When Storms Collide - Chapter 6 (Patreon)

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2/14/25

When Storms Collide - Chapter 6

A few days later.

The Baxter building, like many days, was alive and active, with all of the members going about their daily lives. Whether it was Franklin and H.E.R.B.I.E. working on his studies, Susan taking care of her smallest child, or Johnny working on his engineering projects. Naruto is working on his own seals or researching his new world, and even Ben, who spent the majority of his time within the Fantastic Four training room, trying to improve himself and his strength to new heights he had never accomplished.

Though that wasn’t to say that the rest of the world wasn’t in an uproar, news had gotten out of the Fantastic Four being attacked in broad daylight— it was kind of hard to hide the fact that over an entire city block of New-York had been flooded. And with it, the reveal that Atlantis’s king had been the one to perform such an action, the news stating plainly who it was to defeat such a powerful man. 

Likewise, there had been questions, many questions. Namely, to do with the fact that, with Reed Richard’s death, Naruto was going to be his new replacement. Which brought questions on for his capability, after all, Mr. Fantastic was widely labeled the smartest person on earth— unless you asked someone in Latveria. They wondered if this new member of their team would even be able to fill the shoes that Reed left, or if he could fill the same role.

Thankfully, though, the questions were put to rest by their resident diplomat, Susan, who, while somewhat out of practice,  was still able to quell the masses. And she let them know- in no specific terms— that no, Naruto wasn’t meant to be a replacement for Reed. Far from it, the death of Mr. Fantastic still hits hard for everyone, even now, and they knew that was never a role that Naruto could— or even should— fill. 

Naruto was their newest companion, and that was that. The world trusted the Fantastic-Four enough to place their judgment in their hands, and while they could certainly tell he was powerful— strong enough to best the likes of the Submariner in water no less, they knew that he would do no wrong as far as they were concerned. Such was the faith the world had in the planet’s first superhero family. It was still unbelievable, the number of accomplishments the four had, and researching them only made that fact more noticeable. 

He wasn’t sure how they had survived all they had. But then again, he knew, it was because they had lived as a family, staying strong in the face of adversity, like true heroes. 

It was honestly inspiring, if he were being honest. These people were much like the Hokages even, helping those in need from massive threats and wielding such influences, even more-so. Able to connect with the entire world. 

That was just how amazing Sue was— All of them, really!

And he was beginning to see that, and so he worked, worked diligently. Not just on the seals to bring him home, but he had his clones working on other projects as well; nothing was unknown to him. With the Fantastic-Four’s database, he was slowly beginning to learn all he could about this world and their technology. But even so, Sue’s help had been invaluable as well, being able to explain things to him in a way that technology or other resources couldn’t. He was a kinesthetic learner more than anything, needing an actual person to help him and to learn by trial by error. Sure, the clones helped all well and good, but he was learning entire histories and methods of communication that he otherwise couldn’t understand. 

Hell, if he brought all the stuff he learned back to Shikamaru would foam at the mouth from all the technological advancements he could bring to their world. 

Of course, this was all on the caveat that he got an adequate amount of sleep each night, a promise he kept wholeheartedly. Let it never be said that Naruto broke a promise of his, and besides, it wasn’t like he was losing in efficiency. He worked with the time he had and his clones, which more than made up for the loss. 

So where was he now? Well, currently, he was within the kitchen of the Baxter building, working away. A whistle in his tune, and he went to work.

“Two, burning in fire, Matatabi Three, leave the water to Isobu Four, hot as lava, Son Go—”

“HEY, NARUTO!”

“What the fuck!” Naruto shouted as Susan appeared right behind him, using her powers to sneak up on him. “Geez, Sue, you almost gave me a heart attack!” he told her, clutching at his chest.

As Susan narrowed her eyes, “Naruto, you shouldn’t swear that loud, especially when children could be present,” she reprimanded.

“Sorry, it just kinda slipped out,” he apologized. “You know I can sense things, right? And yet I still didn’t know you were there. You should seriously consider becoming a shinobi if this whole fantastic-four thing doesn’t work out.”

“Been there, done that,” She told him, before the woman looked at what exactly he was doing, becoming perplexed. “I didn’t know you were into cooking,” the woman sounded, her brow creased slightly at the sight.

The blonde just shrugged, “I don’t mind cooking, and it was something that I did from time to time. Though I was mostly taught by my Godfather how, he always wanted me to be more independent and rely on myself, especially if I were to be out on missions and stuff,” he explained.

“And what are you making?” She questioned.

“What am I cooking? Only the food of the Gods! The greatest food to ever bless mankind!” Naruto told her.

“Right… and that is?” Susan blinked, still confused.

This did not seem to cause Naruto to be more shocked. “What? You mean you don’t know perfection when you see it?! Come on, Sue, you can’t honestly say you don’t know the food of the gods!” He asked fervently, placing his hands directly on each of her shoulders.

“Ummm…” she tried to say, but nothing came up. Naruto was looking at her so passionately and so fervently, she honestly didn’t think of anything she could say that could satisfy him.

“Ramen, Sue, I’m talking about Ramen!” He yelled crazily. Truthfully, he was somewhat scaring her with the look in his eye. 

“Ramen?” Susan questioned. Sure, she knew of the stuff, but she was more used to the store-bought variety. Though she had received some good Ramen when she had visited a nice Japanese restaurant a couple of years ago.

“Yup!” Naruto smiled at her; it was a youthful, genuine smile that Naruto seemed to exude often. “This stuff is the greatest in the world! I mean, you would not believe the amount of this stuff I ate when I was a kid,” he told her.

Of course, he only ate so much because it was cheap and easy to make. Not that he disliked the taste of it, far from it, but still, he did have to go to the river from time to time just to catch some fish because he had spent all of his stipend on groceries back then. Storeowners would always charge him triple the price of whatever food he bought, meaning ramen was pretty much the only thing he could afford back then, usually giving him stuff that was old and sometimes spoiled— all because he held the Kyuubi. But it was thanks to the Ichiraku family— the family who owned a ramen shop, who would sometimes give him a free bowl or two despite his status— it was because of them he developed his love for ramen.

He would have to thank them… when he got back.

You know, spending over half a decade in the Negative-zone had given him alot of time to think. Time to learn to appreciate those he loved even more— not that he didn’t appreciate them before.

It was why he needed to get back to them.

“So, what made you decide to make some?” Susan questioned curiously, knocking him out of his thoughts.

As Naruto blinked, “Oh, that, well… I kind of wanted to make dinner for everyone. Y’know, since the last one kinda got interrupted by that fish-man-guy,” he told her, rubbing the back of his head, actually kind of embarrassed. It had been something he thought of doing a little while ago, and upon making several hundred clones gather resources in his attempts to recreate Ichiraku Ramen’s recipe from memory, he had finally succeeded. It was something he worked hard on, trying to get the flavors just right; he hoped everyone liked the stuff as much as he did. 

“Naruto, you didn’t have to do such a thing,” Susan told him, feeling endeared by the effort.

“No, but I wanted to, I mean, I got so many people to thank, and to you guys I still have alot to make up for!” he told her.

Though Susan merely shook her head. Seriously, he had to make up to them? She still felt like she still owed Naruto so much.

‘I mean, it was only because of him we were able to escape the negative zone,’ she thought. It was because of him that she was able to get back onto her feet so quickly. And with his help, Namor was defeated without many casualties.

He had already helped them so much, and yet he still didn’t feel satisfied by it all. 

Just how selfless was he? Why was he willing to go so far for— at the time— strangers? It didn’t make sense. And honestly, a part of her wondered what sort of upbringing Naruto had to have had to not value himself so lightly. Didn’t he see all the good he had done for them? And yet he viewed it as not enough.

She wanted to question him on it, but as soon as she turned to face him, he was back to his work, preparing his ingredients as his broth was set to a simmer, his noodles cut cleanly. She looked at all of the ingredients: the beef, the eggs, the green onions, and the garlic. Though the object that caught her attention was a small white roll, shaped kind of like a star, with a pink spiral-like pattern on each end. She didn’t know why she was fixated so much on it, but something about the mark reminded her of the blonde; she didn’t know what.

Susan tried to reach out for it, but was stopped instantly, as a tanned hand had grabbed onto her palm.

“Hey, don’t touch that, it’s me!” he mentioned, joking lightly.

Susan blinked, “I’m sorry, what?” not understanding what he meant.

“Oh? You don’t know,” the blonde realized, guessing she wasn’t quite in on the joke. “These right here are fish cakes, white and pink rolls made from fish paste, made to look like whirlpools. Y’know, ‘Naruto fish cakes,’ or Narutomaki. So you know, kind of like me,” Naruto explained. “You know I was kinda named after this stuff, I mean, my Godfather picked the name for his book, and my mother liked the name—and ramen in general, enough to name me after it.”

As he began to think of his Godfather, Jiraiya, as well as his parents. Three people who had given their lives for him, making sure he could live even at the cost of their own, and he needed to make sure it was worth it, even now.

Susan watched his expression, seeing his thoughts move through his head, and observing him to the fullest. She saw his expression go from honest happiness, to a more reminiscent expression, to then, even somewhat somber. It was odd, she sometimes saw that look form in his eye from time to time, though she wondered if it was truly her place to ask him about it. Especially since he helped her so, but she resolved to try when she had the chance.

It would seem there might be no better chance than now.

“H-hey, Naruto?” She called out to him. 

“Hmmm? What is it?” Naruto inquired as he began chopping his vegetables.

“Well, I…” She wondered how to phrase it correctly, but then again, she realized she should just be blunt about the matter. “Well, I wanted to know more about your world, like where you came from.”

Naruto was taken aback, if only a little, which caused him to stop what he was doing there and then. “Huh? Why would you want to know about all of that stuff?” he questioned.

“In truth, I just wanted to know more about you. I mean, we’re friends, right? And yet I feel like I don’t know much about where you came from or your past,” she admitted.

When she realized it, she essentially knew nothing. She knew he was in the Negative Zone for a long time; hell, she knew that he was a shinobi and a pretty capable fighter. But even then, those were negligible in the grand scheme of things. It was odd, Naruto seemed like an open book, like someone you knew everything about, but he also neglected to talk about himself too often. He was more of a person who lived in the moment, and sure, he might bring up his upbringing a little bit, but it was more offhandedly, like it didn’t matter to him anymore. It probably didn’t, which is why he didn’t want to talk about it often. 

As Naruto thought about it shortly, though, he realized there wasn’t a flaw in her logic. And besides, it wouldn’t hurt anyone; plus, it wouldn’t be like he would be spilling village secrets or anything. He lived in a completely different dimension after all!

So he realized there wasn’t any problem in telling her all about himself. 

“Alright, I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” he shrugged. 

“Hey guys, what’s up!” A new voice spoke up; it was Johnny’s, who was just then entering the kitchen, noticing that Naruto was cooking. “Oh, is that ramen?” he asked, trying to taste the broth, not being bothered at all by its hot temperature.

“Hey man, hands off my noodles!” Naruto reprimanded, slapping his fellow blonde’s hand away.

“Well, Johnny, Naruto, and I were just talking about something. Do you think you would mind giving us a moment of privacy?”

“Huh, you guys are sharing secrets? C’mon, spill it, tell me what’s up,” Johnny asked, only more intrigued by his sister’s statement.

“It’s fine, he can stay, it would save me the trouble of having to explain everything anyway,” the shinobi told her, before he turned towards the flamboyant male. “Sue and I were just going to talk about my life in the other world, if you wanted to join us?”

“Learning about another dimension sounds cool, I’m down,” he told him. It might be interesting to find out about the world Naruto came from, not to mention what his blonde friend had been up to most of his life.

“Okay, and while we’re at it… Franklin, you can come out too!” Naruto called out to the door, as the young boy scrambled, coming out from the corner from which he had been listening to their conversation.

“I-I… I wasn’t spying— I-I was just…er— trying to,” the young boy tried to explain, but he realized he had been caught by Naruto once again, and how he was able to do such a thing, he didn’t know.

“Franklin, you shouldn’t spy on other people’s conversations!” his mother reprimanded. 

“It’s fine, Sue, he was just curious after all,” Naruto tried to defend Franklin a little, after all, he had been a curious and defiant child once, so he could understand it. As the blonde began to clap his hands, “Alright, I’ll tell you, guys, what! How about I go ahead and fix our dinner, and once that happens, I’ll tell you guys about where I came from, deal?” he questioned, to which they all agreed.

XXX

“Alright, guys! Dinner’s up!” Naruto shouted as he then moved quite a few bowls to the dining room, each of the F-4 members at the table in their respective seats, sans one of them. “Where’s Ben?” he began to question, not seeing the rock-like man anywhere near them.

“I— Uhh… tried to talk to him to get him out here, but he said that he wasn’t quite feeling like it today, so I let the guy be,” Johnny told him.

“Oh, well, that’s too bad,” Susan frowned, although she knew he had been like this ever since his fight with Namor. They all decided giving him space would be the best thing to do at the moment.

“Yeah, a shame he won’t get to experience the joys of Ramen with us! I guess they’ll be more for the rest of us!” Naruto told the chef, as the chef began to place the bowls down in front of them on their place mats.

As the smell immediately hit their nostrils, a soothing aroma sank into their skin as they melted. The ingredients wafting into their nose as the mix of pork, eggs, onions, broth, and noodles smelled almost heavenly to the scent. They realized that if the soup smelled so good, then they questioned how such a concoction would actually taste, which only fueled their anticipation. 

“Alright, everyone! Itadakimasu~!” Naruto said, clapping his hands together, signalling it was okay for everyone to eat as everyone got their food. 

Each of them tentatively took hold of their spoon, still feeling the near divine savor gracing their senses, as they watched the broth take shape in the soup ladle. As they brought it towards their lips, steam poured off the liquid in mighty waves as it tickled across their skin. And then they stated it…

Leading to what could only be described as absolute euphoria.

“Mmmmm… Naruto, that’s...” Susan moaned out, absolutely taken by the taste of it.

“Hohoho! Naruto, you really need to cook more often!” Johnny said. 

The mix of flavors, the mix of aromas, all of which were like fuel for their souls, was heavenly. Honestly, they didn’t know if they had ever tasted something so good, the saltiness of the broth mixing well with the vegetables' flavors and the meat’s tender juices. That wasn’t even talking about the noodles, which they ate with a vigor, their texture like waning clouds in their stomachs, a perfect blend to soak up the soup and fill them full of flavor for their hunger.

Needless to say, it was quite good, and by the time the three put their bowls down, they had finished the food in a matter of minutes. Sue’s bowl was the first to be put down, and all of the contents were emptied.

“So, I'll take it you like my cooking?” Naruto teased, seeing as she was the first one to finish.

As a healthy amount of pink dusted her cheeks, slightly embarrassed. “It was good, really good,” she told him honestly. 

“Great, I tried to get the original recipe right, needless to say, I think I did a pretty good job!” he told them, motioning to his own set of empty stacked three bowls that he finished before waiting for them to finish their own.

As the other two finished their own meals with a sigh, they gave their own proclamations of how good the food was. Then they all waited in anticipation, waiting for Naruto to live up to his promise and start his story.

“Okay, I suppose I should start from the beginning, wouldn’t that be the best place to start?” Naruto questioned himself, tapping on the table top, each of them looking at him to the utmost. “I’m sure you guys could tell, but my world wasn’t much like the world like this one. For starters, our technology wasn’t as advanced, with my world only having blimps and trains at most, though that was only really one country that was more technologically advanced than ours. The rest of us really only had radios, television, and other short-range communication, as for transport, most of us merely walked, whereas the more wealthy would use carriages, but it was mostly walking for everyone.” He explained, it would be better to give them a bit of background information rather than start from the get-go. “That’s because all of us had chakra, the sort of energy that you’ve seen me use in battle and stuff.”

“So wait, can everyone do what you can do? Like make clones and stuff?!” Franklin questioned, wanting to know if everyone was as strong as Naruto from where he came from.

“Yes and no, while everyone has the capability of doing the same things with chakra, most people only specialize in specific practices,” He pointed to a clone of his, who revealed himself to the group, ready to refresh them and give each of them another helping of their meals.

“Ahem. Your bowl, madam…” The clone commented theatrically, handing Susan another bowl.

“Thank you, err… Naruto?” She questioned how she should refer to this clone of his, though she supposed that if they were all the same person, it would make sense to call him ‘Naruto’ as well. 

“You're welcome!” He chirped, helping the other two males as well, before vanishing in a poof of smoke.

“Most of what a person’s capable of is pure genetics, with different factors such as one’s chakra reserves, capacity, chakra control, muscle density, and other factors influencing what kind of techniques one is more capable of learning. I myself was born with a pretty high chakra reserve, so cloning, which is high in chakra cost, was pretty much the only technique I mastered in the beginning. In fact, I was so attuned to learning the technique that even the creator of the technique said I was better than him at it. Most of the best in my village could only make one or two of them, but me? I can make hundreds or even thousands. So no, nobody can use the technique as well as I can, but in theory, everyone could, given the right conditions. It all depends on what one specializes in to determine their capabilities,” he told them.

“You keep talking about this ‘chakra,’ but what exactly is it?” Susan questioned.

“Good question,” he nodded. “Well, chakra is essentially a person’s physical energy blended with one’s own spiritual energy that is formed within our bodies. You see, in my world, about a thousand years ago came a woman named Kaguya Otsutsuki who could only be described as an alien, one with incredible power. Enough to eat the shinju fruit, basically a giant tree that grew back then and was the source of all chakra.”

“Sort of like the Norse world tree?” She questioned, wondering if this ‘Shinju’ tree was similar to the tree of legends of old.

“Almost, though this tree didn’t hold our reality together, but was a great source of life energy for everyone,” he commented, remembering hearing about the legend from his research into this world. 

He found it interesting, not only because the world had a giant tree much like his own had, but also because apparently one of the earth’s greatest heroes was a man from said mythology, leading many to believe—at least a part of it— was true. So he figured he might as well take an interest in the matter.

“Anyways, eating the shinju fruit pretty much made Kaguya unstoppable, to the point that she was even called a goddess. Somewhere along the line, she met up with the emperor of the land, a human named Tenji, and they eventually had children.”

“Whoa, so you’re telling me this guy just went up and banged an alien goddess? Seems like my kind of fellow!” Johnny commented, assuming that if this alien was at least half as beautiful as some of the goddesses in his dimension, then a pure human banging a near omnipotent goddess was a man he’d like to get to know. A part of his older Playboy personality gets out for a split second.

“Johnny!” Susan reprimanded, giving him a glare.

“Mom, how are babies made?” Franklin questioned, stumping his mother. 

“I’ll, ummm… tell you later!”

“Moving on! Kaguya had two sons, one of them named Hagaromo, who inherited Kaguya’s Rinnegan, and the other Hamura, who gained Kaguya’s all-seeing sight known as the Byakugan. Both of which were doujutsu, or eye techniques that were strong in their own right,” Naruto sounded, not wanting to get into that conversation. “Her two children were also blessed with immense power, but also understanding, seeing as they were both part human. Kaguya, however, wasn’t given such a gift, and with all her power, she wasn’t able to handle it all, leading to her nickname as the ‘Mad Rabbit Goddess.’ Eventually, she grew so insane that she tried to take the chakra which her children inherited from her, believing all of the chakra on the planet belonged to her and her alone. It was a tough battle, but in the end, the two brothers were able to seal their mother, with great effort, stripping her of her chakra.”

“Seals? Kind of like what you do?” Sue inquired.

“Exactly like I do, but even so, I think that Hagaromo clearly surpasses me, even now in fuinjustu. His seal was able to create the moon— a whole moon! Can you believe that? I can’t even begin to imagine the complexity of a seal like that, and he did it in the midst of battle,” He commented, and even in the midst of their skepticism, he was adamant it was true. Even with his own accomplishments with sealing, he wasn’t ever one to say he was the best at anything. No, he was a firm believer in the fact that ‘no matter how good you are, there is always someone out there that’s better.’ It was a notion he had faith in, not allowing him to get arrogant, and always forcing him to be better than he was before.

“Anyways, after Kaguya was sealed within my planet’s moon, Hamura decided to take residence there, as while she didn’t have all of the shinju’s chakra, she was still incredibly powerful, and her body could still be destructive in the wrong hands. Whereas Hagaromo Otsusuki stayed on earth, he believed that chakra could be a source of good for everyone, sharing it with the world. As he created Ninshu, a way to ensure everyone would be able to use their chakra to share their experiences, hoping to create a world of no war, and usher in an era of peace for everybody. Which is why he gained his nickname, The Sage of Six Paths, for his vast wisdom and near-divine mastery of chakra, with his legends spreading even down to my time.”

“So is Ninshu all the cool stuff you can use?” Franklin inquired, wondering if it was the source of his powers. 

“No, that’s Ninjustu, which is different,” Naruto explained. “Like his mother, Hagaromo also had two sons, one named Indra, and the other named Ashura. Indra, being the elder son, inherited the Sage’s eyes, which would later be called the Sharingan, or the copy wheel eye, which let him master most techniques with but a glance of his eyes, as well as cast powerful illusions. Indra was also the creator of Ninjutsu, which he created as a powerful but destructive tool used for combat. Whereas his younger son, Ashura, did not inherit such talent, though what he did gain was Hagaromo’s heart and his message. Ashura believed in accomplishing tasks he couldn’t not only by the strength of himself, but with the strength of others, which is how he became strong. Honestly, he was a bit of an underdog and a knucklehead at times, but his heart was strong, and he had an unwavering faith that left people wanting to be by his side and put their faith in him.”

“This person kind of sounds a lot like you, Naruto,” Susan commented.

As Naruto gained a small smile, “He should, but that’s for a later topic. It’s also worth noting what the Sage did with the Shinju’s power, or the ten-tails, which it was more commonly known as; it had been given form through Kaguya’s will as a raging beast without any sentience, just a force of malevolent destruction she used to gain even more power. Hagaromo, using the Shinju’s power, split it into nine parts of sentient living chakra, each with numbered tails of one through nine, gaining in power with each tail. These were known as the Tailed beasts, each resembling a different animal out in the wilderness, though sized up to monumental proportions.”

“What kind of animals were they?” Johnny inquired.

Naruto tapping his fingers upon the table, “Well, the one tail was a giant sand controlling raccoon-dog named Shukaku, the second was a two-tailed nekomata made of fire named Matatabi. The third was a giant turtle who could control coral named Isobu, and the fourth was a big Monkey who could create Lava named Son Goku. The fifth was a tall horse-dolphin thing— don’t ask—— named Kokuo who could control steam, which is a lot stronger than you would think, believe me. The six tails were a giant acid slug named Saiken, seven a horned beetle who was a free spirit named Chomei. With Eight being a giant octopus bull named Gyuki, and finally, the strongest of them all, the Nine-tailed Kyuubi, whose name was Kurama.”

“Whoa, how do you remember all of those? I mean, Cho—what’s it? And Gyu… What's his face? Cmon, those are hard to even pronounce,” said the Human Torch.

‘Least my name isn’t another name for a man’s penis,’ Kurama insulted, which nearly caused Naruto to choke on his one spit with that one.

“Well, I admit, they each have their own unique names; it’s easier to remember them since I’ve met them all,” he told them.

“Wait, so you’ve met all of them? What were they all like?” Susan asked.

“Well, Shukaku was crazy, Matatabi was playful, Isobu preferred his isolation, Son Goku was prideful, Kokuo was standoff-ish, Saiken was laid back, Chomei was happy-go-lucky, Gyuki was wise, and Kurama is, well… a bit grumpy,” Naruto mentioned, his inner tenant hearing it loud and clear.

“Grumpy? I’ll show you grumpy when I—” Naruto cut the connection, not wanting to deal with him any longer.

“But we’re moving off topic,” he ushered, he had a lot of explaining to do, and would rather explain it as best he could, given the limited amount of time they had. “And although Hagaromo was very powerful, he was still part human, and as such, eventually he was growing old, tired, and needed to choose between his two children who would become his successor.”

“And how did he do that?” Franklin asked, listening to the story with rapt attention.“I’m glad you asked, well the sage set up a challenge between his two sons, a test that essentially had each of them go to a nearby village, one with a sapling created by the shinju that was causing many of the people to get sick from due to living near it, though in the short term it gave them an abundance of crops to live off of. Now, Indra, being the elder son, decided to use his Sharingan to control all of the people and make them destroy their sapling and move to a new area, shocking Hagaromo with how quickly he accomplished his task. Whereas Ashura didn’t have such power, and so with hard work and many years, he convinced the townspeople to leave the area, all of them helping each other to find water. And although he didn’t return for many years, he got the job done, a myriad of followers returning with him as well, seeing as he also taught them on the subject,” the shinobi told them.

“So Indra used his powers to subjugate people, thereby eliminating their freedom of choice to destroy what was harming them in a matter of seconds. While Ashura convinced the people to give up the sapling and taught them to thrive on their own instead of relying on the fruit,” Susan summarized.

“Exactly, and it was because of this that the Sage thought that Ashura’s ability to gather people to his side aligned well his core belief of Ninshu and understanding others, which is why he chose his younger son to be his successor instead of his elder, more talented offspring,” Naruto went on.

“I bet Indra didn’t take it well,” Johnny pointed out. He knew the type of person Indra was, and had met quite a few people like him, who usually never took being second best lying down. He thought, being reminded of a certain masked-wearing ruler of Latveria.            

“That’s right, this only began the rivalry that Indra and Ashura would later have, something that not even the two sons of the Sage could have predicted the ramifications of. Indra left the ways of Ninshu, gaining power with the means of only gaining revenge on his father, who he believed had wronged him. And he only came back after the sage was on his deathbed, Hagaromo giving his youngest son what was left of his power to push him back. Though it is unclear the fate of this battle, their legacy remained. Each brother produced a line of clansmen; for Indra’s offspring, they were deemed the Uchiha clan, who inherited the Sharingan and Indra’s hunger for power. Whereas Ashura’s line gained their ancestor’s strong body and chakra, allowing them to learn powerful elemental jutsu, though at a slower rate than the Uchiha. Thus began the era of fighting clans, as Indra’s teachings of Ninjutsu spread throughout the land, and many clans were formed in the conflict. The Senju clan and Uchiha clan continued to battle; instead of it being a battle for succession, it was numerous battles all for the quest of obtaining land, gold, or even tactical information to get a leg up on their enemies. Even children were not safe, as many died when they were very young, being treated as child soldiers by their own clansmen and killed without hesitation.”

“That sounds horrible!” Susan gasped in shock, wondering if her blonde friend grew up in such a state.

“It was,” Naruto nodded, as while some might argue that his own time was just as dangerous at times, he still knew the truth. All of his friends still lived to the age of 12, something that only sparsely happened within the Warring States period. “And the war between the Uchiha and the Senju continued, the cycle of Indra and Ashura continuing as their souls transmigrated between their descendants in a never-ending battle.”

“So these two brothers continued to battle forever between their descendants, that’s crazy,” Johnny said. He couldn’t imagine going into a rivalry for so long.

“It is, and the cycle continued, up until about 100 years before my time, when Indra and Ashura’s transmigrations at the time were named Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, some of the most powerful shinobi to ever exist since the Sage’s time. Though an unlikely interaction would allow the two, as kids, to come across one another. Hashirama lamenting at his fallen brothers, and Madara doing the same, a friendship was born, neither letting the other know of their true identity. As both dreamed of a time when children the same as them wouldn’t be forced into combat and made into corpses. Although their camaraderie wasn’t set to last, as their identities were revealed and the two were forced into battle, joining in the war efforts for each of their clans. As they rose up, the two became the strongest in the land, their two battles spelling legends even among those not born from their clans. It was said that their strength rivaled deities, gods of Shinobi, as Madara’s prowess with his Sharingan was unmatched, even evolving his eyes into what was known as the Mangekyou Sharingan. Though Harshirama held an equally strong Kekkei Genkai, the Mokuton, or Wood release, which allowed him to create forests in an instant, and even suppress powerful chakras such as the tailed beasts. Though a tragedy would occur, as Tobirama Senju, Hashirama’s older brother, killed Izuna Uchiha, Madara’s elder sibling. Such a trauma forced Madara to get desperate, as he transplanted his brother’s Sharingan into his own eyes, granting him the power of the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, which only enhanced his prowess with his eyes. Hashirama and Madara, not long after, began their clash, one that would set them apart from every other Shinobi on the planet. Days passed as Madara used his ultimate defense, the Susanoo, which was granted to him by his Mangekou Sharingan, but even that was not enough to best Hashirama’s immense mastery of wood release and the sage arts. Until finally, Madara’s back fell. It was a tough battle, but the leader of the senju won and had defeated his former friend, though not without great effort,” He explained.

“And so, what happened?” Susan asked, equally enraptured by his story as everyone else.

“Well, Hashirama took a chance; he wanted to end the bloodshed and suffering between the two of their clans, as Madara’s back was at his feet and his life in his hands, Hashirama attempted to give his own life to appease his former friend's pain for his brother. And Madara, persuaded by a genuine act, also began to lower his guard, preventing any more death from occurring in their clan’s constant fighting. As the two former friends rekindled their friendship and began dreaming the same dream they had thought before, a shinobi village in which children could live their lives without such bloodshed. The reincarnations of Indra and Ashura, making a village in the forests of the land of fire, a village hidden in the leaves, Konohagakure,” Naruto told them, finally getting to the time in the village he grew up in.

“You keep mentioning that word, Shinobi, like the Hand? What exactly are they?” Johnny asked, after all, he had heard of the powerful organization of ninjas that used magic, and wondered if they were somewhat similar.

“That… is a complicated question,” Naruto admitted, lost in thought, trying to gauge how he could explain such a thing that was so fundamentally ingrained in his world. “I suppose some people like to describe us as assassins for hire, but that’s not exactly true. We did jobs for specific clientele and daimiyos of foreign and domestic varieties, ranging from escort, to protection, to even killing in some cases, whatever the job required. But in the end, we were soldiers, people who fought for our country even when the odds were against us.”

“I see…” Susan tried to say, though she didn’t know how to feel about her friend admitting he was a former killer. Although she trusted him, and let him continue with his story.

“Moving on, naturally, after the village was founded, Hashirama became its leader and was named the Fire Shadow or the first Hokage. And due to a village being formed by the two strongest clans in the area, other clans started to move into the leaf, or create their own villages entirely. Namely, the villages in the land of water, wind, earth, and lightning, making the five great villages, and a new era for the entire world. Now, I suppose it’s also worth mentioning that Konoha wasn’t exactly the first fortified settlement that belonged to a population of shinobi and civilians, no, that label belonged to the village of Uzushiogakure. A village belonging to the offshoot clan of the Senjus, also known as the Uzumaki clan, who specialized in sealing techniques,” he said, which caused them to look at him in surprise.

“So that’s where you’re from? This Uzushio—whatever you said?” Johnny questioned.

Though Naruto’s lips creased, “Not exactly, considering they were all killed off and the village was destroyed about 20 years before I was born,” he told them, giving just a glimpse into his own origin.

As Susan looked at him in shock, “Oh, Naruto…” she said in sympathy.

But the blonde didn’t stay on the topic for long, as he merely moved on with his story. “Anyways, Hashirama ended up marrying the princess of that village, the Senju clan still holding close ties to the Uzumaki, and they honored that by wedding him to Mito Uzumaki, a distant cousin of mine,” he brought on. “Though even with the massive headway the two clans made in forming the village, Madara always felt his clansmen were getting the short end of the stick when it came to infrastructure. His clansmen didn’t believe him, too tired of the constant fighting to listen to their clan leader’s words. And it was for this reason that Madara believed that one day Konoha would betray his clan, and he left the village, challenging his old friend to a duel once again, this time for what would be the final time.”

“Oh dear…” Susan gasped.

“Madara and Hashirama fought, as mountains crumbled and the sky shook. In fact, their battle was so large, it created a crater spanning miles, even in my time. Though Madara had a secret weapon, using his immense prowess with his illusions, he was able to control the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the strongest of the nine Bijuu, which only furthered his power. Though Wood's release was still its direct counter, able to suppress the beast long enough for Mito Uzumaki, his wife, to seal the giant beast into herself. An Uzumaki’s powerful life force can contain the beast better than any other person could, as they surely would have died from the strain. This allowed Hashirama to continue the battle undeterred, as soon after— not for the second time— Madara’s back hit the floor for a second time in his life, as the first Hokage was forced to kill his first friend, or so he thought. Only fueling the endless battle between Indra’s and Ashura’s reincarnations.”

Of course, he knew the truth about Madara’s ‘death,’ but he would get into that later.

“Eventually, Hashirama’s injuries caught up to him, and he handed the position of Hokage to his brother, Tobirama Senju, a man of unparalleled brilliance in creating jutsu. In fact, he was even the one who created the Shadow clone jutsu, among other things like the Flying Raijin, the space time technique you all have seen me use, and the Edo tensei, a forbidden technique capable of even reviving the dead into immortal soldiers with limitless energy.”

“But wait, do you think you can use this technique to revive my father?!” Franklin asked out loud, wanting to know if Reed Richards could live again, as the other two looked at him for answers.

Naruto only looked on in sympathy. “I’m sorry, Franklin, but unfortunately, the cost to revive another person and to use the Edo Tensei is another human life, to have another soul sealed inside of them as they live on in purgatory. I don’t think I’d be willing to do such a thing,” he said, though he knew how the young boy felt more than anyone. After all, he too lost his father, and meeting him back again in the war had been one of the best experiences he ever had. Of course, he’d like to revive the kid’s dad again, but it was really only a temporary solution.

The dead were dead, and that was that. And there wasn’t anything that would change that.

As Susan looked down as well, she supposed even she didn’t get over her husband's death, as a small part of her jumped at the opportunity to revive him, even knowing that it couldn’t be the case. It was odd, in a world where it seemed like countless people came back to life, her husband was the only one who didn’t, and she supposed she might never get over the hope that something might change. 

Naruto seemed to notice this, as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Again, I am sorry, but even if I wanted to, I couldn’t do the technique since I don’t even know it.”

As she took hold of his hand, lightly squeezing it and giving the biggest smile she could muster— which wasn’t too large, “It’s fine, I know Reed wouldn’t have liked to be revived in such a way, I suppose it's just the duty of a widow like me to have such a restless heart like mine,” Susan said, as Naruto gave her a few moments to recompose herself, letting her know that he was here. As Franklin looked down in sadness for a moment, partially because he wanted to sacrifice another innocent life to revive his father, and the other part was that there was no way that he could anyway.

“Hashirama, seeing the dangers the Bijuu could produce, decided to do something drastic, distributing the Tailed Beasts to other nations in homes so that they would act as War deterrent to each other. Although, unfortunately, conflicts were bound to occur, on such a scale nobody could have predicted. Leading to the First and Second Great Shinobi Wars. The first involved Hashirama’s life as he fought to keep his village safe and to try to rectify his mistake, and the second ended with Tobirama giving his life for his squadron to provide a distraction to lead over 20 S-rank ninja off their trails. The Second Hokage, choosing his successor in his final moments, chose one of his students, Sarutobi Hiruzen, a man who would later hold the nickname ‘the professor’ for his in-depth knowledge of all of our villages' jutsu, as he was said to master them all. As he led the village through the Second Great Shinobi War,” he said, recalling the man who had once been like a grandfather to him when he was a child.

“I mentioned Uzushigakure being destroyed, which happened from a joint attack between numerous nations in an act to weaken Konoha. But before then, they sent the princess of the Land to Konoha for one purpose. You see, quite some time had passed, and Mito Uzumaki was getting old, and the Kyuubi needed another host to be sealed inside. A Jinchuriki, or the ‘power of human sacrifice,’ a vessel to hold a Bijuu, and as such, Kushina Uzumaki, a young girl at the time, was chosen. Also, during the Second War, several war heroes were made, including Hashirama’s granddaughter named Tsunade Senju, as well as my master, the Toad Sage Jiraiya, and the later S-rank Traitor to the village, Orochimaru. And several orphans were produced, including a young boy whose parents were fishermen who later found their way to Konoha, Minato Namikaze,” he said, finally getting to the time of his parents.

“Minato would have immense talent that could only be seen once every 100 years, learning under Jiraiya the Toad Sannin, who taught him the ways of Fuinjutsu. He even surpassed him, recreating and mastering the Flying Raijinn, as he became a hero. Though that didn’t stop his flourishing romance with Kushina, whom he ended up saving during a kidnapping incident a few years after the Second War. Eventually, a Third war broke out as tensions between the Leaf and Stone and Cloud villages erupted. Leaving Minato to take up a group of Genin, the lowest tier of shinobi, one of which was another prodigy who would later become my sensei, Kakashi Hatake, the other a runt of the litter in the Uchiha clan, Obito Uchiha. Obito later died in the war, giving one of his Sharingan to his friend and rival Kakashi, who would use it to a similar mastery to that of any Uchiha, becoming known as ‘Copy ninja Kakashi,’ who had mastered over a thousand jutsu. Through the war, Minato would also become known for his immense speed on the battlefield, being called the ‘Yellow Flash,’ who was known because it was all you would see when he used his Flying Raijin technique, and his ability to take out entire armies within seconds. Kushina also gained a moniker, seeing as she was able to use the Kyuubi’s chakra to some extent, that, added with her fierce temper—red hair—and ferocity, left her being called the ‘Red Hot Habanero of the leaf.’”

“I don’t get it. Who are these people?” Johnny asked, Why did Naruto put such emphasis on these two people to make a point to even give them their nicknames. Just what did they do that had such an impact on him?

Though, surprisingly, it wasn’t Naruto who answered. “They were your parents,” Sue realized.

The Uzumaki name, the link to whirlpool country, but most of all, she recalled Minato’s nickname ‘the Yellow Flash,’ as she recalled several ‘yellow flashes’ when Naruto used his technique. She realized it wasn’t something inherent to the jutsu, but because of something physical instead, namely his blonde hair.

“They were,” Naruto nodded, actually a little surprised that Susan had surmised such a fact. “As things went, eventually the Land of Stone surrendered, Hiruzen was getting old, and stepped down from his position of Hokage, leading to the Fourth to take his place. Of course, only the nation's newest war hero could take his place, as Minato Namikaze was chosen as Fourth Hokage, the greatest mind to ever lead the village since the fourth. There was no doubt that the leaf would be ushered into a new era of peace.”

Susan was sensing a ‘but’ coming, as such, she could only question, “And so then what happened?”

Naruto then began to grow a sad, somber smile, “Life happened. Eventually, Kushina, my mother, became pregnant, which presented a danger in and of itself. You see, when a female Jinchuriki gets pregnant, chakra that would have gone to their seals is rerouted, going to their growing infant instead. This causes their seal to weaken over time, and eventually, on the night she gives birth, that’s when her seal is on the verge of breaking. Naturally, my father prepared for this, as he strengthened her seal with his own mastery, and as she was kept in a secure location, nobody knew she was about to give birth. But even still, somehow, someone found out about it and used it as an opportunity to gain the power of the Nine-tails. As a masked Uchiha made it there that night, something nobody could have predicted.”

He paused, letting everything sink in, as he made a neutral expression. “My full name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, and I was born the night of October 10th, the same night that the kyuubi attacked and raged rampant in my village. My father tried to stop it, but he couldn’t, and the masked Uchiha kidnapped my mother and ripped the Kyuubi right out of her, using his Sharingan to take control of the Nine-tails as he used it to attack Konoha. My father went to stop him, and thankfully, he was able to land one good hit on him before he fled. This allowed the Fourth Hokage to take on the Kyuubi himself, though not before it had destroyed and killed a great number of shinobi in its rampage. My mother, still alive due to her high life-force, something that was only dwindling because her Bijuu had been taken out of her. My mom offered to seal the Kyuubi back into her, and although the beast wouldn’t die since it was a being made of purely chakra, it would disperse and take years to take form again. But my father decided that the leaf needed its jinchuriki, as while the war had just ended, he did not doubt that other villages would use the opportunity now that the leaf was weakened in the attack to wage another war. And so he did the only thing that he could do, which was to create another Jinchuriki, but the kyuubi’s power was just too much for any normal person to handle. Its malice was too great, and would poison any adult with just a touch. No, he needed to seal it in a young child, one that didn’t have its chakra coils fully developed, so it could be acclimated to its harmful chakra.And so, making the ultimate sacrifice, he—”

As Susan gasped in horror, “He… he sealed it in you, didn’t he?” she said, fully realizing how Naruto had grown up, as the other two widened their eyes.  

“He did,” fully revealing his status as a Jinchuriki. “Minato was an honorable man; he couldn’t seal the Kyuubi into just anyone, asking a stranger to make a sacrifice he wouldn’t make. I mean, how could he, as the village leader, ask another parent to give up their child when he wouldn’t do the same? And so he used the best seal he could, a forbidden seal that was only used by the Uzumaki, also known as the Reaper Death Seal, in which he was able to split the Kyuubi’s massive chakra so that my chances of survival increased. Though it wasn’t without a high cost, the seal was extremely effective, able to seal anything it came into contact with; the price was the user’s own soul. Which is what Minato chose to sacrifice in the wake of saving his village from absolute annihilation.” As Naruto looked at each and every one of them. “On the night of my birth, my parents died heroes, saving my village and everyone in it; that was how I came into this world.”

They all looked at him, all of which with a measure of shock, but also understanding. Each one of them knew the pain of loss in one’s childhood. Whether it was the two storm siblings, who lost their mother at a young age, or Franklin, who lost his father. Though neither of them could imagine how it must have felt growing up alone and not knowing the love of either of their parents. What could they say? What more could they say?

Franklin knew one thing, and that was that Naruto truly could know what he was going through. Even back at the funeral, he didn’t pity him; he didn’t feel sorry. No, he acted as he could understand, and now he knew why.

“In the wake of my father’s death, the Fourth Hokage wished for me to be seen as a hero for holding the Kyuubi, and while the Third Hokage, who was forced out of retirement. And although he tried to be a good leader, it was clear that the spark that was inside him had vanished. My status as the Kyuubi’s vessel was made known, and although Hiruzen tried to stop it, the village’s hatred was just too much. Eventually, he was forced to create a law that would prevent anyone from speaking about my status, trying to prevent their hatred from leaking to the younger generation, but that didn’t prevent adults from retaliating against me, believing I was the very same entity that had destroyed their homes and livelihoods, among other things. They did everything they could to make my life miserable, from glaring at me, barring me from going into shops, and yelling at me every chance they got. The hatred also leaked down to their children, preventing me from knowing anyone even close to my age. I didn’t have friends, I didn’t have a family, and was largely alone the vast majority of my childhood, as most people tried to ignore me, as if I wasn’t even there. Like I was a ghost, and honestly, I think at that point, if I were dying right in front of them, nobody would’ve even come to help me. Merely listen to my cries in satisfaction as I would have bled out onto the pavement as they watched. That was the kind of life I grew up with, the life of any Jinchuriki within the village.”

“That’s horrible!” Susan exclaimed, she couldn’t imagine treating anyone so badly, no less a child who was so young. As the others realized just how good they might have had it, although they still had loss, they at least got to have a childhood in some sense.

But to grow up completely alone, that was something that none of them had experienced.

“Hiruzen tried to be there for me, but his duties as Hokage prevented me from seeing him much. There was a good family that would sometimes offer me a free meal, taking pity on me. They were the closest thing that I had to a family, the Ichiraku’s, who owned a small ramen stand. But seeing as how I didn’t want to drive away their sales by associating with me, I only really went to them every other week or so.”

“That’s why you like ramen so much,” Sue realized.

“That, and the fact it's delicious, but yes. They were some of the first people to whom I felt like I mattered, who truly acknowledged my existence. I wanted others to feel that way; if people were trying to ignore me, I’d make sure that they couldn’t ignore me. I wanted their acknowledgement. Growing up, I was told by Hiruzen about the heroing tales that the other Hokage had made, and how the village loved them for it and that’s how I settled for my dream. I didn’t want to be like the Hokage, I wanted to be Hokage. I wanted to prove everyone wrong, so I took up the shinobi program—although with my heritage, I kind of doubt I really had a choice in the matter.” The blonde paused, growing a bit embarrassed at what he was going to say. “I also was— admittedly— a bit of a prankster, and I would end up pranking the people who would try to ignore. Hell, even one time, I ended up painting the Hokage monument, the giant stone carvings my village had similar to your Mount Rushmore of all of our village leaders.”

“In the academy, I was pretty much the dead last in my group, as while I was active, my fighting ability was rather weak, which, coupled with my lack of desire to do any arithmetic or learn about history, meant I was pretty much failing every class I took. Not to mention that most of my teachers had it out for me whatever chance they got, though there was one teacher who seemed to treat me fairly, his name was Iruka, someone who would be like an older brother to me. And although he would be harsh at times, it wasn’t because he disliked me, or saw me as the kyuubi’s vessel, but a boy who needed guidance and discipline, something I had been sorely lacking at that age. Eventually, the years passed, and it was my third time taking the final exam to graduate, and, well… I didn’t pass. I failed, because you see, the exam required me to use the clone technique, something I was absolutely terrible at.”

“But I thought you said you mastered the technique?!” Franklin questioned, it didn’t add up. If Naruto was so bad at cloning, then how could he make so many now?

“No, I said I was good at making shadow clones, I’m talking about regular clones, illusions, basically, and even now I’m absolutely terrible at Illusions,” Naruto explained. “It’s because, being a Jinchuriki, as well as a partial Uzumaki and the son of a former Hokage, I was pretty much destined to have a high chakra reserve. So much so that even at the age of 12, I had more chakra than pretty much anyone else in the village— sans the Hokage of course. But my control was shot because of it, leading it to pretty much be impossible for me to use it as a kid, and I was absolutely devastated. I had failed in my dream once again, and while other parents were there to congratulate their children I was forced to be stared at by them. They were actually happy that I didn’t pass, they wanted me to fail, they all did."

“And so what did you do?” Johnny asked.

“I mean what could I do? It wasn’t like I had anyone to help me with my problem. But at the time one of the instructors did approach me, saying that there was another exam, a secret test, one that required me to sneak into the Hokage’s office in order to steal the scroll of seals, a powerful relic that belonged to the Second Hokage that he would inscribe his forbidden justu into. As I was tasked with learning one of the techniques in the woods of Konoha and showing it to him,” Naruto explained exactly what he was told that night.

“Naruto, that sounds pretty suspicious,” Susan noted. And it was suspicious, Naruto was basically told by one of his superiors to commit treason, stealing a highly valuable artifact that could be potentially dangerous and meeting him somewhere that was in the middle of nowhere with no witnesses around.

“It was suspicious, but I was desperate. I realize now that I shouldn’t have listened, but I didn’t care back then, I just wanted one chance to prove that I could do something, even if it meant doing something I knew would be wrong,” he admitted, sure, a small part of him knew that he shouldn’t have trusted Mizuki, but he pushed that feeling to the side, in favor of listening to the more childish and unthinking mind he held. He knew he wanted to pass, and he had finally been given the opportunity to do that, and so he took it, not listening to reason or anything else. “I went there, and just as expected, Mizuki, the teacher, was there, and he wanted the scroll, even at the cost of my life, which to him he was all too glad to take. That was his plan after all, he wanted to kill me because his parents died in the kyuubi attack, and he would take it to the highest bidder, becoming a rogue ninja in the process. Luckily, the entire village had been looking for me to take the scroll, and Iruka arrived just in time. But that didn’t stop Mizuki from revealing the truth to me, not fearing the repercussions from the Third’s law, he told me about my status as the holder of the Kyuubi. And what’s more he told me I was the Kyuubi reincarnated, that was the reason everyone hated me, he tried to convince me that Iruka hated me, because his parents were killed on that night too. And I believed him… and then. Then Iruka proved him wrong. Mizuki had thrown a large Fuma Shuriken at me, and in my distraught state, I wasn’t able to dodge. Iruka, he… he took the blow for me, shielding me with his own body.”

Naruto remembered the night very clearly, his tears, his cries, his disbelief at finding why everyone hated him. And then the absolute faith that Iruka had put in him that day. 

“Iruka told me that I wasn’t the monster everyone believed me to be, and I believed him. I proved Mizuki wrong, as it would seem that at that moment, he had bitten off more than he could chew, as while he was a chunin, a graduated genin who was a full ninja. I had quite possibly learned the only technique I could have used in that scroll, the one that would suit me perfectly. I learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and using it, I was able to defeat Mizuki, and Iruka even allowed me to pass the original academy exam. Allowing me to become a Genin, he even gave me his own Hitai-ate to prove it, something I still have to this day,” He told them, pointing to his headband that had the picture of a spiralling leaf of it, the symbol of his village. 

“I was then placed on a genin team with two of my teammates, a civilian born girl named Sakura Haruno who had a high chakra control but low chakra levels, and Sasuke Uchiha. Together, with our Jonin sensei, an elite ninja Kakashi Hatake, my father’s student, we made up Team 7. Truthfully, I didn’t get along with them, and they didn’t quite get along with me, but we made due, and found fellowship and camaraderie with each other. But we really only started to get along the first time we left the village, in which each of us risked our lives on a false-ly made escort mission for a bridge builder given to us. The man was trying to receive protection from his poor ridden country which was on the brink of death as a powerful shipping magnate took over the land trying to become daimiyo. It was that mission where I learned how to truly become strong, as I met an outcast like myself who told me that true strength was gained from protecting someone you held precious,” He summarized, repeating Haku’s words to him all those years ago. “It was also this mission that caused me to unleash the Kyuubi’s chakra for the first time, as Sasuke had taken a blow meant for me. I was angry, I was in pain, and I wanted to tear my attacker in two. But I didn’t, I realized that the friend I met before was working with my enemy. I couldn’t save them that day, but I resolved myself to save as many people like them as I could.”

“From then on my team was selected for the Chunin exams, a sort of test Genin are allowed to take in order to fully become ninja and promoted to chunin. And although there were a few hiccups we managed to pull through into the second round, which was a survival exercise that put the genin in a life or death situation in the training ground that was called the forest of death. It was also here that I encountered one of the scariest experiences of my life. As I and the rest of my team encountered Orochimaru, who betrayed the village shortly after the kyuubi attack. Orochimaru always felt overlooked for the position of Hokage, and he desired power, using whatever means he could to obtain it, including other people’s bodies. Doing experiments on them, all for his quest to gain immortality and power, hoping to learn every jutsu in the world. For that he wanted the Sharingan, and he was willing to do whatever he could to get it. My team wasn't a match for him, even when he left the village he was a S-rank ninja on par with Hokage, and he had only grown stronger, what could 3 mesely genin do against him.”

“How did you survive?” Susan asked.

As the blonde looked at her, "Fortunately for us Orochimaru was just toying with us, as he wanted to show Sasuke the power he could offer, and he had given him a taste of it, a curse marking, one that would slowly corrupt Sasuke from the inside. Orochimaru defeated and incapacitated me and Sasuke, forcing Sakura to look after us for some time, and luckily we were able to make it out of the forest before the exam was over. Then came the preliminaries, one verses one matchups to cull the genin even further, I barely made it out of mine, still recovering from my fight with Orochimaru. But it was here that I met my fellow comrades and quite possible some of the most inspiring people I could ever hope to come across. In the month long period of training I and the rest of my competitors were given I came across the man who would become my sensei, the same man who had trained my father, Jiraiya the Toad Sage of Mount Myoku. And although he was a pervert, he taught me better than anyone else could, as Sasuke went to train with our sensei Kakashi seeing as he quite possibly had an even more dangerous opponent than I had.”

“I was matched up with a boy from the Hyuuga clan, the clan of Hamura’s distant descendants who also inherited the Byakugan. He was a boy from the side branch of the clan, and was basically treated as a slave or second best, believing it was his fate to be such a way even though he was a prodigy. And he was willing to even beat and nearly kill his own cousin, a girl from the main branch because of it. He believed that because he was a prodigy and I was the dead last that it was only fate that I would lose to him,” Naruto said.

“And what did you do?” Franklin asked. 

As Naruto smirked, “Well I kicked his butt of course. I beat him, and taught him that fate wasn’t written in the stars and taught him that he could change his fate all the same,” he smirked, remembering how much Neji had changed since then, before feeling a pang in his heart as he remembered what happened to him. Nevertheless he continued. “After that it was Sasuke’s match, as he fought an absolute beast of an opponent named Gaara from the Sand village, and aptly so, seeing as he could control the element with an almost insane degree. He used his ability to bury his opponents alive, smothering and crushing them in his sand. But Sasuke was just as good, being able to outrun his sand, and use Kakashi’s famed jutsu, the Chidori, a technique that wrapped one’s hand in lightning to produce a devastating piercing attack, he was able to break through Gaara’s armor. But that’s when the attack came…”

“Attack? What attack?” Asked Johnny.

“Our village was then attacked by a collection of villages, namely Sand and Sound— the fake village Orochimaru constructed in order to allow his forces to enter the village. As he posed himself as the Kazekage— who he killed a month prior, as he began to fight the Hokage for supremacy. Meanwhile, Gaara was set to move outside the village and away from the destruction, seeing as how he needed time to prepare to unleash the Sand village’s secret weapon. Sasuke, and I, along with the rest of the uninjured finalists in the tournament under the leaf were sent after him, and we were forced to make our group smaller as we went on, and that’s when I found out what Gaara really was,” as he then looked at all of them. “Gaara was the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi, the one tailed Shukaku. Living a life just like me, perhaps even harsher, seeing as how, unlike me, his father, the Kazekage, wanted to use him as a weapon, sending numerous assassins against him to make him strong and harden his heart. He decided that he would live for himself and only for himself in order to keep himself strong. And we fought, eventually Gaara managed to unleash his Bijuu as he performed a sleeping jutsu on himself, giving full control to the demon inside of him. As I was forced to use my own demon’s chakra to summon a giant toad, something that Jiraiya had taught me over a month-long period. And we fought tirelessly. I was fighting for my friends and teammates, and Gaara was fighting for himself so that he could never be hurt again. Gambunta was eventually able to keep hold of Shukaku’s giant form, as I was able to wake Gaara as both of us fell to the ground, exhausted, but I was still moving. Gaara couldn’t believe that I would go so far, that I would push myself so hard, and it was at that moment that he understood that despite living similar childhoods, we both chose different ways of living. But I think that the way we both turned out, I could have ended up exactly like him, if I only retreated into my loneliness instead of trying to get others to acknowledge me.”

He then went on, trying not to get engrossed in the details. “From then on I found out that the Hokage died in the skirmish, a feeling that was all too new to me seeing as how he was like a grandfather to me. But I didn’t have much time to wallow in my bereavement, as I then went on a mission with Jiraiya to find the next Hokage, Tsunade Senju, the granddaughter of the first. A woman who, at that point had peacefully left the village after the second war in favor of betting her inheritance and losing it, which is how she actually got the nickname ‘the legendary sucker.’”

“Wow, I bet she must have been really amazing at it for a nickname like that!” the male storm mentioned.

“Johnny!” His sister reprimanded, as she nudged him with her elbow for his crassness.

“Tsunade was also widely reputed as one of, if not the most beautiful women in the world, with a well endowment that would leave many women wanting, but in truth she would eventually be like a mother to me, thought that relationship would come in time. At the time I was learning the Rasengan, a technique my father invented and one of his most famous jutsu, which I didn’t quite know at the time. Tsunade made a bet with me that if I could learn such a technique in under a month she would come back to the village, if not we would give up on her. Of course I won the bet and with it her respect, though it took an intense battle with all three Sanin for her to come back—long story,” he commented. “But I also wanted Tsunade to come back for personal reasons, because you see Sasuke had been put into a coma that only Lady Tsunade, the greatest medical ninja in all of the Elemental Nations could heal. He was put in such a position because we were attacked by members of Akatsuki, an organization of powerful S-rank missing nin who were after the Bijuu for unknown reasons. One of these members was Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke’s older brother, who I found out later was wanted for the destruction and killing of his entire clan,” Naruto mentioned, leaving everyone to gasp out.

“You mean he killed his entire family?!” Susan asked in shock.

As Naruto solemnly nodded, “He did, Sasuke, as it turns out was the last of his clan in the whole village after an unfortunate night in which Itachi, his older brother had killed the rest in an effort to test his abilities,” he explained the original story, of course later he knew that it was actually a plot from Konoha to kill the Uchiha clan and for Itachi to take the fall, but he wouldn’t quite get into that. “After Tsunade’s return Sasuke was in a state of inferiority, viewing that I was surpassing him and he was losing in his quest to gain power so that he could avenge his clan. And so it was then that he made the hard decision to abandon the village and take up Orochimaru’s offer for power. I was sent on the team to retrieve him, and like before we were forced to leave some of our teammates to face members of the squad that was a part of Orochimaru’s elite bodyguards. I found Sasuke, I fought and… I lost,” he admitted. “I couldn’t stop Sasuke from leaving the village, him being like a brother to me in all but blood. A person who could understand what it was like with such loneliness, growing up without his parents as well, we understood each other and he still left.”

“I was then taken on a three year training trip with Jiraiya, not only trying to get stronger to face Sasuke again, but also to go up against Akastuki, who were said to be mobilizing in three years time to try and collect the Bijuu, and it was some of the hardest, but also best nights I had ever had. I felt I learned so much, and even if not everything was applicable for combat what i did get was that I inherited my sensei’s dream for World Peace, a dream that many would think is foolish, but it’s still something I believe in wholeheartedly,” he thought with a smile, remembering his old sensei and his effect on him. “Eventually the three years were up and it was time for me to prove myself, unfortunately that chance would come sooner than expected as the newest Kazekage of the village, Garra. Something I couldn’t quite believe, but was all too happy to learn about. But we weren’t quite able to stop his Bijuu’s removal, though a village elder who had joined us was able to resurrect him by sacrificing her own life in the process. From then we received word that Orochimaru was planning on stealing Sasuke’s body and eyes and would begin the process. We also found his location, and although we found him we were once again unable to stop him from leaving— though it would seem that Sasuke had his own plans as he was able to kill Orochimaru before any of us got the chance, not wanting his body stolen.”

“Akatsuki was beginning to make their move, as a team was formed to stop them, and although there were heavy casualties on our side were able to defeat two of them, Kakuzu of the five hearts, a man who lived in the time of Hashirama who was able to extend his life span by taking others hearts. And another who was able to be immortal at the cost of sacrificing other’s lives in his blood ritual. Both were tough opponents for all of us, but for Kakuzu I was able to perfect my latest technique, the Wind Style: Rasengan, an added element to my Rasengan justu, which was able to cut a person at the cellular level, making Kakuzu’s multiple hearts all but useless.”

“But it would seem that with the defeat of a portion of the members— one of which was killed when they tried to go after Gaara, the other was killed by Sasuke himself, who killed itachi in a mighty clash. The leader of the Akatsuki was getting antsy, and hearing rumors from his spy network, my sensei, Jiraiya went to confront the man alone. A person who was reputed to have the Rinnegan, the same eyes of the sage of six paths, that was who the leader of the Akatsuki was,” Naruto revealed.

“Whoa, so your sensei just went and fought that guy? How could they let him do that?” Johnny asked, he could tell that the man would be powerful if the sage was anything to go by, listening to Naruto’s words.

As Naruto locked eyes with his fellow blonde, “My sensei realized the severity, but he wanted to be sure about it all. He needed to be, it was the one time we had gotten word on his location, and he needed to use the opportunity to garner any information he could on him. With most of the Bijuu taken by Akatsuki at this point it was only a matter of time before he went after me himself, his student. Jiraiya felt that couldn’t happen, he wanted me to have a leg up… and he paid the price for it. Fighting with all he could, and dying to give his last message for me,” He paused, taking a moment to remember his fallen sensei and all he had done for him. 

natural energy.

The man had gone into danger knowing full well of the risks associated, and yet he continued. He didn’t falter, he didn’t back down, and it was because of him that he was able to get through to Nagato. But even so, there were still times he would think of the man who had trained him, who was apparently his godfather. He died protecting him, and although the man could have been there for him more— he was by rights his legal guardian after all, he could understand later in life that Jiraiya wasn’t the best person to raise a child at the time. That, and the fact that he was the village’s spy master, a position that was sorely needed considering the village was in shambles after the Kyuubi attack, and they needed to be ready in case another village attacked them.

So while his feelings with Jiraiya were mixed on the matter, the point was that he did all he could in the end, even sacrificing his life for him to succeed, which was more than he could ask for.

He just wished he could still be there for him; he wanted to show him how much of an awesome shinobi he had become.

Outwardly, he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder; he realized it was Susan's, as she smiled towards him sympathetically. He was really lucky to have her as a friend, as he smiled as well.

Deciding to continue with his story. “From then on, I was in a pretty bad place, and I blamed Lady Tsunade for sending him on that mission, even though she was just as distraught as I was, maybe even more so. I ended up talking with Iruka about it and ended up feeling a lot better, and just in time, as we realized that Pein, the leader of the Akatsuki, was coming for the Kyuubi, even if he had to fight the whole Leaf to get me. And so I went to Mount Myoboku, the summoning realm for the toad clan, and was trained in the art of Senjutsu, or the ability to harness natural energy from the planet,” as he quickly absorbed a bit of sage chakra to show them how exactly it looked. Giving him his familiar golden eyes and orange pigment around his sockets.

“That’s what you used to fight Namor,” Susan pointed out. 

“It is,” Naruto nodded. “Sage mode pretty much amplifies my base stats, as well as boosting my sensory capabilities and jutsu by quite a bit. The only problem is to learn it you have to learn to be completely still to take in and become one with nature, mixing its energies with your own which sounds a lot easier than it actually is, but I did it, and just in time. Pein had attacked my village, and I wasn’t able to make it home until Konoha was in shambles. What’s more, I came back to find most of the citizens dead, including my former sensei Kakashi who gave his life trying to fight him off,” he mentioned, remembering what it had been like to arrive back to his village like it was, and how much Sakura had called out for him. “Fighting Pein was honestly one of the hardest fights I’ve ever taken, I mean, he was able to split his body into 6 different people, each with a different ability. One could control gravity, push and pull objects and even create a moon in an instant. Another could rip a person’s soul out with nothing but a touch, another being able to turn his body into a mechanical weapon with his own imagination. The fourth could summon practically any giant summon under his control, one could absorb chakra and pretty much any justu, and the last could revive the other paths in an instant, allowing them to continue fighting even after they were killed. Each had linked vision, and could see what the others were seeing, making it so you couldn’t sneak up on them and surprise them. We fought, and I nearly defeated all of them, but the Tendoo path, the path that controlled gravity was just too strong. I would have died had it not been for Hinata, who was the only one to come and try to save me, but seeing her struck down angered me, and I nearly gave into the Kyuubi’s rage just to defeat Pein. And I would have, had it not been for a fail safe from my father, who had left a bit of his chakra within the seal. It was then that I met Minato Namikaze for the first time in my mind, and we talked, particularly about the night of my birth, and the enemy after Pein who claimed to be Madara Uchiha… After I regained my composure, Pein and I fought, and after defeating him I went to find his real body, the man using puppets to do his bidding while he was left unable to fight. It was then that I found out that Pein’s real name was Nagato, a person, who like me, had been trained by Jiraiya, him having met a group of orphans who he thought could help bring peace to the world within the second world war, later thinking them dead. Pein yearned for a way to gain true peace as well, he thought the only way to do it was to create a weapon made from all ten of the Bijuu. One so powerful that it would cause any nations that wants to retaliate to be utterly decimated, causing a state of absolute fear for anyone to try to revolt, thus creating a peace that would be fueled by the fear of its destruction,” he told them, as some of them were reminded of Dr. Doom, and other tyrants who had tried to do such a thing. Though none of them ended up succeeding, it still wasn’t hard to imagine how such a scenario would play out.

Everyone would live in a complete state of fear, wondering if it was indeed their time to be killed off for anyone’s reason. Never knowing if they were truly safe, as they were forced into compliance. That wasn’t exactly freedom, that was control. And it was control that they wanted.

“We talked, although I truly hated Pein at first, I couldn’t help but see the similarities between us. Both of us being trained by our sensei, wanting to protect those close to us, and in the end I understood him. I no longer wanted revenge because I could see the cycle it would cause, as while I wanted revenge for him killing my master, I no doubt would cause another to feel the same pain I felt if I killed Pein, allowing another to fall into a similar quest for revenge. I wanted to break that cycle of hatred that would occur, that was my solution for peace, that I would be the person to end the cycle of hatred in our world, and I thought such a thing truly possible. Some of you might think I’m a foolish idealist, but I truly believe the world could be so much better if we could all understand each other," he told them.

As they could all see the kind of man that was right in front of them. All of them looked at him with some form of understanding and admiration that such a soul could be possible. 

And they all felt that much closer to him.

“Nagato was so impressed that he decided to believe in my dream, as he used the last of his strength to activate the Rinne-rebirth, a resurrection justu that allowed him to return the souls he had killed in the area back to life, at the cost of his life that is. The fight was over, and the whole village came out to greet me even in my exhaustion. And it was at that moment that I truly felt acknowledged, which was what I dreamed of all along.”

“And although the leader of Akatsuki was taken out, as it turned out, the masked Uchiha had been masquerading as a member of the group, as he had been truly pulling the string behind the scenes. As the whole world decided to unite against him to stop the threat of the man who claimed to be Madara Uchiha. Who, along with his vast army of plant-like soldiers, also had a vast amount of Edo Tensei, which he used to do his bidding. That and the fact that he had the first 7 Bijuu meant that the last Jinchuriki had to be cautious, seeing as the whole war was to make sure we didn’t get captured. It was decided that I would learn to master my abilities as the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, and while we did fight, we eventually decided to make ends meet and unite upon the common enemy that was Madara. And I meant the real Madara, as it turns out the masked man who killed my parents was actually Obito Uchiha, my sensei’s old student, who, after losing Rin, decided to lose faith in the world. Trying to use the 9 bijuu to cast an eternal genjutsu that was akin to a paradise to leave the world without any fighting. And after the real Madara had been resurrected with the use of the Edo tensei, our defeat was pretty much definite. Sasuke and I— who had come to aid in the battle against Madara, seeing as how he disagreed with his plans— were defeated and killed. Leaving no hope for the Elemental Nations left, seeing as how both mine and the eight tails Bijuu had been extracted.”

“But wait, you look pretty alive to me,” Johnny commented.

“Well, that’s because of the Sage of Six paths. Because as it turned out, remember how I mentioned his son’s souls transmigrate? Well as it turns out Sasuke and I were only the latest of their transmigrants, destined to face each other, can you believe it? I sure didn’t. But Hagaromo used the last of his power to reactivate Ashura’s and Indra’s chakra that was inside of us, giving us enough power to stand up against the ten-tails. And just in time too, as it turned out, black zetsu, who was another member of Akatsuki that had previously tricked Madara into thinking it was a being made from his will, was plotting. Zetsu, was actually a being made from Kaguya’s will, and once the Infinite Tsukiyomi, the dream-like genjutsu that the moon’s eye plan was set on accomplishing came to fruition, Kaguya would be revived. Seeing as how the Ten-tails was still a part of Kaguya, and with all of its chakra her will would once again become alive. Luckily, Hagaromo also gave us the perfect tool to seal her, the same seals that he and his brother used to lock her within the moon. All we had to do was have Sasuke and I touch her and the seal would activate.”

“How did you do it?” Franklin asked, knowing it would be difficult if she was as strong as Naruto said.

“Well, it was difficult, and luckily Sasuke managed to shield us from being taken by the Infinite Tsukiyomi with his Mangekyou—- which he got from killing his brother as he also transfered his eyes to him. Me and the rest of Team Seven got to work, and although it was difficult, we were able to pull through due to the expert timing of Sakura, Sasuke’s and my strikes, as Saskura gave us the perfect opportunity to seal her so that she couldn’t get away. But…”

“But what?” They all asked.

“But Kaguya was pretty petty, and, well… in the last moment she tried to send all of us away, tossing each of us into different dimensions so that we would never be able to stop her infinite tsukiyomi. I kinda took the hit for the four of us, and I got sent into the Negative zone. That’s kind of what happened, and I got stuck there ever since, well you all know the rest,” he finished, skipping over a few parts but getting the broader message in the end. 

“...”

“...”

“...”

“Umm… guys?” Naruto questioned aloud, seeing as how everyone was just sort of staring at him, he didn’t quite know what to do.

“So you’re a shinobi from another world.”

“And also a prince from a destroyed nation.”

“And also the carrier of a primordial demon that can destroy the world.”

“Plus, the reincarnation of an alien who is basically the son of ninja Jesus.”

“Yes… that about sums it up, I suppose,” Naruto remarked.

“You’re like…” Susan tried to say, but couldn’t find the right words.

“YOU’RE LIKE YOUR WORLD’S GREATEST HERO!” Franklin shouted, absolutely amazed with Naruto’s story, and utterly engrossed in it. 

“Well, I wouldn’t quite say that,” Naruto blushed slightly, embarrassed at being called a hero so purely. But he supposed it wasn’t exactly far from the truth, he was his world’s ‘child of prophecy,’ but he still didn’t quite like being called as such. He tried his best, and that was all that mattered. “I mean, you guys are also pretty big heroes”

“Dude, just take the compliment,” Johnny joked, as they all realized Naruto was the type of guy to sometimes be too humble.

“Well, okay then. But I hear you guys beat your own gods, that’s got to be worth just as much,” Naruto mentioned. As they were all reminded of their own fair shares of battles, particularly with Galactus, the devourer of worlds. 

“That was a tough challenge, but we did manage to pull through, together,” Susan commented, the Four had always been a family, and dinner like this… she couldn’t ask for anything else in the world.

Naruto just happened to get them to see that, even after so long.

“Alright, then, who’s ready for seconds?” Naruto commented, ready to serve them the joys of ramen once again. 

As they all shouted for more, happy to match the blonde enthusiasm. 

Each one of them felt closer to the wayward shinobi after hearing his story.

How couldn’t they? It was just that inspiring.

But it would seem there was one final member of the Fantastic Four who wasn’t there, as he had been listening in to the conversation from outside the room.

“Hmmm… ” He grunted, as Johnny got a look a small look at him, as the figure began to exit the building.

Leaving as many cheers and shouts began to fill the room.

XXX

“Out for a stroll?” Johnny questioned, using the moment to slip from the dinner party and chase after the person who had caught his eye.

Of course, it was Benjamin Grimm, otherwise known as The Thing, who was just at the exit to the Baxter building, trying to make off without anyone spotting him. The keyword was ‘try’ as it would seem he had been caught by the most upbeat member of the Fantastic Four.

As Ben looked at him, “Hey, Johnny, I suppose I was… I suppose I was…” he said in a grumble, his voice gruff, more tired than it had been. Johnny had supposed he had been tired for a while, even before their shared defeat at the hands of Namor.

“Well, come on then, it’s colder indoors, wouldn’t want you to sneeze up rocks or something— wait, do you even sneeze?” Johnny questioned.

“I haven’t gotten sick in a very long time, Johnny, and believe me, you know I ain’t the type of person to gather around the human campfire much either,” he said.

“Yeah, maybe so, but I’ll tell ya, you’ve never encountered a campfire quite as hot as me,” Johnny told him, igniting his fires for dramatic effect.

“Hehe, that might be… that might be…” Ben said with a laugh; it wasn’t a full laugh, but it was enough to see that Ben was still in there.

“So come on, it’s nice up there, I’m sure we’ve still got some dinner left over, if Sue hasn’t eaten it all,” Johnny asked, but the rock man just shook his head.

“No, you go up there, that’s where you belong, I’ve just got some thinkin’ to do.” He didn’t belong up there, with them, when they were all smiling, when they were all laughing; he couldn’t do the same.

If he went up there, he would only bring down the mood, and he couldn’t have that, so he decided to go, at least for a little while, where he could cool his mind down.

There were just too many thoughts in his head, Reed, Suzzie, and even that new guy.

He just needed to get away.

Johnny frowned, “Are you sure?” he asked, pleading with his friend to stay.

But Ben only sighed, “Yeah, Johnny… I’m sure.”

The Torch nodded, “Alright then, you take care of yourself, Ben.”

The Thing nodded back, “That’s right, take care,” as he reached for his hat at the doorway and left the building.

He just needed to clear his mind for a bit. Maybe then… then things would be okay.

XXX

(Upstairs)

Soon enough, the partying died down, and the laughter, and the games, as night had fallen and the city that never slept got busy. The same couldn’t be the same for the Baxter building, as the young ones were sent off to bed, Susan deciding to help put Valeria to sleep, Johnny headed to his room as well. And Ben? He… hadn’t returned yet, still out for a stroll, he supposed.

Naruto, meanwhile, decided to get to work, at least for a little while, while things were still quiet. Relinquishing the use of his clones, he just used himself to be the main work entity.

And, with a sigh, he got hold of a bottle of ink, a brush, and began.

Fuinjutsu was actually a very relaxing process, all things considered. He had always been a rather hyperactive kid, always moving around, never able to sit still; it was part of the reason why he always did so badly at that ninja academy— well, that, and the teachers blatantly teaching him wrong half of the time. Nevertheless, he hadn’t been the best when it came to staying still, but ever since his training as a sage at Mount Myoboku, he had taken a liking to meditating. Staying absolutely still, and of course, becoming one with nature, observing oneself and the lives of others. It was a peaceful practice, and sealing was very much similar to that.

He can remember when he was a young lad, Hiruzen had instructed him on the foundations of sealing. To create kanji perfectly, to replicate it without even seeing it again, is pure muscle movement. It was actually one of the first and only things the old Hokage had taught him, being ever busy with his Hokage duties. But at least it was something, it allowed him to learn how to learn write and read. Who would have thought it would also serve him years later like this? Maybe he figured that, due to his heritage, he might end up learning the art in the future. Despite what everyone said about his homework, they never said anything about his handwriting, as Hiruzen had berated him constantly to draw kanji perfectly. 

Now he would utilize those skills, tracing each sealing script with an expert of a true master, not a character out of place, not a stroke too large or too small. Everything was in order, and that was all he could ask for.

It was a relaxing action in truth, to take the edge off after a long day, testing his mind whilst keeping himself busy.

Even now, he was finishing a small sealing array that dealt with, writing the kanji for fire, which, coupled with the kanji’s for wind, water, lightning and earth, created a sort of pseudo-Yin/yang release, which strengthened the seal, to the point it was able to handle, transfer, and store the large amount of chakra stored within it, preventing the seal from combusting. That was never good, so of course, he had to make everything perfectly and delicately so as not mess anything up.

Bringing his brush down to produce its signature upside-down ‘Y’ shape, he also added the strokes along the sides perfectly, being ever so careful to not mess up.

“HEY, NARUTO!”

“AHHHH!!” he screamed as Susan showed up right in front of him. Inadvertently, he ended up spilling his jar of ink on the floor beside him, messing up the ink structure he was creating, and utterly smearing it. 

“Haha!” she laughed at the face he made when he was startled.

“Gah, jeez, Sue, you shouldn’t sneak up on me like that!” he told her, still not being used to the fact that she could sneak up on him when he wasn’t focused. He was a shinobi for Kami’s sake; he was used to paying attention to his surroundings, being sure to not be attacked from anywhere, but Sue’s powers threw a wrench in that. It was just really hard to tell when she was there if she used her powers, and if she did, he had to actively be searching for her with his sensory abilities, like sage or something— and he wasn’t willing to stay in Sage Mode 24-7 just to make sure she couldn’t sneak up on him all the time.

“Oh, but you look so cute when you’re startled, it's just too funny,” Susan told him.

‘Cute?’ Naruto questioned within his mind, not knowing how to feel about that, or why, for some reason, he felt a strange feeling deep within his chest, he elected to ignore it.

“Yeah, well, stop it!” he said with a frown.

“Come on now, when you have invisible powers like mine, you've got to learn to find amusement in it from time to time,” Sue told him.

“I suppose,” he said, as he leaned down to clean up the spilled ink on the floor.

“Sorry,” she apologized, not meaning for his work to get messed up when she startled him.

“It’s fine, not something that a rag won’t fix, mind handing me that one over there?” he pointed to a small cart off in the corner as he went for the knocked-over bottle to prevent it from spilling anymore.

“Yeah, sure,” she said, as she went for the rag, handing it to him.

“Thanks!” he told her, whipping it up.

“Naruto, since you spilled the ink everywhere, it's not going to like… blow up the entire multiverse, is it?” Sue asked him.

As the blonde blinked, “Huh? What? No, why would it do that?”

“Well, I suppose with Reed’s inventions, they would always run that risk. I just wanted to know,” she mentioned. Recalling the button Reed had to dissolve a person from existence that he used one time.

“Right… well, my seals are pretty harmless right now, I haven’t even begun to store chakra in it, so that isn’t something to worry about,” Naruto informed.

“That’s good,” she said, before noticing that the seals he had placed around weren’t nearly as large as the seal she had seen in the negative dimension. “I suppose you have your work cut out for you.”

“Yeah, I do,” he said with a sigh, running his hands through his hair lightly, imagining just what he needed to do in order to finish the seal, and the massive workload it required to replicate it again.

“Why are you even working on it so late? You aren’t going back on our deal, are you?” she questioned, crossing her arms, her lips pouting.

“What? No, I would never, I was just trying to finish up a few things, before heading to be, y’know,” he told her, before sighing. “I suppose I was just caught up in the memories with everything.”

As Susan gave him a look of understanding, he told them alot that night, everything to do with his past and his world. The world he was no longer connected to, blown away in the infinite realms of space and time.

“Look, Naruto, I know it might not mean much, but I do really appreciate you telling us about yourself, especially because of how much you’ve helped us—me, with everything.”

“Even after finding out I was raised to be a killer? An assassin for hire?” A small, more vulnerable part of him asked. After all, he would understand it if it meant kicking him out of the Baxter building. Especially considering there were children around, and the Fantastic Four were labeled as benevolent heroes.

Maybe it was part of the reason he didn’t tell them, that, or the fact that he just generally didn’t like bringing up his past too often.

Her eyes softened, “Naruto… you told us everything about your world, I can’t blame you for what you became…”

“Are you sure? I mean——”

“I’m sure,” she said, as she got close to him, giving him what she could only presume to be a motherly hug. “I mean, you’ve helped me so much, and I just want you to know, as long as you’re here, you’re a part of this family as much as any of us.”

Naruto was shocked at her words, just as much as he was shocked by her action. But eventually, he found himself slowly wrapping his arms around the smaller woman, feeling her warmth.

A warm feeling started to form within his chest, something not even he understood. But for some reason, the faintest part of him, when he was standing there clutching the woman in front of him…

He realized he might not want to let go. 

XXX

Slam!

A hardened rocky fist met even softer rock and pulverized it, smashing it into tiny pieces and utterly obliterating it.

But even then, that didn’t fill the hole within him that needed to be filled.

Benjamin Grimm wasn’t satisfied, not in the slightest, and no matter how many times his fist met the hardened surfaces, it did not help. Standing at the outskirts of New York City, he was miles from any life or civilization, the perfect place to work out his anger, trying to fill the need to clobber. Trying to fulfill his feelings of inadequacy, trying to get the dark thoughts out of his head. 

After all, he was supposed to be the physically strongest member of the team, the Family. He was supposed to be the rock they could all lean on, and in the end, he failed them. He was the reason Reed had forced himself to stall for him, the reason why he was captured by Annihilus, and he knew that. If he had just been a little stronger, a little more durable, it could have been him, should have…

Even now, he still wasn’t strong enough. Trying to defeat Namor, he was drowned in his waters, unable to breathe, unable to think, unable to clobber his way free. 

Susie would have been taken, and he would have been doing nothing to stop it.

Crash!

His fist slammed down onto the ground again, this time it sent a massive shockwave, akin to a lower-level earthquake, earthshattering, as rocks gave way, flying into the air and becoming pebbles. But that didn’t quell the feelings inside of him.

He was aware that he was bottling up his feelings, and he was aware that he was pushing everything deep, and one day he was going to give way. He just didn’t care; he wanted to get his mind off of those things.

Ben needed a distraction, and that distraction usually meant clobberin’.

“Well now, that was quite a feat, man of stones,” a regal voice spoke, as Benjamin Grimm turned, seeing a well-muscled man in strange silver armor, a red cap, and flowing long blonde hair floating above them.

“Rrrrr… Go away, Goldilocks, I ain’t willin’ to talk right now,” he told him, wanting to get back what he did best.

Thor merely raised an eyebrow. “Oh, but who mentioned anything about conversing?” 

Slam!

It was just then that a Green Hulking figure jumped in front of Thor, a crater forming in his wake.

“ENOUGH TALKING, IT’S TIME TO SMASH!!!”

Ben smirked, his friends realizing this was exactly what he needed to take the edge off, “Just what I’ve been lookin’ for… IT’S CLOBBERING TIME!!!”

AN: There we go.

This chapter was pretty long, although I wouldn’t say it had a great amount of substance to it, with much of it being recap which I assume many of you will scroll through. 

But I felt like it was the natural progression of their characters, with the aftermath of the fight with Namor and the feelings they all had. Naruto, letting the whole family know his story and Naruto also ‘officially’ getting inducted into the family after all he’s done. And of course, we pick up to what Ben’s been up to, and things have been grim (ba-dum tsk).

This chapter also ending off “part 2” of the story.

There will be a bit of a timeskip after this, once I continue the fic, with the next part being the culmination of such progressions.

Hoping to update my Naruto/PJO Artemis fic next week if I am able.

Let me know what you guys think of this!

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Thank you to all of my Patreon supporters who got to read this story early. I really do appreciate it!

Mauricio Perez, Jordan Jenkins, Life Life, Yerc Goblin, Maccc, Coran29, Odin, Endymion, MASTERCHIEF1229, Antonio Munoz, Invictus Messor, Jeremiah Piach, Alexander

Please leave me lots and lots of NICE reviews.