Konoha – Ninja Academy – Classroom 2B
Sunlight streamed through the wide windows. Laughter echoed through the halls—bright with excitement, hope, and the promise of a future.
Naruto remained alone in the classroom. The other students had left minutes ago. Some had run off to find their parents. Others were squabbling on the stairs. Iruka had given Naruto a tired, almost affectionate smile before leaving the room with a simple:
"Get some rest, Naruto. You earned it."
Naruto nodded. But his body didn't move.
He sat there, the forehead protector resting on the desk in front of him. His hands trembled slightly. Not with joy. Not with fear.
Just… a strange tension. Like a shiver that didn't come from his body.
He stared at the headband. For a long time.
Then, he picked it up—slowly, cautiously, as if afraid of triggering something.
And when he placed it on his forehead…
Everything stopped.
The world froze.
The light shifted. The sounds vanished. The wind stood still.
And then… came the vertigo.
Not pain. Not shock. An inner collapse. A slipping of the soul.
He stood abruptly, staggered, searched for something to hold on to—but there was nothing. Nothing to grab onto.
Then—
"Memories restored."
The voice echoed in his mind. Cold. Mechanical. Ancient.
And then it all came back.
---
His father. Minato. His mother. Kushina.
The demon inside him. Kurama. The burning red gaze. The hatred. Then… the acceptance.
Hinata. Her shy smile. Her outstretched hands. Her final gaze. The blood.
The battles. The Fourth Great Ninja War. Madara. Obito. Kaguya.
And finally… the end of the world. His world. The void. The silence. The forgetting.
---
Naruto collapsed to his knees.
His hands clenched against the floor. His throat tightened. He screamed—but no sound escaped. As if his voice itself had been swallowed by that brutal memory.
He trembled. Not from fear. From loss.
"That's… that's me?" he whispered, gasping. "That was… me?"
A tear fell to the floor.
Then another.
And suddenly, the system came back online.
---
[ SYSTEM REBOOT… ]
> Temporal anomaly detected.
Location: Konoha – divergent reality line – POST-SCISSION
Status: Primary host reintegrated with full memory.
Emotional stability: critical
Interdimensional transfer: recommended
> [ Do you want to run from loss? ]
[ Do you want to rebuild what cannot be rebuilt? ]
[ Do you want to live? ]
Still kneeling, Naruto watched the words scroll before his eyes. But there was no screen. It was inside his mind. Like a truth whispered by something too ancient to be human.
His heart pounded faster.
And in his chest… chakra stirred.
But not the chakra of a child. No.
His chakra. That of a warrior. A survivor. A Jinchūriki.
The seal on his belly began to heat. His whole body vibrated. The floor, the light, the walls… everything began to distort.
And then, inside him, a voice.
"Naruto…"
Kurama.
But not the Kurama from here.
The real one.
The one who had fought by his side.
"You don't belong here. You know it. You've always known it."
Naruto opened his mouth.
"Why now? Why do I remember now?"
"Because your heart is finally ready to carry the weight of what you've lost."
His eyes burned. With rage. With grief. With a bottomless abyss.
"So what… am I dead?"
Kurama stayed silent for a moment.
Then answered:
"No. You're somewhere else. But not by accident."
The system resumed:
> Dimensional transfer: ready
Target: compatible alternate world – Dimension 199999
Travel status: unstable – irreversible
Initiating: 10… 9…
"Wait!" Naruto shouted. "I want to understand! I want to choose!"
> 8… 7… 6…
"You have nothing left to protect here," Kurama whispered. "But you can still become something. Over there."
> 5… 4… 3…
The seal on his stomach lit up.
His chakra exploded.
Konoha shattered around him like glass.
> 2… 1…
Naruto closed his eyes.
One final thought passed through his mind:
"Hinata… I'm sorry."
And then everything became light.