Chapter Text
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Some people remember the last thing they thought of when they went to bed. Clearly. Vividly. Indubitably. Some would go so far as to describe how their day went, and what they ate.
I do not have that kind of memory. I only remember waking up to a plain white ceiling. I remember smelling stale air, like something has not been washed in a while; just put together and untouched. I remember sitting up and looking to my right, seeing a lonely brown wooden desk with a pad and a pen on top of it. A semi-open window was on my left and a breeze blew the white linen curtains up and down like the ocean tickles the sand.
I lifted the white cotton sheets from my body and froze. Because the energy flowing within me is not the normal tired energy one would have. I felt… Rejuvenated. Vigorous and… something else… unsettled maybe. I look to the left and right. Nobody is here. I stood up from the bed, looking for something to bring back the memory of who and where I was. Looking at the door in the right corner, I decided that would be my best bet at figuring out where I was.
I exited through the door adjacent to the dresser, entering a living space. An open door revealed a bathroom to my immediate left. The rest of the space was just as plain as the bedroom. A blue couch, a dining table, and a kitchen area; fridge black stove top with oven, sink for washing hands and a cabinet with many drawers adjacent to that. But in the bathroom was the very object that I am looking for. A plain and revealing…mirror.
I go to it. I stare
I stare some more.
I touch my face…
I squeeze my cheeks.
I slap my face. Softly. Then harshly, the echo reverberating through the room.
My brown eyes look back at me… wide eyed and surprised.
My reddish-brown hair sits upon my head, a caesar cut… and my skin is a nice shade of… almost olive, almost brown. I have never seen this person before… which means I do not know who I am… ok… well ok. I am in this spartan apartment, a weird place, with no information… ok.
Cool cool coolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcoolcool…
I nod my head. Look at myself in silence. Take a deep breath… hold…and then…
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
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A glass broke. A few yards out, the yell trips up a green clad Jounin on his run. A man with a toothpick almost swallowed it. A ninja almost drops her dango. A kid stumbled on his scarf, he cried. The yell scared most of the village for two seconds… before life continues on. Just another day in this village.
( Two Hours later)
The mind can sometimes be silent when you are thoroughly at a loss for words. I have been moving in silence, simply putting my feet in front of the next. I walked aimlessly through this… village is the best way to describe it. There is no sidewalk ( what is a sidewalk and how do I know this word?) No cars ( What is a car?) But carts line the left and right of this street, with vendors selling fruits, leather goods and laughing people passing by me intermittently. A cacophony of sound fills the silence of my thoughts. Kids run by every now and again laughing, eating or sometimes crying.
These sounds are secondary; a background noise. My head is blank, my ears are ringing and it feels like I am floating in the ocean; my ears are underwater. For how loud these people look to be, they somehow never pierce the array of thoughts raining down on my psyche.
Why did I scream when I saw myself? Why did it take me nearly an hour to gather up the strength to get up from the bed and move? Why was thinking so difficult and why was there a mental block when it came to thinking about who I wa-
I suddenly reach out and grab a kid before they fall. The kid froze upon contact, bracing himself for… something.
“You ok kid?” I asked.
“Y-Yeah mister…” Says the kid. He is still tense, I then notice the sounds have lowered, all the eyes in the area are upon us… watching… assessing.
I look at the kid and notice he is tense because of this. I smile, and put a hand on his head, hoping to set his mind at ease.
“It was an honest mistake, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. I apologize.” I say this, and watch the energy shift again. The people, angry and confused. The kid, still on guard, but also just as confused. He backs away from me in his confusion.
“It’s ok, it was my fault.” He mumbles, looking down at his feet. His body language speaks of fear. Of me, of his surroundings and of the people watching us. I looked at him closely. And even in my amnesia, I knew he was important to something… Blonde spiky hair… blue eyes and whisker marks. He wore a green shirt and orange pants with blue sandals on his feet. He had a lot of energy… but also two energies… one felt inquisitive. The other very angry.
Orange… whiskers… blonde and blue eyes… was he…?
OH!!!
Yeah, nope. Wait… is this who I think it is?
Yeah it is…
No… no it’s not. I can’t recall. But I do know I have to reassure this little one that all is good.
“No worries, I’ll take the blame. You have a good day kid. Sorry again,” I ruffle his hair and continue to walk, leaving the situation, the confused kid and the weird people behind.
As I continue my walk, I am certain of one thing; I have no destination. I had just put on whatever sandals were by the door, grabbed the keys on the kitchen counter and left. I’m not even sure if I know where to go nor do I know how to get back to the apartment I woke up from. It is most frustrating to see what you know to be true, but cannot grasp it, let alone make sense of it all. To not know is the most scariest thing next to death, but even that is an unknown aspect to living. I continue to walk aimlessly, feeling the ray of sunlight hitting my face. I cover my eyes a little, look up and freeze. My breathing began to increase, my palms began to sweat and my pupils felt dilated. My adrenaline rises. My head begins to ache. That ringing sound in my ear gets louder and the ocean feels wider. Not just wider… I am drowning…
Why? I’m looking at four faces on a mountain. It just looks like Mount Rushmore?... but of old people. Except for the fourth stone face. Looks younger… almost… sharper. My mind flashes through images and moments in the span of a few seconds.
“Minato Namikaze… the fourth Hokage-”
“Uzumaki Naruto, he’s the…”
“Troop 011216… your mission is to-”
“Uzumaki…”
“My name is A-”
“Yo, what’s good!”
“I love you!”
“I’m from New Y-”
“Uzushiokagure…”
I gasp and fall to the ground on my hands and knees. My headache increases. I need to see a doctor and I need to see one now. I slowly picked myself up and started moving. My aimless walking now seems to have a destination. Because the sounds of people fade away, and I suddenly smell the sterile scent of a place that gets cleaned often. Must be muscle memory to get to what smells like the hospital. My vision is blurry yet I avoid people left and right as if I can see in the darkness. I stop in front of a white desk. I feel a receptionist wearing a white nurse uniform at the front desk and she is looking directly at me with a blank look on her face.
“How may I help you today?” She asks. I look at her. Processed her question. Then I open my mouth.
Nothing comes out.
Confused… I try again, and the words escape me. My emotions begin to spiral out of control. I don’t know who I am, where I am, I have no identification, and the one place that can help me, I cannot even speak for some odd reason! What is this?
“Sir, please calm down, your chakra levels are spiking upwards.”
Chakra, what the hell is chakra? All I know is that gut feeling is spreading throughout my body. From my thighs, to my knees and then straight up to my chest.
“Sir, you are beginning to glow, please stop channeling your chakra!”
I don’t even know what I'm doing. The feeling hits my neck.
“Sir! Sir!”
I suddenly feel a burst of… something from within my mouth break, and it flows through my body like I jumped into the ocean. It feels cool, calming, then I remember.
“M-my name is Usui Koga, Ninja registration number 011216, Rank: ANBU. I do not know anything else… I need help remembering who I am.”
Then I black out.
_______________________
Now… Remember when I said some people remember waking up without knowing what they did before? Yeah… this time was different.
I woke up to the beep of a machine. My eyes remained closed. I took in just the sounds, and focused on my breathing. Meditation is focused on breathing exercises to bring awareness of who you are and where you are. It also helps with learning your body. I did this to not have a repeat of whatever knocked me out.
I inhaled. I felt my breath, I felt my lungs, I felt that pool in my belly. I exhaled. I felt the breeze from my exhale, I felt the linen under me and the sheet on me, I felt the nakedness and the protection of the hospital pajamas they gave me. I smelled the earthiness of the room, I heard the beep. I felt the needle in my veins, most likely an IV machine. I smelled the cigar smoke fill the room. It smelled of a rich saccharine, as it wafted through the air. I felt the presence of 5 people in my room. 3 attempting to hide. two not even concerned. Then I felt their chakra.
If I am a pool, this one man is an ocean. I opened my eyes slowly, allowing my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the hospital room. I adjust. Then I lay eyes on an old man with a red and white robe. Standing next to a man with pineapple shaped hair. My mind fills in the information. Not just on who they are but on everything that occurred in the last few hours.
‘Orange… whisker marks… Uzumaki Naruto…’
‘Four faces on a mountain… Hokages…’
“Konoha… I am in Konoha…”
“Yes, you are. Usui Koga. Now can you tell me what the seal on your tongue was?” The Hokage of the village standing at my bedside with a unit of ANBU in hiding was no coincidence. The images of my life flash before my eyes in rapid succession… but not only that… the lives of another person fill my mind. A place far from here, with people that looked and acted nothing like the people of Konoha. Brown people, many shades of brown people speaking a completely different language than what I am hearing now. I saw trains overhead, heard loud music, rap is what they called it. Others called it Hip-Hop. I remember people dancing, people fighting, a gruesome art form of anger and aggression balled into a fist. People darker than me trying to sell bags and purses just like that market I passed by. Smoke, Louder noises of what is to be gun fire and the sound of … honking cars… the place is called New York City… Whoever this other person was, they had a very interesting upbringing. They also seemed to have read about this world. They knew a lot about it…
Like how the man I am talking to dies… and how the one standing next to him goes too…
But that is not the question he asked me. So I answer.
“I was an operative of Root, under the direct leadership of Commander Shimura Danzo. All operatives are given a seal on our tongue which prevents us from giving vital information. If we even come close to telling any secrets, the seal would explode, killing us instantly.” My mind supplied the information. The silence from my omission fills the room. I can feel more questions appearing. Everyone’s chakra seems to be inquisitive. Was this a trait? Feeling chakra out? I wait for the next set of questions.
“What do you remember?” Nara Shikaku asks.
“I only remember waking up in a sterile environment. My body travelled through the village before I ended up here in this hospital. Then I felt the seal break, allowing me to speak now…” I think about how much of a force Konoha nin has, for the leader of this village… the fire shadow to be speaking with me… this is a big deal.. But just how big is it? Most importantly, with the memories of how this world ends and begins, just how much can I change? Who can I trust?
“Hokage-Sama, I am but a lowly ninja. My loyalties are not to Shimura Danzo, they are to you and the village. I remember my records. I am an orphan. Danzo found me and I was indoctrinated. I have done some evil things. Killed people, all for the sake of Konoha. But I have to ask this… is there a reason why you are here to greet me and not the head of interrogation?” I cut right to the point. Despite my question, the Hokage turns away from me and walks to the view on the right of me. It is of the village, orange, olive green, reddish-brown and tan buildings fill my eyesight. He lights up his pipe again and takes a deep pull. I see the smoke waft upwards as he seemingly ignores my question. We sit in the silence, the beep intermittently cutting into the slight tension from his silence. But eventually he spoke.
“We have run a number of tests on you when you were unconscious. The information we found was so surprising that I decided I should be here to tell you personally.” With that, a blur passes my peripheral view and a folder is on my lap. A woman laid it there. Purple hair a couple shades darker than mine. She has a very toned body and was lithe in her movements. But still too slow for my reflexes. I must be very fast if that is the case. I open the file and freeze yet again.
I see my face… from when I was 12, and the file has me at the age of 20 now. I see missing posters of my face, I see my blood type, my height, my weight and my chakra levels. My body fat percentage, my reflexes, my elemental affinity ( Three? How unique) Then I see in big bold letters…my real name… Oh…
“Oh…”
“That would be precisely why we are here. We need to know not only what else you know… but also if there are others like you that you can recall.” Nara spoke up seriously. I thought long and hard… and if I wasn’t trained to not show emotion, I would be grinning like a shark… or Kisame… who I hope I never have to see in these field ever. Eitherway. Danzo is screwed.
“I will give you everything I know.”
(3 Days later)
After a series of tests, reflex examinations within the hospital, mental check-ins with Yamanaka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku and a bevy of other nurses and ANBU representatives, I am let go. We created a game plan on how this would go but for the meantime, I would never be wearing an ANBU mask again. Such is life. I learned that my apartment was located in a tower filled with various Jounin and Chunin and I was on the 6th floor in apartment D. Which is interesting because that was the same childhood apartment from the other person’s memory. There were 4 apartments per floor lettered A-D. I was on the last floor and the last letter. As it stands, Danzo could not get to me. With who I was, it was impossible for me to go missing without some news popping up. I gave up everything I possibly could give. Locations, missions, hidden information that caused many of the people listening to be stunned and shocked. It seemed just that alone provided more changes to the timeline. I hope I did the right thing.
If I could pass an assessment they would provide on my skills, I would be given a Jounin title and would be able to take on regular missions. I had a week to familiarize myself with my abilities and then I would be tested at a random training ground with the Commander of Shinobi and a representative of the Hokage watching.
I sat on a park bench overlooking a school of children. Reflecting on the past few days caused me to feel fear, doubt, anger, confusion and hope. I now know who I am, or at least who I am in this world. I know where I am… but what exactly do I do with the news of the time? On the left of me is a backpack filled with scrolls. Scrolls I had filled in with all of the information I knew about the world. I had each major village done and was in the process of filling out Konoha when I saw him again.
Uzumaki Naruto swinging from a tire by himself as parents came to pick their children up. Initially I determined that outside of Ne, I would do nothing just yet in order to figure out just how much I wanted to impact the Naruto world. A ripple in a pond could turn everything asunder after all. Would it be a bad thing if I inserted myself in this world? Should I let things happen? I was too late to prevent some of the worst atrocities from happening. Naruto was eight years old, he had already experienced trauma from the villagers and their neglect. Hinata had already been almost kidnapped and her cousin filled with hatred towards her and the world. Sasuke had…
Oh…
Sasuke was walking next to his 13 year old brother… Uchiha Itachi…
Yeah…to be quite honest. The ending of this story left a lot to be desired. Additionally, while Kaguya was cute for a villain, I had 0 intentions of letting that happen. Time to create a new story. Sacrifices would have to be done.
I don’t even know what led me to doing this. I don’t even remember moving. What I do recall was sealing that bag up and…
Placing a hand on a tire swing, resulting in a scared blondie looking at me.
“Hey kid, I asked around and the Hokage told me you were in the academy. How about I apologize for bumping into you with some food. How do you feel about Ramen?”
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“Another serving for me and Naruto please!” I exclaim. The flavour profile on this bowl of ramen was simply insane. This was my third helping of Miso ramen, and Naruto’s fourth. Yet I didn’t stop at just Ramen, ordering Edamame, Pork Buns and White Rice. I forced the kid to eat the Edamame and tossed in more seaweed into his ramen when he wasn’t looking ( we would not be dealing with a short Naruto if I had anything to say about it).
“So you wish to be Hokage… to be acknowledged… Admirable. But let me ask you this then…If I told you that I acknowledged you. Would that be enough? If everyone suddenly decided you aren’t what they said you were, apologized and greeted you in respect, would you still wish to be Hokage?”
I stumped him. Good. There was a flaw to thinking that the Hokage was a symbol of acknowledgement. They were much more than that. They were the embodiment of sacrifice and the will of the village. They kept the village safe. If the intentions behind being Hokage were to be acknowledged, there were certainly other ways of gaining that acknowledgement. Starting a clan ( in the works) developing a groundbreaking seal or Jutsu ( which he later does) becoming undeniable in strength ( also checks that box) and a few more would provide acknowledgment. To be honest… If the future played out, he would be a Hokage, but a terrible father… Boruto and Himawari probably didn't deserve it. But when you are an orphan and your parents aren’t around, how do you develop the nurture gene or experience? You don’t. You learn as you go. Which is Naruto’s strong suit and possibly his learning style. I couldn’t blame his logic, but I can surely question it.
“I don’t ask this to deter you. I ask this to strengthen you. A Hokage is more than being acknowledged. They are the strongest in the village, but also the most charismatic.The one others rely on. The one who has the best interest of the people they lead. They are undeniable in their strength and in their love for the village. You wish to be that, you need to change the way the village perceives you. So… I challenge you.” With this I turned in my seat and looked directly in his eyes. I put my fist out for him to bump.
“Uzumaki Naruto, I challenge you to be the best academy student you can. I challenge you to read, study the history of all of the previous Hokage. Learn their strengths, their weaknesses, and determine how you can be better. Grow and train until you can no longer train. Ignore the haters. Fu- uh… forget them! Accept who you are and overcome everyone who doubted you. If you can do this. I will personally do all that I can to assist you in whatever you wish to be.” I held my fist out. Watching his emotions. Waiting for his answer. I knew what it would be already. I can feel his aura churning, his feelings shifting through many things before ending on one.
Hope.
“You’re on mister! I will be the greatest academy student in the world!” He fist bumped my hand and held firmly like I was a lifeline. Like I would disappear if he didn’t hold on. Like I was the last hope. His last shred of hope. In many ways, I very well could have been. I would take that burden. To hell with canon. Let’s have some fun! I felt his resolve. A bond was formed. I would see it through to my dying breath for this boy to be the best. Hokage or not.
Then I felt a pull in my mind… a strong pull…
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When we came through, I tried to recover quick as possible. That was… the most unique experience one could ever feel their fourth day in this world. It felt like minutes but, in reality it must have been seconds. I recovered quickly, hoping Naruto would catch on.
“None of that mister stuff. Call me Koga! I look forward to seeing you graduate.” I turned back to my food and ate in silence, a few moments later a cup of sake was placed in front of me.
“On the house,” Said Teuchi, the proprietor of the stand. He had a wide smile in place, but I could see the hint of dried up tear streaks. I didn’t even notice that they were listening in! But truth be told, we were the only ones in the place. If there was any way I could help them too, I vowed to myself that I would.
“I promise, I will be the best Student there ever was, Koga-san!” Naruto was back, looks like he had processed what I said, what was learned and took it to heart, I ignored the tear marks on his face as well. I ignored the watery smile he gave me and looked him directly in his eyes.
“I look forward to cheering you on when you get that hitai-ate. But for now… you should get home. It’s 2100.” I told him. I chuckled as he blanched and sped off for a hasty bedtime. I reached into my pockets to pay and realized a few things.
Whoever’s memory I caught… he was a teacher in that life… I knew then and there what my calling was.
The feeling of making an impact, no matter how small. Meant more to me than anything I’ve ever done since waking up.
I did not have my wallet.
“Uhh… Teuchi-san, about this meal…”