Naruto : a hero's journey

In the void of his dream, everything was dark, endless. Satoru couldn't see a thing, but faint echoes of voices surrounded him.

They were distorted, muffled, like whispers from the far end of a tunnel. His head spun as he tried to make sense of them.

Amidst the confusion, a heated argument caught his attention.

In the depths of the dream, the argument became more focused, the voices taking shape through the darkness. Satoru strained to listen, catching fragments of a desperate conversation.

"You're drunk again!" the woman's voice came through, sharp and filled with pain.

"I can't—" the man's voice was slurred, bitter. "I can't raise him! You think I'm made for this? I can't even take care of myself!"

"You can't just run from this!" the woman shot back, her voice cracking slightly. "He's your child too. Satoru needs you!"

"I can barely afford to keep a roof over our heads!" The man's frustration was palpable now. "How do you expect me to handle this? We should... we should let someone else take him."

"Someone else?" Her voice was filled with disbelief. "You want to abandon him? He's just a child! You can't throw him away like—"

"I don't have a choice!" he yelled, the alcohol making his words stumble. "I'm not... I'm not fit for this life. I'm drowning, and a child... it's too much."

Satoru felt his heart tighten at the man's words. 'Who are they talking about? Me?' His head spun as the woman's voice cut through the noise, pleading.

"No...I won't let anything bad happen to him. I don't care what we have to do, I'm keeping him safe."

There was a long pause, and Satoru could hear the man take a shaky breath before replying, quieter but still filled with resentment.

"You want to keep him, but I can't help you. I can't afford this, and I won't be dragged down."

The woman's voice trembled, soft but firm. "Then I'll do it myself. I won't let him suffer because of you."

The voices became clearer, sharper, as if the dream was pulling Satoru deeper into their reality. He could hear the man take a deep swig from a bottle, the liquid sloshing inside.

"If you stopped drinking," the woman said, her voice shaking but determined, "then maybe we wouldn't have this problem. We could manage, we could—"

"Shut up!" the man interrupted, his words slurring. "You think... you think you know everything? Huh? This is my life!" He laughed bitterly, the sound ugly and cruel. "I don't need a kid dragging me down, and I don't need you telling me how to live."

Satoru felt an uneasy connection to the woman's voice, something familiar yet distant.

The man grew angrier. "You don't know anything! You're just a—"

He started calling her names, each one worse than the last. Satoru flinched, feeling his stomach twist. The woman tried to speak again, but her words were drowned by the sound of a bottle smashing against the wall.

Then, without warning, the noise of glass breaking was followed by the sickening thud of blows. Satoru's heart pounded as he heard the woman's cries of pain, the man grunting with each strike.

"Stop..." Satoru whispered, his body frozen in the dream.

The man's breathing grew heavier, each breath a rasp of exhaustion. "You... made me do this," he said between pants, his voice now quieter but full of venom. "This is your fault."

Satoru's mind raced. 'Who are these people?' He couldn't shake the feeling that he knew them, but the violence and hatred confused him. he heard the man shuffle away, the sound of his footsteps retreating, leaving the woman behind in silence.

The woman's sobs echoed in Satoru's ears, her voice cracking as she pleaded, "Please... not them. You can do whatever you want to me, but not them. Please, I beg you..."

Her desperation was palpable, but it was followed by a sickening thud. The sound of flesh meeting flesh, and then—children's cry.

The wail pierced through the dream like a knife, sharp and filled with pain.

Satoru's heart pounded, his chest tightening with each second that passed. 'What's happening? Who are they?' he thought. He needed to know.

But just as the dream grew more vivid, with the child's cries getting louder, everything faded to black.

Satoru jolted awake, drenched in sweat. His breath came in shallow gasps, his mind still reeling from what he had just heard. His heart raced, the confusion overwhelming him.

Why had the woman mentioned his name? Who were those people? His body felt heavy, his hands trembling as he tried to make sense of the dream.

Satoru slowly opened his eyes, his head still heavy with the fog of sleep. As his vision cleared, he saw Tatsuo and Dai sitting by his bedside, their faces etched with worry. Tatsuo was the first to notice he was awake.

"You're finally up!" Tatsuo exclaimed, relief flooding his voice. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Dai chimed in, his voice full of concern. "You just collapsed. We thought... we thought something bad happened."

Satoru, still disoriented, rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "I... I don't know. How long was I out?"

Tatsuo and Dai exchanged uneasy glances. Tatsuo was the one to answer. "It's been two weeks, Satoru. The vacations are almost over."

Satoru's eyes widened. "Two weeks?" He couldn't believe it. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he tried to piece together what had happened, but everything felt disjointed.

His head throbbed as flashes of a dream—no, a nightmare—lingered in the back of his mind.

Before he could dwell on it, Dai stood up. "I'll get a doctor," he said, rushing out of the room.

Moments later, Dai returned with Tsunade, a skilled medical-nin who was trained by the hokage himself . She was accompanied by a few nurses, and her presence immediately commanded attention.

Satoru recognized her but stayed silent, still processing everything. Tsunade approached the bed, her expression calm but serious. "Let's see how you're doing," she said softly, kneeling by his side.

She placed a hand on Satoru's forehead, and a gentle green glow spread from her palm as she performed a diagnostic jutsu. Satoru felt a soothing warmth, though he had no idea what kind of jutsu she was using. The tension in the room eased slightly as she continued her assessment.

After a moment, Tsunade looked at Satoru and his friends, her voice reassuring. "You're going to be fine. Your body went through a lot of stress, both physically and emotionally. But with some rest, you'll make a full recovery."

Satoru let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. "What... what happened to me?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Tsunade met his eyes, her tone gentle but direct. "You were overwhelmed. Sometimes the mind and body just need to shut down to heal. It's not uncommon after traumatic events. But you're strong, Satoru. You'll be back on your feet soon."

He nodded slowly, still trying to grasp everything. The room fell quiet as Tsunade finished her checks, her presence comforting, though the weight of what had happened still lingered in Satoru's heart.

Satoru sat nervously between Danzo and Tsunade in a room adjacent to the Hokage's office. The atmosphere was heavy, the tension palpable. Tsunade, still confused about why a child like Satoru was so important to Danzo, glanced at the boy before handing Danzo a piece of paper.

It displayed a detailed image of Satoru's brain, and she began to explain her findings.

Danzo, studied the picture with keen interest. "What happened to him?" he asked, his voice cold and calculating.

Tsunade sighed, glancing at Satoru, who looked increasingly worried. "His brain isn't like that of a typical person." She pointed to the amygdala on the scan. "For starters, his amygdala is smaller than average. The amygdala controls emotions, particularly fear and aggression. In his case, it might explain why he reacts differently to emotional situations, why he might struggle to feel empathy or fear in the same way others do."

Satoru's heart sank, his hands clenched tightly in his lap. He wasn't sure what all of this meant, but it didn't sound good. Tsunade then pointed to another area of the brain.

"The prefrontal cortex—responsible for decision-making and impulse control—also shows an unusual structure. These irregularities, combined with the smaller amygdala, suggest psychopathic tendencies."

Satoru's eyes widened in panic. "Psychopathic tendencies?" he echoed, his voice trembling. "Is something... wrong with me?"

Tsunade saw the fear in his eyes, and for a moment, her voice softened. "It doesn't mean you're a monster, Satoru. But it does mean you're different. People with this kind of brain structure often struggle with emotions, particularly with empathy. They might not feel guilt or fear the way others do. It can affect how you make decisions, how you form relationships."

Satoru's fear grew more intense as he tried to process everything. "So... am I dangerous?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Danzo, sensing the boy's growing panic, leaned forward, his voice stern but reassuring. "Calm down, Satoru. This doesn't define who you are. It only means that you'll have to be more aware of your actions, of how you interact with others. But it also means you can be strong—stronger than those who are bound by emotion."

Satoru wasn't sure if Danzo's words were meant to comfort him, they didn't ease his worry. "In what other ways am I different?" he asked, his eyes pleading for answers.

Tsunade hesitated, unsure of how much to reveal. "You might find it difficult to form attachments," she said carefully. "Love, guilt, fear—they might not come naturally to you. But it doesn't mean you can't learn to understand them, to live alongside them. It just means that your journey will be different from others."

The room fell into a heavy silence as Satoru sat there, grappling with what he had just learned.

His mind raced with questions and fears, unsure of what to make of this new reality, he left the room to get some air .

As Satoru stood outside the room, his mind still clouded by Tsunade's unsettling revelation, he tried to process what she had said. His lack of remorse for destroying the Zen'in clan now felt like a gaping hole in his consciousness.

He'd never considered their lives, only his goal—to win Keiko's love. 'I never saw them as people,' he thought, a chill creeping through his thoughts. 'Just obstacles...' The realization was uncomfortable. His transmigration had shaped him into something else, something colder.

Inside the room, Tsunade crossed her arms and eyed Danzo curiously. "Why is that kid so important to you?" she asked. It was unlike Danzo to care about anyone beyond his former comrades from the war days.

Danzo's face remained unreadable as he turned slightly toward her. "Do you know the story of the Zen'in clan and their fall?" he asked.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, confused but intrigued. "Yes, of course. But what does that have to do with Satoru?"

Danzo's voice took on an almost imperceptible hint of pride. "He's the one who brought them down. He orchestrated their destruction."

Tsunade's eyes widened in shock. "He… destroyed the Zen'in clan?" she repeated, struggling to believe what she was hearing. What confused her even more was Danzo's tone—it carried an air of pride, something that didn't sit right with her. "And you sound… proud of him."

Danzo just smiled at her question.

Tsunade leaned back, still digesting the news. Danzo didn't usually praise people. This boy, Satoru, had clearly caught his attention in a way that was rare, if not unprecedented.

Meanwhile, outside, Satoru was lost in thought. That was when he noticed someone approaching. His gaze lifted, and he saw a woman with snake-like features walking toward him. Her pale skin, dark hair, and slitted golden eyes gave her an otherworldly appearance—Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's lips curved into a slight smile as she approached him, her eyes gleaming with interest. "You must be Satoru," she said, her voice silky and full of an eerie calm. "I've heard some fascinating things about you."

Satoru glanced at her, a mix of curiosity filling his thoughts. He wasn't sure what to make of her. She weirded him out.

"What do you want?" he asked bluntly, still rattled by everything that had just transpired.

Orochimaru's smile widened, her gaze never leaving his face. "Nothing, really," she said smoothly. "I'm just... intrigued. There's something quite unique about you, isn't there?"

Satoru didn't respond at first, still unsure what to make of her sudden appearance. But something about her aura, the way she looked at him, piqued his interest.

"Maybe," he muttered, keeping his guard up.

Orochimaru let out a soft, almost amused laugh. "You'll understand more in time," she said, her voice cryptic.

She took a step back, as if preparing to leave, then paused to glance over her shoulder. "I wonder what kind of man you'll become."

With that, she walked away, her presence lingering in the air long after she disappeared from view, leaving Satoru standing there.