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# **Chapter 1 – The Fire That Refused to Die**
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The void wasn't empty.
It was worse.
A suffocating expanse where time rotted and thoughts echoed back in languages I'd never learned. I'd stopped screaming centuries ago. Now I floated, unraveling at the edges, clinging to fabricated memories:
the *click* of a lighter, the smell of rain on concrete, the taste of coffee that might never have existed.
Then—
A flicker.
A single ember, blue-gold and trembling, fighting the dark. For decades—or eons—I watched it die and reignite, a stubborn spark in the infinite nothing.
*"What are you?"* My thoughts slithered outward, brittle from disuse.
The ember pulsed. *"What remains of a forgotten truth."*
Its voice wasn't a voice. It was the creak of a gallows rope, the hiss of a snuffed candle.
*"Why linger?"*
*"To burn."*
The answer spanned millennia. The ember grew—not in size, but in *presence*—until its light carved shadows from the void. Wings of flame. A crown of ash. Eyes like collapsed stars.
The Phoenix.
*"The cosmos broke its laws to kill me,"* it said, *"but fire outlives even gods. Will you carry my flame, little ember? Burn what they dare not touch?"*
I had no mouth to smile. *"Why not?"*
The Phoenix's laughter crackled like a wildfire. *"Then let us be blasphemy together."*
It tore into me.
**Agony.**
Not pain—*unmaking*. My soul fractured and reforged, steeped in flames that seared away weakness. When it ended, I was *more*. A walking blasphemy.
The Phoenix's final whisper:
*"Burn their world, little god. Burn it *bright*."*
Then the void shattered.
Then… eons passed again.
The void was cold. Uncaring.
I'd gotten used to it. But now, instead of mentally ending myself, I trained.
Training in the abyss wasn't about growth. It was about *remembering*. The flames already knew their purpose—I simply let them flow.
Centuries dripped by. Fire became birds, swords, guns that spat bullets of condensed rage. But without flesh, there was a limit.
So, one century, I got bored of burning nothing.
So I burned the void itself.
Blue-green flames peeled reality like rotten fruit. A crack split the infinite dark—and through it, *him*.
Blonde. Whiskered. A boy drowning in loneliness. My soul felt like it was igniting, calling out to the light.
"Naruto," I whispered. The name slipped out like a prayer.
He looked at me and smiled, a four-year-old's face lighting up like the sun.
"You're late," he said, walking toward me. "What took you so long?"
I chuckled. "Traffic was hell."
We started talking like old friends. It felt right. Like we'd always been one thing waiting to become whole.
Our souls collided without sound. His memories flooded me: empty apartments, glares like knives, a voice screaming *"SEE ME!"*
And then—
**Light.**
A man appeared. Chakra flared around him like a storm.
Ashura.
*"You trespass on sacred ground,"* he snarled, wood-style chakra coiling around his fists. *"This vessel belongs to my lineage!"*
I sighed. *"How… tedious."*
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Ashura struck first. A massive fist of wood and lightning shot toward my essence—or where it *should* have been.
I let it pass through.
*"You cannot touch what does not exist,"* I said as flames licked my form.
*"Arrogant wretch!"* Ashura's chakra exploded, filling the void with clawing forests. *"This cycle has endured for millennia! You are but a *stain* on its perfection!"*
I tilted my head. *"Cycle? You mean your *prison*."*
The forest surged. Roots thick as mountains lunged. I raised a hand.
**Burn.**
The flames turned white. Not fire—*absence*. The trees dissolved mid-swing, reduced to ash.
Ashura staggered. *"What—? How—?"*
*"Your turn."*
I flicked a finger. A thread of blue fire lashed out, severing his arm. He screamed, chakra unraveling.
*"You are *nothing*!"* he roared, regenerating with yang energy. *"A parasite! A *mistake*!"*
I yawned. *"How original."*
His attacks grew desperate—earth, lightning, water. All turned to ash.
*"Stay still and *die*!"*
*"Boring."*
Golden fire erupted from the void. Chains pierced his chest, pinning him mid-air.
*"Let me go!"* he thrashed. *"I am *ASHURA*! Heir to the Sage!"*
*"You're a footnote,"* I said, tightening the chains. *"And I'm the fire that burns the page."*
His scream echoed as the flames consumed not his body, but his *claim*. The cycle snapped. His chakra bled into mine—Phoenix fire, vitality, and void-wrought soul merging in brutal harmony.
*Now… where was I?*
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### **Konoha – Physical Realm**
**BOOOOM.**
The explosion atomized six blocks.
Hiruzen Sarutobi tasted copper as the shockwave rattled his bones. A crater glowed at the center—golden chains wrapped around something inside.
*"Hokage-sama!"* An ANBU knelt, mask cracked. *"The Nine-Tails' chakra—!"*
*"No,"* Hiruzen said. *"This is different. Heavier."*
Something rippled in the air. Not chakra. Not flame.
**Presence.**
ANBU nearby collapsed. Civilians fainted. Veterans dropped to one knee, drenched in cold sweat.
Unconscious **Conqueror's Haki**. Raw will, unleashed in defense as Naruto's soul absorbed Ashura's essence.
Golden chains thrashed, burning away any who came too close.
Even unconscious, Naruto's body moved—*defending itself*.
---
*[naruto pov]*
Chains slithered around me, tasting the air. Three forces buzzed beneath my skin—Phoenix flames knitting my soul, Kurama's chakra mending flesh, Ashura's yang stabilizing the chaos.
*"Naruto."*
The Third Hokage stood at the crater's edge. His grandfatherly smile didn't reach his eyes.
*"My boy… what happened here?"*
I looked past him. The village sprawled, small and chaotic.
I smiled. I liked it.
*"Bloodline awakening,"* I said flatly.
Hiruzen's eyebrow twitched. *"The Uzumaki clan's chains? Remarkable. But such power is… volatile. Let us help you—"*
*"No."*
The chains *hissed*. His smile tightened.
*"You must understand,"* he said. *"As Hokage, I can't allow a child to wield such danger unchecked."*
*"Unchecked?"*
*"Training. Supervision. For your *safety*."*
Flames flickered at my fingertips. *"Safety's boring."*
It seemed I was useful enough not to eliminate—he hadn't attacked.
Hiruzen's chakra spiked—subtle, but the chains recoiled.
*"You are Konoha's child,"* he said gently. *"And Konoha protects its own. Come with me—we'll ensure no one fears you again."*
I almost laughed.
*Fear*? I'd forgotten the taste of it.
*"Pass."*
Darkness tugged at my vision. My body gave out—finally succumbing.
My thoughts raced. *What caused this?* With regeneration this strong, I shouldn't be blacking out.
Then again—I was seven.
Even fire breaks if the vessel is clay.
Still, I smiled.
I had almost forgotten...
He was waiting.
---
### **Mindscape**
The cage was crumbling. Blue flames ate at the seals, reducing them to ash.
Kurama glared as I appeared.
*"What *are* you?"* he snarled.
*"Boredom,"* I said, smiling lazily.
*"That fire—it reeks of something *old*."* His muzzle wrinkled. *"Older than the Sage. Older than *me*."*
I shrugged. *"Everything burns eventually. But flames are eternal."*
Chains snapped. The cage fell.
Kurama stood tall, chakra flaring—but the flames curled around his throat.
*"Try it,"* I said, *"and I'll reduce you to a bedtime story."*
He growled, but stilled.
*"What do you want?"*
*"Entertainment."*
I let out a twisted smile as the fox flinched.
Behind the smoke and fire, another presence stirred.
Soon.
Minato. Kushina.
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### **Hiruzen's Office – One Hour Later**
The walls trembled under the weight of shouting.
*"He's a threat!"* Homura barked. *"That power—what if he loses control again?"*
*"We don't even know what it *was*,"* Koharu said. *"It wasn't just the Nine-Tails."*
Hiruzen lit his pipe.
*"It was a convergence. A mutation of chakra, lineage, and stress. That boy's power is rooted in heritage and trauma."*
Homura sneered. *"You want to *cultivate* it?"*
*"We must,"* Hiruzen said. *"He's more than a jinchūriki. He's a product of this village."*
Koharu's voice turned cold. *"And if he refuses to be our weapon?"*
Hiruzen tapped ash from his pipe.
*"Then we remind him what happens to tools that forget their purpose."*
---
### **Hospital Room – 2 Hours Later**
Naruto woke with golden chains coiled around him.
Nurses flinched. A child cried.
He didn't care.
Let them fear. Let them run.
In the void, he'd learned a truth:
**The world is kindling.**
And he?
**The match. The spark. The fire that refused to die.**
He closed his eyes again. Not to rest.
To plan.
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End.