"Why did he give us this?" Umeko asked, confused.
Renji, leaning his shoulder against the bookshelf, replied thoughtfully. "Akeno said that with this, we would discover the truth about our world and our true enemy. It will also allow us to glimpse the future of our respective clans."
"…" Umeko did not know what to say. Having the possibility of seeing a fragment of the future was simply unbelievable. In the span of a single day, her world had shattered: death, rebirth, revelations… and now, a vision of the future. How narrow her worldview had been. She realized just how little she truly knew about everything.
…
The next day, on a deserted training ground that Akeno had prepared outside Hope City, deep within the woods for discretion and away from prying eyes, the young ninjas of each clan gathered for a small integration training session.
After spending a night in this world, everyone had come to terms with it. This was a new life, and the beginning of a new journey toward heights no member of their clans had ever reached before.
For the first training round, Izaya stood upright in front of the members of his clan.
For this session, each group of young ninjas would fight their respective patriarch or matriarch. The goal was to demonstrate the advantages of Qi by establishing a clear hierarchy within the clan.
Izaya, Chikara, Kaede, and the others had to prove themselves in front of the newcomers.
"Go!" Akeno shouted from the side.
At his command, the group of five Hyuga charged at Izaya, who easily parried the palms of his comrades. With every movement, his bones produced explosive sounds, proof of his mastery of Bone Reinforcement.
His cultivation had multiplied his physical strength by twenty, in addition to reinforcing his chakra reserves and granting him a supply of Qi. His reflexes and counterattacks were on a completely different level compared to the others.
Engaging them in close combat, even while surrounded, he maintained the upper hand.
If he had wanted to knock them down, he could have done so in just a few movements, but he did nothing of the sort. He needed to demonstrate his superiority, to make them admit defeat without displaying much effort.
On the spectators' side, Umeko Senju moved closer to Akeno, who was carefully observing the fight. For now, in each clan's library, only the first three volumes of Naruto were available, the rest being duplicates meant to be shared efficiently among them.
Having not slept all night, she had retrieved the next two volumes to read them with her friend Hanaki. The possibility of seeing the future of their world, and reading about how their clans would one day live together, excited her more than the fact of being in another world.
In truth, she did not care much about this new world or the possibility of becoming stronger. She deeply loved her clan and had always dreamed of a better future.
In this manga, it seemed that such a future would be achieved, one where each clan would live in harmony.
There would still be wars, certainly, but she had never dreamed of a world of complete peace either. A world where young people like her could hope to choose their own destiny was enough.
Umeko had a little brother; he was five years old. She had hoped that this war might at least give him time to play and live more peacefully.
And in this vision of the future, young people like Naruto seemed able to both become ninjas and play pranks on their superiors, an atmosphere that promised wars and bloodshed that were less brutal.
Or at least one that allowed people to grow up more calmly.
After finishing the first three volumes with Hanaki, they continued talking about that future, imagining how their clan would be introduced into the story.
So far, they had seen the Uzumaki clan through Naruto, the Uchiha clan through Sasuke, and even the Yuki clan through Haku, but that was all.
The story focused on only a handful of characters, and their clan had still not appeared.
At first, Hanaki had found it impossible to imagine an Uzumaki ending up on the same team as an Uchiha without showing any resentment toward each other, but the manga clearly showed that it was possible. Just childish rivalry.
Reaching Akeno, Umeko gently tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. "…Uh, Akeno?"
Raising an intrigued eyebrow, Akeno looked at her calmly. "Hmm?"
Holding the latest volume of Naruto in both hands, Umeko asked softly, "That is… when will our clan appear in the story?"
Taking a moment to think, Akeno stopped following Izaya's fight, recalled the story, and simply replied, "Not anytime soon."
After all, the first Senju to appear would be Hashirama during the Chunin Exams… as a reanimated corpse.
"And our clan?" Arashi Uchiha asked from the side.
"Well, it seems you are very interested in the future," Akeno said, noticing that most of the children were more focused on him than on the fight.
But Akeno had expected this reaction. It had been the very same reaction Chikara and the others had when he had given them the three volumes. Well… except for Fubuki, who had not even read them yet, not particularly interested in a possible future set one or two centuries ahead.
Arashi frowned, troubled. "Zabuza says the Uchiha clan has a terrible fate, and Sasuke wants to kill his brother… why?"
Unlike the Senju, the Uchiha had one of their own among the main characters of the story. While they initially felt pride that the best student in Naruto's class was Sasuke Uchiha, it now seemed that there was a major problem with their clan.
Otherwise, why had the so-called best student, an Uchiha no less, never learned to use chakra to walk on vertical surfaces? Why did a non-Uchiha like Kakashi possess a Sharingan? And why did Sasuke want to restore his family's honor?
What had happened to the Uchiha clan?
The Uzumaki members also had questions about their clan. How could Naruto, a member of the Uzumaki clan, end up alone, abandoned, and mistreated by an entire village without receiving any support from his clan!?
As for the Yuki clan, the events of volume three had already shown everything there was to know. Their clan had been hunted down and exterminated because of their bloodline. After reading the three volumes, their attitudes had completely changed. Where they once felt resentment and hatred toward Fubuki, they now fully accepted him as their leader.
After all, he was the strongest, and the most capable of pushing them to become stronger in order to change that tragic fate.
"In your opinion?" Akeno finally asked, his gaze questioning. With the example of the Yuki clan, he knew the others had more or less guessed what their clans had suffered.
"…We were driven out," Arashi said, not as a question, but as a certainty.
"And us too…" Kaede added.
Bang!
On the stage, the last Hyuga collapsed to the ground, unable to get back up, leaving Izaya as the sole victor, without a single scratch.
"That future will not happen," Izaya said. Despite the fight, he had heard the audience's discussion perfectly. "We now hold the opportunity to change that fate in our hands. It is up to us to save our clans."
"Yes. The future may seem calmer than the world you knew, but that is only an illusion," Akeno said.
"What happened?" Umeko asked, her full attention fixed on his next answer.
Raising his hands, Akeno smiled. "You will find out in due time. The story of young Naruto has only just begun."
Leaving the young ninjas waiting for the rest of the manga while continuing their training, Akeno began to slip away, but was stopped by Kaede.
"There are people coming from the West."
Surprised, Akeno focused on the seal containing Reibi and loosened it slightly, allowing a minimal amount of dark chakra to pass through. Suddenly, he felt emotions of pain approaching from the West.
"It seems we have visitors."
"They seem injured," Kaede declared, still sensing their energies thanks to the exceptional sensory abilities inherited from her bloodline.
Nodding, Akeno raised his left wrist, revealing a hidden Fūinjutsu seal, and unlocked it. A fully black full-face mask appeared, adorned with finely carved golden lines symmetrically tracing the contours of the face, reminiscent of ancient symbols. He placed it over his face.
Next, he removed the bracelet that concealed Reibi's chakra. Then, taking a scroll hidden beneath his clothing, he unsealed it, revealing a dark outfit composed of multiple layers of fabric, evoking both an assassin's attire and a cultivator's robe. Simple, practical, yet imbued with a silent presence, it was accompanied by magnificent black gloves that perfectly concealed all exposed skin.
Putting on the outfit, he then raised his right sleeve and unsealed another mark, summoning a second sword in addition to the one already attached to his belt.
With both swords in hand, Akeno looked at the young ninjas and ordered, "You stay here. This won't take long."
Releasing the seal on Reibi just a little more, a layer of dark chakra spilled forth, enveloping him.
ILLUSTRATION