413Relief was what Naruto felt as he had successfully defeated all the Pain's and protected his village. Even the many lives that were lost were now returned, all because of his former enemy now sibling student Nagato, bearer of the Rinnegan.
"I can't thank you enough, Nagato." Naruto said in full gratitude towards the former redhead as his hair had now turned a ghostly white.
"Naruto, can I ask you something?" Nagato asked in a raspy voice, looking at Naruto with complete seriousness.
"Anything. What is it?" Naruto answered quickly, seeing the dire state Nagato was in.
"Do you believe your village will ever truly accept you for who you are?" Nagato asked in full seriousness, knowing full well the treatment of a jinchuriki and knew it was next to impossible to ever be truly acknowledged while being one.
Naruto was shocked by the man's question and thought back on his life, remembering the beatings and solitude he suffered throughout his life. Even with the few people that have accepted him, he was still alone. Even as he got older he could still see the fear and worry in peoples eyes when they saw him.
"No. I don't think they'll ever accept me for who I am, but where am I suppose to go? Wherever I go, all I will ever be seen as is a monster." Naruto said, casting his head down in sadness.
"What if I could send you somewhere where no one would know who you are or even what a jinchuriki is? It would be a fresh start for you." Nagato explained to Naruto as the blond gave him a look of confusion.
"Where would that be?" Naruto asked in both confusion and wonder about where Nagato was talking about.
"It's a place called Meridian, it's in another dimension. My father was from Meridian before he came here and met my mother, who like yourself was an Uzumaki." Nagato explained getting a look of disbelief from the blond Uzumaki.
"Wait, you're an Uzumaki? Are we related in some way?" Naruto asked both confused and curious about having a living family member he could have made a connection to.
"Maybe we are cousins in some way, but I can't be too sure. As far as I'm aware, my mother had no living family, but all Uzumaki that are still alive are related by some distant ancestor." Nagato explained, actually giving some thought to how close the blood relation between him and Naruto was.
"Okay, how do I get to Meridian? I can't exactly cross dimensions." Naruto said, seeing the smirk on Nagato's face.
"With the last of my power, I can open up a portal that will breach through the veil so you will be transported to somewhere in Meridian, but I will need your help." Nagato explained to Naruto as he looked somewhat confused.
"Okay. How do I help you?" Naruto asked, ready to help his fellow Uzumaki, who was giving him a second chance at life.
"First, we need to join hands and combine our chakra." Nagato explained.
Naruto did as instructed. They both held hands and closed their eyes to concentrate and a few moments later, a blue portal suddenly appeared looking like it cut through the very fabric of reality itself.
"Whoa, we did it Nagato." Naruto said, amazed by the portal.
"Yes. Now, Naruto before you go, I would like to say goodbye and give one parting gift." Nagato said placing both of his hands over Naruto's eyes and focused his chakra into them, causing Naruto to feel a moment of dizziness.
"Whoa. What was that?" Naruto asked overcoming his sudden dizziness.
"It was my gift to you. Now go Naruto. The portal won't stay open forever." Nagato said, not wanting his sibling student to miss his opportunity.
"Right. Goodbye, Nagato" Naruto said before jumping straight into the portal as it closed not a moment later.
"You do know after using such taxing jutsu, you'll die don't you?" Konan asked finally saying something after all has been said and done.
"I would have died anyway with how my body is anyway. I might as well do one good thing for Naruto so he could have a better life." Nagato explained to his longtime friend as his eyes got heavy.
"Yes, but at least you would've died peacefully." Konan said, getting Nagato to let out a weak laugh, making her look at him strangely.
"Konan, in this world there is no true peace and the only real chance of that was Naruto and now that he's gone, the chance for peace is as well." Nagato said, starting to fade away, but not before sending one final glance towards his longtime friend, who was shedding tears as he finally died.
(with Naruto inside the portal between the Elemental Nations and Meridian)
Naruto was currently inside an empty space lying down on the 'ground' a little dazed as two figures began to approach him.
"Hello, Naruto." A familiar voice rang through Naruto's ears. He looked up and saw the Fourth Hokage aka the Yellow Flash or less commonly known, Naruto's father alongside a beautiful redheaded woman, who wore a green dress.
"Dad." Naruto said seeing his father once again, even after the brief meeting they had earlier during his fight with Pain.
"Hello, Naruto." The beautiful redhead spoke to him with a truly caring and honest smile.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked, not really knowing who the woman in front of him is.
The woman's eyes were now saddened that the blond didn't know who she was, but kept her smile and got an idea. "Well Naruto, how about you guess who I am."
Naruto looked at the woman very carefully, trying to figure out how she knew him and what the connection was between them until he had a sudden realization of who the woman might be.
"Mom?" Naruto said getting the woman to smile and suddenly hug him with tears coming down her face and after Naruto's shock began to wear off, he hugged the woman back with his own tears traveling down his face "Ya know, I have always wanted to meet you, mom."
"Ya know, you really are my child." Kushina said, wiping away her tears as she smiled brightly at her child.
(15 minutes of explaining and crying)
"Well Naruto, we would like to give you something before you go to this new land called Meridian." Kushina said, looking towards Minato who nodded and brought out three scrolls.
"Naruto, your mother and I have put something special in each of these scrolls just for you. The first has multiple copies of my jacket and yours from when you fought Pain. The second has me and your mother's knowledge and notes on Fūinjutsu or sealing. And the third one has the knowledge to my signature technique, the Flying Raijin, but you'll have to practice to get a good grasp on it." Minato explained to his son, who had a gobsmacked expression upon being bestowed the most powerful information the Elemental Nations have ever known but was snapped out of his shock as his mother stepped right in front of him.
"Naruto, I want you to close your eyes for a moment." Kushina said as she did the same and rested her head against Naruto's and suddenly a golden light enveloped both of them and as it died down, Naruto felt like something had been awakened from deep inside his body and looked at his mother, who was giving him a smile.
"Before you ask Naruto, I just gave you my gift and it'll come to you in your time of need and when you use it, it'll be hard to master, but I believe you'll be able to do it." Kushina said, not really telling Naruto 'what' she gave him.
Suddenly, both his parents began to become transparent, meaning they were almost out of time, making this the last time he'll ever see them.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye." Naruto said with a sad smile on his face.
"Yes it is, but Naruto, I just want you to know there is no possible way to say how immensely proud I am of you and I am in awe of the man you've become." Minato said crying with an honest to god smile as he hugged his son.
"Naruto I want you to know the day you were born was the happiest day of both mine or your father's lives and when we died, leaving you all alone was the hardest most difficult thing me or your father ever had to do. We love you so much." Kushina said, crying as she joined in on the hug and as the parents started to fade, Naruto could feel himself continue on his journey to Meridian.
