Chapter 34 - N

"I think I saw that tree before."

He circles the mentioned tree and sure enough, there's the mark he made with his kunai a couple of days ago.

He's probably lost. And the worst thing is that he knows why it keeps happening. He still knows which direction he must go but this place is so different from home and he can't help but investigate whenever he reaches a new town. They're always empty and cold; it's obvious the people left quickly, barely grabbed the essentials, and left everything else behind.

There are family photos and plates with food on tables, and mold growing on top. It's sad, really. He's never been a religious kind of person and he doesn't know if the Shinigami reaps the souls in this world, but he prays anyways for the dead bodies he finds, hoping they find peace wherever they go.

Sometimes, he hears strange sounds, footsteps, and the like and he always goes to them, thinking they're the survivors who live in this world. They never are but Naruto is hopeful he's going to find what happened here. He hasn't encountered one yet but he's sure he will, soon. However, so far those zombies are the only ones he finds. And he can't completely avoid them as they usually frequent the most interesting places. His chakra control is ruined so he can't do the tree-climbing exercise correctly but his stealth skills, gained by years of running from the ANBU, are still top-notch and those don't need chakra.

Not that he doesn't have chakra. On the contrary, he has more than enough to give and spare.

It's his control that's gone haywire.

Sighing, he wonders how the others are faring as he guesses the contrary must be happening to them. Sasuke is probably the most used to being without too much chakra as most of his Justus were the kind that sap energy and to have the well-sized pool he has now, he probably has trained himself to chakra exhaustion. The same can't be said about Kurama however; being made of chakra and all. He's probably never been with so little chakra. And Naruto knows Kurama must be with little reserves because he can feel the power within him that's not his entwined with his own and it's almost all Kurama's.

Naruto is worried.

Leaning against the tree, Naruto thumps his forehead against the bark, fingers trailing the faint seal on his navel. He remembers clearly the time Kurama was pulled out of him and into the Gedo Mazo, remembers feeling the chains around his neck, a ghost pain that came entirely from Kurama's as he was yanked away from the neck. Like a Band-Aid, he thinks, quickly ripped off so as to not make it hurt.

Not that it worked that way. Naruto remembers falling, breathless and dizzy as the emptiness wanting to swallow him whole, engulfed his entire body in pain.

It hurt. It hurts now, too. And he only knows that it's the presence that's been always with him, that he misses. Though he can help but be grateful towards Kurama as he knows that without the bijuu shoving his power inside him, Naruto would have died. Perhaps not from the extraction, but for the lack of healing abilities Kurama's chakra has that's made his stomach be remade constantly these last weeks he wouldn't have been able to move. He'd have died from hunger without it.

Even so, he never wanted to feel Kurama's chakra, so entangled with his own, being ripped that way again, but it happened a second time now. And Naruto feels so uncomfortable in his own skin, as if it was too big for him, like a stuffed animal whose filling has gone missing and it no longer has the consistency to sit upright. Now, he has to be careful with every step he takes, afraid he will fall flat on his face with a step badly taken from his part. And it's so weird to feel full and at the same time empty, but he has no other words to describe what feels and he's never been too good at explaining.

The current problem now is that, without his friend's presence, the chakra is too wild for him to control. And dangerous. There's always an excess that makes his skin tingle, a buzz of energy constantly coming from him, wanting to tear it from its bonds away and be free.

Something tells him that if Old man Sage hadn't given him his power, he'd have exploded. Humans don't seem to be made to hold a bijuu's power without them to work as an outlet.

"I really want to see how Kurama's doing." Fingers clench on the sole orange shirt he found inside that store and he closes his eyes, attempting to brush the link he still can feel between Kurama and him. It's a faint, fragile thread but it's the only thing he has that connects them. He's been trying to follow it, but with his power as wild as it is, he can't even manage to grasp it.

He huffs in exasperation. His forehead meets the bark of the tree and he takes a deep breath before concentrating on the Nature around him. He can't get into a proper Sage mode with his chakra control as it is but he can still connect with the world around him, even if faintly.

At least, it's enough to let him pass the excess of power into the grass under his shoes and the trees around him so he can regain at least an ounce of control to attempt a hold for the link. Not that it works. The amount his control lets him transfer into Nature is never enough. However, it is sufficient to stop his body from feeling like it's going to explode sometime soon anymore. And that's always a plus. Also, that second spent meditating let him feel the presence of those around him for at least a couple of meters. There's an odd feeling he gets from those zombies but he doesn't have the control to properly try to understand what's going on inside their bodies. He merely senses where they are briefly.

He presses his right hand on the tree and it twitches. He brushes a thumb against his palm and it's good he can still feel his connection to Sasuke. Naruto mostly uses it to check on him to make sure he's not going on a killing spree or something, though most of the time he doesn't feel anything but annoyance from his end. But that's Sasuke to you so no surprises there. He doesn't know if the bastard can feel the emotions he sends through that link but he's been trying to send the equivalent of a cheeky grin every time he checks on him.

That done, Naruto stands straight and rolls his shoulders, stretching his whole body until loud pops fill the air from his bones. He moves a hand to fix his backpack into a better position as he watches his surroundings. It's quiet in the park. The grass that was once slightly gray and is now greener thanks to his chakra is tall and more alive. There are no chirps or any other clue nature is awake but it's as if the park has taken a deep breath and can relax.

The town is small, too; just a couple of cabins and houses. There's nothing in there. Not even zombies. Naruto distracts himself by looking around and marveling at some constructions. He finds some stores but most are empty or with just a few items in their stands. He even finds a bowl of something that looks like instant ramen that makes his eyes shine. He hides it into a separate and empty storage seal to save it in case of celebrations.

Saving the ramen, he thinks in Ichiraku and he wonders how everything is going back in his own world. He closes his eyes and finds his friends there. They're tired but content in his mind, grieving the dead and celebrating the victory. He knows it'll take time before they can stand again but he's sure they'll be able to do it. They're no longer alone; they've got the help of the other villages. Together, they'll be able to put themselves together.

-

Again, I'm back online. With a new computer and finally having paid Office for this year, I now have Word and will stop fumbling with Google documents for a while.

I think that's what mostly put me off of writing as Google Docs was not really good for me to use (It was Hell). So hopefully I'll be writing more. I've been mostly writing this fic on my phone and is the one with the most chapters so I'll be updating this in the meantime.

Thank you for your support! And if you want to give even more support (Or read more chapters ahead), then go to my pa_treon/JorieDS