two people burst through the door of his hospital room at the same time, rushing to his bed.
Blond spiky hair, fair complexion, blue eyes, a thin build and a kind smile on his face. A face that looked so similar to his... ...it was none other than Minato Namikaze.
"F-Father?" he croaked.
Suddenly, a curtain of red hair obstructed his view as a woman threw her arms around him, hugging him for all he was worth and soaking the crook of his neck with her tears.
"Mother?"
Outside of his will, his eyes teared up and he started to cry as well. He had never thought he would one day see his parents alive. He had seen their chakra remnants and the reanimated corpse of his father during the war. But they had not been alive. Not like now.
"Naruto! My son! My dear Naruto!" Kushina could not stop crying. Minato too sat on the edge of the bed and patted his head, while trying to stop his own tears from flowing.
The nurses and the doctor on the side found their own eyes getting wet too at the emotional sight of the reunited family.
However, at that moment, a sudden thought cut through Naruto's heart like a searing hot blade.
'This is a lie. Only an illusion.'
He could still remember it as if it had happened yesterday. He could still vividly recall the Rabbit Goddess, Kaguya, killing Sasuke and then pulling out the bijuu from his body. He could still vividly remember the god tree's branches wrapping around him and the blood-red moon shining ominously in the sky.
He started to cry even harder as his arms wrapped around his mother's back, embracing her as if it was the last time. But after a few moments, his hands came together and his fingers formed a ram seal.
"Kai," he whispered.
However, nothing happened.
"Kai!" he said, this time speaking out loud.
Kushina lifted her head and looked at him in worry.
"What's wrong, honey?"
Naruto closed his eyes and sobbed in silence.
"This isn't real. None of this is real. Only an illusion to trick me. An illusion of the life I've never had," he said.
Admitting those words out loud caused him untold amounts of pain.
"W-What are you saying, dear? I'm real. I'm here!" Kushina said, starting to get scared of what her son was saying.
Even if it was only an imaginary world, an illusion, Naruto could not help his tears.
"I love you, mom."
Looking up at his father he told him too:
"I love you, dad. I wish I could stay here forever. I wish I could be with you forever-" he could not continue as he choked on a sob. "But I can't. This isn't real."
He put his hands again in a ram seal and shouted:
"Release! KAI!"
Alerted by the boy's shouts, the doctor and the nurses pulled away Minato and Kushina from his bed. Even as Naruto started to shout in desperation as if he was trying to break a spell, one of the nurses came with a syringe and injected a serum into his neck. In but a few seconds, the boy's agitation disappeared and he closed his eyes. A few moments later, he fell asleep.
⁂ Two weeks later ⁂
"Come on, man, even Bakugo doesn't want to miss out on this. We gotta show that bastard who the best class is!" Kiba said, his voice half-annoyed, half-pleading.
Since the soccer championship had been cancelled without the two rival teams finding out who exactly was the best, the students decided to have an unofficial match, after classes, outside of school, and decide it once and for all.
"Sorry, man, I can't. Dad needs my help with the car."
Two weeks passed since the Sludge Villain incident happened and Naruto had become the most famous kid in his school. However, it only took a few days for everyone to realize that he was a changed person since that day. Gone was the boisterous boy who would play with a soccer ball even in the classroom during breaks. Gone was the full of life and energetic child that always showed a toothy grin to everyone.
While most people chalked it up to him almost dying and dealt with it accordingly, Inuzuka Kiba could not readily understand why Naruto never wanted to hang out after school with him and the gang anymore or why he had become so quiet and introverted.
⁂
"You were a great help, Naruto, thank you!" Minato said while wiping his hands of engine oil with a piece of rag.
"I didn't do much, only gave you some wrenches and screws," Naruto said with a bright smile, visibly happy at his father's compliments.
"It may not be much for you but it meant a lot for me. Lots of time and effort saved by not getting up from beneath the car every time just for a wrench," Minato said and mirrored his son's bright smile.
He threw his arm around Naruto's shoulder and said:
"Tell you what: how about we take your mother and we all go out today for a pizza tonight instead of having dinner at home?"
"For real?" the boy said in excitement.
"When did I ever lie to you?"
If possible, Naruto's smile became even wider.
"Awesome! I'll go tell mom!"
⁂
Helping his father around the garage, mowing the lawn, washing the dishes, taking out the trash, and even helping out his mother with cooking - Kushina had not even known her son could cook! - ever since almost dying at the hands of the Sludge Villain, it was as if Naruto had become a completely different person. While beforehand he was bratty and had a tense relationship with his parents, nowadays it looked like he was attached to their hip. He was doing everything in his power to be together with them for as long as possible every day.
It had to be said that both Minato and Kushina were deeply moved by the changes in their son. Not a day passed without Kushina giving him at least a half-a-minute-long hug. If it was Naruto from before, he would try to get away from her arms as fast as possible while saying in annoyance that he wasn't a little kid anymore. But nowadays, whenever his mom hugged him, Naruto melted in her arms and hugged her back just as tight.
Whenever his father called him for a game of chess, Naruto would even put down his homework and come play with him. It was to the point where his parents were starting to worry about him and were thinking about going with him to a psychologist for therapy. It was only Naruto's insistence that he was perfectly fine that stopped them from going through with it.
"I just... ...I just never appreciated how lucky I am to be alive," Naruto said when they had tried to talk to him about their worries regarding the drastic changes in his behaviour. "How lucky I am to have parents. Good parents like you."
"I almost died. You saw me when I woke up at first. I thought I was dreaming. I thought it was an illusion... ...But I survived. I want to make the most of my life. And I want to show you every day how much I appreciate and respect you."
Those heartfelt words completely disarmed Minato and Kushina of all the arguments that they had prepared beforehand to convince him of going to therapy. In the first place, it was impossible for them to be mad about the fact that their teenage son stopped being a brat and showed his affection for them so openly now.
⁂
Even as almost one month passed since he had regained the memories of his past life, Naruto still felt like he was dreaming. For a long time, he had thought that his current life was nothing but an illusion. He had thought that the Infinite Tsukuyomi that Madara had cast on the moon had entrapped him too after he lost the fight against Kaguya. However, as days passed one by one, he was beginning to accept that his current life was not an illusion. In the first place, he could not feel the existence of chakra - he had tried countless times to access it, but to no avail. Furthermore, Japan and the society he lived in currently could not be any more different from the Elemental Nations and Konohagakure no Sato. They were so different and there were so many new things that his mind alone could have not imagined such stuff; it was impossible for genjutsu to show him something that he had never heard of before.
'Even if I'm wrong and everything I've felt for the past 14 years was fake, even if all of it was just an illusion or just a dream, I... ...I don't want to wake up.'
