Ugh, I feel terrible. My head is pounding, my stomach aches, my back hurts, and there's a pulsating pain inside. My body won't cooperate at all. A strange sensation spreads from my chest throughout my body—it's soothing in one way, easing the pain, but it also burns and spreads negative feelings all over. I try to open my eyes but can't.
— Naruto! Naruto! Can you hear us? — a voice comes through the haze, pleasant and feminine.
— Yes… — I respond, though it's more of a faint exhalation.
— Do you feel anything?
— Pain.
There are quiet exchanges above me, and then a wave of coolness and numbness sweeps over me. My head feels empty and lazy; I don't want anything.
— Are you feeling better?
— Yes. Where am I? — I ask, as if it's the natural question to ask.
— You're in the Konoha Hospital.
— Konoha?
— The Hidden Leaf Village. This is where you were born and grew up. Yesterday, you were hit by the traitor Mizuki…
— Who is that? — I need to play the amnesia card.
— Your former teacher. Please, tell me what you remember.
— I remember… fear, darkness, being alone… A feast, everyone eating. No one there, forever, darkness, emptiness. Hands… no hands. Legs… no legs. Eyes, where are my eyes? — and I drift off again.
In the hospital room:
The morning twilight outside casts weak sunlight through the thin fog. In the center of the room, a small, bandaged body lies on the bed. Four people are present: a tall man with light hair tied in a high ponytail, green eyes, and a determined face; an old man in a gray kimono with dark hair cut short, half of his face covered in bandages, a cross-shaped scar on his chin, and one squinted eye; the Hokage, dressed in traditional attire with a Hokage hat bearing the kanji for fire; and an ANBU member in a mask depicting a horned beast, their figure concealed by a traditional gray cloak.
— Inoichi-dono, the jinchuriki has lost his memory. Could you examine him? — the Hokage addresses the blond man.
— Of course, please wait a moment.
Inoichi, head of the Yamanaka clan, leans over the boy and touches his temples with his fingers, murmuring something softly. After half a minute, he suddenly straightens up.
— The barrier is blocking access. — He says with surprise and some dread.
— But you yourself placed the barrier… — the bandaged old man, Shimura Danzo, head of the intelligence and special operations, begins with a quiet threat.
— That's not the issue. The barrier on my mind disrupts the connection. The boy remembers something that could drive even me insane. It's strange that he could even respond to questions. — Inoichi speaks calmly and firmly.
— Are you sure, Inoichi-dono?
— More than sure… — the mentalist replies thoughtfully.
— Are the loyalty seals intact? The anchors?
— It's impossible to determine unless… Danzo-sama, a Root operative might try. Though, I'm not confident about the outcome.
— Inoichi-dono, you know well that I do not intend to risk lives unnecessarily. Thank you for your time; you may go.
— Yes, Danzo-sama.
A brief pause.
— Sarutobi, what do you think? He could be the strongest shinobi in our village. But this idiot… — Danzo hisses.
— We'll see. — The Hokage replies thoughtfully. — The village will need a strong Kage in the future. My time is nearly up. The Fifth could be one of the Sannin; I'm inclined to invite Orochimaru, as you know, we won't find better. But they're not eternal, and we lack a promising candidate for the Sixth. — Another long pause. — Except for him. It's a pity that such potential is wasted on someone like… — The Hokage sighs, dropping the curse. — Fine, he'll just be a scarecrow in my seat. Make sure the Council of Elders is as competent as possible. They will rule. — Another pause, but the Hokage's relaxed face shows he's considering an idea. — And one more thing. Since there's no mental binding, we'll go old-school. Find someone charming, prepare them. We'll try to steer them in the future. Family is one of the best anchors.
— Understood. — Pause. — What about Iruka? Naruto was harmed due to his negligence.
— Execute for failure to fulfill duties. — The Hokage's words are delivered with finality.
— Understood.
Chakra (or mana, as I think it's called) works wonders. Just two days later, I was up and allowed to move around a little. The greatest enemy is boredom. Lying down is incredibly tedious! Though at first, I was simply glad to be breathing. Inhale! I feel my chest and stomach expand. Exhale! I relax and smile like an idiot. I'm breathing! Again, I'm breathing! How wonderful it is! When I finally had enough strength to open my eyes and move around a bit, I was overjoyed. I hope no one thinks I'm a complete idiot, but I wanted to touch everything. To feel the sand beneath my fingertips, to caress the polished wood, to listen to the wind gently rustling my hair. Forgotten and newly rediscovered sensations brought such simple, uncomplicated happiness.
Each sensation gradually awakened the memories of the boy whose body I now occupied. His life had been gloomy but not catastrophic. Yes, people didn't show him much love, and kids sometimes teased him, but it wasn't the end of the world. There were no scenes of stone-throwing and shouts of "die, demon" as seen in the anime. Try to be too bold, and ANBU will remove all your teeth through your backside. But the small apartment and meager financial support were laughable, barely enough to live on.
A young girl named Kaname was assigned to care for me. Brown eyes, dark hair, and an unremarkable, bland appearance. One wouldn't remember her in a crowd and might struggle to describe her. She seemed emotionless and somewhat pale, suggesting she was ANBU and often wore a mask.
— Naruto, do you want anything? — she asked.
— Outside. I want to lie on the grass. — I said, almost syllabically due to weakness.
She picked me up carefully and carried me out of the hospital.
I reveled in the new sensations. Feeling the ground beneath me again, hearing the rustle of grass, feeling the warmth of the bright sun was simply wonderful. I lay on a hill, breathing, feeling my chest rise… How I missed this! I fell asleep.
I woke up at sunset, back on the hospital bed. Kaname was moving her glowing green hands over my stomach. Seeing that I was awake, she smiled awkwardly and dimmed the light.
— Can you turn it on again? I want to see… — I managed to say normally! Oh, miracle! My body is slowly syncing with my soul.
The girl shrugged, and her palm was enveloped in a greenish mist again. I leaned in and, spellbound, watched the marvel.
— Teach me! — I exclaimed, surprisingly childlike.
— It's very difficult… — the nurse started to respond, somewhat taken aback.
— Teach me!
— But…
— Teach me! — I interrupted again.
— You can't, it requires enormous control!
— Teach me control! — I persisted, the magic is so close, and I want to learn it.
— Sigh! Alright, form a concentration seal and feel the chakra flow within you… — Kaname began, rolling her eyes.
— I can feel it even without the seal! It's a bit cool and flows pleasantly, but sometimes there's something else, burning and irritating, it feels like it pricks inside. How do you call them… Chakra channels itch! — I exclaimed.
The girl quickly pressed the call button. I watched in surprise.
— What happened? — A disgruntled man from the Hyuga clan entered the room. Their eyes are quite unsettling in reality.
— Naruto is extraordinarily sensitive to his chakra. Is this normal? Naruto-kun, please describe your sensations again.
After my description, the medic pondered, activated his Byakugan, and stared at me, almost dropping his jaw.
— Of course he feels chakra, he's a walking bomb! A Bijuu, in fact… — the medic exclaimed, quite un-Hyuga-like.
— Is there something wrong with the patient? — Kaname's voice rang with cold steel. Her eyes narrowed.
— Not in that sense. He has an abnormally high amount of chakra. An anomaly. — The medic's voice fell to a whisper by the end of his monologue.
Kaname looked at me skeptically. I smiled.
— Naruto-kun has always had an abundant reserve…
— Yes, yes. I remember. It doesn't compare to what it is now. And it's white. All people appear blue to me, but I see him in white. — Hyuga activated his Byakugan again.
— I remember, there, in the darkness, when I died, I was blue at first. Then black, and everyone was red. And when I started coming back, for some reason I turned white! — I babbled quickly.
So that's where the power of my soul went. It qualitatively changed my chakra, in addition to increasing its already enormous amount. I assume my white chakra will be much stronger than the usual bluish one. I'll need to be more careful in training.
— Naruto experienced clinical death, Rin-san. The phenomenon is poorly understood, so it is quite possible that… — Kaname began speaking to the doctor, but he interrupted her with a wave of his hand.
Hyuga thoughtfully shook his head and left the room.
A week later, I was released from the hospital, but I had to promise not to use any techniques for the time being. If only they knew how tempting it was! A person (or not quite a person) who had only seen magic in movies and cartoons was now experiencing it firsthand. I can clearly feel the circulation of power within me, feel its pulse in my channels.
I stumbled home, relying on luck and muscle memory.
Oh damn… How can anyone live like this? The place is a pigsty. I skeptically peeled my foot from the floor. Without taking off my shoes, I walked through the tiny apartment and opened all the windows to let out the stinking and stale air. I hate cleaning, but I had to spend the next six hours doing exactly that. And without the clones who did all the work in numerous fanfics.
There were no garbage bags, so I scraped up everything I could find and rushed to the nearest hardware store, fortunately not far, for cleaning supplies and more.
Once I had managed to clear out the garbage and scrub the floors (and sometimes the walls), I opened the only wardrobe with clothes… and howled. In total — 3 pairs of underwear, 2 t-shirts, 2 orange jumpsuits (one on me, with carefully patched holes in the stomach and back), 1 pair of shorts, 2.5 pairs of socks (one also on me), sandals, and pajamas. That's it. If the wall had been cleaner, I would definitely have hit my head against it. At least five times. And now I'll have to shave my head.
Cleaning continued. By nightfall, it was almost done, and I could walk around the apartment with almost no fear. I threw away the bed linens entirely, soaked the mattress in the bathroom. I closed the windows, leaving only the small ventilation window open, and went to sleep on the bare boards. Nothing serious, they say it's even useful.
Tomorrow, I have to go to the academy. Meet the team and captain, who have been out on D-rank missions for a week. Meeting at 1 PM. I set my alarm for 5 AM. In my past life, I was an early riser, which caused many to feel wild envy, and I don't want to change useful habits (especially good ones) in this life.
At 5 AM, after my morning routine, the cleaning continued. It was noon, the floors were washed, the walls scrubbed, the dishes cleaned, all the somewhat acceptable bedding washed. I sighed with relief and looked regretfully at the stash I had found. On the one hand, in total, it would be enough to buy normal clothes, because the orange jumpsuit horrifies me, and I think I'll never be able to perceive the color orange properly. If Death as a deity exists here, it will surely come for me in an orange cloak!
On the other hand, if I dress normally, until the next village stipend, I will have to live on instant noodles or steal from gardens. And I already have a reputation as a fool and joker; if I add thief to that, it will be a disaster.
After a few minutes of hesitation, I decided to make a deal with myself, promising to change my wardrobe sometime later. I went to the academy.
At the entrance, I asked to be shown to the required classroom since my memory was failing me.
A deep breath and I opened the door. So, this is team 7. A somewhat untidy, dark-haired guy, a pink-haired something, apparently not burdened with intelligence, with huge green eyes, and a gray-haired man, with sadness in the depth of his only visible eye.
— Hello, my name is Naruto. I hope we will become friends. Please take care of me, — I bowed.
— Is this really Naruto? — Sakura's surprised voice, whom I "don't remember."
— Pff. — Clear who.
— M-ma. Naruto-kun, this is team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and I am Hatake Kakashi, your mentor. — The jounin said uncertainly. — Do you remember anything from the academy?
— No, Kakashi-taicho. But I restore skills quite quickly.
— Naruto! Kakashi-sensei, what are you expecting from him? He's…
— Kakashi-taicho, is Sakura-chan unwell? Why is she screaming? — I rudely interrupted the monologue of this silly girl.
A shocked look from Sakura, a nonchalantly approving look from Sasuke, and an impossible-to-read expression from the captain.
— Sakura, Naruto experienced clinical death. He is now a completely different person, not the one you knew. He doesn't remember you.
Sasuke's look became interested, and Sakura's seemed disappointed.
— Naruto, here — Kakashi handed me a packet of books — is a brief course from the academy. Familiarize yourself and try to perform the standard chakra control exercises and techniques like illusionary clones and henge. Try to recover as quickly as possible. Until you're back in shape, our team cannot be assigned to missions higher than D-rank.
— Understood, I will do my best, Kakashi-taicho. But I've been forbidden to use chakra…
— What? — Sakura exclaimed.
— I have too much of it, and mistakes are unacceptable. — I continued calmly.
— How much is too much, Naruto-kun? — Kakashi asked seriously.
— About one-twentieth of a bijuu, and the reserve continues to grow. Slowly but steadily. According to forecasts, in five or six years, I'll be on par with the tailed beasts in chakra.
Sakura went into astral mode, Sasuke looked with malicious envy, Kakashi was unusually serious.
— I see, Naruto-kun. Don't worry, standard academy exercises can't lead to disastrous results. — He said confidently.
— I know the shadow clone technique, can I try to use it under your supervision? — I cast a line. The sensei thought for a moment and then nodded.
— But only after you complete the entire course again. Do your best. Sasuke, Sakura, let's go to the Hokage's tower. — He vanished with a shunshin. Sigh, this technique is still closed to me. Shunshin is a short-range, non-combat teleportation technique requiring excellent control.
— Sasuke, could you stay a moment? I have a small request.
— What?
— Could you teach me taijutsu? I don't remember anything at all, and we're still on the same team.
— No. — And he left. I'd like to give him a good slap to shake something loose and turn on his brain.
I skeptically weighed the package in my hand. Well, I'll go and load my head. I can read voraciously; fifteen hundred pages a day is not a limit. Was. I know hieroglyphs poorly (what kind of perversion is it to have a spoken language — Russian, but written language, I'm in tears). Sleepless nights, here I come, because I'm hungry, and a wolf feeds on its legs, that is, shinobi — missions.
On the second day, late at night, I was slurping noodles from a cardboard container and reading the next textbook, finally practice. Henge. The technique seems quite simple. Let's try. I'll choose the image… Kakashi. Let's imagine him as a kid. I rubbed my tired eyes, went to the center of the room, and concentrated.
— Henge!
I looked at myself in a small square mirror. Didn't work. So, try again. A bit more chakra…
— Henge!
Something flickered askew and immediately dissipated. More chakra!
— Henge.
There! The result! I tried to smooth my hair, and the image dissipated. Well, there's progress, I'll practice more in the morning. I glanced at the clock. It was three in the morning, added eight hours, set the alarm, and fell asleep.
I didn't get to sleep well. An unfamiliar shinobi woke me, dragged me out of bed by my collar, and demanded I dispel the technique. I didn't understand what technique he was talking about and tried to fall asleep even in that position.
— Look out the window.
— Damn it!
The picture was as if everything around was drawn, and someone took all the colors and swirled them. People were stumbling around, barely avoiding bumping into each other, and actually bumping into each other… a total funhouse mirror. Apparently, instead of changing me, the technique distorted the entire street, along with the air, skewing the color perception. It wasn't a material illusion; it was just a large-scale distortion of light. In the future, attempts to replicate the effect yielded nothing. The accidental discovery faded into oblivion.
— And how to dispel it? — I wondered if the expression on my involuntary wake-up call's face had become somewhat resigned.
— Kai doesn't help, after all, it's not an illusion; you're the creator of the technique, you should know!
— I tried to do henge, and it didn't work…
— Henge? — he threw a pencil from my desk out the open window. It bounced off the image of the sky that had spilled onto the wall with a snap. Using official resources! I have to look for that pencil later; I don't have money for a new one! — Henge should dispel with damage. It should help. — He looked at me with a question.
— Sorry, I'm an idiot, — I bowed. — I really tried to do henge on my sensei Kakashi.
The shinobi frowned.
— How much chakra did you pump into the warped henge that it holds like this? — he clicked his tongue, — okay, if it's really henge, it should help!
He went to the window, jumped out onto the street, looked up, and…
— Katon! Fireball Jutsu!
A one-meter fireball shot into the sky and exploded. The henge finally dissipated. I was advised to practice only at the training ground and finally left to continue sleeping. I wasn't popular with the people before, and now… now I seriously considered moving, preferably to the other end of the city. I hope they don't start throwing stones at my windows!