3 #2

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A SAGE ADRIFT

#2

Previously

"You are remarkably calm for someone who essentially just lost his entire life,"

Naruto let out a bitter chuckle at that, "Huh, Yeah, I guess you could say that,"

"So, where do we go from here, Mr.Uzumaki?"

"I..don't know…"

"Your body, as it is now, won't be able to sustain the full powers you will eventually gain once your systems are back up and running on dimensional energy. You, Mr.Uzumaki, are a one-in-a-trillion anomaly. It was as if your entire life was planned by someone to culminate in a body that could handle anything the multiverse could throw at it."

Once the introductions had been underway and he had finally asked her about his peculiar situation, the resulting explanation given by the Ancient One went right over the head of Naruto but he understood one thing. His body was injured but it would heal right up soon enough, just like it always has. 

Hearing the part of his healing prowess, he chuckled, "What use is that to me now?"

He looked at her, unshed tears in his eyes, "What use is being powerful if I can't even protect the people I love."

The Ancient One paused in her explanation and sighed. He heard her snap her fingers and instantly, they were someplace else.

Well, he couldn't tell if he was in a Genjutsu or if they had actually teleported to a farm without him realising it. It was not as if he could check or dispel the illusion without his chakra system being all messed up. He had checked. Even trying to do anything internal energy-related sent shocks of pain so intense, up his spine that he didn't bother after the first failed attempt.

He looked around the place where they had landed. The grass felt real to his toes and the feel of air hitting his skin was unmistakable. His vision allowed him to pinpoint the old couple eating dinner outside their house and the way they talked and laughed would have been nearly impossible for anyone to replicate back home, save for Madara and maybe Itachi.

"Wh-Where are we, Ancient One?" He asked her once he realised that she would not be providing him with an explanation on her own.

"This, Mr.Uzumaki, is a retirement home of an upstanding couple. They worked hard all their lives and deserve all the peaceful retirement period they are in,"

"Unfortunately, their happy retirement years will be cut short when they find themselves becoming a victim of a break-in that would go wrong a few short weeks from now."

The next words that came out of her mouth sent chills down his spine simply because there was no stuttering, no inflection when she casually dropped the bomb on him.

He whipped his neck towards her, eyes bulging incredulously as she casually told him the future.

"Wh-Ho-What are you saying? Can you see the future?" 

The Ancient One nodded and started walking towards the house in the distance and he jogged a little to catch up to her,

"In a manner of speaking. I can see possible futures, Mr.Uzumaki. Unfortunately, in most of the futures I can see, the lovely couple unfortunately does die a rather violent death."

His stride stopped midway and his body froze as the implications of the Ancient One's powers began to set in his mind. 

Seeing the Ancient One keep walking towards the house, he tried to grab onto her shoulder to stop her and finally bring her attention towards him but his hand passed through her form as if she was a water clone rather than an actual person.

Right then, the entire scenery in front of him changed and he found himself in the same position he was in before the entire debacle began.

Blinking the spots out of his vision, he jumped and checked over his entire body and his surroundings to see that he had not moved an inch from his previous position. Chills ran down his spine as he looked at the woman casually sitting in front of him and realised the true depth of her powers and the ease with which she could kill him.

But then, he realised that he had nothing left to lose anyway and if she had wanted him dead, he would be dead. There was no way he would be able to put up any sort of fight, not with his current condition anyway.

So, he sat back down on his bed, "so, why show me that illusion?"

The Ancient One stood from her seat and walked over to the window. For some reason, he was housed in the tallest tower of Kamar Taj, and from his bedside window, he could see all the people practicing the ninjutsu of this place that the Ancient One called magic.

"Because it is true. I have seen their fate and it is not pretty. Without someone," Here the Ancient One looked at him as he stood by her side, watching the apprentices practicing their conjuration, "to stop the would-be thieves, that couple is fated to die."

He shook his head and asked her, "What do you mean by fated to die? There is no such thing and if you do know what is about to happen to them, why don't you save them all by yourself, and the biggest question of them all, why me?"

"What have I done to deserve all this? I was happy back home. I am literally stuck here with no way out and no purpose. So, for the love of Kami himself, tell me why show me that?"

The Ancient One then looked at him with dead eyes and said, "Exactly, Mr.Uzumaki. Purpose. Purpose is something that can make or break a man. In your case, you are already broken so maybe a purpose can help you in this reality."

She then turned towards the bed and snapped her fingers. The sound of the snap coincided with him being transported to a different room with his clothes being changed at the same time.

"Stop doing that!" 

He was once again in a completely different room, surrounded by weird stuff kept in glass containers. 

"Hmm?", his brows furrowed as he felt something call out to him, almost like he could sense it. It was like he was sensing chakra just that this time the feeling was very vague.

"Hello?" He looked around, trying to see if anyone was present that could guide him out but everywhere he looked, he could not see a single door or even a window.

With nothing else to do, he looked around the glass containers, trying to see what was making his senses tingle, crippled as they were. 

Turns out, the place he was in, was, in fact, a vast corridor with swathes of items lining the centre of the room in display behind protective glass shields. He continued to roam the corridor in the weird-looking but strangely comfortable clothing in search of that elusive feeling. Soon, his search paid off and he was now standing in front of a glass box that held an hourglass with glowing purple sand in it. The hourglass continued to rotate slowly in the air as the sand would tumble from one end to the other, without truly filling any side.

Transfixed by the glow, his hand slowly reached out towards the glass container and without his noticing, his hand passed through the hole that had appeared in the glass as soon as his hand came near it. It should have raised alarm bells in his mind but at that moment, all he could think of was how beautiful the purple glow was and how it could solve all his problems.

As he got closer to the hourglass, he could feel its energy wafting on his skin, energizing him. Just as his hand was about to touch the hourglass, the glass hole closed up and his hand was nearly sheared in half with how much force was employed.

"Argh!" He grunted due to the pain and as if he had been awoken from a mental haze, he looked around, confused as to what had happened.

"I would not do that if I were you, Mr.Uzumaki," The sound of the infernal Ancient One sounded behind him as a dainty hand rested on his shoulder and seamlessly pulled him back from the hourglass, his hand freed from the glass hole which then closed up as if it had never been there in the first place.

"Okay, this has gone on long enough. Either you give me some answers or let me leave because I am just about done with your games, woman." He said as he tried to let out the full force of his chakra but just ended up injuring himself, evident by the thin stream of blood that flowed out of his mouth.

Wiping it off, he heard her sigh and then talk, "Look, Mr.Uzumaki. As I said, you are an anomaly. What I said back then, about my abilities, was not untrue. I can see possible futures and through those, I can mostly predict how the future would go based on a certain action. You, on the other hand, do not appear in my visions. It was as if the rules of the world did not apply to you at all. That was the case when you first arrived here. Now, as if the reality was adjusting to your presence, I can see your silhouette in my visions but I still can't find anything concrete regarding you."

His confused look must have tipped her because she started dumbing it down for him.

As it turned out, he was not supposed to be here at all, at least according to the future reading skills of the Ancient One. Her skills, when he first arrived here, did not work on him but now after a few days of him being in their universe, her powers had begun to work on him as well.

At Least that's what he understood from the long-winded explanation that the Ancient One gave him.

"Wait, if that's the reason, then why did you show me that couple and tell me about their deaths?"

"*sigh* You would not understand right now but know that couple is very integral to your stay here. Even if you don't believe me, I believe you would still help them out of your own goodness of the heart."

"Why me? Why can't you help them if you are that powerful?"

"Certain limitations bind me, Mr.Uzumaki and interfering in mortal lives with no connection to the supernatural at all, is one such covenant that I have to live by."

"Okay…I will go and save that couple. How will I do that though? I have no identity or resources to complete my mission."

"I was of the opinion that people in your line of work were trained for exactly this sort of thing."

"...Not exactly this but yeah, I have some training in that regard. Very well, I will do as you say but one last question, what was that hourglass in the glass container and why did it call out to me? Why couldn't I resist its temptation?"

"That..the answer to that is complicated, Mr.Uzumaki. Those are the Sands of Power Cosmic, an unimaginably powerful source of energy that can, under the right circumstances, mimic almost all types of energy save for cosmic energy."

His eyes grew wide in comprehension.

"Yes, that must include chakra as well, the special energy mixture that your body is used to. I reckon that is the reason why your body was attracted to it since it must crave chakra and since this reality has none, it gravitated towards one of the few things that can provide that to you."

"I see." He said while looking at the hourglass with interest.

"Unfortunately, Mr.Uzumaki, your body and especially your internal energy system are all very wrecked right now. I did all I could but it would seem that the last part would take time to heal naturally. So, I would advise you to avoid trying to use any of your energy skills for at least a few months. The Sands of the Power Cosmic will be handed over to you once you are healed. Until then, they will be under my safekeeping."

He had no problem with that, as long as it helped him get some of his old skills back, his life would become very much easier, even in this new reality.

He despaired internally once he realised that he would not be able to use Shadow clones, even for non combat purposes like accelerated information gathering.

"Now, is there anything else you wanted to ask me?"

"Actually, yes…" He wanted to ask her if she could provide a background for him but he heard that accursed snapping sound again and found himself at the edge of the road that led straight to the house he had seen in the vision with nothing but the clothes on his back and a small suitcase near his legs.

He groaned as he palmed his eyes and looked again at the orange suitcase. 

At Least the Ancient One had style. He could appreciate that much, at the very least.

"I guess this is it then. No point dilly dallying now," he said while taking the suitcase and walking slowly towards the house he could see in the distance.

Time to see where this new reality takes him now.

Word Count - 2280

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