Fairy's Ace

'Thoughts'

"Normal Dialogue"

(Word Count: 1,668)

~ With Hagoromo Otsutsuki ~

In an unknown realm, a figure watched Naruto's situation in sadness.

"Oh Ashura. . . I could never imagine that one of your chakra reincarnations would end up in such a state." Hagoromo Otsutsuki lamented. Hagoromo was the only one from the Elemental Nations to have ascended past being just a Sage.

Since his ascension many centuries ago, his powers had only continued to grow. It had grown strong enough that he was now able to sense all beings that were connected to chakra in the Elemental Nations. However, with this growth came a cost.

Being a by-product of the Human and Otsutsuki race, his body did not wield the necessary DNA to withstand the power it generated, nor did it have the necessary core to form a chakra body.

As was the case, during his ascension, Hagoromo had decided to anchor his very essence with the Nature Energy of the Elemental Nations. This had given him the ability to live on as a wandering spirit made of chakra.

This had also made him fundamentally different from the Tailed Beast as they were pure chakra manifestations, thereby enabling them to interact with the physical plane. A feat that Hagoromo himself was not able to achieve.

Now, he stood quietly, contemplating what his next move would be. He had watched Naruto Uzumaki growing up with interest, sympathizing with the struggles that he had been put through.

Even if he wanted to, he could not help young Naruto in the slightest. However, as he watched Naruto take his final breaths, he felt a young voice calling out to him.

'I just. . . want to find family.'

 He raised his brows at being able to listen to the dying prayer of Naruto. A moment later, he felt a connection to Naruto's soul.

This was it. This was the short moment in time where Hagoromo could finally act to help Naruto. To grant his dying wish.

Pulling on Naruto's soul, Hagoromo knew he could not waste any precious time. The King of Hell would claim Naruto's soul for the Pure Land if Hagoromo did not move quickly.

Using his powers, he harnessed his powers to open an Extra-Dimensional rift, before sending Naruto through it. Additionally, he attached a very small fraction of his essence into Naruto, to allow him to meet Naruto and explain his origins when he reaches of age.

"This is all I can do for you, young Naruto. The rest is up to you."

As the rift began closing up, Hagoromo returned his gaze to where Naruto's physical body laid. There, he saw the old man in bandages, Danzo, having a stand-off with the current Hokage. It seemed as though Hiruzen had finally caught up with whatever Danzo was planning, but he was too late.

"I hope you find your family, young Naruto."

~ With Naruto ~

Pain. That was all Naruto could feel. However, it was not just physical pain that he was feeling, but mental pain as well. Within his mind, Naruto was currently being filled with two separate sets of memories.

Memories that spanned across 10 years. Each.

For every moment of one life he saw, it was soon replaced by the other. This process taxed his mental will to the fullest extent possible. But while his body and mind were subjected to the immense pain, outwardly, his body did not physically react at all.

It was like he was in a dream.

Like this, what felt like 10 years of memory-watching quickly flew past Naruto. But in reality, only a fraction of that time had actually passed.

'Where. . . am I?'

Naruto, who was still a little dishevelled and confused, slowly roused from his slumbered state. The first thing that caught his attention was the abundant smell of nature. His memories from his time in the Shinobi Academy kicked in, forcing him to remain still and gather his bearing before alerting any nearby parties.

However, as more of his two sets of memories began flooding his immediate thoughts, Naruto simply sat up straight before clutching his hands on his head, trying to calm his mind.

'What is happening!? Why can I remember two different lives?! This doesn't make any sense!'

As Naruto groaned in pain, the most recent memory of his time in the Elemental Nations began replaying in his mind. He could feel the phantom pains of every single point where he was struck by the Chunin and the other two Genin.

Feeling his stomach churn, he turned to his side and began dry heaving. That was when the memories of the other life began flooding the forefront of his mind as well.

In this world, his current body was also, by a stroke of luck, named Naruto. Coincidentally, this Naruto was also orphaned from a young age, though he had lived with his parents in his earlier years.

Originally, they were a family of three. Himself and his two loving parents. At the age of three, however, they came across a girl who was all by herself in the middle of the woods near their village. Feeling pity for the girl, the family of three decided to take her in.

It had taken awhile, but the girl had warmed up to the family. Naruto remembers being told her name and her story, but he could not remember the exact details. As if something was blocking his mind from recalling it.

They lived happily as a family of four. Until disaster struck five years ago. At the age of five, Naruto's village was attacked by a group of Dark Mages.

His adopted sister was out playing with the rest of the village children, while Naruto himself was severely sick and bedbound that day.

When news of the attackers arrived, Naruto's parents felt a sense of dread. They could faintly sense multiple B to A class mages, even three high A ranked mages. One of them was even close to having S class level magic reserves.

This filled them with worry. Even they themselves had just reached the magic calibre of an A class mage, and they were the only A class mage the village had.

Naruto's parents quickly hid him in a hidden compartment under their house. This compartment was created for storage means, but also as a hidden resort should their village ever get attacked by the wild creatures that lived beyond, or by the Dark Guilds that infested their lands.

As Naruto was being ushered into the compartment, still unaware of what was happening, his parents maintained their forced calm in order not to worry their son. Although they wanted to stay with him, their adopted daughter was still out in the village.

Moreover, being active mages of the only small guild that inhabited the village, they could not turn a blind eye to the destruction currently being caused by their attackers.

"Naruto, we don't have much time. A storm. . . A storm has appeared and it's a very strong one. We're going to keep you here, where it's safe. And then we're going to look for ᚢᛚᛏᛖᚨᚱ and bring her back here too."

With that being said, the father, a user of Solid Script Magic, began casting a silencing and presence-concealing barrier on the compartment.

"This is going to take a few minutes. You should say what you want to now, Kushina." The father spoke to his wife.

However, unlike his father, his mother was barely hanging on to the tears that were forming in her eyes. She knew that this would most likely be the last time they would see their son.

"Naruto. . .Don't be picky. Eat lots and grow strong. Make sure you bathe every day and stay warm. Also, don't stay up late. You need lots of sleep."

As the mother in his memories spoke, the Naruto of the present time began to see overlapping memories. He could not make it out well, but he was sure he was seeing two versions of his mother speaking to him.

"And make friends. You don't need a lot of friends. Just a few. Ones you can really, really trust.

I wasn't very good at it, but keep up with your studies and practice your magic/ninjutsu hard. Remember that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. So don't get too depressed if you can't do something well.

Oh, and this is important. It's about the Three Prohibitions for a shinobi/mage.

Be extra careful about lending and borrowing money. Put your mission wages into your savings account. And no alcohol until you're 18. Too much can ruin your health, so drink it in moderation.

Another prohibition is women. I'm a woman, so I don't know too much about it. All you need to remember is that this world is made up of men and women. So, it's only natural to take an interest in girls. But just don't get hooked on bad women,

Find someone just like me."

As Kushina spoke, the five-year-old Naruto could only watch in confusion. His body and mind were too weak for him to respond, but seeing the tears flowing down his mother's face had elicited a sense of worry to rise within him.

"Naruto, from now on, you're going to face lots of pain and hardships. Be true to yourself. Have a dream and have the confidence to make that dream come true!

There's still so much, oh so much more that I want to pass on to you. I wish I could stay with you longer.

I love you.

Minato, I'm sorry I used up your time."

"It's okay. Naruto, my message to you is. Well, it's the same as your mother's."

Naruto could only watch as Minato closed his eyes. Not once did he ever think that this moment would be the last time, he would ever see both of his parents in either lives.

"Eight Trigrams Seal/Solid Script: Concealing Barrier."

~ End of Chapter 02 ~