Chapter 42: A Promise

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"I will do whatever it takes," Naruto whispered as he planted a small kiss on Anko's forehead, who was sound asleep in his bed. He then left the room and walked by Sakura's room, a pang of pain running through his chest. 

Then, as soon as it came, the mist faded from existence and Naruto was left wrapped in his chains with Anko's dead body laying right in front of him.

"I can't allow Anko to die the way you did, I can't let another person I love die, Sakura-chan." Tears burned in his eyes as he connected his forehead to the wooden door that led to Sakura's room. "I won't be able to handle the pain anymore." 

These visions he had, the one he had of Sakura months before they transpired, were visions of the future. It was the only conclusion he could come up with and now a mysterious mist steals his lover away from him? The one which he wants to spend the rest of his life with? 

No. He wouldn't let her die. He would prevent such pain from ever reaching his heart, even if it meant killing himself in the process. 

Naruto walked over to the kitchen and poured himself a small cup of water and hurriedly drank it, the cool liquid going down his throat and easing the nauseousness he felt ever since he had woken up at one in the morning, it now being three. 

He filled the cup again and quickly down it once more. He suddenly covered his mouth and vomited into the kitchen sink. Cringing, he turned the water on again and began washing it out and saw his hands covered in blood and his eyes widened as his body began to tremble. 

"W-What?" He whispered as he watched the thick red liquid ooze off of his hands and onto the ground as it began moving towards him. He quickly took a step back in shock as the blood began morphing, growing taller and more human-like before stood before him as a strange man he had never seen before.

"We meet at last," The man said, his voice smooth yet hardened. "I believe you know what you must do." Naruto unsealed the sword from his wrist and pointed it at the stranger. 

"Who are you?" The mysterious man had long brown hair that was cut short on the top with two clumps of hair being tied together by bandages on either side, framing his face. He had shiny black eyes with dark blue markings above them with short eyebrows. He was wearing a large white tunic that had several black tomoes on them, reminding Naruto on the Sharingan. 

"I have gone by many names. Some recognize me as the Creator of Ninjutsu, others as the Father of the Uchiha Clan, but you, my reincarnate, may call me Indra Otsutsuki, and I am at your service." 

'Kurama!'  Naruto called out from inside his head, but he received no answer. 

'He is sleeping. Do not wake him.'  Indra's voice spoke without moving his lips, inside of Naruto's head. Naruto stabbed the sword forward, but to his dismay, it only passed straight through Indra. 

"That won't work on me. I'm here to serve and guide you on what your next decisive action truly is," He spoke smoothly and without stuttering. "I've been watching you for a very long time, I believe it's what you shinobi call the 'Chunin Exams' when I awakened all that time ago, when you still had friends and a family." 

"What do you know about anything?" Naruto practically growled. Indra sighed and held up a single finger.

"Have you not been listening to me, Naruto? I've been with you for almost twelve years now while my younger brother, Ashura Otsutsuki, slumbers deep within your mind. It's quite funny actually, brothers who have rivaled in their life, fighting for days on end to suddenly end up in one body, we both reincarnated as you, Naruto Namikaze, something that has never happened to us before." 

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