Over the next few days, the kids played games together every day. Nothing major happened, and everything remained peaceful. But one thing had stayed on Naruto's mind: Yota had been brought back to life by Orochimaru's Impure World Reincarnation.
After spending these days together, Naruto had genuinely grown fond of Yota, and they had all become true friends. Naruto had been afraid to tell everyone the truth because he worried they wouldn't be able to accept it. Besides, Yota was the first person who had taken the initiative to befriend Naruto.
Naruto still wanted to save him, but with his current abilities, he couldn't. Then he came up with a plan: preserve Yota's body until the day he could use the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to bring him back to life.
Today, when all the kids had gathered, Naruto decided to tell them. But first, he had to take care of something. He walked over to Yota and looked at him. Yota asked curiously, "Naruto, is something wrong?" Everyone gathered around, watching Naruto with curiosity.
Shikamaru asked in confusion, "Naruto, is something wrong with Yota?" Naruto didn't answer him. Instead, he reached out, pulled a white snake from Yota's body, and threw it away.
Everyone was startled by the snake. It stared at Naruto for a moment, then disappeared.
"Why was there a snake on Yota? And it was so strange. What's going on?" Shikamaru was the first to ask.
The others also watched Naruto, curious. "Actually, I'm already dead," Yota said sadly.
"What are you talking about, Yota?" Ino asked, puzzled.
Yota looked at everyone and said, "My clan was always traveling. We made a living by using our special abilities to help villagers grow crops and things like that, but life was still difficult. In the end, I died.
"But a month ago, a really disgusting person—how should I put it? He was like a snake—brought me back to life and left me in this forest. Then I met all of you. This past month, living with everyone, has been the happiest time of my life." Yota spoke with both sadness and joy.
Everyone was stunned by Yota's answer. "Can the dead really be brought back to life?" Shikamaru asked, puzzled.
Naruto answered him. "Yes. There are many ninjutsu in the Shinobi World, and some of them really can bring the dead back to life.
"The person Yota mentioned must have used a jutsu to revive him. But since he hasn't made Yota do anything, he's probably conducting an experiment. Jutsu that bring the dead back to life are rare, so he's likely observing Yota. That white snake was probably being used to keep an eye on him."
After hearing Naruto, Shikamaru thought for a while before saying, "Then now that you've driven the snake away, the person who cast the jutsu might undo it. When that happens, Yota will die again."
Naruto hadn't expected Shikamaru to think that far ahead. As expected of a genius with an IQ of 200.
"No! I don't want Yota to leave us!" Sakura cried sadly, holding him tightly.
Yota, however, comforted them with a happy smile. "Don't be sad for me. I'm already dead, and I'm so happy I got to meet all of you again after I died. So please, don't be sad."
"Yota, Yota, Yota..." After hearing him, everyone wanted to say something to comfort him, but they didn't know what to say.
"Actually, there's no need to be so sad. There's still a way," Naruto said.
Everyone looked at him in surprise. "What way?" Sasuke asked coolly.
Shikamaru also asked, "Yeah, Naruto, what can you do?" The others looked at him with concern.
"We can protect Yota and hide him from the person who cast the jutsu. Even if he undoes it, he won't be able to retrieve Yota's body. Since there's a jutsu that can bring the dead back to life, maybe we'll be able to revive Yota once we grow stronger. And even if we can't, we can at least stop that person from using Yota to do bad things," Naruto replied.
"Revive Yota? Can we really do that? And even if we can, wouldn't it be a forbidden jutsu? Naruto, you're not thinking of learning a forbidden jutsu to bring Yota back, are you?" Shikamaru asked, looking at Naruto in disbelief.
Naruto looked back at him. "What's the problem? Jutsu are meant to be used. We'd only be using it to bring Yota back, not to do anything bad."
"You're not wrong, but I still don't feel right about it," Shikamaru said worriedly.
"Relax, relax. It's fine. The most important thing now is to protect Yota's body. We can talk about everything else later," Naruto said.
Shikamaru stopped worrying about it. There was no need to fret about it yet. Sasuke asked, "Naruto, how are you going to protect Yota's body? I know you must have a plan, since you brought it up. You wouldn't have said anything otherwise."
"You know me well, Sasuke. Yota, I'm going to seal you away and put you to sleep, then hide you. It'll be a long time, but it'll feel like you've only slept for a little while. You won't be lonely. When you wake up, you'll be able to play with us again. Is that okay?" Naruto asked Yota.
"I trust you, Naruto. We'll see each other again soon. Everyone, wait for me!" Yota said happily. Ino, Sakura, and Hinata were already holding him sadly. The others looked just as sorrowful, and a sunshower began to fall from the sky.
Naruto walked up to Yota and said, "Yota, the next time we meet, you'll really be able to play with everyone." Yota replied, "Yeah, Naruto. Go ahead. See you all next time. Goodbye." "Goodbye, Yota." The kids all said their farewells to him.
Several chains emerged from Naruto and wrapped around Yota. The sealing power in the chains put him to sleep as soon as they touched him. Everyone except Hinata and Sasuke was too shocked to speak when the chains appeared from Naruto.
After Yota had been sealed away, Shikamaru asked, "Naruto, what are those chains on you?"
Naruto smiled and replied, "Nothing special. They're just my Kekkei Genkai."
Shikamaru and the other kids from the Nara clan finally understood. Only Sakura asked timidly, "What's a Kekkei Genkai?"
Ino explained to her, "A Kekkei Genkai is a ninjutsu passed down through bloodlines, like Hinata's White Eye and Sasuke's Sharingan." Ino's answer helped Sakura understand.
"Naruto, what happens next?" Ino asked with concern.
"Next, I'm going to send Yota to a space that belongs only to me. That way, no one will find him," Naruto said.
"Your space? What's that?" Shikamaru asked curiously.
Naruto pointed to his forehead. "It's right here." As he spoke, the red mark on his forehead split open, revealing a White Eye. This time, even Sasuke and Hinata were shocked.
"White Eye? Naruto-kun, how do you have a White Eye?" Hinata asked in surprise.
Naruto smiled and explained, "It's my biggest secret. I've had it since I was born. Maybe my clan is related to the Hyuga Clan by blood. But I looked into my family history, and it seems I'm the only one with a White Eye. Maybe my bloodline is special."
"Is that so? But I don't think I've ever heard Dad say that our clan had any close blood relatives," Hinata said, puzzled.
"Heh, maybe you never asked, so your dad never told you," Naruto said evasively.
Naruto wasn't exactly lying. The Uzumaki Clan descended from the bloodline of the Six Paths, while the Hyuga Clan descended from Hamura's bloodline. The two of them were brothers. It was just that Naruto's White Eye hadn't come from the Six Paths. No one else knew the truth, not even Hinata, so they all believed Naruto.
Naruto's White Eye shone brightly, and then a crack opened in the space in front of him. He sent Yota's body inside and closed the eye.
Naruto smiled at everyone. "That should do it. Yota shouldn't be under that person's control anymore. I hope we'll find a way to bring him back to life someday."
Though Yota could no longer play with them, Naruto had become friends with all the other kids because of him. And Naruto had stopped wearing his mask, too.
The reason was that, on Hinata's birthday, Naruto had gone to Ino's family flower shop to buy flowers. Ino had told him that Hinata was the young lady of the Hyuga family and would have lots of handsome boys pursuing her. If he didn't want her to have so many admirers, he should show off his own charm and discourage them from pursuing her. His mask, in particular, really hurt his appeal.
People might think he was ugly, and then they'd get the wrong idea that Hinata would be better off with someone like Ino instead. So he should take off his mask.
Naruto didn't really understand, but since he'd never been in a relationship in either of his previous lives, he believed Ino and threw his mask away. Actually, Naruto had no idea that Ino just wanted to see a handsome boy...
After school that day, Naruto was about to go train as usual. But as he headed for the woods, someone from the Hyuga Clan was waiting for him at the school gate.
When the man saw Naruto come out, he walked over and said, "You're Naruto Uzumaki, right? Hello, I'm Hyuga Kinta of the Hyuga family. Our clan head would like you to visit the Hyuga compound."
Naruto was a little surprised. I don't think I've had much to do with Hyuga Hiashi. Could this be because of Hinata?
At the thought of Hinata, Naruto's confidence immediately faltered. No matter what world you were in, a son-in-law would always feel a little intimidated when meeting his father-in-law.
Why? Damn it, you'd taken the precious cabbage someone had worked so hard to raise. How could you still act so cocky? He'd beat the crap out of you!
Naruto blurted out, "What does Uncle Hiashi want with me?"
Hyuga Kinta looked at Naruto and replied evenly, "I don't know. I'm just following orders. Please come with me."
Naruto sighed. "All right. Lead the way."
Before you continue