Disclaimer, first chapter!
It had been a week since he got here.
In that short time, he, Belle, and Wise had already done quite a lot, such as converting the gold coins to dennies as much as they needed, treating him to few places in New Eridu, showed him the ropes, and taught him things he needed to know about this world AND finding out that while he could speak their language, he couldn't read any of it.
Belle had been pretty eager to teach him after learning the ninja could pick things up fast using his clones. She also ended up taking advantage of that by dragging them along on her shopping trips, having them disguise themselves with transformation techniques.
Hey, as a girl, she had a lot to buy. Stuff for herself, sure, but also for their new up-and-coming store furniture, decorations, things like that.
And speaking of the store, they didn't go for anything modern. What they opened was a video rental shop. Not the digital kind or even CDs, but old-school VHS tapes, the kind you wouldn't expect to see much anymore.
Thing is, in this era, high-end tech easily got corrupted by Ether. So people who couldn't afford replacements or didn't want to spend a lot of money just stuck with VHS anyway.
Where'd they get the tapes? Well, that was Wise's job. He bought them from someone they'd worked with before, a past client who just so happened to have piles of them and was selling them cheap in bulk.
Moving on, they also got Naruto registered as a citizen of New Eridu.
Surprisingly, the people at Public Security, PubSec, as everyone called it, didn't ask too many questions about where he came from. All he had to say was that he was a refugee from outside the city, and they just went with it.
What he didn't really get, though, was why they listed his race as Thiren, a species of anthropomorphic beings known for having a mix of human and animal traits while he was clearly a human.
Belle guessed it was probably because of the whisker-like marks on his cheeks while Wise said it was the way he grinned or smiled, they were kinda fox-like.
Naruto just shrugged. He didn't mind.
People had been comparing him to a fox his whole life anyway, especially with Kurama sealed inside him.
...Kurama.
The big guy hadn't said a word since they got here.
No matter what he did, it was like the biju was in a deep sleep… or maybe even a coma. Naruto could still use his chakra if he really focused, but he decided to leave it alone unless he absolutely had to.
He didn't want to use his friend's power without asking unless it was absolutely necessary.
"Now, make your move." Naruto narrowed his eyes at Eous, the rabbit-like construct he'd met back in the Hollow, even before running into Wise and Belle.
A Bangboo.
These Bangboos were originally robots, invented by a Void Hunter, someone who contributed greatly against Hollows, called Lady Sunbringer before the founding of the old capital to help with evacuations during Hollow disasters. Over time, they became more than just machines, they turned into friends, companions, and even family to the people who lived here.
"En-na!" (This one!) Eous pulled the card on the left with full confidence, only to slump in defeat when it turned out to be a Joker.
"Another win for me~" Naruto grinned, reaching over to give the Bangboo a quick headpat. "Alright, go grab me some sea-salt ice cream, yeah? And get yourself a coolant at 141 while you're at it."
He handed over a few dennies, and Eous hugged his hand tight before hurrying out the door.
"Haaaaaahhh~" He let out a long sigh once the construct was gone, loud enough that both siblings turned to look at him.
The older brother had been flipping through a housing catalog from Sixth Street, checking for better options since opening a store in their current place wasn't really ideal, while Belle was busy fiddling with her phone, trying to get one set up for Naruto.
"That's a big one," Wise said with a wry smile as he set the catalog aside. "Something bothering you?"
"Yeah... I think it's finally hitting me," Naruto mumbled as he faceplanted onto the floor. "Everything..."
"Oh..." The siblings exchanged a glance, not really sure how to respond.
Naruto had told them bits and pieces of his past, and they'd shared theirs too, including why they started working as a Proxy in the first place, but compared to his, their problems felt so much smaller.
They didn't know what to say, and honestly, they didn't think they could ever tell him 'it's going to be alright' when they knew his situation was way more serious than anything they'd faced.
"O-Onii-chan!" Belle suddenly called out, her voice louder than usual. "Let's go to the sea! I wanna see the sea!" She flashed a big grin, trying to drag their new friend out of his funk.
Not that she could blame him.
If she ended up stranded in a whole different world, she'd probably be worse off. She was just a regular girl who happened to be good with tech.
And if that world didn't have any tech?
Yeah, she'd be useless.
"Sea?" Naruto perked up.
"Yup! I heard it's one of the best spots for fishing… oh, and they say the fries are amazing too!" she added, a bit of drool sneaking down the corner of her mouth.
"Belle, you're drooling," Wise pointed out with a tired sigh.
"But she's right," he added, turning to Naruto. "Ever since we got your papers sorted, we've just been stuck at home. A change of scenery might help... What do you think?"
"Why not?" Naruto shrugged. "Might be just what I need."
"Okay! It's time for our business car's second voyage!" Belle announced while striking a pose. "I'll be driving, onii-chan!"
"What!? No, you're not!" Wise shot up and snatched the keys before she could even reach them. "You still don't have your license!"
"Can't we just... run there?" Naruto asked, half-serious.
The siblings gave him a long deadpan stare before waving him off at the same time.
"Impossible."
"That was fun!/That was insane!" Both Naruto and Wise shouted at the same time the moment Belle finally parked the car.
Somehow, she'd managed to convince her brother that this counted as driving practice. Unofficially, of course, she wouldn't even qualify for a license for another year.
Wise gave in to her big puppy eyes, and yeah... that was a mistake.
He didn't expect her sister's driving style to be straight out of a racing movie.
Drift turns whenever she could, flooring it every chance she got, pushing their poor business car like they were racing for their lives.
"I knew Naruto'd agree with me!" Belle said, sticking her tongue at her brother who looked like he almost had a heart attack.
"We had like... three close calls back there! And you even got PubSec chasing us!" Wise shot back while trying to calm his poor heart.
They were lucky the business car hadn't been issued a license plate yet. If it had, PubSec would've tracked them down in minutes.
"I wouldn't mind the trip back being that intense again," Naruto threw in his two-cents.
"Ehn-ne-ne!" (Me too.) Eous added with a grunt from the ninja's lap.
Wise turned to look at them like they'd just grown second heads.
"Oh no… there are three of them now," he mumbled in horror. "And since when did you get close to Eous…?"
Naruto and Belle just grinned, high-fived, and hopped out of the car.
"Fresh ai—ACK!" A seagull divebombed into Belle the moment she stepped out, smacking right into her face.
"These seagulls are aggressive! Help!" she yelped, flailing helplessly.
Eous was already on the move, charging in to save his parent… but he didn't stand a chance against the birds. Not only was he barely knee-high, but he didn't have anything on him to wave them off, either.
The ninja burst out laughing before finally stepping in to save her from her feathery crisis.
"Ugh… thanks..." Belle groaned as she checked herself over. "They didn't poop on me, right?"
Naruto gave her a quick once-over, then shook his head.
"You should thank the little guy, he's the first one to move to help you."he added with a grin.
Belle blinked, then turned to Eous and gently rubbed the top of his head.
"Thank you, Eous. I knew I could depend on you," she said with a soft smile.
The Bangboo lit up with happy eyes and pressed his head against her palm, clearly soaking up the affection.
Shortly after, once Wise finally dragged himself out of the car, the trio made a beeline for the fries stand, Tater King, mostly because someone couldn't wait any longer.
"They're so good! I thought the reviews were just overhyping it!" Belle chirped between bites.
"Thank you for the praise!" the employee, Phee, beamed at the bluenette. "Though, you really need to be careful holding it—"
Before she could even finish, a seagull swooped down and snatched the fry right out of Belle's fingers.
"AH!"
"Ehehe…" Phee knocked her head with her tongue out. "I… kinda fed them the fries earlier, and now they'll snatch any fries they see…"
"If I catch you, I'll turn you into dinner!" Belle shouted at the seagull now perched smugly on a lamppost. And somehow, it gave her a look. Like it understood her.
Wise sweatdropped as he watched his sister arguing with a bird.
"Fries so good even seagulls can't resist, huh…" he muttered. That was… one way to advertise the place.
"Speaking of, your friend over there hasn't tried any…" Phee gestured toward Naruto, who was standing by the railing, staring out at the ocean with Eous perched beside him. "Is he okay? Oh… and can I get his Knock Knock account? He's really cute…" She added in quick succession.
"Unfortunately, he doesn't have a Knock Knock account," Belle replied with a bit of bite in her tone. "But I agree that he's cute…"
With that, the two girls started gossipping and Wise wisely decided to join the blonde haired ninja.
He followed Naruto's line of sight, and yeah, that explained it.
Out in the distance, a massive, dark sphere with faint rainbow hues pulsed quietly.
"Ah," Wise murmured as he stepped beside him, leaning on the railing. "First time seeing a Hollow up close, huh?"
Naruto didn't say anything. He just kept his eyes on the sphere.
"Port Elpis Hollow," Wise continued. "A companion Hollow of the Lemnian Hollow, one of the seven originals."
"Huh..." Naruto hummed as he took that in. "Will it grow bigger than this?"
"It could," the brother nodded. "But the Defense Force works hard to keep the Ether activity low by wiping out the Ethereals inside."
That caught the ninja's attention.
"Oh? So if they wipe them all out, the Hollow just… disappears?"
"We honestly don't know..." The gray haired teen gave a dry chuckle. "Maybe a boss'll pop out at the end or maybe it'll just vanish... or maybe it just... sits there forever. No one really knows."
"I see... You guys've got it rough here too, huh?"
"Yeah... but I'd still take this over your world." Wise sighed, remembering Naruto's story about his world. "Constant wars, child soldiers not even making it to twenty... I don't think I'd survive a day."
The two shared a wry laugh.
Naruto didn't even bother to argue since he knew if it wasn't for Kurama, he wouldn't have even made it past his first mission.
"Hey, you two!" Belle called out. "Not gonna eat those?"
The two looked over and noticed her hands were empty, which meant she'd already finished her own fries.
Her brother instinctively pulled his tray away like a squirrel guarding its food while the ninja just grabbed one fry from his and handed the rest over to her.
"Here. I'm still full from the ramen earlier."
"Yay!" Belle lit up, happily accepting the extra snack.
Wise just shot her a look, unimpressed but not surprised.
"So, what were you talking about with Phee?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "We could hear you two giggling from here."
Belle waved him off. "Girl stuff."
That was enough for Wise to let it go.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a lazy drift. They hung around the port, watched fishermen haul in the day's catch, tossed around ideas about what to do next, and snapped a bunch of pictures just for the fun of it.
Eventually, the sky turned gold, then pink, then the deep orange of a dying sun.
Wise had gone back to flipping through housing catalogs while Belle scrolled through the Inter-Knot, checking out commissions and online posts. Eous, meanwhile, stayed quiet, just admiring the sunset from their table.
"Hey, I'm gonna go take a walk," Naruto said as he stood.
The siblings looked up, meeting his gaze.
They could tell that he wasn't just stretching his legs. Something was weighing heavy on him, and he clearly needed space to think.
Eous also stood up, wanting to come with the blonde but Wise held the Bangboo behind.
"Okay…" Belle nodded. "Be careful."
Naruto didn't say anything back, just gave a small nod before turning and walking off toward behind the lighthouse.
Wise and Belle exchanged a glance, the former gave a subtle shake of his head, silently telling his sister to let their friend be.
The bluenette let out a quiet sigh, but eventually agreed.
Meanwhile, behind the lighthouse, Naruto scanned the area to make sure no one was watching before he leapt, landing at the top of the structure in a single bound.
But to his surprise, someone was already there.
A blonde-haired girl… no, maybe a young woman? sat quietly near the edge, wearing a black jacket over an orange shirt and black pants, her hair tied back in a simple ponytail and she had an eye mask covering the upper half of her face.
She didn't say anything at his sudden appearance but he noticed her body stiffened a bit when his feet touched the roof.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at her but didn't speak either.
Still, he could feel it, an overwhelming mix of negative emotions rolling off her.
Guilt, loneliness, anger, grief.
She was the same as him.
Sensing all of that, Naruto wanted to say something helpful, do something like he usually would, but the truth was, he didn't even know where to begin. Not when he was still trying to find his own footing.
So he let her be.
The Uzumaki walked to the far side of the roof, took a seat by the ledge, and let the view wash over him.
He closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh.
A week had passed since he ended up in this world.
At first, he tried to play it off, smiling, cracking jokes, pretending like everything was fine. And for a little while, talking with the siblings and playing around with Eous helped take the edge off. It was easier to distract himself when things were lively.
But when everything went quiet, that's when it hit.
He hadn't been sleeping well.
His thoughts kept repeating their final clash. Did Sasuke survive? Did he undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi? Or… did he follow through with everything and wipe out the Kages?
If Sasuke didn't survive… Was the world doomed?
Only Kakashi and Sakura would've been left awake. Just the two of them.
"Heh, maybe those two can repopulate the world by themselves…" he muttered bitterly, letting out a dry laugh before shaking his head.
What a thought. What a messed-up thought.
Maybe he shouldn't have entertained– no, maybe he shouldn't have held back against Sasuke. He could've ended it easily, just one shot from the Truth-Seeking Orbs would've been enough, or even a clean hit with Sage Mode could've crushed his insides.
But he didn't do it.
People always said he had a strong heart, that he could push through anything, that he never gave up no matter how bad things got.
They were wrong.
Because when it really mattered, when everything was on the line, he hesitated.
He had the power to end it, and he still let it slip.
Now he was here, stuck in a world that wasn't his, with no way back, no answers, and no real closure.
…
…
No.
Deep down, he already knew what happened to Sasuke. He saw it when his hand was torn apart during the clash, and even if he hadn't wanted to believe it then, the truth had been there from the start.
His closure and his answers.
He just wasn't ready to accept it.
He wasn't ready to say it out loud that he killed his best friend, and there was no fixing what had already been lost. There was no way to undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi, there was no way to save his people from being turned into Zetsus… and it was only a matter of time until both Kakashi and Sakura also perished in those monsters' hands.
For the first time since waking up in this place, tears began to fall as he sat in silence, quietly staring out at the sinking sun.
The woman narrowed her senses toward the teen, relying on her... ability to make out his presence.
There were a few things about him that immediately caught her attention.
First, his Etheric fluctuations... or rather, the complete lack of them. It was like he'd never possessed Ether aptitude in the first place, yet faint traces of it still clung to him, almost like static after a storm. The energy wasn't his, that much was clear, but the residue refused to leave, always lingering around him. And even more strangely, although his right hand was missing, the Ether in that spot was more concentrated than anywhere else on his body… not to mention that it had the shape of a hand.
Second, he made no sound when he moved. Her ability, along with her sharpened senses, didn't catch the usual shifts in airflow or the subtle vibrations people normally gave off. She hadn't even realized he'd landed until the instant his foot touched the roof.
But it wasn't just the silence that unsettled her, his posture was too sharp and too guarded. There were no idle gestures, no casual stance, not even a moment of lowered awareness. His body stayed ready, slightly tense, like he expected danger from every direction and had already figured out how to react the moment it struck.
'Was he... from the Defense Force?' She couldn't help but wonder.
Something about the way he moved felt too familiar to ignore. It was the kind of posture that didn't come from self-defense classes or survival instinct but from experience.
And then there was the muttering.
She almost missed it, something strange about two people repopulating a planet.
Weird thing to say. Weird enough that it made her pause. That kind of joke didn't come out of nowhere, not with that kind of bitterness behind it. It was the kind of thing someone said when they weren't really joking.
Had something happened after she left the Defense Force? Something serious enough to leave someone like him stranded here, muttering things like that? The thought made her chest tighten, but before she could follow it too far, her senses flared.
One moment, there were only faint traces of Ether clinging to the teen, barely noticeable. Just faint residue clinging to his skin, like leftover static. But now? It surged. For a moment, his Ether fluctuation spiked into something that wasn't a human's but an Ethereal.
Then, just as fast, it all vanished as if it was only passing through.
Only those faint traces remained, like nothing had happened at all.
She caught the sound of his breath then. A slow and steady exhale.
'Did he just absorb that ridiculous amount of Ether and release it as naturally as breathing... without any signs of corruption?!' She thought in disbelief.
Before she could process it further, a voice cut through her focus.
"Narutooooo!" A girl's voice called out from below, momentarily drawing her attention away.
In that small instance, the young man was gone.
The woman hadn't heard a single thing. No shift in weight, no flicker of movement in the air, not even the slightest breeze.
She only sensed him again once she noticed his presence was already down below, next to the girl who'd shouted his name.
Still, something else caught her interest.
Their conversation, specifically, something the girl said.
"Were you thinking about your old world?" She repeated those words in her head.
Was the girl actually suggesting he came from somewhere else entirely?
Naruto sneaked a quick glance back at the top of the lighthouse.
The woman flinched.
Yep, she finally caught on that he knew she'd been observing him.
With a small shrug, he bent down and scooped up Eous, letting the little guy settle into his left elbow.
"So, where are we going?" he asked as they started walking back toward Wise, who was still lounging at the table.
"Before that... are you okay?" Belle asked, leaning in, her voice tinged with concern. "Like, really okay?"
"I'm fine now. Don't worry," he reassured her with a small smile. "Anyway, are you gonna tell me where we're headed?"
The bluenette puffed out her cheeks and looked away, clearly not in the mood to answer him after being dismissed.
"Ehn-nah!" Eous chirped. (We're getting new family members!)
Naruto blinked.
"...Huh?"
"Eous said we're getting new family members..." Belle mumbled, still pouting because he brushed her off.
"That's right," Wise chimed in as he finally stood and stretched. "Also, we really need to get you a Bangboo translator."
"...Sorry, a what now?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded. "They make translators for these little guys? I thought it was just some weird language thing."
Wise snorted and tugged his sister forward by the hood of her jacket.
Any more pouting, she'd really turn into a chipmunk.
While they headed for the car, Belle's brother explained that the Marcel Group usually bundled in a translator device when you bought a Bangboo. You could buy it separately too, but since their two new Bangboos were ready for pickup, the translators would come with them.
"So, where's this place at?" Naruto asked again as they settled into the car.
"The one we ordered from is in Lumina Square," Wise said as he buckled in behind the wheel. No way was he letting his sister drive again. "And while we're there, we should grab dinner too."
"Can we have ramen?" Naruto and Belle asked at the same time.
"No," Wise said flatly. "We had ramen yesterday. Tonight, I'm picking, grilled meat and vegetables."
"Fiiineeee~" the two of them groaned dramatically, making the gray haired teen sweatdrop.
With that, the group of four left Port Elpis behind, heading to Lumina Square to meet their new Bangboo family.
Review corner
bednarczykmiki: since this is still pre-canon, Lycaon is a possibility.
kazutoxx123: Devil Breakers, sorry :P
l2ose: You could try playing it :D
AsuraTheLost: Can't wait for the day :))
brachiosaurus: Thanks, tried my best.
lancelotquantas0079: harem? Belle and Anby. as for fav character, I don't have any for now. for gameplay, perhaps Miyabi :D
Dragonkeeper10: lol, thanks.
JackFox1024: hopefully others are going to start making it too.
Insitreader: thank you. as for romance, Wise's gf is still being discussed, Nicole, Venus or Astra.
Vigstar: these ideas came up randomly when doing house chores XD can't help it if it's only 1-2 chapters before stopping until new ideas popped up.
sahibjit669: thanks :D
julianaray84: slowly :)
hqjkat: thanks :)
With that said, hope you enjoyed it!