"Monster!"
"Demon Fox!"
"Go kill yourself!"
The cruel words rained down on the four-year-old boy like stones, each one sharp enough to cut. Uzumaki Naruto walked through the village streets, his whisker-marked face blank, his small shoulders straight beneath the weight of their hatred.
"You don't deserve to live here!" a shopkeeper snarled, hurling a rotten tomato that splattered across Naruto's back.
The boy didn't flinch. This was his daily reality since the moment of his birth, no, since the moment his soul had replaced the original Naruto's in Kushina's womb. Konoha's destined savior, its jinchuriki, and its most hated outcast all in one small body.
When the insults grew too loud, when the thrown objects came too close, Naruto did what always helped. He opened his mouth and let the strange song from his past life pour out:
"I'd live with you in a river"
"Full of fish"
"Or boreal forest"
"Full of sticks"
The English lyrics flowed effortlessly, though no one in this world would understand them. The melody something he'd once heard in a social media video wrapped around him like armor as he walked.
"Hibernate through the winter"
"In a hillside cave"
"Burrow deep in a desert"
"Full of snakes"
An egg shattered against his shoulder. Naruto kept singing, his voice never wavering as yolk dripped down his sleeve.
"No matter the substrate"
"Or available food source"
"Natural or man-made"
"Frozen or sun-scorched"
The villagers' curses became background noise beneath the song's steady rhythm. Naruto turned a corner, his small feet carrying him toward the safety of his apartment.
"Wherever you're at"
"Could be with cattle or cats"
"Wherever you're at"
"Could be gravel or grass"
The lock clicked shut behind him. For the first time since leaving home that morning, Naruto's shoulders relaxed. In the bathroom, the water ran brown as he washed away the village's hatred, the song's final verses slipping quietly between his lips:
"Wherever you're at"
"Mountains oceans or flats"
"Wherever you're at"
"That's my habitat"
Clean and dressed in fresh clothes, Naruto collapsed onto his bed. As sleep pulled him under, the last whispered words of the song lingered in the empty apartment:
"That's my, that's my"
"That's my habitat"
Outside, the village continued its endless cycle of hatred. Inside, the boy who would save them all slept soundly, the foreign melody still echoing in his dreams.
...
In the Hokage's Office
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sat hunched over his desk, the weight of paperwork pressing down on his aging shoulders. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the documents mission reports, budget approvals, another complaint about the Uchiha. He rubbed his temples, the beginnings of a headache forming behind his eyes.
Then—
A flicker of movement. A masked figure materialized in the center of the room, kneeling in perfect silence. The ANBU operative waited, still as stone, until Hiruzen finally glanced up.
"Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen exhaled a slow breath. "How is Naruto?"
"Unharmed," the ANBU replied. "He returned to his apartment after the villagers' usual… reception. Sang that foreign song again. Fell asleep shortly after."
Hiruzen's grip tightened slightly on his pen. "And before that?"
"The library. He spent three hours there."
"Reading what?"
"Taijutsu theory. Chakra control exercises." A pause. "Advanced texts, for his age."
Hiruzen set down his pen. "I see."
The ANBU remained motionless. "Your orders?"
"Continue surveillance. Report anything unusual."
"Understood." In a shiver of air, the operative vanished.
Alone again, Hiruzen pushed back from his desk. His pipe found its way to his lips almost by habit. At the window, he lit it with a small flame from his fingertip and gazed out over Konoha. Smoke curled into the dusk as the village lights began to flicker on peaceful, oblivious.
At that same moment, deep within Naruto's consciousness…
The boy found himself standing in an endless expanse of sky and water, his small feet barely disturbing the mirrored surface beneath him. This wasn't the sewer where Kurama lurked, this place felt lighter, stranger.
And then he saw him.
A man in his thirties sat cross-legged in meditation, his spiky hair unmistakable even from a distance. He wore a simple orange gi over a blue undershirt, no insignias, no markings just pure, unadorned strength. When his eyes snapped open, dark and alert, Naruto's breath hitched.
Son Goku.
"How the hell are you here?!" Naruto blurted.
Goku blinked, glancing around at the impossible horizon. "I was meditating… next thing I know, I'm here." He studied the four-year-old boy in front of him. "You know where 'here' is?"
"My mindscape," Naruto said slowly. "At least, I think it is."
Goku scratched his head. "Huh. Never popped up in someone else's head before."
Flashback: How This Happened,
Earlier, after Naruto had fallen asleep…
He'd woken (but not *really* woken) to find himself in a massive sewer, ankle-deep in stagnant water.
'Did Kurama call me? Or did I wander here by accident?'
Two paths stretched before him: one dark, reeking of familiar malice (the fox), and another blazing with light. Curiosity won. He'd taken the bright path, and stepped into this surreal sky-water void.
Then he'd spotted the figure in the distance.
Goku, mid-meditation, had been just as shocked when he'd turned to find a whisker-marked kid staring at him.
Now here they were.
Goku stood up, tilting his head as he surveyed the endless expanse. "So this is your mind..." He tapped the water's surface with his boot, sending ripples across the sky-mirrored plane. "Pretty huge!"
Naruto stared, still processing. Reincarnation had been crazy enough, but now Goku stood before him? His brain scrambled to reconcile this impossibility.
"What kind of training were you doing, Goku-san?" Naruto asked, carefully observing the man's plain gi, no Turtle School symbol, no God of Destruction insignia. He needed to place which version of Goku this was.
"Trying to master Ultra Instinct," Goku answered, stretching his arms behind his head.
'Super-era Goku', Naruto realized. His pulse quickened.
"But hey," Goku's eyes sharpened suddenly, "how d'you know who I am?"
Naruto smirked. "You're famous in my world. Even grandparents know you."
"Really?" Goku's face lit up like a kid told he'd get extra dessert. "Never thought I'd be that well-known!"
Goku clenched his fists, brows furrowing as he tried to sense his ki. Only emptiness answered, no familiar energy signatures, no boundaries to this strange place. Just an endless void with him and this whiskered kid.
"Man, this place is weird," Goku muttered, scratching his head. "Can't even feel which way's out."
Naruto's eyes gleamed. This was his chance.
"You'll probably return to your world when I wake up," Naruto said, then bowed deeply before Goku could react. "Please train me until then!"
Goku blinked. "Whoa, hold on! I'm no teacher—"
"I'll give 1000% effort!" Naruto's head stayed lowered, his voice cracking with determination.
A beat passed. Then Goku chuckled, rubbing his neck exactly like Naruto remembered from the anime. "Well... can't say no to that face. What's your name, kid?"
"Uzumaki Naruto, sensei!"
The title made Goku pause. For a fleeting moment, Master Roshi's wrinkled smile flashed through his memory. His grin softened into something warmer.
"Alright, Naruto. Let's see what you've got."
Naruto lunged forward, throwing a full-strength punch aimed at Goku's stomach. The Saiyan sidestepped effortlessly, a knowing smile playing on his lips as he observed the boy's movements.
Conserving his breath, Naruto remained silent, talking wasted precious stamina. He launched a series of punches, each one neatly dodged by Goku until, after several minutes, the exhausted boy collapsed onto the watery surface, chest heaving.
Goku crouched beside him. "You've got good stamina, but your form..." He tapped Naruto's shoulder. "These moves don't come from muscle memory. You're trying to remember rather than react."
Panting, Naruto nodded. "Only... ever watched... others fight... tried copying..."
"Good eye for imitation," Goku admitted, standing and offering a hand. "But we'll start from the beginning. Ready?"
"Aight." Naruto grabbed the proffered hand and pulled himself up.
"Watch closely." Goku shifted into a basic stance, movements flowing like water. Naruto mirrored him, his initial awkwardness gradually smoothing under Goku's patient corrections.
After an hour of drills, Naruto's body moved with newfound precision. Unable to contain his curiosity, he blurted: "When do I learn ki control, Sensei?"
Goku chuckled. "Basics first. Ki comes later."
Naruto nodded, chastising himself for his impatience. Then suddenly, his vision blurred. One blink and the endless sky was gone, replaced by his dingy apartment's ceiling.
"Huh?" He sat up abruptly. Darkness filled his window, hours had passed. 'A dream?'
But before he could think deeply, his stomach growled. He left his bedroom, flicked on the lights, and headed to the kitchen to cook.
He decided on eggs, the easiest thing to make, especially since he was too lazy to prepare anything more elaborate in the middle of the night. He also reheated the vegetable soup he had made earlier that morning.
Once everything was ready, he plated the food and scooped a serving of rice from the rice cooker.
As he ate, he stared blankly at the wall, lost in thought.
'I still don't understand how Goku is here. No, it can't be a dream. I remember everything vividly, even his voice.'
Naruto sighed, frustration creeping in. 'If that was my only chance to meet Goku, I should've been more proactive asking him to teach me Ki. I'm such an idiot.'
"Fuck me," he muttered through gritted teeth.
'I just let go of a chance to get insanely strong. At least I learned his martial arts. That's something, I guess.'
Disappointed in himself, he also knew he couldn't have been too pushy. Goku was his childhood hero, after all. Respect mattered.
"Whatever. I'll deal with it," Naruto said, forcing himself to move on.
After finishing his meal, he washed the dishes, turned off the lights, and returned to his room. Flipping on the TV, he watched mindlessly for about an hour until drowsiness finally took over. He shut off the TV and the lights, then crawled back into bed.
Before long, he was asleep.
But as darkness fell, the moment he blinked, he found himself back in the endless expanse of sky and water. He looked around again, but there was no sign of Goku.
He sighed. "Looks like I don't get to meet Goku anymore."
"You don't get to meet who?" A familiar voice came from behind him.
Naruto turned around and saw Goku smiling at him. His frown melted into a grin. "It's nothing, Sensei."
"Is that so?" Goku said, tilting his head. "But what happened? One second I was back at Beerus' planet, and the next, I'm here again."
"I'm not sure," Naruto admitted, "but I think if I fall asleep, we'll meet here again."
"Oh!" Goku's eyes lit up. "If that's the case, let's continue your training!"
Naruto wanted to ask Goku to teach him how to use Ki, but he held back, not wanting to be rude.
As Goku guided him through martial arts drills, he suddenly asked, "Naruto, you haven't trained your body physically, have you?"
"No," Naruto replied, still moving through his forms. "I was worried it might stunt my growth. I've been careful."
"You don't need to worry about that," Goku assured him. "From what I can see, your body's plenty strong. I'll make you a training regimen."
"Thank you!" Naruto said gratefully.
"No problem!" Goku grinned. "Now, put your back and hips into the punch!"
Naruto adjusted his stance, following Goku's instructions closely. Since he was learning martial arts directly from Goku, he paid extra attention to every detail.
The training session continued for a while before Goku laid out Naruto's new regimen: **Push-ups, Sit-ups, Pull-ups, Squats, Lunges, Running, and Shadow Fighting.
"You need to do all of this every single day," Goku said firmly.
"I'll do it!" Naruto declared.
"No," Goku corrected, his tone serious. "You'll do your best. Say it with your heart."
Naruto clenched his fists and nodded. "I will do my best!"
But then, his vision began to blur.
"Sensei… I think I'm waking up. See you later!"
"Alright," Goku said with a wave. "See you soon!"
With that, Naruto awoke to sunlight streaming through his window. Morning had arrived.
A wide grin spread across his face.
He sat up, energized and ready for the day. Normally, he wouldn't be this excited, but thanks to Goku, even his usual struggles couldn't dampen his spirits.