Fractured

Connections

Three figures stood beneath the dim glow of a now cloud-covered moon. Around them the village was deceptively quiet, the hush of the citizens settled in for slumber pervading in the night air. If the village could stay this way, if the citizens he was sworn to protect never need learn of the events that were currently taking place, this quiet peace could continue.

He must protect this peace at all costs.

He would protect this peace at all costs, Naruto concluded.

The village, his people... his children.

He clenched his fist, nails biting at his palms.

His form, alight with the glow of the Six Paths Sage Mode, began to fade as he returned to his normal appearance. The shadows of the surrounding buildings crept back in around them as he dimmed. Boruto's clone simply looked on in awe.

"Dad..." He trailed off. "You..."

Naruto, lips together, flashed a small but confident smile at the clone of his son.

"Might as well save my chakra," Naruto said. "Don't you worry. I'm not outta the game yet."

Shikamaru's face fell, and he reached a hand up to stroke his goatee. Contemplative, he asked, "How do you still have this form?"

Naruto scratched at the back of his head. It's true. Kurama was gone...for good this time. Naruto was still bitter about the fact. Rather, trying to pretend that he hadn't lost a part of himself when he lost Kurama was like trying to pretend he didn't care when Jiraiya was killed. When his master passed, Naruto wasn't sure he was ever going to be able to function normally once again. Losing Sasuke back then was beyond difficult, but having his only father figure at the time ripped from him so suddenly—so utterly permanently—Well...to say Naruto suffered was an understatement. And yet, through all of Naruto's hardships, every moment of his life from the time he was born, from the time his parents sacrificed their lives to seal Kurama inside his infant body, until recently...Kurama had existed within him through it all. The good and the bad. The most wretched moments of his existence, and the most euphoric ones. Yes, Kurama had been there all along.

And now, where such a terrifying, awesome, and vibrant presence had once resided within Naruto, there was nothing. A vacant hole. A cold, hollow void.

He felt it...when Kurama faded away. When he died. The pain and loss he felt. Kurama's pain.

And all that remained to fill the void left behind was Naruto's own pain. His own emptiness and guilt.

Naruto unconsciously reached his hand back down to his naval and grasped his tunic there. He swallowed.

"That's not important right now," Naruto muttered.

Shikamaru watched all this and frowned.

Naruto knew that with the fox's spirit vacating his body and taking his chakra with him, anyone might suspect that Naruto would be stripped of more than just Kurama Chakra Mode and any of his modes that required Nine Tails chakra. His Kurama-chakra-fueled forms were gone. About that fact, anyone who assumed so would not be wrong.

Naruto couldn't help as his visage fell. Boruto's clone looked on, a complicated mixture of emotions swimming through his eyes.

A clap on the shoulder.

Naruto looked up and found Shikamaru's face within an arm's reach. His advisor's hand felt solid and reassuring on his shoulder. Naruto felt a squeeze there as Shikamaru pulled him from his reverie. He glanced at his advisor's dark eyes where they remained resolute. Naruto felt a vague sense of déjà vu, clipped memories of Shikamaru giving him encouragement after Jiraiya died passed by in a brief moment. Shikamaru and Naruto were vastly different from one another, but one thing was for certain: they had always been and would always be there for one another.