"Uzumaki Naruto?"
A voice called out. At the sa ti, a Truth-Seeking Ball rose into the air, continuously emitting abundant light and heat, instantly illuminating the entire space inside the sealing jar.
Naruto struggled to lift his head, looking forward. He only saw an unfamiliar figure cloaked in a white robe floating in the air.
"This?"
Lux waved his hand, instantly pulling out all the black rods pinning Naruto’s body, granting him freedom once more.
Though the black rods seed ordinary, when they locked an entire body, it was nearly impossible for soone to break free. Otherwise, Naruto wouldn’t have remained pinned in place for so long.
"Huuu—!"
Freed from his restraints, the chakra in Naruto’s body began to flow rapidly, allowing him to finally breathe a sigh of relief. Combined with the vitality of Kurama’s chakra, he quickly recovered much of his strength.
"Thank you!"
"But who are you?" Naruto looked at Lux, first expressing his gratitude.
Whoever this person was, saving him was sothing to be thankful for. But seeing that this stranger could enter this place and float in the air made Naruto extrely curious. After all, the number of people in the world who could fly could be counted on one hand. After losing his Six Paths power, Naruto himself could no longer fly.
"Have you ever t the Sage of the Six Paths?"
"Of course, I know that Great-Grandfather."
"I’m his father."
"What?!!!" Naruto was stunned: ミﾟДﾟ彡!
"Hahaha, just kidding."
"Just call Tenshou Sennin. I’m acquainted with Hagoromo— you could say I’m his senior." Lux laughed cheerfully, finding it amusing to tease the grown-up Naruto.
Naruto took a deep breath, calming down a bit.
"You scared ."
"So, you’re Great-Grandfather’s senior? Tenshou Sennin, my respects!" Naruto scratched his head and grinned innocently, recalling the help Great-Grandfather Hagoromo had given him and Sasuke.
Since Lux was Hagoromo’s senior, Naruto imdiately felt more at ease, even willingly lowering his guard a little.
"You’re still as naive as ever."
"Hahaha, I guess so. But Sennin-sama, did you co to save ? Did Great-Grandfather ask you to?"
"Yes and no." Lux slowly descended, landing on the ground, and with a slight wave of his hand, a table appeared before him, along with several steaming bowls of ran.
"You must be starving. Eat first."
"We’ll talk when you’re full."
Naruto saw the ran and instantly perked up: "This? Ichiraku Ran?!!! How did you get it?"
"It’s freshly made, and I paid for it with your money, so just eat."
Such a small trick was nothing to Lux now.
"Huh?"
Naruto was a bit confused, but since he was starving, he didn’t bother thinking too much—ti to eat! He imdiately started slurping, devouring the ran quickly. Naruto didn’t suspect poison or anything like that; a Sennin who knew Great-Grandfather wouldn’t harm him. Besides, with Kurama, hardly any poison in the world could kill him. He was the world’s toughest survivor, soone even Jigen was wary of!
Not long after.
Naruto slurped down ten bowls of Ichiraku Ran in a row.
anwhile, at Konoha’s Ichiraku Ran shop, Aya, who was serving, felt like she’d seen a ghost that day. She watched as the freshly made ran disappeared bowl by bowl, yet the paynt was never short. She was so confused she almost thought her eyes were playing tricks from exhaustion.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
"So, full yet?"
"More or less. Almost full—stru. I could probably eat one or two more bowls." Naruto patted his stomach, answering with great satisfaction and comfort.
In front of this Great-Grandfather-level Tenshou Sennin, he could finally let go of his Hokage status and image, acting freely. And this ti, after just ten bowls, he was nearly full, showing how weakened he was—far from his record of 30 bowls in his youth.
"Then, here’s the last bowl." Lux waved his hand, and an ordinary bowl of tonkotsu ran appeared.
Naruto grabbed the bowl and continued slurping. But after one bite, sothing felt off.
Compared to the authentic, delicious Ichiraku Ran earlier, this last bowl tasted very ordinary. The broth was rich, but the noodles were average, even slightly below par. Overall, it was just decent. If soone with such skills opened a shop, they’d probably go bankrupt quickly!
But Naruto didn’t say anything. He wasn’t picky; as a kid, he’d eaten expired ran and wild vegetables. Compared to that, this was fine. Besides, it was a gift from Tenshou Sennin, so even if it wasn’t tasty, he had to finish it!
Soon after.
Naruto finished the last bowl of ran. Straightforward as ever, he wiped his mouth and asked:
"Grandpa Tenshou Sennin..."
"Don’t call that. Just call Lord. If that’s too much, Uncle Tenshou Sennin works too."
"Oh, oh! Sorry, Lord. Where did this last bowl of ran co from? The taste..."
"Not as good as the Ichiraku Ran before?"
"Yeah..." Naruto scratched his head and smiled awkwardly, though he answered honestly, feeling a bit like he seed picky.
"It’s fine. This ran was freshly made by your mother, Kushina, and Minato."
"What?!!!"
ミﾟДﾟ彡!
Naruto was stunned again, his tired brain, worn from governing duties, unable to process this answer.
His parents had been dead for years—how could he eat ran they just made? Was Tenshou Sennin lying to him?
More importantly, Naruto had never once tasted his parents’ cooking. He had no mory of their culinary skills or the taste of their food! He couldn’t tell what was real or fake!
"T-that’s impossible!"
"Kaa-san and Tou-san are... they’re already..."
"Unless you can really travel through ti or revive them, how could..." Naruto’s eyes suddenly reddened, filled with disbelief and suspicion.
Even at the peak of his Six Paths power, he couldn’t reverse ti! Revival might have a slight chance...
"I know it’s hard for you to believe, but ti travel isn’t impossible."
"You’ve done it once yourself and have related mories."
"? What mories? Why don’t I know? Could it be..." Naruto was still confused, completely unaware of what Tenshou Sennin was talking about.
"Then let help you rember."
"After all, these sealed mories are from the past. Recalling them won’t affect this tiline anymore." Lux snapped his fingers, instantly unlocking two seals in Naruto’s mory.
The first was Naruto’s mory of ti-traveling to the ancient Land of Rōran via the Ryūmyaku’s power, where he t and fought alongside a young Minato. That mory was sealed by Minato himself.
The other was a mory from Naruto’s childhood, eting Boruto and Sasuke, who had ti-traveled via Karasuki. That mory was erased by Sasuke. But such tricks were nothing to Lux now.
The next mont, Naruto’s seals broke, and the erased mories flooded back. The two mories etched in his heart overwheld his mind, leaving Naruto stunned.
After a long while, Naruto slowly processed the two lost mories. When he ca to, the mighty Seventh Hokage was already in tears.
"Dad, and Boruto too..."
"I really did et them before! But I could never rember..."
"Hahaha! So, in Boruto’s eyes, I was pretty aweso too? And Sasuke—that’s the Sasuke I know!"
"Oh, and Dad—he was so cool when he was young! And in that mory, he figured out who I was, didn’t he?"
"Is this what they call ti travel? It can actually be done!"
"When Sasuke told about it back then, I didn’t rember at all..."
Naruto, now recalling all his mories, felt both joy and sorrow.
Joy because he had actually t his father and Boruto, sorrow because he couldn’t change anything... If he could have shared critical information with his father back then, maybe his parents wouldn’t have died, and he wouldn’t have grown up an orphan.
"Do you want to change the past?"
"More than anything!" Naruto admitted honestly, but then his expression dimd: "But I know I can’t. Sasuke told once that recklessly changing the past would only lead to unimaginable disasters..."
Just like "an unknown punishnt breeds imasurable fear." The uncertainty of what would happen in the future if the past were altered was the scariest part.
The greatest fear was that even a small disturbance could have massive consequences over ti, potentially even destroying Konoha. So how could Naruto dare take that risk? Even if he desperately wanted to.
The Ryūmyaku’s power was depleted, and Karasuki was gone; he had no way to ti-travel again!
"So, this really is ran made by Kaa-san?"
"Yes."
With that definitive answer, Naruto’s nose stung, and he broke into tears again. Unable to help himself, he grabbed the ran bowl and licked it clean, almost as if possessed by Orochimaru.
He had no choice—he couldn’t hold back from savoring his mother’s cooking any longer. After all, this was the first, and only, ti Naruto would ever taste his mother’s cooking...
Reviews
All reviews (0)