2 An encounter with destiny
Author's Note: This fanfic is being written with some events that are different from the original story so that Naruto can fit into the account according to my point of view and design. No insults; be polite. Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments or private.
Naruto had been traveling dimensions for quite a long time.
With the help of the tailed beasts' gift, he took steps into the distant stars in the multiverse, meeting all kinds of places and people, helping them as he could, just as the old man sage would've wanted. But some occurrences transpired in these places got stuck with him for various reasons.
The first world he traveled to was a place that was very similar to his homeworld. Martial arts and elements were used to fight, and a source of energy that powered their abilities, the chi. But a particular individual in this world reminded me a lot of himself, the Avatar.
Just like himself, just as he was born, a powerful spirit was put inside of him, and he lived unaware of it until a certain age. He laughed at the irony. A destiny he didn't ask for, just like he was, was placed on his shoulders. He couldn't help but sympathize with the boy.
The bald boy currently finds himself in an internal dilemma. He was feeling reluctant about whether he would be able to kill the Firelord and save the world. He could understand where that concern was coming from.
Before coming in contact with Avatar's group, he came across many people. Upon witnessing his feats, the people appealed to him and begged him to kill the tyrant and stop this madness immediately. He also could understand why they asked him that. He could see it in their eyes, in their voice, in their body features, the tiredness, the suffering. But he would not take another life, ever. Gutting people was not a job for him. He swore he wouldn't bathe his hands in blood again, even if it were to stop a rotten cockroach such as Ozai, a guy who kidnapped the national symbols of his nation to make political propaganda and convince his people to proceed with an already long-lasting war against the world just for the benefit of his family's selfish wish for imperialism. He had other methods...
The Avatar, though, was a different story. He was still a fledgling and wouldn't be able to take on someone with so much more power than him in his current state. His hibernation in that iceberg stopped his growth. He was still just an inexperienced kid. It was not like in the shinobi world where, since childhood, you learn to use sharp tools such as kunai and shuriken to cut the enemy's lung and finish your mission. C'mon, what else were those for? Play hit-and-miss with the enemy? Of course, those were lethal tools used for killing.
While the people insisted he takes action, others believed that the Avatar should take on the Fire Lord to restore balance. But once again, he had other methods. One simple trick would be perfect for satisfying both sides.
These people here had suffered enough for one lifetime. He believed that the other side didn't know what suffering like that was like. He just couldn't wait for the Avatar to get stronger and expected a miracle, coming out of nowhere, to help him to win without killing the man. He understood the kid's fears more than anyone else, so he left the group momentarily to stop the tyrant.
He had used a transformation jutsu to turn into the Avatar and rushed to the man's palace, knocked him out, and sent him straight to prison after sealing away his bending. It ended all right there. The world believed it was the Avatar who put an end to the Firelord's blind ambition. The people could now rebuild their homes and lives from the ashes. Razed by the Fire Nation for a hundred years, it was time for, at least these people to experience a moment of peace. He couldn't imagine the death toll from ten decades of war would be.
If he had arrived early, how many people could have been spared?
From what they told him, the tanned water-bending girl and the banished prince who accompanied him had lost their mothers, the Avatar had lost all of his people, and he had lost Jet, someone he had tried to stray from the path of vengeance. It was a strange correlation. He empathized with Jet's duty to protect the weak, but he was scarred, and scarred people were dangerous...
People like that were like a powder keg, just waiting to explode, and it wouldn't care if innocent people were caught in the blast.
Jet argued that the villagers could have been Fire Nation officials who participated in massacres in their youth. But even if that was true, he knew how the feeling was to take another one's life, even for a good cause. He didn't want that for him. Jet and his group seemed to have the best intentions but the worst modus operandi.
After stopping them from destroying a village full of people who had nothing to do with the Fire Nation's military plans, he expected the boy to change, but it was to no avail. His advice seemed to have fallen on deaf ears when he discovered that the leader of the Dai Li killed a brainwashed Jet after ignoring his friends' advice and openly challenging the banished prince and his uncle. They were fugitives at Ba Sing Se and were trying to start a new life there. He didn't criticize himself for the incident, though. He felt terrible, yes, but he knew that keeping watch under them forever was an impossible task.
People would die; even if he had strength, there would be deaths that he couldn't prevent, such as the deaths of his parents, his master, and all the others he had failed.
Not all things in there were terrible, though. He had a great time with the Avatar and his friends after Ozai's defeat. Both sides told stories, exchanged knowledge about their fighting styles and culture, and shared many a laugh on many occasions. He would miss them for sure.
Another place that he visited was a world covered by oceans and islands. It was a world full of pirates, marines, and ordinary people.
When he first arrived, he had no idea that he would be charmed into being part of the straw hat crew. He swore that the straw hat captain must have had another secret Akuma no Mi that had something to do with sorcery; his arguments were convincing...
When he realized it, he traveled the sea and cleaned the deck with shadow clones.
But not the Straw Hats wasn't the only pirate crew he spent some time on. He also spent some time in Moby Dick with the old man's crew. There, he learned much more about that world and how its power systems worked.
He learned about haki, the devil fruits, how exactly the oceans and the blue seas were divided, and some information about the old world's history and how the called World Nobles took over along the many reigns that gathered to form the new government.
In this world, these World Nobles were people who had the delusion of seeing themselves as Gods. As soon as he was aware of what kind of wicked things these people used to do with those under them, Naruto acted without a second thought. Mary Geoise was in for a big surprise when suddenly, the Red Line was cut as if it was cheese, isolating only the Pangaea Castle. Only God knows what happened to those cowards after that.
When he least expected it, they reached the final island, and he was also ready to leave that dimension. It was a fun journey where he made many memories, but the time for them to separate had come. But before that, they all enjoyed a big banquet together with everyone.
If he had learned one thing in this world, it was how important having an adventure was, especially if it is with your friends; not forgetting how enjoyable the times of having a meal and a drink together with them were...
In most places he had been, people seemed to be consumed with an idea, a meta, or a wish that deprives them of these small details that give meaning to their lives, that allow them to live how they really like.
It could really save you in times of need.
However, not everything was a sea of wonders.
The real problem lay even more profound, within something present in almost every place he went, inside the humans themselves.
But was he an exception? Had he become strong enough to take on any world if necessary? Had he become knowledgeable enough to say that he wouldn't commit mistakes? He didn't know. He didn't consider himself anything close to perfect.
Even though he had accumulated a variety of abilities, there were blind spots that he couldn't cover. His strength alone couldn't automatically save everyone. The events in the previous worlds proved that. Before he had taken notice, there had been many casualties. Many people permanently got wounded or killed in the various worlds he had been to, whether getting caught in the crossfire or indirectly without him even knowing.
The death toll started with one, then ten, a hundred, and even thousands were added to the corpse pile if his hypothesis on the people who were caught in his conflicts were true.
He started believing that there was simply nothing he could do about it. He had reached so far and traveled so many places but the situation didn't change that much, just escalated to other worlds he went to.
He had given out a long, deep sigh.
Everything outside of his village, outside of his world, felt so different...
Back in his home world, he always lived sheltered by the village's walls. Although had endured his dose of hardships such as being mistreated by the villagers and losing many companions during his life, that was still the tip of the iceberg one could go through, for he lived a life full of filters. Filters of the comfort of safety from warring countries that the hidden leaf's walls provided, filters of the friendships that he made that always accompanied him on his missions or travels outside of his village, filters of the safety of his house, and filters of the parenting that Iruka and Jiraya provided for him always masked how the world indeed was on the outside.
But he didn't regret anything. He had long decided to avert the path of rebuilding his village and becoming Hokage. He was the one who decided to leave. If he stayed back in his homeworld, the only problems he would have to deal with would be the piles of files and documents to fill. But that was not what he wanted. He knew he was destined for more than just catching dust inside an office. With the power and capabilities he had, he was able to do so much more...
But he had to admit that what once seemed like an enjoyable adventure, an opportunity to forget all the terrible things in his homeworld had turned from snowball to an avalanche slowly consuming his heart.
Honestly, he felt overwhelmed and stressed from all these thoughts. The overthinking generated from all his inner debates was getting out of hand.
For the first time in decades, he took a moment to breathe before his next great journey. He needed to find a play where he would not feel the weight of the world falling on his shoulders.
By simply focusing Chakra on his eyes, he was consumed in a vortex. He entered the Kamui dimension, a silent place where there was nothing or anything to bother him, to meditate. He took a sit on one of the giant squares of the dimension, crossed his legs, and gathered his fists. Finally, he gave out a calming breath and gathered his thoughts.
His master once taught him, "The most important ninja talent is not the number of techniques one acquires. The important thing is to have the guts never to give up". That phrase seemed almost ironic at this point. At the same time, it reminded him that, no matter how strong he becomes, there would be things that his power alone wouldn't change, it also reminded him that no matter what changes he goes through, he was still a shinobi or as his master liked to call it, "gutsy ninja". He always told him that he admired his spirit. He told him that was one of the characteristics that drew people around him, his master said that it was that one defining trait that still kept his desire to train him despite his wishes to focus on his "research". It was a simple statement, but it helped to put his spirit back in place.
With a thud, he let himself fall back on the floor of that empty and lonely dimension. A smile formed on Naruto's lips.
Being the next sage wasn't easy, but he wouldn't give up, that's for sure.
Time skip
Naruto had reached the age of 118 years old, but fortunately, life hasn't taken a toll on him as he expected it would. He stopped aging about a year after he sealed the gift that the Bijuu gave him inside of him. So, as the journey he had started reached its 100th birthday, he had come to an understanding:
Human beings were creatures successive to failure; the basic support systems and justice, no matter the world, were inefficient, and corrupt.
Unless he finds a way to manipulate reality itself, like a God, there wasn't so much he could do about that.
At this point, he couldn't figure out his genetic blueprint anymore. Thanks to the experimentations made on his body, it was all messed up. People across the dimensions he visited called him all sorts of things such as a demon, freak, Frankenstein...whatever; he was long used to being called names.
But what fun would life be if you couldn't enjoy a laugh? Thinking about problems all the time wasn't healthy for anyone.
With his mind back in place, he decided that it was time to visit the next world.
Upon arriving in the new world, Naruto, at first, found nothing out of the ordinary.
The world setting by itself wasn't remarkably different from anything he had seen before, except for a few details and design choices.
However, there were some things that caught his attention.
First, there was a big and old organization called the Gong Bang, or the Workshop, which was very influential and crucial in the development of the world. They made weapons, devices, and all other sorts of things. They were very invested in researching the order and reason of all creation in the world, knowing how to recreate all such creation, and their final ambition was to "create a God" which made Naruto release a small sigh. 'How the hell were they planning to do that?' He asked internally. He tried to investigate further in detail to determine their motivations and he discovered that the "head" of the Workshop was behind that idea. It seems that in this reality, there were these people that could manipulate a portion of reality within their "Axis field" and these were currently, still in the middle of a sort of anarchy because they didn't know how to use their power properly. According to the head of the workshop, God had abandoned them without answering the reason for the existence of their power. These beings suffered extensive research by the organization for thousands of years yet, they didn't find an answer.
The head of the workshop wanted to create a new God to stop all these conflicts.
But how did he plan to do that? The records he found said that the attempts to create one were all but failures. He thought that the only way of getting more answers was from the head of the organization itself. For now, that question would be left unanswered.
