Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 88 Fragments of Memory

What is marriage?

He wanted to build a family with his gentle and beautiful wife, raise several children, and thus establish a blood connection within the family. After having a family, he no longer had to worry about the trivialities of life; his wife would silently support him from behind. He devoted all his energy to the cause of becoming Hokage, not daring to let the dreams of his predecessors fall through in his hands.

A home built after marriage should be warm and cozy. But why... when he hears that word, the first thing that comes to mind is another home. Two adjacent apartments in a small, dilapidated old apartment building. He had wanted to break through the wall that separated him and Sasuke more than once, but unfortunately, it was a load-bearing wall, and if he broke through it, the apartment would become a dangerous building.

His wife's slightly tired face was slowly replaced by Hinata, who was gradually opening up to him. The images of Boruto and Himawari calling him "Daddy" were still clear, but his expectations were fading, replaced by an unspeakable guilt. With each passing day, he felt more clearly than ever that they would never again be in his life.

Why? Is it because "Hui" is destined to be his life's work, so he's too busy to think about starting a family? Or is it because his heart is already at peace, and he believes he has found the "home" he truly wanted?

"Marriage is something that happens between a man and a woman." Naruto felt a dryness in his throat and could only mechanically utter the echo.

"Why do you humans have so many rules? I can't understand you." The toad dragon suddenly jumped onto Naruto's head and shouted, "I'm so hungry! I've been out playing for so long without even realizing it."

"Yeah, if we don't go back soon, Dad's going to get angry!"

The two little kids who made astonishing remarks, leaving Naruto's mind in a complete mess, wandered off on their own, leaving Naruto alone kneeling there, staring at the sleeping Sasuke.

Naruto stared blankly at Sasuke, and when he saw the small frog claw marks on Sasuke's face, he instinctively reached out to wipe them away. Despite his rigorous training and exposure to the elements, young Sasuke's skin remained fair and translucent, smooth and soft to the touch. An indescribable emotion surged within him at that moment. He felt this way every time he saw Sasuke in pain; he so desperately wanted to share his burdens, to carry the weight of his journey.

He attributed this to his deep empathy for his best friend. Sasuke had said that he was his only friend, but there were just too many people he was in contact with, and it seemed that "friends" wasn't enough to bear this feeling. So he took it upon himself to include Sasuke in the category of best friend, someone absolutely unique and irreplaceable to him.

Young Sasuke's face suddenly vanished, and in his daze, he saw another face—a face already tinged with a deathly pallor…the face of the Seventh Hokage! A hand reached out, a right hand wearing a half-finger glove, trembling as it slid across the Seventh Hokage's face, finally stopping at his neck. His vision blurred, and a feeling of suffocation and intense pain surged up simultaneously, as if someone had ripped open his chest and torn out his heart. Then he realized it wasn't an illusion, because Kurama's roar was booming in his ears, growing louder as it approached.

"Naruto... Naruto! Naruto! Calm down!"

The moment Naruto came to his senses, the smell of blood rushed to his throat and nose. In order not to wake Sasuke, he forced himself to swallow the blood.

"What are you doing now? You're going to scare me to death!"

Kurama, no longer bothering with his self-deprecating title, unleashed the Nine-Tails' chakra through the broken seal, scanning Naruto's entire body. The injury was somewhat severe, especially to his fragile alveoli, but with Kurama present, it wasn't a major problem. After Kurama had thoroughly examined Naruto's body, he opened his eyes to find Naruto still lying on his back in the water, lost in thought, and was immediately enraged.

"Hey! What's wrong with you? Even with me here, you can't be this reckless! Humans' functions are different from those of tailed beasts. If this happens a few more times, it's not a good thing at all."

Naruto didn't get up; he just lay there flat and said in a very calm voice, "That's the third time."

"what?"

"One time was when I saw my name engraved on the memorial stone, another time was when I witnessed the destruction of Konoha from the Hokage Rock, and yet another time was when I saw my own dead face."

"Huh?" Kurama couldn't keep up. Naruto didn't tell him everything, and even Naruto himself wasn't sure if these three flashbacks of the future were real, so he had never mentioned them.

"Three times, each time from a different perspective, with different people, but none of them were me." There was even a perspective from Sasuke's! This is simply unbelievable...

After hearing this, Kurama pondered Naruto's previous words, and the hairs on his back stood on end.

"You mean... your memories of the future don't belong to you?!"

"Not all of them, at least my memories before I died are normal." Naruto finally sat up, but when he looked down, he could see a reflection in the water that, apart from the face and body, didn't resemble him at all. He quickly looked away, not daring to think about the connection between this strange shadow and the fragments of the future. This kind of analysis was beyond his comprehension, but he had no one else to confide in, so he desperately told Kurama.

"Could it be that you met these people in the Pure Land, and they told you something there? Logically speaking, memories of the Pure Land cannot be brought out; only the old man's soul can travel between the two worlds without damage." As expected of someone who has lived for a thousand years, Nine Lama has seen a bit of the world and quickly came up with a reasonable possibility.

Naruto grasped at this conjecture as if it were a lifeline. He had met the Sage of Six Paths, and that old man was still learning everything about the New World after a thousand years, which meant he did indeed remember what happened after his death. But the situation was completely different for the Edo Tensei resurrected; they only had memories of their previous lives.

He was able to be reborn, so it's not surprising that he carries some memories from the Pure Land, right? Sasuke, doesn't he have the Sharingan? It's not surprising that he was dragged into the future by me...

Not surprising... right?

"Lord Kinlun, Akatsuki has appeared near Konoha. Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha have arrived. Should we intervene?"

No need. Maintain the status quo.

But that was…

Their target isn't Konoha; they'll leave soon.

〖yes.〗

The interruption from the intelligence department completely calmed Naruto down. He returned to reality, silently carried Sasuke on his back and walked back to his residence. On the way, he passed by the brothel frequented by the perverted sage and sent a clone to bring Sasuke out.

"What! Kids shouldn't meddle in adults' business..." Jiraiya muttered drunkenly, completely unaware that Naruto's face was expressionless, cold and uncharacteristic of him.

Naruto grabbed Jiraiya's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Orochimaru's chakra just passed through this town."

The drunkard immediately sobered up, asking, "Where did you go?"

"East."

Orochimaru was just seriously injured, so why is he wandering around instead of staying home to heal?

It seems they share the same goal.