Naruto : Cruel Rebirth

Late at night, Naruto lay in bed, his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling in a daze. 

His experiences of being on the brink of death and then being reborn still felt unreal, even though they really happened. 

So, he needed the night to settle his mind and reconnect with reality. 

Shhh… From next door, he could faintly hear the sound of a shower running. 

Naruto's thoughts stirred. He slowly pulled his left hand from under his head, reaching down to rest on his stomach... 

Zzi! The seal of the Eight Trigrams appeared. 

Naruto asked, "Hey, Kurama, you've seen everything, right? All the memories I brought with me?" 

It was nearly a hundred years of memories—such a vast amount of information that it would take some time for the Nine-Tails to process. 

Kurama's cold voice came through, "Hmph, so?" 

Naruto calmly replied, "Since you've seen it all, you should understand why I did this, right?" 

Kurama's tone remained indifferent, "Humph, so what?". 

Naruto continued, unflinching, "So, let's do what we used to do. Let's talk openly with each other, okay?" 

Kurama's voice turned cold, "Talk openly? I don't remember having that kind of relationship with you! The one in your memory isn't even me..." 

Naruto sat up, "Hey, that clearly was you!" 

Kurama barked, "Shut up!!! I'm the embodiment of evil! How could I lower myself to talk with a brat like you!? And say all that mushy stuff? That's not me!!!" 

Naruto sighed, "Kurama, I know you like to be stubborn, but you're just fooling yourself..." 

"Argh, stop calling my name like we're close! You don't know me like that...!!!" 

In Naruto's heart, the Nine-Tails swished its tail, furious. The anger even leaked through the seal...!!! Thud!!! 

"Ouch..." Naruto's head slammed against the bedframe, the pain sharp. 

"Even if it was me... I still don't like the current you! I hate it! I really hate it! I dislike it to the extreme! I'm disgusted!" 

"Kurama, I..." Naruto tried to explain, but Kurama wouldn't give him the chance, even swearing an oath. 

"No matter what reason you have, you're not Uzumaki Naruto anymore! Get out! Get out of this body! I'll never admit you're the real Naruto, never, not ever!!!" 

Whoosh! The Eight Trigrams seal vanished again, and Kurama fell silent... Clearly, it had shut off the chakra pathway once more. 

"..." Naruto shook his head helplessly but could understand Kurama's current feelings. 

Even the tailed beasts are animals, and animals have emotions. They need to go through experiences to grow. 

In his past life, Kurama also gradually opened its heart to Naruto, eventually even choosing to sacrifice itself willingly. 

The current Nine-Tails had not yet grown, so even if it saw those memories and felt Naruto's inner pain, it couldn't come to an understanding in a natural way. 

Cognitive biases aren't something that can be changed in a moment.

Naruto muttered to himself, 

"But I believe that the day when we can truly open up to each other again will come..."

At the sound from earlier, Konan's voice came from the next room, 

"Naruto, what's wrong? Are you arguing with someone?"

Naruto replied, 

"Sister Konan... I'm fine, I just met an old friend." 

"I see..." Konan understood.

After seeing the Nine-Tails' attitude, Naruto couldn't help but ask with a complicated expression, 

"Sister Konan, is it just because I showed you the memories of the past that you're willing to help me like this?"

After a long silence, Konan's voice came again, 

"We're both disciples of Jiraiya, but from the beginning to the end, only you have followed the ninja way that Jiraiya passed down, even until the moment of his death. I can still see traces of Yahiko in you..."

"Those memories definitely played a big part, but they aren't everything."

Naruto felt relieved, 

"I understand now, this makes me feel at ease..." 

Konan warmly said, 

"Go to sleep, the road ahead is long, take it slowly."

Naruto closed his eyes, 

"Alright, good night, Sister Konan."

The night passed quietly.

The next morning, Naruto rested well. After breakfast, he and the others went to the ninth floor of the tower.

They would discuss the future plans there. 

To the southeast and southwest, there were chairs. Naruto sat facing north, with a round table in front of him. On the table was a wooden box, and from this position, the gray sky and the rain outside the tower were clearly visible.

Konan stood behind Naruto.

Orochimaru sat to the east, arms crossed in front of his chest, with a calm and intellectual smile on his face.

Kisame sat to the west, sitting properly, his shark skin standing beside him.

"..." Naruto leaned forward, gripping his hands tightly with his knuckles pressed against his chin, his gaze deep. 

"Let's begin."

With a light gesture, Konan unfurled a map of the ninja world, made of parchment, on the back wall.

Boom! Thunder crashed, lighting up her cold face, and the lip piercing at the corner of her mouth added to her mature aura.

Naruto spoke methodically.

"Konohagakure, Sunagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure, Iwagakure, these five great hidden villages, supported by the economy of the Five Great Nations, have become the dominant forces in the ninja world through generations of inherited ninjutsu..." 

"Our first goal is to collect the secret ninjutsu and Kekkei Genkai of each ninja village..."

"Kekkei Genkai is supported by bloodlines, so we will start with the secret techniques!"

"The Lightning Release Taijutsu from Kumogakure, the Heavy and Light Stone Jutsu from Iwagakure, the assassination techniques from Kirigakure, the Puppet Jutsu from Sunagakure, and... the Ino-Shika-Cho series of techniques from Konohagakure, all of these are the powers I want to obtain!"

In his past life, the five great villages were friendly with each other. At that time, Naruto, as the central figure among the Five Kage, could have easily obtained these secret techniques if he had wanted to. But he hadn't cared much about them, thinking that the ninjutsu he excelled at were enough...

It wasn't until he faced overwhelmingly strong enemies that Naruto realized the importance of having more techniques, especially the unique ninjutsu, which often had surprising and even world-changing effects! So, in this life, Naruto was determined to obtain these secret techniques first! 

Orochimaru ran his hand through his hair, resting it on his cheek, and turned his head to look at the map of the ninja world. His voice was low and hoarse as he spoke: 

"We are in Amegakure, close to Suna, Iwa, and Konohagakure. We should focus on these three villages first. If we need to be more specific, Konohagakure with the Flying Thunder God mark, and the relatively weak Suna should be our top choices." 

"I want to leave Konohagakure for last. As for Suna... the sandstorms there are too strong, making it hard to move forward. As for Iwa, Tsuchikage Oonoki is an experienced veteran; we might not get the results we want there." 

"Moreover, since Amegakure is located at the intersection of the three major ninja villages, we can't start a conflict with them immediately because they are so close. They could send ninjas to attack at any time, and we're too weak to win in a direct fight." 

Naruto slowly stood up, walked to the map, took out a pen, and circled the land of Kumogakure, drawing an arrow pointing from Amegakure to it. 

"Kumogakure has already shown hostility toward us. A conflict will happen sooner or later, so we might as well strike first..." 

Naruto thought to himself: I can also draw Raikage's hatred for Sasuke onto me... 

Orochimaru smiled. "Looks like you've made your decision. Do you really want that kind of chakra mode, Naruto-kun?" 

Naruto's gaze was deep. "Ah... the Lightning Release chakra mode would raise my reflexes, taijutsu, and defense to a whole new level. If I combine it with Sage Mode, and even with Kurama's chakra mode in the future, I might become so strong that I myself would be scared..." 

At that moment, Kisame spoke up: "Speaking of which, we still don't have a name for our organization, do we? Should we act under Amegakure's name? Seems like... it wouldn't be very intimidating." 

Naruto looked at Konan, who was still wearing her Fire Cloud cloak. 

He looked away and said firmly: "Our organization will still be called 'Akatsuki.' We live in the darkness but aim for the light. To distinguish it from the other Akatsuki, we'll add the light word!" 

"Light Akatsuki..." A cold smile appeared at the corner of Konan's lips. 

From that moment on, there was a division between the dark and light Akatsuki! 

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