The golden rays of the setting sun stretched across the village, dyeing the sky in hues of orange and crimson. Another quiet afternoon was slipping away, and on the edge of Konoha's training grounds, a lone figure dashed forward with fiery determination. His blond hair gleamed like the sunlight itself, his blue eyes set with stubborn resolve.
The boy was Naruto Uzumaki, a young shinobi-in-training of the Hidden Leaf Village. Though scorned and shunned by nearly everyone he passed, the fire inside him refused to dim. He carried a dream larger than his small frame could contain—to become Hokage, the greatest ninja in Konoha. The loneliness and hatred surrounding him were heavy, but Naruto's heart remained unyielding.
Even if the world turned its back on him, he would face it head-on with that foolish, reckless grin.
A figure sat quietly beneath a nearby tree, pale as moonlight against the fiery sky. His eyes followed the energetic boy with an expression that mixed curiosity and melancholy. When Naruto noticed him, he frowned, slowing his pace.
"Hey! Are you okay? Why are you sitting there all pale like that?" Naruto asked, his voice carrying the awkward concern of someone unaccustomed to showing it.
The stranger chuckled softly, his voice calm and faintly otherworldly. "I'm fine, just... a bit tired. You don't have to worry, little one."
Naruto blinked in surprise. Rarely did anyone speak to him so kindly. The boy hesitated, scratching his cheek before stepping closer. The man's calmness felt oddly familiar, almost soothing.
"So, what are you doing out here, Naruto?" The stranger asked, his tone gentle but knowing.
Naruto's frown disappeared in an instant. "Training, of course! I'm going to be Hokage someday, believe it! But first—I have to beat that guy, Sasuke!" he declared, puffing his chest out proudly.
The pale man smiled faintly, the corners of his lips curling into something bittersweet. "A great goal indeed... Hokage, huh? That title carries heavy burdens. But I can see it—you have the light to reach it."
Naruto blinked, unsure how to respond to such words. Then the man extended his hand. "How about a deal? Shake my hand, and I'll tell the world one day that I once met the future Hokage of the Leaf."
A grin split Naruto's face. "Heh! Count on it, dattebayo!" he exclaimed, grabbing the man's hand with boyish enthusiasm.
For a brief moment, Naruto felt a warmth spread through his palm—strange yet comforting. The man's fingers tightened slightly, and a faint glow pulsed between them. When Naruto pulled back, a small gray symbol shimmered faintly on the back of his hand.
"Whoa! What's this?!" Naruto gasped, his blue eyes wide.
The stranger smiled knowingly. "A gift. You'll understand it when the time comes—when you're strong enough to be Hokage."
The boy looked down at his hand, then back up, ready to ask more—but the stranger was already gone. The wind whispered through the trees, and only the rustle of leaves remained.
Naruto stood there for a long time, the training ground suddenly feeling too quiet. He clenched his small fist, his gaze softening. "Guess... I'll see you again someday," he murmured, determination flickering in his voice.
Unseen by him, the ANBU stationed nearby continued their watch, their senses dulled by a subtle illusion. None of them noticed the vanishing man, nor the faint distortion in the air where he had stood. To them, nothing unusual had occurred. A perfect genjutsu—one that erased itself the moment it was done.
That evening, Naruto treated himself to a steaming bowl of Ichiraku Ramen. As the savory aroma filled the air, he excitedly recounted his strange encounter to Ayame, who listened with a smile.
"That's wonderful, Naruto! Sounds like you made a new friend," she said cheerfully.
"Yeah, he was weird—but kinda nice," Naruto replied between mouthfuls of noodles. "He said he'd brag about meeting me someday; can you believe that?"
Ayame laughed, but as Naruto left the shop and the night deepened, her memory of the conversation faded like mist. She frowned faintly, as if trying to recall something important, then shrugged and went back to cleaning the counter.
Back in his small apartment, Naruto pushed open the creaky door. The dim light barely illuminated the cramped room—the peeling wallpaper, the half-empty shelves, and the lonely silence. He kicked off his sandals and flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.
For the first time, the emptiness weighed on him. The stranger's kind words had stirred something unfamiliar in his chest—a longing he didn't quite understand.
"Heh... guess I'm just tired," he muttered, rolling onto his side. "Can't let stuff like this get to me... I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage, dattebayo…"
With that familiar grin returning to his face, Naruto closed his eyes. As he drifted into sleep, the gray mark on his hand pulsed faintly once more—like a heartbeat echoing from the stars above.
+
Night settled quietly over the Hidden Leaf. The village lamps dimmed one by one, and the hum of life faded into a soft, restful silence. No one knew that beneath that calm sky, something irreversible was beginning.
In a small, lonely apartment on the edge of town, Naruto Uzumaki lay restless in his bed. His body twitched under the thin blanket, his breath uneven. Sweat drenched his clothes, and a low groan slipped from his lips.
The mark on his right hand—the strange gray symbol that had appeared after shaking hands with that pale stranger—was no longer still. It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat buried beneath his skin. With every pulse, heat coursed through his veins, spreading upward to his arm and chest, burning like liquid fire.
Naruto's skin grew unnaturally hot. His face flushed red, and his breathing turned ragged. He whimpered, curling into himself, clutching his stomach as waves of heat tore through him.
It wasn't just a fever—it was as if something inside him was rewriting his very being, forcing his body to adapt to a change it couldn't yet handle. His Uzumaki vitality fought desperately to keep up, flooding his system with chakra and regeneration, but the strain was overwhelming.
His lips trembled as he muttered weakly, half-conscious, "W–what's… happening to me?"
The room was quiet except for his shallow breathing and the faint creak of the wooden floor. The air grew thick and humid from the heat radiating off his body.
A few streets away, a silent shadow perched on a rooftop suddenly opened her eyes. Her sharp instincts caught something unusual—Naruto's chakra, once faint and calm, was flaring wildly, unstable and hot.
In a flicker of movement, Yugao Uzuki appeared at his window. The moment she stepped inside, she felt it.
"By the gods…" she whispered under her breath.
The air was suffocatingly warm. Naruto's small body trembled, his forehead glistening with sweat. His chakra was dense and erratic, fluctuating in strange patterns she couldn't recognize.
Yugao knelt beside him, pressing a gloved hand against his forehead. The heat burned through even the leather. "This isn't natural," she murmured.
She'd guarded Naruto before. He was always noisy, stubborn, and sometimes even reckless in his sleep. But never like this. Never silent. Never this pale.
Her experience as an ANBU told her what ordinary medics wouldn't see—the fever wasn't an illness. It was a reaction. Something was happening to him at the cellular level, and his body was fighting back.
Yugao's heart tightened.
If this continues… he won't last the night.
She formed a quick hand seal, sending a coded chakra pulse into the night air. "Emergency alert—Naruto Uzumaki, critical condition."
Inside the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up from his papers as the urgent chakra signal flared through the barrier system. His old heart skipped a beat.
"An emergency alert? From Yugao?"
He didn't hesitate. Grabbing his cloak, he leapt from the window in a swirl of leaves, heading straight for the source.
Across the village, other masked figures stirred, moving in silence through the rooftops. Whispers of concern spread among the ANBU network, and even in the Root headquarters beneath the surface, Danzo Shimura opened one eye.
"So it begins," he muttered, half in intrigue, half in warning.
Within the darkness of Naruto's fevered mind, a new world opened. The pain from his body bled into this space, coloring it with shifting tones of gray and white. His vision swam, and before him stood a familiar figure—the same pale man from the training field, his expression calm and watchful.
"Kazuki!" Naruto exclaimed, his voice shaky but filled with relief. "You—you came back! What's going on? Why does it hurt so much?"
Kazuki studied him quietly. The faintest trace of sympathy flickered in his eyes.
"It's because your body is changing," he said softly. "Your blood is learning to remember what it once was."
Naruto frowned, breathing heavily. "Changing? Remember? I don't get it… It feels like my body's burning up!"
Kazuki smiled faintly, though his eyes were distant. "That's the price of strength, Naruto. I could stop the pain, but then you'd never grow beyond your limits. You said you wanted to surpass every Hokage, didn't you?"
Naruto clenched his fists, the memory of his dream echoing in his mind. Despite the heat, despite the confusion, that stubborn fire refused to die.
"Heh… who said I can't take it? I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I'll be fine. I'll get stronger—believe it!"
Kazuki's expression softened, almost proud. "Then endure. Let the pain guide you. When you wake again… the world will no longer be the same."
Naruto tried to reply, but his consciousness flickered—the white space fading into darkness once more.
In the real world, Naruto's fever didn't fade. Hours passed, and the heat only grew worse. His skin was red and slick with sweat, his breath shallow and rapid.
Hiruzen arrived with medical-nin and ANBU at his side. The room was chaos—steam rising from the walls, temperature unbearable even for trained shinobi. The medics tried cooling seals, chakra suppression techniques, everything they knew, but nothing worked.
"His body's fighting something… something internal," one medic said, panic creeping into his voice. "It's not chakra exhaustion—it's…"
Hiruzen's gaze hardened. He said nothing for a long moment, then turned to Yugao. "Keep this quiet. No one outside this room is to know what happened tonight."
Yugao bowed silently, her eyes still on the trembling boy.
Naruto groaned again, his hand twitching toward the mark that continued to faintly pulse under his fevered skin.
And the night dragged on.