Two weeks passed by after Naruto's passing. The civilians barely contained their glee at the thought of the dead 'demon', but on the other hand, the shinobi and kunoichi alike mourned for the blond boy's death, knowing he was a promising ninja, and a giver of hope as well.
The sudden demise of the hyperactive, blond boy took a toll on most of the promising ninjas. For instance, on the day after Naruto's passing, ghastly circumstances had happened.
...:::...
Word had to spread yet of Naruto's death. People, ninjas and civilians, continued their daily antics, unaware of the world's great loss. Currently, Haruno Sakura was walking through the streets of Konohagakure, her head hung low. Her usual bright emerald eyes were dull and lifeless—one could conclude that she wasn't sleeping well for the past few nights.
"Hey, giant forehead girl!" Ino, Sakura's best friend and at the same time, rival, yelled as loud as she can muster, loud enough that the whole street might've heard the insult.
"Hi, Ino. . ." Sakura trailed off as she passed by the blonde girl, her shoulder brushing against hers, leaving the Yamanaka girl dumbfounded, as there was no insult thrown to her.
Sakura? Ino wanted to yell. What's happening to you. . .?
...:::...
On the other side of Konoha, Maito Gai and his mini-clone, Rock Lee, were training with what they excel the most; Taijutsu. As fate predicted so, Hatake Kakashi managed to pass by the training camp of the two Taijutsu masters.
"Ah! Kakashi, my eternal rival!" Gai yelled. "I demand a match!"
Kakashi swept past the man who wears a green spandex and had huge eyebrows, his visible eye closing. He didn't even register the yells of his name and complaints before he leaned against a tree.
"—kashi! Kakashi!" Gai yelled, but the silver-haired jōnin crumpled into a messy heap at the ground, a lone tear falling off his cheek, painfully slow.
"Gai-sensei! What happened to—"
Those were the last words the Hatake heard before his consciousness slipped away. Maybe avoiding sleep isn't a good thing after all. . .
...:::...
"Tsunade-sama! You have to stop drinking!" Shizune, the Hokage's assistant and student at the same time, exclaimed in concern as Tsunade chugged down another bottle of sake.
"Leave me alone, Shizune," Tsunade slurred about, groping around the table to look for another bottle of sake.
After Naruto's supposed death, the Fifth Hokage had done nothing but lock herself up in her room, drinking sake and gambling. She didn't even attend the meetings the Council demanded to have. They could investigate all they want and yell at her, for Kami's sake! She didn't give a care to their concerns, especially her—somehow—archenemy, Shimura Danzo.
"Dan. . .Nawaki. . ." she slurred. "I failed. . .again. The person I call my son is on the list of my dead loved ones, hooray!"
"T-Tsunade. . ." Shizune gaped at the drunken sannin, her eyes wide as saucer plates as she absorbed all the words which came out of the other woman's mouth. Tsunade-sama. . .you really consider Naruto as your own son? Of course, why did I ask? I consider him as my little brother as well. . .
"What is it, Shi—" Tsunade gurgled, falling backwards. The chair groaned slightly at the unbalanced weight, making it topple backward and land on the floor.
Fortunately, Shizune managed to catch the female Hokage before a loud 'thud' was heard throughout the bar. Whispers and murmurs broke out of the blue, causing Shizune to emit a scary aura that literally screamed 'Shut up before I make you,'.
She didn't care about what the other people said. All she wanted was to take the fragile, blond bundle within her arms to her home and let her rest.
And she just did that in ease.
...:::...
Despite most of the ninjas'—that had known of Naruto's demise—protests, the dreaded words were announced throughout the whole Leaf Village. Almost instantly, nearly all civilians and shinobi who do not know the difference of a sword and its sheath, cheered and celebrated, although they did it discreetly. No one wanted to face the wrath of the Slug Princess, albeit she was breaking down in front of them and obviously broken like glass.
The rookies of Konohagakure mourned at the death of the blonde, missing his hyperactive attitude, cheery and sunny deposition, full-blown laughs, jokes, and loud proclamations of him being the next Hokage. Their own senseis weren't in a much better condition, too. Most had locked themselves up at their rooms, despite not knowing the blond entirely, they knew he was a promising ninja and the soon-to-be Hokage as he would put it.
Little did they know, that a death only marks a new beginning.
...:::...
A blond-haired boy stirred from his position, groaning slightly. His eyelids fluttered open, revealing two cerulean orbs that were as clear and blue as the sky. Although, he squinted a little from the light, he knew that he was in a dark room. . .or somewhere else.
"I swear, Kurama, if this is one of your jokes, I'm going to strangle you," he said out loud to no one in particular. . .or probably a someone with an unknown identity.
"Who's Kurama?" a voice rang out, clear as a day. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you or do anything bad," the owner of the voice continued as Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto swung around.
"Who are you? Why am I here? Where are we?" Naruto asked, firing questions randomly.
"One question at a time, geez! I'm not an encyclopedia!" the voice said, with a tint of playfulness. "Anyways, my name is Kurozushi Jairo. What's yours?"
"Uh. . .Naruto. Uzumaki Naru—"
"I mean your full name," Jairo interrupted. "And drop the genjutsu you casted on yourself,"
"Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto." There was a sheer pause of silence. "And how did you know I placed a genjutsu?"
"I can sense illusions from a hundred miles away. My main ability as one of my clan is sensing illusions, so, yeah. . ." the other boy explained, trailing off in the end.
"That sounds so cool! Wait, um, where are you?" Naruto asked. "And what's with this place? It's so dark and gloomy and eerie and—"
The bright lights erupted from nowhere, making the boy briefly dazed and utterly confused. The boy near—in front of him, rather—had white hair, fair skin, and eyes which had a mixture of red, pink, and violet altogether.
Naruto blinked.
"Kindly drop the genjutsu. It's making me sick," Jairo mumbled. "I can't handle illusions for long, especially when I sense them. I feel like—" Jairo covered his mouth.
Vomitting. "Oh. Okay," the blond said awkwardly and the illusion disappeared.
Instead of the normally golden blond hair he supposedly 'inherited' from his father, Namikaze Minato, startling raven hair took its place. His cerulean blue orbs, if not much, changed into icy blue. His tan skin turned pale white, making most people think of snow. His cheeks, which usually had whisker marks, are now bland, free of marks and all.
"Oh." was all Jairo could say before getting rid of his perplexed state. "Are you an Uchiha? Or part-Uchiha?"
"On my father's side," Naruto deadpanned nonchalantly. If his true appearance is revealed, why not his true personality? "Actually, can I start from the beginning? It's really a nuisance to repeat everything again and again due to the lack of organization of details,"
"Otousan, okasan, maybe you need to hear this," Jairo called, making a brunette woman and a white-haired man come out of their respective hidden places.
A nod was the signal Naruto needed for him to start his story.
"The Namikaze Clan is known to be related to the Uchiha Clan—for a few trusted shinobi—despite barely recognizable due to their looks. Truth to be told, their appearances were changed before they were born, with a life-risking jutsu. Not a lot would sacrifice the lives of their children just to change their appearances, but, they understand the forthcoming consequences if they have refused. If someone outside the clan was to know that they had the Sharingan, jeopardy would certainly start and another war would break out.
It wasn't known who really was the ancestor of the Namikaze Clan, but it was as clear as a day that they were connected to the main branch or the 'pure' branch of the Uchiha Clan. Some rumors say that it was Uchiha Haizai, Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Izuna's older brother.
The Sharingan was not the only thing they had inherited from the Uchiha Clan. Their personalities were usually cold, distant, and most of all, they had a habit of seeking for power, normally for proving themselves or for protecting their loved ones. With that, they hid their real selves by making a psychological mask in order not to be caught.
When I was born, my father and mother sacrificed themselves in order to seal the Kyuubi no Yoko, which was under the control of an Uchiha. I have a rather large doubt that it was Madara, albeit the masked man that had attacked claimed to be him.
Back to the story, my parents died in sealing the Nine-Tailed Fox into me. Instead of strengthening the seal—like most would have thought—before they died, my father, Uchiha-Namikaze Minato, did the jutsu in order to change my appearance. However, it wasn't strong enough that I had to place a genjutsu on myself, starting when I was five years of age.
Next, my mother, Uzumaki Kushina. Normally, the Uzumaki Clan is known for their great aptitude for seals. Most—if not all—of them had inherited a dojutsu; Rinnegan. Their eyes, like the Namikaze did to their appearance, were hidden by a certain sealing jutsu. As I come to ponder about it, the Rinnegan may be the reason why the Uzumaki's were good at sealing.
My mother also placed a jutsu on me, although she didn't need to. With my father's jutsu, my eyes had been sealed. I awoke them when I was eight years old, and that is the time when I had begun training, with the Hokage's consent, of course. As you heard, both of my parents' clans were secretive, so their secrets lay hidden with me. Please don't enclose this to others," Naruto finished with a few lies here and there, earning gobsmacked expressions from the other people with him.
"Whoa. . ." the brunette woman gaped at him. "Uh," she began, snapping out of her trance. "I'm Kurozushi Izumi, by the way,"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. My name is Kurozushi Jai," the man on her right—probably her husband and Jairo's father—introduced himself, with quite a politeness that could rival Anko's. Kindly take note of the sarcasm.
"May I ask a question?"
"Go ahead, Naru-chan," Jai mused, seemingly amused at the raven-haired boy's antics.
"Why am I here?" Naruto asked, going straight to the point. "I thought I am dead. I head a full-powered Chidori shoved right through my chest—obliterating my heart in an instant. It is really creepy,"
"We called you here," Izumi cut in before her husband could make any other witty remark, sending him an aura that said 'I'll strangle you, Jai-kun'. "We need to hand down my—our clan's jutsus and kekkai genkai. Our time is running short; I estimate that we only have only a year left,"
"Why me? I'm not complaining, but there others that have much more potential than I have,"
"That's exactly the reason. You're selfless, kind-hearted, and not to mention—" Jai withered from the only woman's—in the room, or wherever place that is—glare. "—good, yeah, yeah," With that, Naruto thought that Jai was trying to convince himself underneath his wife's withering glare.
"Your body is in a comatose state, resting, but your soul will be not. We shall be training you until the last second of our lives," Izumi paused. "Also, use the power wisely. Bring peace to—if not the whole world—your village, and all of your loved ones in the right path—the path of light,"
Naruto blinked. "How about Kurama? The Nine-Tailed Fox, if you're going to ask," he explained, seeing the other people in the room's confused stares.
"Oh," Jairo's face fell. "The Kyuubi no—um, Kurama, is in a comatose state as well. He somehow had a part to play with this,"
"Back to business. . ." Jai gave the Namikaze a creepy smile.
". . .are you ready?"
•••:::•••
Sorry for the crappy chapter (can this be considered as a chapter?). I tried my best, but yeah. It sucks. Mistakes in grammar and spelling. And it doesn't even make any sense, right?
*sulks in one depressed corner*
Ugh. Anyways, see you next chapter!
[Rewritten; June 26, 2017; 6:43 p.m.]