Years had passed since the fateful day Naruto Uzumaki defeated Kaguya Otsutsuki and became one with the God Tree. How many years, exactly? Even Naruto couldn't say. Time, once so familiar, had dissolved into an endless, formless haze. Thousands of years blurred together, each indistinguishable from the last. He did not age. He could not die. Time itself had become meaningless, a hollow concept in the face of eternal stillness. The world shifted around him, ever-changing, while he remained unchanging, unseen, and unmoving.
Yet, though Naruto no longer possessed physical eyes, he could still see. Through the roots of the God Tree, which stretched across the entire earth, he observed the world. He witnessed it all the rise and fall of nations, the fleeting joys and enduring sorrows of humanity, the quiet moments that defined countless lives.
He saw the Leaf Village mourn him after his disappearance, their grief gradually transforming into reverence. They erected a towering statue in his honor, a monument to the immortal hero they believed still watched over them. Their prayers reached him whispered in moments of desperation or gratitude calling to the savior they thought had transcended mortality.
Naruto observed as Sasuke, his closest friend and eternal rival, found peace at last. Time had softened Sasuke's guilt and eased the burdens of his past, allowing him to build a life with Sakura. At first, Naruto had felt a faint flicker of jealousy a ghost of his unspoken feelings for her. But the ache was fleeting, overshadowed by the quiet joy he felt for his friend. Sasuke had earned this peace, and Naruto found solace in that.
Hinata, too, had moved on. The shy, kind girl who had once bared her heart to him found love with Kiba, her laughter and warmth lighting up the life they built together. Naruto was happy for her—truly—but even that happiness was fragile, weighed down by what he saw beyond the fleeting joys.
The world, for all its beauty, remained locked in cycles of conflict. Villages waged senseless wars, battles fought not for survival but for pride, as though proving superiority could erase the scars of centuries of loss. They no longer fought over the Bijuu those, after all, had long since become a part of him. Yet the greed, the hatred, the endless hunger for power persisted.
Naruto, weary of watching humanity's self-destruction, made a choice. Through the roots of the God Tree, he passed judgment. He reached into the essence of humanity, severing their connection to chakra not erasing it entirely, but locking it away, burying it deep. The limitless power they had abused for so long was sealed, accessible only to a chosen few with pure hearts or unbreakable resolve. For the rest, chakra would remain dormant—a silent testament to the cost of their hubris and bloodshed.
The change was cataclysmic. Those who had ruled through power found themselves weak. The once-mighty shinobi were reduced to ordinary people, forced to grapple with a world where strength could no longer be taken for granted. Villages that thrived on chakra's backbone fell into disarray, their leaders searching for new ways to endure.
Naruto had hoped this intervention would be enough a drastic step to force reflection and change. He waited, watching humanity stumble forward, fragile and uncertain in their new reality. Yet, as centuries passed, doubt crept in. Would they ever truly learn?
The world moved on. The era of shinobi faded into obscurity, its stories fractured into myths, then diluted further into legends. The name Naruto Uzumaki became a whisper in the annals of history a bedtime story for children, a half-remembered parable of heroism and sacrifice.
But even as the details of his story were forgotten, Naruto himself was not. Reverence for the immortal hero lingered, passed down through generations. Elders spoke of his unyielding determination, his boundless kindness, and his ultimate sacrifice for the world. These stories became seeds, planted in young hearts, nurturing a quiet respect for the unseen protector who had given them a chance to forge a better future.
For the descendants of the ancient clans whose ancestors had once walked the path of the shinobi the connection to Naruto was even stronger. Through their faith and reverence, his influence persisted, a quiet but undeniable force. He was the unseen shadow cast over the world's progress, a god neither alive nor dead, silently watching from the roots of the God Tree.
And perhaps it was time to see the world through a different lens to follow a new perspective, a fresh pair of eyes unbound by the God Tree's roots yet entwined with the threads of destiny. Perhaps, in this new age, there was still hope for change.