12 The Light and Darkness

Shin wasn't sure what he heard, but he could've sworn Naruto wanted to go with him. He weighed out the pros and cons, but honestly, it was much more troublesome for Naruto to join him. For one, he's guaranteed to be chased down by leaf shinobis elite squad, as quietly, Naruto was an asset to the leaf. Two, Shin was never responsible for another's life, so he'd worry too much.

Honestly, there are some pros too, such as Naruto being a later on powerful character would help him in any situation, but overall, he'd say it's a no.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but no. You shouldn't follow me; I don't even know where I'm gonna go, no aims... Don't you also want to be a Hokage?"

Naruto stayed quiet for a while, and for the first time, he'd tell Shin why he wanted to be Hokage in the first place... "Yeah, but, truthfully, being Hokage means nothing to me.. I'd rather have a family.. a friend.. I wanted to be Hokage so everyone would acknowledge me, and so they'd stop hating me so much... but.. as I said, today was more fun than I ever had my whole life..."

At this point, it was pretty hard for Shin to tell Naruto why he shouldn't. So instead, Shin told a story. "Let me tell you a story first... Once, two parents loved their son so much far before he was born. However, one day... A beast attacked the leaf village... and destroyed everything... until the dad finally stopped the beast by sealing it inside their son, believing that his son would be the hope of the hidden leaf. You see, in the process, the son almost died to the beast, but the two parents sacrificed their lives as a last-ditch effort to save the baby, and it worked; the son survived.. Though the parents died..

Yet it is very true that they loved him so much and believed in their son's could control the beat to be the leaf's light who'll overcome all hardship...

Do you know who that kid is Naruto?..."

Naruto looked at Shin.

"It's you.." Shin said slightly smiling

"Look, I'll let you be the judge of whether this story is true or false, but eventually you'll know that it is true in the future. However, I understand the horrible treatment you had dealt with... so... I'll tell you when I'll go, and you can pick then... understood?" Shin told Naruto.

Naruto couldn't say much but nod in agreement. He was too shocked to discover this new friend of his knows the origin that he has no clue about. Honestly, Naruto didn't know whether to trust his words or not, but he hoped it was true... to be loved, it was all he'd ever wanted.

"Alright, enough heavy talk, let's go home, yeah" while patting on Naruto's head.

Naruto nodded, and they went their separate way.

Shin was heading back home to the Ichiraku Ramen store. He was walking into a dark alley as it was a shortcut towards the Ichiraku ramen store; however, four-figure suddenly surrounded Shin. These figures are wearing an animal-looking mask and a black coat to cover themselves up.

"Who are you..." They asked Shin... "Why are you approaching Naruto... no... even better, how'd you know the secret behind his origins..."

Shin knew at once, this must be the infamous roots. They're quick on their tail... Now, what's problematic is that there were four of them, whereas he could only deal with three at once using his power.

It was tough, but Shin had a deadly move that though he never tried it, he felt like he could do it. So he needed to make the first move.

Subtly, He paused three of the people's time... and in a quick instant to make sure the last one had no idea they were paused, he fast-forwarded the state of the entity of one of the Anbu's...

"U-Urghhh...." slowly, the Anbu grew weaker... and weaker... "Y-You, what did you do..." he said. His age turned.. from a roaring 20... quickly, to his mid-life... and finally, an elder whom barely could move. His strong foundation body shifted to one that slouches heavily, like what an old man would do.

Meanwhile, the fourth Anbu, the one who hasn't yet been time-controlled by Shin, immediately slashed at Shin, His blade, chopping Shin's body into two in an instant. "Hmph. This is what you get for messing with the roots."

"Are you okay?" He asked the third anbu... who grew older. Yet, the aging body had yet to stop. He began to collapse to the ground. The Fourth opened the cloak hiding the Anbu's identity, only to find a mere skeleton left...

And.. behind him... stood the figure that he had thought was slashed into two... Shin said.. "That hurts... you bastard..."

'Fast-Forward..!' He thought to the fourth Anbu. Time passed by absolutely quickly for the man, he tried to struggle and run away, but before he took his fifth step, he had already grown older by about 40 years old, and he was now an old man who could barely run.

"P-please, spare me.." He yelled out as he horrifically looked at his aging body.

"Now... Why would I do that...?" Shin said, as the horrible scene continues until the Anbu decayed and evolved into a skeleton as the previous one did.

Shin finally looked at the last two dumbasses that tried to hurt him. This time, it was simple. He took out the Kunai in his bag and stabbed one of them in the heart... before unpausing.

"W-What is this..." The Anbu said in confusion as he witnessed himself dying due to the wound.

As for the last one... Shin had a different idea in mind... He was curious to know one thing...

With his infamous nut kick, he'd make sure the last one no longer had any chance of having a baby. He then unpaused to hear a loud yell due to the Anbu's pain in his ball area.

Afterwards, the Anbu looked at the other three corpses in surprise before deciding.. he have to run. Alas, his uneven balls were the key factor in ruining his balance while running, and Shin managed to pause him, brought him back to his original place, and unpaused...

Oh boy, it was hell for the last Anbu from that point on...