Naruto: Returned From Roger's Ship

Naruto's shocking declaration left Kurama momentarily speechless. In fact, it was so far beyond the fox's comprehension that his mind short-circuited, and he instinctively expelled Naruto's consciousness from the space.

Only when the area returned to silence did Kurama finally snap back to reality.

"Damn it, I still didn't get to say it!"

Speaking of which, Kurama really has a lot of resentment towards Naruto, his Jinchuriki.

It all started decades ago.

One day, he suddenly realized he had lost all perception of the outside world. The space around him had plunged into complete stillness, and his Chakra sensing range was forcibly compressed to only within Naruto's body.

From that moment on, Kurama was effectively imprisoned in the truest sense.

If that were all, it might have been bearable.

But as his Jinchuriki, Naruto had begun frequently overdrawing his chakra. To the point where Kurama had no choice but to grit his teeth and supply his own Chakra just to keep Naruto alive… because if the Jinchuriki died, Kurama would perish as well.

Even though he would eventually revive, Kurama had no desire to die like that.

As if realizing that the fox had no choice but to keep him alive, Naruto then began squeezing every last drop of potential from his body.

It wasn't just chakra-

On multiple occasions, Kurama sensed Naruto pushing himself to the brink of death from sheer exhaustion. He had no choice but to use his chakra to forcibly sustain Naruto's life. He had even considered dragging Naruto into this mental space to give him a stern talking-to.

But just like losing his perception of the outside world, Kurama had also lost the ability to communicate with Naruto for decades.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make contact with Naruto's consciousness.

This kind of days continued for decades-

Until today, when Kurama suddenly realized he had regained his perception of the outside world.

So, he immediately tried to pull Naruto's consciousness in.

But things didn't go as expected.

In Kurama's perception, Naruto's consciousness was as immovable as a mountain. Just dragging him in had taken an enormous amount of effort.

'What the hell has this guy been through?'

Even compared to Kushina Uzumaki or Minato Namikaze, Naruto's consciousness was on a completely different level. Most people's consciousnesses were only slightly stronger than average at best.

"Damn it…"

Forcing Naruto's consciousness out had also drained Kurama considerably.

With no other choice, he could only lie back down and let himself sink back into slumber.

…

Naruto felt like he had just had a dream.

He couldn't quite remember the details, but he vaguely remembered that it seemed to be related to food.

After changing into a new set of clothes he'd bought, Naruto examined himself in the mirror.

'Hmm… not bad. Looking sharp.'

Naruto took out the forehead protector he had found after rummaging through boxes and drawers, and after thinking about it, he still didn't put it on his head.

Instead, he loosely tied it around his arm, just like Shikamaru had back when they graduated from the Ninja Academy.

Thinking about that, Naruto couldn't help but feel nostalgic.

In his memories, he'd been ostracized by most of his classmates in the Academy, and only Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, and a few others had treated him as a friend.

Most of the other kids had been warned by their parents, either directly or subtly, to stay away from him.

Of course, that stuck-up Uchiha Sasuke hadn't shunned him like the others either.

Rubbing his chin, Naruto realized his memories were getting a bit hazy.

He faintly recalled the image of a certain girl, but after so long, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't bring her face back to mind.

'Ah well, if I can't remember, it must be nothing important.' Naruto didn't dwell on it. After finishing his morning routine, he headed straight out the door.

Today was the team assignments. Even though he was still undecided about whether he should keep being a Ninja, Naruto was looking forward to reuniting with the 'old friends' he hadn't seen in years.

Following the path from his memories, Naruto soon arrived at the Ninja Academy and entered the classroom.

He casually found a seat and sat down. He glanced to the side and immediately locked eyes with Sasuke, who had been sizing him up.

'Oh… this brat's still as stuck-up as ever, huh?'

Seeing the other party's cold, arrogant expression, Naruto just found it amusing, completely unlike the frustration he'd felt in the past.

Well, what could he do? Mentally, he was practically an old man now.

With a faint smile, Naruto nodded at Sasuke before leaning back in his seat, folding his arms into his sleeves, and closing his eyes to rest.

Yes, his new outfit for the day was still a loose-fitting yukata.

Compared to the tight-fitting outfits worn by other Ninja, Naruto was much more accustomed to wearing this type of clothing.

As he closed his eyes to rest, he didn't notice the bewildered expression on Sasuke's face.

'What the… Is this really that dead-last?'

Sasuke stared at Naruto in disbelief, even forgetting to maintain his usual aloof demeanor.

'It had only been a few days since they last saw each other. How had that loudmouthed loser in the orange jumpsuit suddenly become a completely different person?'

To be honest, Sasuke had always kept an eye on Naruto.

Like him, Naruto had lost his parents, but he had never given up on himself.

Even though he performed poorly in class, Naruto still worked hard, and Sasuke had noticed all of it.

In a way, he saw a bit of himself in Naruto.

That was why Sasuke had always paid attention to him.

But today's Naruto-

How should he put it? It wasn't just the clothes or the appearance.

More importantly, there was an indescribable aura about him, as if he couldn't care less about what was happening around him.

This Naruto was nothing like the loud, brash dead-last he remembered.

"Huh? Naruto?"

Just then, Shikamaru's voice came from the side, drawing the attention of both Naruto and Sasuke.

"Naruto! What are you... eh? Did you get taller?"

In response, Naruto simply flashed a bright grin, pointing at the forehead protector tied around his arm and then at the one on Shikamaru's.

"Haha, I ended up passing by accident."

"As for the height… guess I just hit a growth spurt."

"Don't be ridiculous. How can someone grow that much taller in just a few days?"

Though he had a ton of questions, Shikamaru ultimately decided not to press further.

'Forget it, why bother so much?'

True to his lazy nature, Shikamaru lived by the philosophy of 'less trouble is better' and 'if I can lie down, I won't sit'. After that one complain, he just plopped down in a seat at the back.

When Naruto saw that no one else was coming to talk to him, he reclined in his seat, pulling his forehead protector over his eyes like a sleep mask to catch up on some rest.

'It was all because of that dream I had last night… I'm still feeling a little sleepy.'

Time flew by as Naruto dozed off.

A while later, a pink-haired girl and another girl with a golden ponytail squeezed in through the back door.

The two bickered half-heartedly along the way.

Suddenly, the pink-haired girl seemed to notice something and immediately abandoned the girl next to her, rushing forward.

"Good morning, Sasuke!"

The girl's name is Haruno Sakura, and she is a Genin who graduated from the same class as Naruto and Sasuke.

At the same time, she is also one of Sasuke's most ardent admirers.

When she caught sight of that annoying head of blond hair, Sakura, whose eyes were full of Sasuke, instinctively reached out to shove the person blocking her way aside.

"Get out of the way, Naruto!"

However, before her hand could even make contact, another hand intercepted it, gripping her wrist with precision.

"Hey now, interrupting a man's dream of all-you-can-eat barbecue and bottomless drinks is a one-way ticket to hell, you know."

After pulling the forehead protector up, Naruto still seemed half-asleep, and his gaze unconsciously exuded an intangible pressure.

Fortunately, he reacted in time and released Sakura's wrist before his Haki could fully manifest.

But in that brief moment, both Sasuke and Sakura, who were closest to him, had felt that suffocating, overwhelming presence.

Unlike Sakura, who was frozen in shock, Sasuke's eyes flickered with doubt and disbelief.

'This guy... Was that terrifying aura just now really coming from him?'

For a split second, he had seen that man's shadow… the same oppressive force that had rendered him completely immobile that day.

Now that he's fully awake, Naruto looked at Sakura's somewhat familiar face but seemed to struggle to recall her name.

"Oh, you want to sit inside, right? Here, go ahead."

And just like that, Sakura, whose mind was still blank, was pushed by Naruto to the seat closest to Sasuke.

It wasn't until Iruka stepped onto the podium and announced, "Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke will be on Team 7", that Sakura finally snapped out of her daze.

She first looked at Naruto, who had changed drastically, in a daze, her mind still unable to wrap around what was going on.

But then, the joy of being placed on the same team as Sasuke diluted the confusion in her mind.

'Yay! I get to be with Sasuke!'

Meanwhile, the two boys beside her-

One kept glancing sideways, as if he had something to ask but didn't know where to start.

The other lightly smacked his fist into his palm.

Thanks to Iruka's announcement, he had finally remembered the girl's name.