New Game Plus: Soldier Edition

Chapter 01: A New Start

AN: Hello all. Now before anyone says it I know I shouldn't be working on new stories but let me explain. In preparation for FF VII Rebirth I've been replaying Remake and this idea came to me. What if New Game Plus took you all the way back to the beginning not just of the game but to Cloud's childhood and allowed you to make changes. Once that idea was in my head it wouldn't leave and this is the result.

As a heads up this is part of the Immortal Naruto series like Winds of Change and Immortal Diaries though not connected and Naruto himself is not a central character in the usual sense. This will not be a smut heavy fic, at least I'm trying not to go that route. Instead it will focus heavily on plot and development, especially before the events of the game though lemons will be sprinkled in. I'd really like to know what the interest is for this so please leave a review after you finish the chapter.

July 1992:

In the vastness of the universe the planet Gaia was a small one, both physically and in the grand scheme of things. Despite this to the people who called the land whom it was a large expanse possessing three vast continents, one in the east, one in the west and one in the north. Beneath the planet's surface was a sea of energy which flowed throughout the entirety of the planet that has become known as the Lifestream, energy which is said to contain the essence of the planet as well as the memories, emotions, and knowledge of all who have lived on it. There were legends of those who were able to tap into and harness this energy though only very few believed in the legends.

In the mid-west of the western continent was the small rural village of Nibelheim located at the base of Mt. Nibel. Within a small house in the village several people could be seen surrounding the bed of a young boy. Of those figures two of them were adults a man and a woman while the third was a young girl. Of the three figures one was Claudia Strife the boy's mother, the other adult was Brian Lockhart and the girl his daughter Tifa. The boy Cloud was only 9 months older than his daughter and the idea that it could have easily been her in this position terrified him.

"How is he?" questioned Brian softly.

"He's in a coma. Luckily nothing was broken, and Kale believes that he'll wake. He just doesn't know when." Said Claudia.

The girl Tifa sniffled as she moved closer to the bedridden boy. Despite the fact that they'd been neighbors their entire lives and were not far apart in age she couldn't say that they were friends, more like acquaintances as the boy was more of a loner. Despite this the boy had risked his life on Mt. Nibel earlier that day coming out of nowhere and catching her when she mis-stepped and fell cradling her and taking the entire brunt of the fall on himself. There had been so much blood and they had been lucky people had heard the screaming her friends did when she fell. They'd tried blaming the boy for the fall, but Tifa hadn't let them forcing the truth to be known and taking the blame upon herself.

"I'm sorry please wake up Cloud." Said Tifa breaking out in tears once more.

Unknowing of this scene the young boy Cloud found himself somehow sitting on the sandy beach with the ocean just in front of him. The sight mesmerized him while the sound of the waves crashing instilled in him a sense of peace. He had no idea how long he'd been there, or how he'd gotten there having never even seen the ocean but found it wasn't something that truly worried him.

"Beautiful isn't it." Said a voice catching his attention.

Turning to his left he found a man sitting beside him, one who hadn't been there before. He was blond with blue eyes, though his hair was almost golden blond while Cloud's was pale, and his eyes were larger. He wore a pair of green shorts and a white t-shirt while his feet were covered by blue sandals. The thing that got Cloud's attention the most however was that the man had odd markings on his face, three lines on his cheeks that oddly resembled whiskers.

"Yeah, it is." Said Cloud turning his vision back to the water.

"That was a very brave thing you did today, sacrificing yourself for your friend." Said the man.

"We're not friends. I'd have liked that but I'm not really good with people." Said Cloud softly.

"I get that, I wasn't good with people either as a kid, though my circumstances were much different than yours." Said the man.

"I'm dead aren't I." said the boy softly.

"No, though if you were just about anyone else you would be." Said the man getting the boys attention.

"You're special Cloud, I think you've always known that. You've just never understood how or why right?" questioned the man.

This was true, he'd always felt different than other kids and people in general. It resulted in his awkward interactions with people as he simply didn't know how to deal with them. Before Cloud could answer the man held out his hand revealing what looked like a thick cord made of some glowing blue energy connecting them.

"What is this?" questioned Cloud eyes wide.

"It is as it appears, a connection, one that links the two of us together. You were stillborn Cloud, and your mother didn't take that well. I was nearby and could feel her anguish. I was an orphan in my childhood and though that was a long time ago it still affects me. Your mother loved you dearly and moved by this I merged my essence with yours allowing you to live. In normal circumstances you'd have lived your life like everyone else and when you died I would have re-emerged with your memories and spirit absorbed into my own." Said the man.

Cloud wanted to disbelieve this, but he was staring at the proof of it right in the face.

"Are you an Ancient?" questioned Cloud.

"In some ways, you'll learn about me in time if you choose to." Said the man.

"What do you mean?" questioned Cloud.

"Well if you choose to go back or not. If you like you can stay here on this beach in solitude and peace in this version of an afterlife. However you could also choose to go back to the living world, but that comes with conditions." Said the man.

"What kind of conditions?" questioned Cloud.

"You won't be the same person you were before, not fully. Our merger will become more complete, you'll inherit my memories, and your body will change to be more compatible with my abilities. You won't get everything at once or even at all and what you do get you'll need to work to improve or master. There will be other changes as well, but I'll let you discover those on your own." Said the man.

"Why let me go back at all?" questioned Cloud.

"You've got potential kid, what you did for Tifa was with zero influence from me and you didn't even hesitate. The Lifestream showed me what you could be capable of years ago, I don't want that potential to go to waste." Said the man.

They remained in a peaceful silence after that as Cloud thought about everything he'd heard. Though only 6 years old he was always smarter than his peers, his solitude often left him alone with his thoughts and as such he'd developed the ability to think things over more thoroughly than the rest of his age group. Even still he was once again only 6 years old, nearly 7, and as such also had a rather simple thought process and realized rather quickly that while this place was nice, he'd be all alone as not even his mom would be here.

"I like it here. But I can't stay, not yet. I want more time." Said Cloud.

"Good call kid. Get some rest, you'll wake up when your body's ready." Said the man before standing to his feet.

"Wait, you never told me your name." said Cloud.

"Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto." Said the blond giving him a smirk before he took a step and simply vanished as if he was never there.

"Naruto huh, if that's who I become the name could have been worse." Said Cloud drowsily before passing out.

It had been seven days since the accident and Tifa had come and sat at Cloud's bedside every day for several hours often reading to him or telling him stories. While her father would have normally been upset with such behavior he could no longer find fault with it or the boy who had risked his life to save his only daughter. Thea, his late wife, had already been trying to get Tifa and Cloud on friendlier terms and had often joked about how beautiful their grandchildren would be should the two of them get together, talk he didn't even want to entertain with his six-year-old daughter.

It was Tifa who was at his bedside when Cloud opened his eyes causing her to freeze in surprise at the sight of his blue eyes now open. Then she was a blur of motion running to the door and calling out for his mother. Less than a minute later both his mother and Tifa were rushing inside the room. His mother had tears in her eyes but rather than cry began immediately fussing over him. Before long Kale the village doctor arrived to look him over during which point he was put through a few tests. Kale himself looked like a man in his early forties, unlike many he'd not grown up in the village but came and settled here after he married to raise his family in the village.

"Well Cloud, you were really lucky all of your limbs are responding well, you don't seem to have any damage to your nerves or muscles and the wound on your head healed over completely." Said the man.

"Head wound?" questioned Cloud.

"You hit your head quite hard when you fell but don't worry about that like I said it healed remarkably well." Said the man giving him a soft smile before his expression turned serious once more.

"Listen Cloud you'll need to take it easy for a little bit longer. I know you might want to get moving around but let's give your body a bit more time to heal." Said the man getting a reluctant nod from the boy before he left the room.

The door had hardly been closed for a few seconds before it was opened again, and Tifa rushed in moving back to his bedside in the chair the doctor had just left.

"You're okay right?" questioned the girl.

"Seems like it. He wants me to take a bit more time to heal just in case though." Said the boy.

Kale Daygrove did his best not to rush home after leaving the Strife home. While not a native of the village he grown to know the place well since he and his wife moved here though he kept most of the knowledge of his past to himself. The truth was after completing his education he'd been hired by the Shinra Electric Power Company as part of a special division and had done so until he'd left nearly a decade ago. Since that time he'd been the village's designated doctor, which didn't require the vast majority of his skill or knowledge normally.

With that knowledge he knew with as bad a fall the boy had taken along with as much blood as he'd lost that day Cloud Strife should have died. Instead the boy had recovered as if he'd never been hurt and if his suspicions proved accurate he was even better off than he'd been before. Because of this he'd cheated a bit today and used a specialized Assess Materia, one developed for doctors as opposed to combat, on the boy to get deeper results and it had taken all he had not to react to what he'd seen.

Unknown to his bosses at Shinra he'd made several copies of his work prior to leaving the company knowing that they would force him to surrender what he had. Reaching his home he was for once glad to find his wife was out and as such had no qualms rushing to his office closing and locking the door behind him. Opening the closet he removed a false back from the closet revealing a safe and after dialing the combination opened it revealing a pair of shelves inside upon which multiple drives rested. The top shelf possessed only two drives both of which he removed before making his way to his desk.

Taking his seat he powered on his computer, it was an older model which meant it would take a bit longer to boot up, but it had no interweb connection meaning it couldn't be hacked. The USB drives were another security precaution, Shinra had phased them out almost two decades ago in favor of micro discs which were both smaller but offered up much more storage space. Once the computer booted up, which he knew as the holographic display turned on he plugged in both drives in slots on the top of the tower.

Fishing the piece yellow Materia from his pocket, which was a glass orb the size of a tennis ball, he placed that in a device on the top of his desk with three slots of its own. Three holographic screens appeared one labeled Project G on the left, one labeled Project S positioned on the right and one that was unnamed in the center.

"Remarkable."

The data from what he could see was different for Projects G & S but considering Cloud was only 8 it was still comparable. Some of the stuff he'd never been read in on so he'd need to get a second pair of eyes to verify, and he knew just the person who could verify the information but wouldn't report it back to Shinra.

"Lucy this is going to blow your mind." Said the man.

Cloud stayed in bed for another two days before he felt like it was time to get back on his feet. He knew that he was fully recovered and while the speed of it should have surprised him he knew that it was the result of the Uzumaki vitality that awakened within him which he'd inherited from Naruto. The Uzumaki vitality was the result of a very strong life force that had allowed the Uzumaki to live longer and age slower than other people and allowed them to survive and endure much more severe injuries while likewise able to recover from injuries and exhaustion with much greater efficiency in short periods of time. Naruto himself had possessed a much more powerful version of the ability and while Cloud's was only a fraction as strong it was more than enough to recover from the damage taken during the fall.

He'd used the additional two days of rest to go over the memories he'd received from Naruto as well which had been vivid, and he'd experienced as if he'd lived the events out himself. It hadn't been everything, mostly just his childhood, but it had been more than enough for Cloud to look at his own life and appreciate what he had. This resulted in a change in how he carried himself becoming less standoffish and attempting to be more open. His attempts had certainly been noticed by his mother who was quite pleased with the change as she was smiling more than she had been. The only other adult he'd been in contact with was Brian Lockhart who quickly realized what he was doing as well.

Tifa also noticed but as she was only 6 needed it to be explained to her that he was just shy and covered that up by being quiet. Regardless his relationship with her had changed as while before they had barely been acquaintances that was clearly no longer the case. Instead they had become nearly inseparable with the girl doing her best to both help nurse him back to health and get him to come further out of his shell. Things with her friends had been awkward as well at first but they'd at least apologized for trying to blame him for the situation and after that things had eased up.

At the moment none of that really mattered as he'd determined that it was time to get himself in gear. He climbed out of bed early that day and while he'd gotten up for bathroom trips before he decided that he would no longer sit around like an invalid. While he was under the doctor's orders to still take it easy he knew he could do that and still get things done. As such after leaving the bathroom and getting dressed he stretched himself out before doing ten crunches push-ups and sit-ups. This was made easier by the fact that he'd felt like he was walking on air since he'd first woken and as such didn't strain as much as he usually did with such exercises.

He knew this was the result of having denser yet lighter bones, while his muscles and organs had also become more powerful. All of this because of the power that had awakened inside of him, a power he now knew he possessed because of his connection to Naruto. He also knew this is what his body should have always felt like but humans had long since lost the knowledge that made them like him and had thus grown weaker and eventually lost these abilities.

By the time he finished his limbs were all burning slightly which told him that while he may have felt both stronger and lighter than before his body was still that of his weak six-year-old self and would need serious training to get to the level he wanted. As he moved to stand he paused and on instinct more than anything instead relaxed closed his eyes and took a breath. When he released the breath and opened his eyes he found himself once more on the beach with Naruto standing in front of him.

"Good you're here." Said Naruto.

"I didn't expect to see you again." Said Cloud.

"You won't be getting rid of me that easily. Now our last meeting was rather short and there are a few things you should know. Firstly the memories you saw were just scratching the surface of what you'll be seeing. Like I told you the two of us are merged, while it's not a complete merger it is as much as your mortal being can handle. This means eventually you will see all of the memories from my time as a mortal.

Normally that would be it but as you'll soon learn you are not the first mortal I've done this with. In time you will come to experience memories of those people as well and will learn skills long forgotten from the memory of this world. Like before you will experience the memories as if you lived them which will be a valuable tool for your education."

"You will still have to train this body up as I don't intend to just hand you power. If you want to become strong you have to earn it the hard way. While I know your body is 100% recovered I'm going to allow you to take things easy until the doctor clears you. Once that happens I don't intend to take it easy on you. The plan you've made will work for now, but we'll speak again when it's time for the real training to start." Said Naruto smirking.

Cloud blinked and suddenly found himself back on the floor of his room. He wondered half nervous and half in excitement just what kind of training Naruto had planned for him but quickly managed to brush it off to continue with what he was originally doing. Stepping outside of the house for the first time in over a week felt good and he took a moment to take a deep breath before releasing it. Nibelheim was not a large village and as such taking a walk around the place didn't seem like a big deal and by the time he made it back to his house he was jogging lightly. Of course that was when his luck turned as being neighbors Tifa chose that moment to emerge from her house and saw him.

"Cloud what are you doing out of the house?" questioned Tifa racing over to him with a look of worry on her face.

"I needed to, any more time in that room and I might have died again from the boredom." Said Cloud immediately regretting the words seeing how the affected her.

"Come on, we're going to the lake." Said Cloud grabbing her hand and pulling her along.

Over the next week Cloud adopted a routine which started with a light early morning workout in his room followed by a walk to the designated school building for classes with Tifa who met him outside of the door. While he lived in a small village there were enough kids around that a few people were in charge of their education, at least until they were old enough to leave the village. He hadn't received any more memories while he slept but he had talked to Naruto a few times.

Mostly he was helping him put together a believable story for when the doctor returned, Naruto was positive that the man would notice the changes his body had gone through which would give him an excuse for any new knowledge or abilities he displayed which would be easier than trying to hide it all. Today he would be putting the story to the test as he'd been woken early by his mother and informed the doctor was on his way. As such rather than following his newly established routine he was sitting in the living room on the couch going over a workbook from his class..

Finally the doorbell rang alerting them to the arrival of who he hoped was the doctor and his mother moved to open it. When he looked up it was to the sight of the doctor stepping into the house along with someone else. This person was a woman with long brown hair and brown eyes, she wore a black skirt and a smoky grey top with a pair of flat black shoes.

"Before we get started let me introduce you, this is Dr. Lucrecia Crescent, she is a biologist certification level Class A." said Dr. Daygrove.

"Class A?" questioned his mom.

"Doctors have a classification system based on our specialties. Certain fields such as Biology and Chemistry have a grade classification, Class A is upper rank, as high as it gets." Explained Dr. Daygrove causing Claudia Strife to frown.

"I won't lie to you Claudia; I wasn't expecting Cloud to recover from the fall any time soon. I expected a long process including a long time of physical therapy. I wasn't even expecting him to be awake as soon as he was. The fall at that height and the amount of blood at the sight should have done a lot more damage than it seemed to have done." Started the man making sure his tone stayed even projecting calm.

"When I was here last week doing his testing the speed of his recovery made no sense, so I cheated a bit." Said the man pulling out a small yellow orb of Materia from his pocket and holding it for them to see.

"This is a rare version of Assess Materia, rare because instead of being developed for combat it was designed with doctors in mind. One of my patients before I came home gave me this as a bonus for helping his son. The data that it gave me well you should see for yourself."

With that said he removed a tablet from his satchel and after pulling up the information needed handed it to her. Accepting the tablet the woman read the information and while some of the medical jargon flew over her head some of it soon had her gasping in shock, her eyes widening as shock was soon replaced with horror.

"This doesn't make any sense, there wasn't a scratch on him. How is this possible?" questioned Claudia.

"As you can see the damage was actually very extensive yet somehow before anyone could get to him the damage had already been seemingly reversed. Using that materia is the only reason I knew it even happened and I'd bet even those small traces are gone now. If you flip to the next page you'll see something else." Said Dr. Daygrove

Doing as instructed she found what looked like an x-ray of Cloud's body only it what appeared to be glowing blue veins ran through the entirety of it, no bones or organs just the blue veins with what looked like a blue flame in the center of his stomach.

"What is this?" questioned Claudia.

"I had the same question. I'd only seen something like it twice before, but I never got any specifics. Lucrecia however worked on a project with my brother when I saw those, and I thought she'd have a better understanding and sought her out." Said the man causing the worried mother to turn in her direction.

"Years ago I worked on part of a project the goal of which was to create a new breed of Ancients. While I can't tell you the entire process I can see that candidates were eventually infused with mako which resulted in readings like those. The difference however is that those showed as green whereas this scan is blue." Said Lucrecia.

"It's different because I connected directly to the Lifestream." Said Cloud bringing the rooms attention to himself finding he was standing next to his mom looking at the screen.

"What do you mean connected to the Lifestream?" questioned Claudia.

"I died when I fell. My actions though were impressive enough that I was given the option to come back so I did." Said Cloud and was not surprised when his mom gasped and pulled him up and into her lap so she could hold onto him.

"You were actually connected to the Lifestream, what was it like?" questioned Lucrecia before she could stop herself.

"I don't know, I didn't actually see it. I woke up on a beach in front of the ocean and one of my ancestors told me what happened and that I had the chance to come back, but that there would be changes." Said Cloud.

"Did he tell you what kind of changes?" questioned Dr. Daygrove.

"No, just the most important. Humans are a really old race and were at one point much more powerful than we our now, long before the Ancients arrived. The Strife bloodline predates the arrival of the ancients and the ancestor I spoke to was from a time before the Lifestream became what it is now. In his time people had an energy called chakra, a mix of spiritual and physical energy. The blue energy you see on the tablet is chakra, mine has just been boosted so that I could use it instead of just the amount it takes to live." Explained Cloud.

"That would imply everyone has this chakra." Mused Lucrecia quietly though not quite enough to where he couldn't hear her.

"You do. Everything alive has chakra, not just humans but plants and animals as well. The Lifestream is the chakra of the planet, what's called Natural Chakra. It's just grown so powerful that it can actually be seen now. Unlike humans who had the power as a part of them, the Ancients were people who could naturally manipulate Natural Chakra." Said Cloud.

"This is fascinating. While I believe you we need a way to prove this to the greater community." Said Dr. Daygrove.

Cloud frowned at this before tilting his head and looking at both of them for several long moments his blue eyes studying them intently.

"You both used to work for Shinra. Dr. Crescent worked with your brother on something called the Jenova Project but you both left around the same time but for different reasons. Dr. Crescent was going to go into isolation, but something convinced her otherwise and she's been searching for a way to get revenge ever since. Your brother was murdered, his wife and daughter were kidnapped but if you make it to Midgar within the next two weeks you can help save them." Said Cloud stunning both of them.

"How do you know that?" questioned Lucrecia.

"The planet wanted the two of you here. I can't communicate with the planet, but my ancestor can speak to me now since my connection to the Lifestream is still active. After today it won't be, but it was needed for this meeting." Said Cloud

"How do I protect my brothers family?" questioned Dr. Daygrove.

"Speak to Gabriel Gainsborough, he is in Sector 5 and is sick. Cure him, you'll be equipped to do that when you get home today, and he will help you save your brothers family." Said Cloud causing an expression of determination to come over his face.

"Over the next few years the two of you will be in charge of monitoring my growth while I train. You'll find what you'll need for your revenge in that time." Said Cloud.

"Train, what do you need to train for?" questioned Claudia.

"There's a job I need to do, it was one of the conditions of my coming back."

The meeting broke up shortly after that and while Dr. Daygrove hurriedly excused himself to go home and prepare for a sudden trip Dr. Crescent stayed for a while longer speaking with Claudia Strife as she was now convinced she'd be staying in the area and would need a residence of her own. Cloud meanwhile had been dismissed by his mother and rather than return to his workbook left the house going over to Tifa's.

The very next day Cloud found himself woken early before the sun had even risen and making his way out of the house. He walked out of the village and into the woods for nearly thirty minutes before he stopped in a small clearing.

"Now what?" questioned the boy.

"Now we start your training."

The voice shocked him causing him to yelp and jump back causing the speaker to chuckle. Following the sound he soon found himself looking into the trees were Naruto was sitting on a branch causing his eyes to widen in shock.

"Before you ask I briefly took over your body to create this one while you were asleep. While our essences are merged our consciousness haven't gotten to that point yet. I'll not be making a habit of it, so don't worry about that. Anyway there are a lot of things you'll be learning over the years but before you can utilize any of it we need to get your body ready." Said Naruto before dropping from the tree and landing lightly on his feet.

"Put this on."

With just that warning Naruto tossed him a small blue wristband. He caught it easily enough and after a few moments of looking it over slipped it onto his left wrist.

"Since you're so young and we have so much time your strength training will be handled using that. It has what are called gravity seals engraved on it which as the name implies manipulate your personal gravity making it seem heavier to you while not affecting your surroundings or stunting your growth. It will start at two times the planets gravity but as you get older and stronger that will change. Normally I wouldn't start you off with this level of weight training, but your recent changes will make this moot. The only time you'll turn the gravity off is when you sleep or your designated rest day, which will be Sundays. I'll turn them on and off for you today, but you'll do it yourself going forward." Said Naruto.

Before Cloud could comment he suddenly found the lightness he'd gotten used to taken away and everything felt like it did before the fall, no he was even heavier than he was before.

"Today we're going to focus on two things. First you'll need to get used to moving around with the weight as even just breathing is harder than it normally is. Once you can move around easier I'll teach you how to consciously summon and channel your chakra. Once you can do that it will make dealing with the weight even easier, it's just easier to do it the first time when you're tired." Said Naruto.

He spent the next few hours repeatedly moving around the clearing slowly getting his body used to moving under the extra gravity. When Naruto got sick of watching him do that he had him exercise, teaching him the correct way to do pushups, sit-ups and crunches as well as adding a few extra exercises to his routine. He took several breaks before starting the next thing and by the time Naruto was satisfied he was almost drenched in sweat and breathing heavily due to the exertion.

Finally allowed to sit and rest once more he was surprised when Naruto planted the index and middle fingers of his right hand on his forehead for several moments before suddenly he knew exactly how to summon and channel his newly awakened chakra. Doing so the first time gave him a huge surge of energy removing his exhaustion and resulting in him feeling as if he was wide awake for the very first time.

The next day after his classes rather than continue his training Cloud could be seen walking through town on his Diego's workshop. From what he knew Diego had been a friend of his fathers and after he died had stayed in Nibelheim to help look after him and his mom. By this point he was the guy people in the village turned to whenever they needed something fixed no matter what it was. Entering the workshop he didn't see or hear him, but that meant nothing as he knew the man could zone out when working on something. Going into the back he could see the man was indeed working and even wore a pair of multi-lensed glasses to help him see whatever he was looking at better.

Diego himself wasn't really a tall man standing about 5'6 he had long straight black hair which he currently had in a tail behind his head, green eyes and sandy brown skin. He was also rather large more stocky than most of the other men in the village who were more slim. He was an older man, nearly 60 which is how Cloud knew that his father was much older than his mother as she was only 27.

"What are you working on?" questioned Cloud quietly.

"Miniature camera." Answered the man softly.

"You made a smaller one." Said Cloud shocked.

"This one will be able to keep a better watch on you." Said Diego

With that he looked up holding the camera, a small device about the size of the man's index finger the lens of which was pointing at him allowing him to see himself on the screen on the desk it was attached to.

"Why do you keep making them smaller?" questioned Cloud

"Because sometimes smaller things are better than bigger items." Said the man before putting down the camera and turning to face him.

"So what brings you here today?" questioned the man.

"Can you teach me how to make stuff?" questioned Cloud.

"Why, you never cared about this before." Said Diego which Cloud would admit was true.

"Did mom tell you what happened to me after I fell?" questioned Cloud causing the man to wince visibly.

"She did."

"While I was out I learned a little about my dad and that he really was good at making things. I thought maybe that way I'd feel closer to him." Said Cloud softly causing the man's expression to soften.

"Your father was a brilliant man, much smarter than people actually realized." Said the man softly before sighing and standing to his feet.

"Come with me."

Cloud followed further into the shop and down a set of stairs. They came to a door at the bottom which was located on the left wall while the right wall and front wall were pure cement.

"Say your name." said the man.

"Huh?"

"The security, the last time your father was here he added you to it. You just have to say your name." Said Diego

"Cloud Strife."

For several long moments nothing happened before the wall facing them slid away revealing a doorway. Walking inside revealed only a single desk and chair while the left wall was lined with shelves stacked with marked boxes. On the table was a single circular disc and as he moved closer he found it was covered in strange symbols.

"What is this?" questioned Cloud.

"Your inheritance. Your father found these during his travels before he met your mom. Long ago humans created devices to store their knowledge for future generations and stored it away for safekeeping. The knowledge was never found, not until your father stumbled across it. Once he figured out what he'd discovered he stayed for years learning from the lost knowledge. He couldn't take it all with him but what he could take is all stored here. Before you even think of making anything you'll need to go through a lot of the disc, human education was much more extensive in those days, so you need to work your way up to understand the more advanced stuff. Come by every day and use one of these disc and once you finish going over the basics then you can pick and choose what you want to learn."

"Does anyone else know about this?" questioned Cloud.

"Only me, your father didn't trust many people, especially not his old family. That's why he changed his name to Strife. I'd known him since we were your age, and I was the only one who stood by him when things went wrong. He was convinced that if anyone knew about this that his old family would find out and come to take it from him and knowing his father I think your dad was right." Said Diego.

"What do you mean he changed his name?" questioned Cloud.

"Your father and his grandfather didn't get along that well. Your father had plans and ideas of his own, big ones and your grandfather was set in his ways. Robert had this idea, something that would make mako or anything before it redundant. Your grandfather wouldn't hear of it, claimed your father had fallen for planetology nonsense like his mother. Well they had a fight, a whole lot of yelling and screaming with things being said on both ends. Your father was furious, quit the company and left that night, the next day he changed his name from Shinra to Strife and never looked back. That must have been a bit over 30 years ago now." Said the man before shaking his head.

"Anyway sit down, this first disc is the very basics, something appropriate for your age range. You just pick it up and it will start glowing then you just have to tell it to start. The knowledge it gives you will be fed directly into your brain." Said Diego.

Over the next month he followed a new routine. He would do an early morning workout, then shower and handle any chores his mother needed help with. Once he was done with that he'd meet up with Tifa and they would walk to school together. After school he'd go to Diego's for further lessons for an hour he would go to continue his chakra training in the same clearing.

Dr. Crescent moved into the village and into her own house two weeks into this routine and started officially monitoring his progress. It took a further three weeks for Dr. Daygrove to return to the village and he did so alongside both his sister-in-law and his niece, who he introduced as Iris and Aerith Gainsborough who was a year older than Cloud.

Tifa and Aerith immediately hit it off becoming fast friends and Cloud would admit that even he took a bit of a shine to her early on. Unlike most people there was something about Aerith that put him at ease when told about that Naruto just chuckled and told him he'd understand one day. Honestly Cloud just thought it was nice for Tifa to have a friend that was a girl, all of her other friends the ones she saw outside of classes were boys. Currently he was once again on the beach with Naruto, he'd learned that it wasn't actually part of the afterlife but a mental area Naruto made so the two of them could meet.

"So I made something to help you out. While right now nothing much is expected of you this will help guide you and give you something further to strive for, I call it the Edge System. Most people go through life with no clue of what they are doing and because of this miss opportunities they were oblivious of. This will make it a bit easier for you to navigate life, it will tell you about your options in certain situations or how things will affect you.

It will also help you keep track of what you are doing and how to improve yourself. As a bonus it makes it where I don't have to physically pop up allowing our merger to happen easier. Simply think the word 'interface' and it will pop up, from there you select what you want to see by thinking of it and get out by thinking either 'exit' or 'quit'." Explained Naruto

"Do you always do stuff like this?" questioned Cloud.

"No, the planet was going to give you something like this. I just put my own spin on it. Right now its just a basic starter system meant to help with your education, but it will improve over time." Explained Naruto.

"Why is the planet so interested in me?" questioned Cloud.

"Honestly I don't know kid. This world is more self-aware than many I've come across, but your guess is as good as mine." Said Naruto.

"You've been to other worlds?" questioned Cloud surprised.

"Short answer yes, but that's all I'm telling you. I want you to see everything else in the memories." Said Naruto before snapping his fingers.

Cloud blinked and found himself back in his room in his bed with his alarm going off. Reaching over to shut it off he paused as he went over what Naruto told him and with a shrug of his shoulders decided to test it out.

'Interface.'

For a moment nothing happened before a blue screen appeared in front of him with words made of white letters in separate columns. Next to the columns on the right side of the screen was a picture of him with his name next to it. There were only three categories to choose from 'Notebook' 'Quests' and 'Map'. The map section was a map of the village, showing locations that he knew like his house, Tifa's house, Diego's workshop, and other places he'd been.

The Quests menu had two options 'Active' and 'Completed' with two quests showing as active the first called Build Your Body and the second called Expand Your Mind. Build Your Body just said, 'complete your training' while Expand Your Mind said, 'complete your education'. Notebook when opened had one category People which showed a list of names of people he knew or interacted with which once selected showed a picture of them and a short paragraph about them. Exiting the interface he decided to put it out of his mind and prepared to get his day started.

AN: Well that's it, the chapter is done. Second chapter is already most finished, I was going to wait to post this but I really don't want to do too much if there is no interest for it so please review and let me know what you think. Until next time, LATER.