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IX

An Unfamiliar Place

The mask glowed brightly as it was lifted off the display.

Naruto's eyes widened at the sight, but his words died in his throat when the mask seemed to become the light, vanishing in a brilliant flash of pure white energy.

"Naruto!" Kushina cried out in horror, only realising what was going on when it was too late.

Right as her outstretched hand was about to grasp onto the blond's sleeve to pull him away, the boy disappeared together with the strange glow.

At the same time, a horrifying explosion began with the position where Naruto had been as the centre.

Kushina managed to get out due to her fast reaction and the Hiraishin no Jutsu which her husband had taught her, but when she realised what had happened it was already too late. He had vanished. Naruto was gone and so was the shrine. All that was left was a pile of rubble in place of the mountain which had once kept the shrine hidden from prying eyes.

Kushina fell to her knees in shock.

What had just happened?

That mask was not supposed to do that.

It was just the Shinigami Mask.

All it did was summon the Death God and allow it to possess the user's body, so just how could it have taken her son away from her?

💣

Naruto blinked a few times in surprise when his surroundings changed completely, the familiar interior of the Uzumaki Mask Storage Temple replaced by a strange cobbled pavement. The redhead that he had grown to know as his adoptive mother was nowhere in sight and that strange mask that he had picked up before was gone. Then came the realisation that it was just way too quiet.

It was not the place that was silent.

It was the fact that he could not hear Gaara and Yagura anymore. He had gotten used to living a life as three people at once and it had become so stifling and uncomfortable when he could no longer sense them right on the other end of the connection that he shared with them through their unbreakable blood contract. It was like the link had vanished completely. It was an unbearably lonely feeling that he could never anticipate.

The streets that he stood on were, in fact, noisy.

Everyone was speaking at once, strange sounds blared from strange metal carts that moved on their own and he could not read a single word written on the signposts. He felt numb and lost. He did not even know where he was and there was no way for him to find out. He understood nothing of the culture or language here, but he did notice that his clothes were not all that strange here. Before having been transported to this alien place, he had been dressed in his favourite blue hoodie and an ordinary pair of black pants with an orange belt. This place was a lot like Amegakure in that the entire town had a dank smell to it, as though the light rain that he currently stood under was a permanent fixture of the land.

To be completely honest, Naruto felt terrified.

He could not sense the chakra of those around him and he could not connect to his chakra within his body. He was completely helpless without it. What fantastical jutsu could he even use when he could not even access his chakra? He was just like any other civilian child. A single strong breeze could knock him over. He would be at the mercy of whichever adult approached him with malicious intent.

There had always been a part of him that knew that he was superior to others. He is immortal. Nothing in the world was able to harm him. He could use any kekkei-genkai to exist after seeing it once. He could replicate jutsu freely without even needing hand seals. He had been all-powerful and had grown arrogant because he thought that he would always be above others. He had presumed that it was normal for him to be better. No other genius held a candle to him and even Kurama had told him as much.