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Chapter 2 - Changes.

The air in the hospital room was thick and unmoving, heavy with the faint scent of antiseptic and burning Chakra. Naruto lay motionless on the bed, his breath shallow, his skin burning with an unnatural heat.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood at his side, the glow of the monitoring seals reflecting off his aged face. The old Hokage's brows were furrowed, his eyes hard and weary. He had seen countless wounds and diseases in his long life—but never something like this.

The boy's body radiated heat like a living furnace, yet no flame marked him. His chakra, normally bright and erratic, was pulsing with a strange rhythm—slow, deliberate, like something ancient breathing through him.

Still, no one in the room understood what was truly happening.

Not the medics, who whispered among themselves in fear.

Not the Hokage, who clenched his fists in helpless frustration.

And not even the ANBU, whose masks hid confusion as they watched their Hokage's gaze burn with fury.

Only Kazuki, buried deep within Naruto's consciousness, understood the silent metamorphosis unfolding beneath the boy's skin.

"Report," Hiruzen said sharply, his voice like steel scraping stone.

A medic-nin stepped forward, trembling slightly. "Lord Hokage, his temperature has risen again. We've tried chakra suppression seals, cooling seals—nothing stabilizes him. His chakra coils are… fluctuating beyond normal parameters. It's as if his body is rejecting something. Or—"

"Or what?" Sarutobi's tone was quiet but deadly.

"Or adapting to something," the medic finished weakly. "We can't determine the cause."

Sarutobi's jaw tightened. He turned toward the window, his pipe long abandoned on the nearby table. The Hokage hat cast a long shadow across the room.

Adapting.

The word echoed in his mind like a curse.

Who had done this? Who had touched the boy under his protection, the child of Minato and Kushina—the last living link to both his most faithful student and his strongest regret?

His voice came out low and controlled, but the rage beneath it was unmistakable.

"Find the source. If anyone is responsible for this, they will answer to me personally."

The ANBU vanished from the room in an instant.

Sarutobi turned back to Naruto, his heart aching as he saw the boy's fingers twitch from pain. "You've endured enough already… and yet fate still torments you."

He drew in a slow breath, steadying himself. "No more."

Within the quiet storm of Naruto's mind, the world was changing.

The white expanse surrounding him rippled like water, then reshaped itself into visions of cities, deserts, and war-torn plains. Naruto stood among them, his blue eyes wide as he turned to the figure beside him—Kazuki.

Kazuki's expression was calm, his gaze distant, almost nostalgic.

"What is this place?" Naruto asked, his voice echoing faintly through the dreamscape.

"The beginning," Kazuki said. "Before the villages. Before the titles. When chakra was still a gift, not a weapon."

The world shifted again. Naruto found himself standing on a cliff overlooking a battlefield. Hundreds of shinobi fought below, their chakra lighting the night like falling stars.

"These were the wars that shaped everything," Kazuki continued. "Before peace, there was only struggle. Before loyalty, only survival."

Naruto watched silently, his usual excitement dimmed by awe.

"So this is what the old world looked like…" he murmured.

Kazuki nodded. "The first shinobi learned the cost of power. Some sought peace through understanding. Others… through domination. The cycle has never truly broken."

The wind carried the sound of distant screams and fire. Naruto's fists clenched.

"It doesn't have to stay that way," he said. "If they couldn't stop it, then I'll—"

Kazuki's gaze softened. "You speak as if change is simple. But even the strongest hearts can drown in their own ideals."

Naruto turned to him, determination burning in his eyes. "Then I'll learn to swim."

For a moment, Kazuki was silent—and then a faint, approving smile curved his lips.

"Then watch closely," he said, as the scene before them shifted once more—showing two legendary figures locked in combat, their power shaking the earth itself.

Back in the waking world, the Hokage's patience had run out.

He turned to the ANBU captain beside him. "Send word to Tsunade Senju. Tell her this is not a request—it's a command from the Hokage himself. If she refuses, she may consider herself severed from Konoha forever."

The ANBU bowed and disappeared.

Sarutobi looked once more at Naruto, whose face was still twisted in pain. Beneath the flickering hospital light, he looked smaller than ever—but his chakra still refused to yield, burning stubbornly through the agony.

"You are your mother's son," Sarutobi whispered quietly. "And your father's, too."

His eyes hardened. "Whoever did this… I swear on the Will of Fire, they'll regret it."

Far away from Konoha, in a secluded inn lit only by moonlight, a woman in a long cloak slammed down an empty sake bottle.

The message scroll beside her still fluttered from being unrolled—bearing the seal of the Hokage.

Tsunade.

Her amber eyes lingered on one name written within the summons. Naruto Uzumaki.

She exhaled slowly, setting the bottle aside. "So that brat's in trouble, huh?"

Her tone was flippant, but her hands trembled slightly as she tied her cloak. She remembered the boy's grin—the same reckless spark that had once belonged to another fool who dreamed of being Hokage.

And beneath that, something she couldn't explain—a warmth that reminded her of her younger brother, of a time before loss had hardened her heart.

"Old man," she muttered, stepping into the night. "You'd better have a damn good reason for calling me back."

She vanished into the forest, her pace quick, her thoughts darker than she cared to admit. Because deep down, she knew…

There was only one man who could cause a change like this.

And his name hadn't been spoken aloud for generations.

+

Naruto never realized how close he had come to breaking.

Kazuki's decision to draw Naruto's consciousness into that strange, tranquil realm had been more than an act of curiosity — it had been mercy.

Had he remained fully aware of his body, the torment of transformation would have shattered him, mind and spirit alike. The heat, the pressure in his veins, the twisting of his very cells — all of it could have driven even a seasoned shinobi to madness.

Kazuki's voice and presence had kept him anchored. His calm explanations of the past, his soft laughter, the way he guided Naruto's thoughts away from the pain — all of it served one purpose: to keep the boy sane.

And so the days bled together in fevered silence.

On the fourth day, the doors of the Konoha hospital burst open with a furious gust of chakra. The staff turned instantly, recognizing the woman by her presence alone — the blonde Sannin, Tsunade Senju, had returned.

She said nothing as she entered the room. Her golden eyes landed on the trembling form of Naruto Uzumaki, his face pale and glistening with sweat, his hands clutching the sheets so tightly that the fabric tore. His breathing was ragged, his body arching in pain every few minutes.

For a moment, Tsunade froze.

She had seen death, battlefields, broken soldiers, and the consequences of war — but this… this was different.

There was something unnatural in the way his chakra burned. Something that screamed of change and chaos.

"Report," she said sharply.

The medics rushed to explain everything they'd tried — cooling seals, suppression seals, medic chakra infusion — all of it futile. Each time his pain faded, it came back stronger, like a wave reclaiming the shore.

And Tsunade could only watch.

She stayed at his side for three days, her hands never far from his pulse, her chakra flowing constantly to regulate what little she could. She barely slept, her jaw clenched tight as she tried to hide the frustration tearing through her.

When she saw Naruto twist and groan in agony, whispering things in delirium — things about "believing" and "becoming Hokage" — her chest ached.

It was as though she was watching her brother again — that same reckless spark of hope that refused to die, even when it should have.

By the eighth day, the unbearable finally began to calm.

Naruto's fever, which had scorched like fire, slowly lowered to something mortal. His breathing steadied, his pulse normalized.

And when Tsunade finally allowed herself to rest, the medics gently replaced her, murmuring in awe about her sheer will to stay awake that long.

None of them realized that, through his pain, Naruto had unknowingly pulled Tsunade out of her own darkness.

The sight of his unyielding spirit — his refusal to give up — had rekindled something she thought she'd lost forever.

And though Sarutobi finally found some relief in her presence, the mystery of what had happened to the boy only deepened.

In the Hokage's office, the atmosphere was heavy and grim.

Kakashi Hatake leaned against the wall, mask hiding his expression but not the fatigue in his eyes. Asuma Sarutobi stood by the window, cigarette forgotten between his fingers. Guy was uncharacteristically silent, and Kurenai's face was pale, her red eyes shadowed with concern.

The table was scattered with scrolls and medical reports — none of which offered answers.

"So," Asuma said finally, breaking the silence. "No foreign chakra traces, no seals, no poisons, no signs of tampering — and yet the kid was burning alive for over a week. Does that sound natural to anyone?"

Guy's fists tightened. "Youth should bring energy, not suffering like that! Whoever caused this… has no sense of honor!"

Kurenai frowned, her tone hesitant. "Even if he recovers physically, I… I'm not sure what kind of state his mind will be in."

Her words hung in the air like a knife.

No one responded. Even Kakashi, who usually defused such moments with dry humor, remained silent.

Behind his mask, his single visible eye was hard.

He hadn't read a page of Icha Icha since the boy fell ill. Every time he tried, his mind returned to that hospital bed, to Naruto's clenched fists and the unbearable sound of his pain.

He wanted to believe Naruto would bounce back, like he always did. But this time, the silence around the truth was too loud to ignore.

Sunlight crept through the window and spilled across Naruto's face.

His eyelids twitched, and slowly — painfully — he opened them. The ceiling above was unfamiliar. His body felt like lead, his joints screaming with every attempt to move.

"Hiss… ow… this is painful," he muttered, his voice hoarse.

Even breathing hurt.

He lay there for a long while, letting the quiet wash over him. For the first time in what felt like forever, there was no burning heat, no stabbing pain. Only soreness, exhaustion… and an odd sense of calm.

When he finally managed to sit up — using the wall for support — the motion felt like a small victory.

"Guess I'm alive," he whispered, grinning weakly.

Kazuki's words echoed faintly in his memory. The lessons. The stories. The strange serenity that had kept him grounded. And now, the lingering warmth of gratitude.

He had been told what happened to him — or at least as much as Kazuki chose to reveal. Naruto understood enough to know it wasn't normal.

Bloodlines didn't just appear. They were born, inherited, carried through generations. No amount of training could create one. Yet somehow, his had… changed.

His Uzumaki blood had always made him different — strong, resilient, overflowing with chakra — but also clumsy in control. It was why his clone techniques always failed, why his chakra overwhelmed even simple jutsu.

Now, though… things were different.

He could feel it.

Something in his body had shifted — the rhythm of his chakra, the pulse of his energy. It was calmer now, yet deeper.

Kazuki had explained that his bloodline had intertwined with others — bloodlines of immense power. He couldn't use them yet, but someday, they might awaken. Sharingan, Byakugan, and something beyond even those.

And at the core of it all — the Karma.

A mark that could one day grant him a power no one else possessed.

But it would be a long road, and a dangerous one.

Naruto scratched his head, wincing as his muscles protested.

"Well… guess I got what I deserved for skipping chakra control training," he said with a sheepish grin. "But hey — now I'm awesome!"

Even through the soreness, he couldn't help but laugh quietly.

He had survived something no one else could.

And though he didn't know it yet, that survival marked the beginning of something far greater — something that would change the shinobi world forever.

For now, though, Naruto simply leaned back against the wall, eyes half-lidded, and whispered,

"Thanks, Kazuki… "

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