The moon hung high in the sky. Naruto, covered in wounds, made his way to the little house where he had lived for five years. He lay down on the old, shabby bed where he had slept for five years, his eyes cold as he looked at the worn-out furniture around him.
Naruto touched the red mark on his forehead. His mind drifted back to five years ago, when his parents had sealed the Nine-Tails inside him to save him, then died right before his eyes. For two lifetimes now, he had been forced to watch his parents die before him, helpless to do anything.
The resentment in Naruto's heart had reached its limit. Resentment and hatred were the perfect catalysts for awakening the White Eye on his forehead. At the time, Naruto felt a force surge straight into his brain, and suddenly he could see everything around him clearly.
Though he had no idea what was happening, his chaotic thoughts and emotions somehow settled, and he became calm.
Naruto knew the White Eye had awakened. He could also clearly sense that the red mark on his forehead was actually the soul of Otsutsuki Koshiki, passed down to him.
At the same time, Naruto realized that this was the world of Naruto, a world of ninjas. There were powerful abilities here, as well as incredible ninjutsu. In his previous life, his girlfriend had loved watching anime and had often dragged him along to watch with her. So Naruto knew that this ninja world had a jutsu capable of bringing the dead back to life: the "Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique."
Now Naruto had calmed down completely. He remembered that after Naruto had persuaded Nagato, Nagato had used the "Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique" to revive all the Konoha Ninja who had died in battle.
Naruto looked at the dead Minato and Kushina before him. To bring his parents back to life, he would need their intact bodies and souls, as well as the Rinnegan.
For now, he could forget about the Rinnegan and the souls. To obtain the Rinnegan, he would need the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan and Hashirama Senju's cells—in other words, the union of Asura and Indra, which meant himself and Sasuke Uchiha.
As for the souls, retrieving his mother's would be simple. He only needed to use the "Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu" to summon it. But his father's soul would require him to first undo the "Dead Demon Consuming Seal," and that was something he couldn't do for now.
But he couldn't afford to wait when it came to their bodies. Through his White Eye, he could see that the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was already close. He had to find a way to preserve Minato and Kushina's bodies.
Naruto frantically searched through the fragments of Otsutsuki Koshiki's memories in his mind. There were just too many fragments, and they were too jumbled. After a long search, he finally found something that might work: the chakra radiating from the Nine-Tails inside him.
The Nine-Tails was a mass of chakra. Even though it had only just been sealed inside Naruto, its chakra would immediately infuse his body. Since Naruto was Kushina's son, he had been exposed to the Nine-Tails Chakra throughout his gestation, and his body had long since grown used to it.
The White Eye's control over chakra was simply absurd. What Naruto needed to do now was unlock the Kekkei Genkai of the Uzumaki Clan.
When Naruto had awakened the White Eye, he had already learned the state of his body. The chains formed by the blood in his body were the Kekkei Genkai of the Uzumaki Clan.
Naruto frantically drew on the Nine-Tails Chakra radiating from within him, merging it with his blood and forcing the chains out of his body.
The process nearly destroyed Naruto's newborn body. Fortunately, the Nine-Tails realized what was happening early and did its best to help Naruto control its chakra. Otherwise, Naruto would have died.
As it helped Naruto control its chakra, the Nine-Tails couldn't help cursing. "Damn you, Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze! I'm not done with you. Sealing me inside this brat was bad enough.
"Damn it, this kid's a freak! He hasn't even been alive for a day, and he's already daring to use my chakra. And he's got the White Eye of the Hyuga Clan, too. That would be bad enough, but he's deliberately using my chakra for some reason. From the looks of it, he's trying to awaken the Kekkei Genkai of the Uzumaki Clan inside him. What kind of brain does this kid have?
"He's a damn monster! And I still have to help him, or if he dies, I'll die with him. Boo-hoo... I can't take this anymore! I have no rights!"
With the Nine-Tails' help, Naruto finally released his Kekkei Genkai. Several chains, blue with a faint green tint, shot out of Naruto's body and swiftly wrapped around Kushina and Minato, cocooning their bodies.
At the same time, Naruto's White Eye emitted a dazzling white light that shone on Kushina and Minato. Their bodies then disappeared into the light.
Inside Naruto, the Nine-Tails was utterly dumbfounded. It muttered, "This White Eye actually has its own separate space."
In fact, when Naruto had learned from the fragments of Otsutsuki Koshiki's memories that his White Eye contained a separate space, he had been extremely shocked. But that shock had soon turned to delight.
Since the space was inside the White Eye and Naruto's chains had to remain connected to his body, he could use it to keep Kushina and Minato's bodies safe without anyone noticing. The vitality and sealing power in the chains would also prevent them from decaying.
After storing Kushina and Minato's bodies, Naruto noticed that the barrier Kushina had set up had broken and its chakra had run out. The Third Hokage instantly appeared beside Naruto and picked him up.
The Third Hokage scanned the area, but found no sign of Kushina or Minato's bodies. He muttered, "Could that white light just now have carried their bodies away? What was that light? I've never seen anything like it."
The Third Hokage then ordered all the ninjas in the area not to mention Naruto's identity or the fact that he was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Looking down at Naruto in his arms, the Third Hokage smiled kindly. "Be good, Naruto. Grandpa will raise you to adulthood and make sure you inherit your father's will."
Naruto smiled at the Third Hokage. The Third Hokage paused for a moment, then smiled back.
Just then, an irritating voice rang out. "Third Hokage, I want you to hand this child over to me to raise." The Third Hokage looked at Danzo as he approached and said, "No. I know what you're trying to do, but Naruto is the Fourth Hokage's child. I won't let you turn him into a machine. Give it up, Danzo." With that, the Third Hokage carried Naruto away.
Danzo was furious that the Third Hokage had refused to show him any respect. He said viciously, "I'll make you regret this. A Jinchuriki doesn't need something like feelings. I'll prove that you're wrong."
After Naruto was taken home by the Third Hokage and raised there, it wasn't long before rumors spread through the village that Naruto Uzumaki was the Nine-Tails Fox. The Third Hokage quickly issued an order to keep it quiet, but once the story had spread, there was no stopping people from taking out all their resentment on Naruto.
Those who had lost loved ones needed someone to vent their anger on. They wouldn't bother looking into the plots and schemes behind what had happened. They simply wanted someone to blame. Even if that person hadn't been Naruto, the result would have been the same. That was human nature at its worst.
Naruto understood this ugly side of human nature all too well. After everything he had experienced in his first two lives, he had grown indifferent to the fickleness of human relationships. Nothing stirred him anymore.
What Naruto wanted most now was power. So when he was three, he asked the Third Hokage to let him live on his own. The Third Hokage was reluctant at first, but after Naruto repeatedly wore him down, he finally agreed. He gave Naruto a small house and a monthly allowance.
On the second day after Naruto moved into the house, he found a huge hole smashed into the roof. Whenever he went outside, people stared at him like he was a monster, and the children threw stones at him. When he went to buy food and clothes, people ripped him off. The food cost twice as much as usual and was expired, and the clothes were outdated.
Naruto had thought about killing them, but he knew he couldn't act rashly. Danzo was still keeping an eye on him.
After Naruto learned how to refine chakra from the Third Hokage, he spent every day hiding at home, refining chakra and using it to stimulate every cell in his body. The experience of his first two lives had taught Naruto that if he wanted great power, he needed a strong body. Once his body was strong enough, not even the Nine-Tails' chakra would be able to hurt him.
Besides using chakra to stimulate his cells, he also spent fifteen minutes every day sitting perfectly still and sensing Natural Chakra, and ran twenty kilometers with weights each day.
To keep up that level of intense exertion every day, he had to search for food in the woods behind Hokage Rock. He fought poisonous snakes and wild beasts in the forest daily, and he couldn't use his Kekkei Genkai because the Third Hokage was watching him.
So he could only fight with the simplest Taijutsu and the simplest ninjutsu—the ones the Third Hokage had taught him. Every day, he returned to the cold little house covered in wounds and quietly tended them.
But he knew that fighting those poisonous snakes and wild beasts would make his fighting skills and ability to adapt stronger. That was a lesson his first life had taught him. He had also been delighted to discover that every time he was wounded and healed by the Nine-Tails' chakra, his body grew stronger, and it grew more accustomed to the Nine-Tails' chakra.
So he went to the back hills every day without ever tiring of it.
And so he kept it up for five years.
Naruto touched the red mark on his forehead, feeling his parents' presence. As he thought back over everything that had happened in the past five years, his heart grew calmer and calmer. He thought about the Rinnegan.
Only Nagato possessed the Rinnegan in this world, but persuading him to use the "Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique" would be incredibly difficult. I'm not the original Naruto Uzumaki, with his unbeatable "Talk no Jutsu" and protagonist's plot armor. I'm not going to pull it off.
After dismissing that idea, he thought about stealing Nagato's Rinnegan, but decided it was too risky. Never mind whether it would be compatible. If the Masked Man found out, he'd definitely lead the entire Akatsuki Organization in hunting him down. Naruto wasn't afraid of that, but it would be a huge headache.
Then he thought about stealing Sasuke's, but decided against that too. He didn't know if he could even take it, and besides, he liked Sasuke. At least Sasuke had the courage to take responsibility for his actions. And if Mom found out he'd stolen Sasuke's Rinnegan, she'd beat him to death. (Kushina and Mikoto were the best of friends.)
In the end, Naruto couldn't think of any good ideas. But he did come up with one extremely dangerous plan. It would almost certainly fail, and he might die a horrible death. But if it worked, he could get the Rinnegan that suited him best.
Looking at the bright moon outside the window, Naruto recalled what Kushina had said to him just before she died. A confident smile appeared on his face, and he murmured, "Two more years."
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