Chapter 141: Butterfly flapped it's wings
Naruto was standing in the air as he looked down on Konoha. He had a complicated expression, and nobody knew what was going on in his eyes. His once-bright eyes had dimmed.
With a sigh, he started to perform hand signs, and his eyes glowed for a moment as the Yin chakra started to leak out from his body at an alarming rate.
Soon, the entire Konoha was covered by his Yin chakra. With his ability to suppress or erase memories using his Byakugan and combine it with his genjutsu, the whole village was immersed in layers of genjutsu.
With a final hand sign, he brought his hands together, causing waves to ripple from his body, suppressing all memories of himself and Hinata in the minds of those who had seen them.
He observed the time strings around every villager, ensuring that everything was as it should be, and nothing had changed. He heaved a sigh of relief. "I think it's time to go," he muttered softly and disappeared from there, reappearing in the middle of the forest.
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"So you suppressed their memories," Hinata's voice rang out from a branch of the tree.
She looked at him, a smile forming on her beautiful face. Jumping from the tree, she appeared in front of Naruto. She grabbed his hand, and they walked with no particular destination in mind.
He didn't resist her and walked alongside her.
"Did I do the wrong thing?" he asked in a low voice.
Hinata closed her eyes. To her, everything he did was right, even if it was wrong. As his wife, she would support him unconditionally.
"No, you did the right thing. Don't feel sad. They had a happy life with you, didn't they?" she said soothingly, tightly holding his hand as if to convey that she was with him, and he didn't have to feel bad.
Unbeknownst to him, a smile formed on his face. He raised his left hand, and on the back of his palm, three star-like black markings appeared.
"Everything was real, wasn't it?" he said while looking at his hand.
Raising her hand, Hinata caressed the three marks with her fingers. "Hmm... So, don't feel so sad. You did more than you should have. As a son, you gave them what they deserved. You should feel good," she gently said.
She didn't want him to be so sad. She knew it was hard for him to separate from his parents, and even more heartbreaking that he had to lock away their memories. They didn't even know his name or the time they had spent together. But he had made sure that, the next time they saw him, all their memories would resurface again.
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When they would see him for the first time, all the time they spent together, the laughter they shared, or the teasing his mother did to him, all of these memories would be a parting gift for them. They would pass away knowing that they had spent an entire lifetime with their son. In their last moments, they wouldn't be sad about leaving their child alone."
Well, that's what Hinata thought. She knew it had weighed heavily on his heart. 'I think I have to help him forget all these depressing thoughts,' she pondered.
"So, how are we going to the future?" she asked, trying to divert his attention.
Naruto looked directly at his mother through the space, a complicated expression appearing on his face.
"Haaah," he sighed and took a deep breath. "Let's try it with this."
A scroll appeared in his hand, and with a puff of smoke, the fuinjutsu materials appeared on the ground. Naruto had been studying the summoning jutsu for a while, and drawing inspiration from that, he began to inscribe a seal on the ground, unsure of whether it would work or not.
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"It's done," Naruto said, unfolding the scroll.
"Now, distort the space as much as you can."
Hinata nodded to him, and activating her Jougan, she began to manipulate the space around them, weakening all the barriers between dimensions.
Naruto attempted to recreate the same situation they had faced when fighting Isshiki. With the space around them now distorted, he started to manipulate the time strings. When all the time strings around them were in disarray, Naruto poured his chakra into the seal. The black lines had a slight glow, and Naruto knew it was time.
He looked at Hinata, grabbed her hand, and stood in the middle of the circle, holding her waist. He couldn't bear the thought of being separated from her, knowing that if one of them got lost in the space-time tunnel, it would be nearly impossible to find each other.
Hinata tightly wrapped her hands around him. "Are we going to be all right?" she asked.
"Are you afraid?" he teased her.
She locked eyes with him, a smile forming on her lips. "Afraid? No. As long as you're with me, I don't care, even if we end up in the past."
Naruto looked at her, chuckled slightly, and patted her head. "Nothing will go wrong."
And, saying that, they disappeared from there. The seal cracked, and the space around that area returned to normal.
---
Kushina was weaving a scarf with a smile on her face, humming from time to time. Suddenly, her eyes shivered as she looked at the scarf. She was confused about why she was sewing the scarf.
"Why do I feel like something is missing?" she muttered and looked around her house. It wasn't as lively as it was supposed to be. She knew her house was supposed to be filled with laughter, but now it felt empty.
She stood up and walked towards the dining room, staring at the empty chair.
"Why do I feel like this chair belonged to someone, someone close to me?"
She caressed the chair with her fingers. Kushina knew something important was missing from her life, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. She had tried to remember many times, but nothing came to mind.
Days passed, and her heart occasionally ached. Sometimes, she found herself staring at various places, like the chair and the sofa. Every time she wove the scarf, it felt as if someone had told her they liked scarves, and she couldn't help but continue to sew it, as though it was meant for someone.
"Maybe it's just my imagination," she thought for a while, then began preparing food for her husband.
"I'll make his favorite food tonight," she giggled to herself and started to prepare the meal.
---
Minato stood in front of his shadow clone and looked at him. He had created this clone just one day before Naruto had left. He had been studying shadow clones lately ever since Naruto had entered his life. The real Minato didn't know anything about Naruto; to him, the name didn't exist.
Minato had taken precautions against Naruto, knowing in advance that he would forget everything about his son. This clone was safely hidden from everyone, and it had never existed in Konoha. If it had existed in Konoha, Minato would have forgotten about Naruto.
Now, two clones were looking at each other.
"So you really don't remember?" the clone spoke.
"What are you talking about?" Minato asked, frowning, unsure of what his clone was talking about.
"Naruto, your son," the clone said.
Minato fell silent for a moment, trying to piece things together. He had sensed that one of his sealing formulas had disappeared some days ago, but nothing came to his memory. Still, he knew the clone in front of him held the key to solving everything.
With a hand sign, he dispelled the clone. Instantly, several memories began to flood into his mind. His face contorted with a mix of emotions, and he grabbed his head, sitting on the ground.
"Haaaaaa," he breathed heavily.
"Naruto," he muttered.
As he said his son's name, the suppressed memories rushed back like a flood: the time they spent in the genjutsu. He remembered everything.
"So, I died due to old age," he laughed softly.
"I can't leave you alone, all by yourself," he said in a low voice.
"I can't let Kushina suffer. I will save both of you."
Minato walked with numerous thoughts swirling in his mind.
"When was his birthday? If I remember correctly, it was on the 10th of August."
Unbeknownst to him, the time strings around him underwent a drastic change. He didn't realize that he had completely fucked the timeline.
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End of the chapter. How do you like it? tell me your thoughts in the comments and give me your powerstones...