Naruto: A Lazy Life

Pov: Takumi Uchiha.

I am too tired for this.

*Crash!*

My back slams into the dirt and I feel my body slide across the ground before stopping.

I watch as the broken and beaten Saburo jumps to beat me while I am down.

Look at his eyes, crazed- he is fuelled by so much adrenaline I cannot comprehend what thoughts run through his mind now.

'Who am I?'

What did he mean by that?

Saburo launches an assault on my face, I lay there and absorb as many hits as I can.

Does he know something I don't? How perfect it would be to glance into that mind of his, see what he sees in me.

Demon.

I've been called many things by others in my past life but none dared call me demon.

I was the only one ever able to obtain all three aspects of aura and ascend into a realm that only children believed to have existed.

*Whabababababa!*

Saburo relentlessly pummels my face as blood leaks from him, in multiple places.

One crazed eye, bloody teeth- bloody knuckles and a broken body.

He looks worse than when he survived that ambush.

*Whababababababababababa-*

To be called a demon in my old world is to claim that I strayed from my true self and inverted my Aura.

What does it mean to be a demon here?

What do these elemental nations refer to demons as? Evil spirits? Terrible people? Carnage incarnate? Deadly creatures?

Why did Saburo call me a demon?

Hn.

Troublesome thoughts.

What does it mean to invert?

If I practiced my art, my Aura and then decided to become dull and yield- my body, mind and soul would shift and change drastically to become dull and yielding.

A horrific process that leaves one demonic in looks and nature.

Yet here it is as if I never practiced my arts.

Never wielded a blade.

I cannot invert, and so I can be whoever I dream of being.

Is this who I dreamt of being?

No.

I want to be the Emperor, I was happy being the Emperor even if it was just as a tool.

But if anything else I am saddened by the fact that I can never go back.

Even as someone else, I would love to laze in the streets that I protected, watch the market stalls stand tall knowing that I carved through the mountains to allow such merchandise to be sold.

I would love to watch the knights march and soldiers train in their fields, knowing that I single improved the training and ability of all warriors beneath me just by existing.

I would love to take in the culture and perhaps read a book or two, maybe even work at one of the very shops I saved.

I would love it all, if it wasn't here.

Yet I can't stop being here, I cannot return and those thoughts are just fantasy.

A wall I can never cross.

Hn.

Maybe I don't like the way I have been in this world, is that it? Why his words have struck me true?

I want to be true to myself but I also wish to avoid that very same fate I met down the path I travelled.

I would love to love this place.

*Whabababababa-*

And maybe I have been looking at this all from a greater lens, maybe I need to take it all in one step at a time.

I have two freinds here, Rin and Obito- people I cherish and know more of than any friend I had in my old life.

I also have this troublesome student of mine I would like to watch grow.

*Whabababababababababababa-*

I think, that Saburo has taught me something I had not seen.

I am dying in this body, slowly but surely my flame grows weaker with every day and I will rot inside then out.

He can't watch me rot anymore- is that it? Why he lunged at me? Challenged me? Because he wishes to rip away my façade and heal me?

A true medical professional indeed.

Hn.

I cannot let my new and only disciple down after all, I have a responsibility to hold onto now.

Someone who looks up to me, seeing past what I am presented as.

The weight of responsibility- something I haven't felt don my shoulders since my last march.

*Whababababababa-*

"Even while we fight you think to yourself! Despite all my efforts you still sit in that head of yours and ignore the world around you!" Saburo yells out, an actual tear welling up in his eye.

Can I don that responsibility?

To do that I would need to move forward, become better.

Am I ready to let go of the past? Forget who I was to be who I am meant to be?

This entire life I have spent on this planet, has been in service to regret.

Regret. Remorse. Reflect.

That's all I have done, isn't it?

I am afraid to move on, stop grieving who I was.

Fear isn't new to me, I could not have reached the greatest heights without drowning in the deepest oceans.

And yet- despite my ability to bounce back, to swim up and climb relentlessly to the great height, I find myself laying here- with a numb feeling soaking my willpower.

I have never in my lives felt this powerless, the oceans I drowned in are never so unyielding like it feels right now.

Hn.

That's just it isn't it?

I have never feared 'myself' before.

What I was- a cruel and unyielding weapon that doesn't care for anything but surpassing the orders and expectations given to me.

Now look at me- A lazy and regretful shinobi that cares too much about the past, unable to meet the very standards I set for myself.

Let's face it then. Hn? The only reason this fear is so numbing is because I don't want to move anymore, I am apathetic.

And the responsibilities that Saburo burdens me with no longer inspires me but rather pushes me down further.

The love I feel from my friends does nothing but remind me of the love I will never see again.

I---

*Sizzle* *Hisssssss~*

The fire dies out.

"Ha-" I laugh at my fate, myself.

As I let go of the chakra within me and let Saburo strike.

*CRACK!*

My jaw breaks.

*SLAM!*

My face bruises.

*BAM!*

And my pride vanishes.

---

-Takumi's Mindscape-

Pov: 3rd Person.

Takumi Uchiha- The Emperor of Blades sits within his own mindscape.

On his knees as three chains pull him upwards, two on his wrists and one around his neck.

He no longer resembled Takumi Uchiha, just the Emperor once more.

Following the dark green cursed chains up above the dark and empty dungeon we see the roof is open and broken, the chains connecting to a castle high up in the sky... never to be reached by anyone.

Surrounded by darkness that castle is only illuminated by the sickly chains and one banner holding the Empire's crest.

A simplified drawing of the sun, on a purple clothed banner.

*Hssssss~*

Riding back down the chains we see the Emperor of blades once more, his breath coming out like a hiss- as the last torch on the dungeon wall fades.

His neck is red- face pale, and the chain hanging him tightens even more. The intricate details on the grim and green chains slowly warp from vague shapes into the detailed hands of a spiteful spirit that clings to The Emperor like a curse.

*Ha-*

A last laugh escapes the Emperor.

And the world dims into pitch black darkness.

...

What feels like weeks passing in this black expanse is nothing but moments in The Emperors mind.

"... Is he gone? Finally?" A voice speaks up, younger- hate filled.

"I need a new body since you slaughtered mine. Thanks for that by the way- you unyielding Conqueror" The young voice chuckles as a green light flickers across the black abyss that is this mindscape.

...

"Oh it feels good to speak up again- having to hide away in the corner of your head, not listening, not talking and barely being" The young voice giggles.

"-and now! You finally fell, I thought I would be waiting forever!" The young voice shouts.

"Now I need to find some information- this new... energy I have become, feels different from my Aura, am I still even me? This unique feeling... less binding more...?" The young voice thinks.

"... free?" It speaks out.

'It' not being the young voice.

"What- what?" The young voice rises, as if startled.

"Your spirit has been converted into Yin energy... a natural seal made from spite" It speaks out again.

"Yin energy?" The young voice asks.

"In this world Aura does not work, Aura is not capable of forming on this planet- Yin, the mind and Yang the body form into a unique energy force that humans use called chakra. You are but someone's lingering will from an alien world, converted into this worlds laws" It explains.

...

A silence ensures- before the Emperors shackles shake as if being pulled taught.

*Clack- Stretch!*

In the darkness rests only one green light... but the sound of a chain cracking continues, as two old red dots begin to shine before the light.

"What are you?" The young voice speaks, annoyed? Or perhaps defeated.

"I am it. The thing beneath him. The Aura that cannot exist here. Mind, body and Soul. Instinct and the Dead flame. And through seeing your natural development of turning into a Yin based seal on the mind of The Emperor I now understand something important" It speaks up again.

Aura is not from this world that Takumi exists in- it cannot function because the laws of reality that upheld it are now gone and replaced with a new law of power.

Chakra.

The young speedster clung and hid upon the Emperor as he was sent away from his home and slowly changed to fit the world.

And so his 'reality' was changed. His being was swapped out for something else- his spiteful Aura technique designed to weaken and tear down the Emperor naturally shifted into that of a Yin based seal.

The Recipe is the same, the ingredients however changed.

But if the young Speedsters Mental Aura changed... what happened to The Emperors?

The Aspects and Aura of the Body, Mind and Soul?

If the Speedsters mind technique turned into a Yin technique.

Then what about the Aura of the Emperor?

Body, Mind and Soul.

Yang, Yin and Chakra.

The physical energy.

The mental energy.

And the chakra that those two make.

"I understand it now- how I am to be used in this world" The Emperors Aura, Takumi's chakra speaks.

Don't be mistaken- there is no secret being hiding within Takumi, except for the speedster of course.

That thing- the chakra? The Aura? It is Takumi, it is the Emperor.

All three are the exact same thing.

The Aura is the Emperor and the Emperor is Takumi and Takumi is the Chakra.

It is just slightly strange to think about.

A Jinchurikii for example can use the tailed beast residing within them, as if their chakra was their own.

But in this case, Takumi's chakra was sealed within himself- he is his own Jinchurikii.

It changes little because why wouldn't Takumi grant himself the right to use his own chakra?

Well it changes something I suppose, being your own chakra allows the user of it to have incredible control over it, doing things normal Shinobi and Kunoichi cannot replicate.

Like a certain Sleep standing jutsu, which requires intense chakra control and the perception of an Uchiha, a great benefit for the average Shinobi. but for Takumi? The Emperor? this benefit is rather meaningless to the talent and effort he can exert.

"You gave up. You died, that's it- you can't just get up again after that" The speedster argues.

"I can't? Me? You really need to check your vocabulary child" The voice of Takumi and the Emperor mingle as one.

Takumi stopped thinking and started feeling. Angry, Remorseful, Sick- all these feelings are overcome by the sense of shame that overwhelms Takumi's being now that he is silent. He is the Emperor of Blades, his Depression shall be slaughtered by his own hands.

The torches along the walls of this dungeon are slowly lit up to reveal Takumi again- the green light backing into the dark corners of the room again, afraid to be caught by the torch light.

"Watch me" The unified voice laughs.

The Torches vibrantly dance as changes occur in the real world, chakra flushes through as The Emperors body is revealed in full- two chains and a broken collar on the floor.

A small tomoe forms within those red eyes of his.

As the transformed Aura- now chakra begins to use the Uchiha Bloodlines potential.

What this means in simple terms? What does Takumi get except for using his birth right? His Sharingan?

The first part of the Yin seal broke, and so Takumi will eventually find the benefits of having lived a past life. Time will only tell of the benefits granted to him.

---

Pov: Takumi Uchiha.

"You laugh! Is that it? My dreams are a joke? My question a Joke?" Saburo screams harshly as his bloody fists connect with Takumi's cheek.

---get it now.

My cruelty was never on the world, or towards my enemies.

When I awoke that last aspect I also questioned why I had it- I am a tool after all, what weapon is inherently cruel?

"Hahahahaha-" I laugh aloud.

I treated myself like a weapon- I was cruel to myself, I was acting cruel to myself! That's my final aspect- Cruelty!

Stepping down onto my own emotions- dreams and goals.

Telling myself that it doesn't matter- that it was worthless- that I achieved all I could!

And in my last life- I was even more cruel, to push myself that far and that hard- the never ending torment!

"-Hahahaha!" I continue to laugh it up.

It is hilarious- that it took me this long to understand myself, to know my final aspect truly.

*Catch-*

I catch Saburo's shaking hand and look into his eyes, past the fist.

"I'm sorry. You are correct Saburo" I calm myself from the giddy laughter.

"You win. I lost this battle" I say and let go.

Ridiculous. The Emperor finally lost.

*Slump*

Saburo heaves heavy breaths as he falls and lays beside me.

"Your sharingan..." Saburo starts.

"I know" I state.

Hn.

"You changed your mind?" Saburo asks while gasping in pain.

"No. You did, First Disciple Saburo" I Smile as I try and click my jaw back properly.

It won't go back. Hn, I will have a professional fix me later, for now my words will be slurred.

"What if I don't want to be the disciple of a pessimistic kid?" Saburo chuckles.

"It won't occur again. I will make sure of it, no longer will I incur cruelty upon myself and others" I state.

If I am not bound by the laws of Aura- then I won't suffer it's problems any longer, I will stop clinging to regret and stop holding myself to this ideal weapon standard that I used to.

I don't want to be the Emperor any more, and I certainly don't want to continue being so depressive.

"So... who are you really? Don't lie to me- I saw something hiding beneath you there..." Saburo questions.

"Can you keep a secret?" I smile.

"Watch me" He replies.

Ha.

"Very well. It was 1580 E.Y-" I start.

"E.Y?" He interrupts.

"Etarots Year, it was the name of a scholar from- never mind that, do not interrupt Disciple Mori" I tap his side and he groans out in pain, clutching his ribs.

"It was 1580 E.Y, a young boy named {Varutis} was born, his bloodline was from a Royal house in the north, those of that lineage were often strong, tall and pale with striking red eyes- and this boy inherited those traits to a rather extreme degree-" I begin to tell my tale.

Saburo Mori does not interrupt.