Maruma woke but he wasn't Maruma yet. Instead, he was just a wayward spirit. One who had cast his life away and therefore his name. As such, he did not even hear it when Hagoromo first greeted him.
" Did you hear me? I said hel-."
"Where am I? This place, it looks familiar. You look familiar." The spirit interrupted.
The Sage chuckled, "I don't understand how you would know me, maybe you've met others like me?" He asked.
The spirit looked straight at Hagoromo staring deep into the rings on his eyes.
"You're Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths, Creator of Ninshu, A fictitious creation of Masashi Kishimoto." Hagoromo looked puzzled at that last title. The spirit grabbed his head in confusion. "What's going on? The last thing I remember..."
The spirit remembered himself as a man, he remembered himself being sad, he remembered seeing the box truck barreling down the road. And he remembered stepping in the street anyway. Hagoromo's voice brought him back to the present.
"You seem familiar with my accolades, This Kishimoto seems able to peer into our world through some method, nonetheless I am anything but a work of fiction."
The spirit looked around as Hagoromo spoke.
"No wonder this place looks so familiar, Hagoromo first met Naruto and Sasuke in their inner world." He thought to himself.
The area itself seemed to be a large area immersed in a purple glow and the spirit seemed to be standing on an endless body of water.
"Is this my inner world?" He asked.
Hagoromo smiled, "Yes, and No." He said.
This puzzled the spirit, seeing his confusion the sage began to explain.
"This world was beset upon by a great evil and although it seems that it will be defeated, lives have already been lost. Souls have already begun their journey to the next stage in the universal cycle. You will inhabit one of their bodies."
The spirit had a horrified expression upon hearing this. "You mean I'm stealing another person's body?"
"No, as I've said this persons own spirit has already began his journey onto the next world. You are simply taking his place to assist me in balancing the universal scales." Hagoromo put plainly.
The spirit was silent for a moment. In his prior life he consumed tons of anime, but Naruto was his 3rd favorite. He always wished that he would be reborn in the Naruto universe, or danmachi or his number one favorite anime, the one that should not be named. This was a dream come true he could learn to shoot fire from his mouth, jump through trees, maybe even fly in this world.
"If you agree to the mission, which I haven't even begun to explain" Hagoromo chimed in as if reading his mind.
The spirit went silent and waited, hagoromo took that as his cue. "I cannot remain in this world to rectify the mistakes I have made in my brief visit to the living world. Before I return to the other world with the body of Madara Uchiha i want to make sure to leave agents that would be able to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again. This world has made stunning advances in science and the danger of leaving even a piece of a ninja's body is could lead to calamity. With that in mind I need you to track down the left arm of Madara Uchiha, the lower half of his body from when he was the jiuubi's host, and his horn torn off when he revealed his third eye."
"What? That's a lot. I'm not saying no, but isnt Naruto and Sasuke enough to do it? Also I guess I can understand the two fragments of the 10 tail's power but why do i need to find Madara's arm? Wasn't that separated from his body prior to him becoming a jinchuriki?" The spirit asked.
"To answer your second question, As you know Hashirama's DNA is available to far too many of this world. If one mixes the two it would bring about conditions much like what caused the 4th ninja war. As for your first question, those two have already been through much and they have their own goals to fulfil to protect this world. As such i have called spirits from far beyond even the Pure Land whos sole focus would be to complete these tasks."
"Spirits? Agents? I take it I'm not the only one you've summoned from far beyond the pure lands?" The spirit asked.
"I have summoned 2 more spirits to complete these tasks." Hagoromo became quiet for a moment and looked up to a non-existent sky. Suddenly he said, "I must take my leave, the Seal of Reconciliation is upon us. Will you stay here as my agent and find these objects before someone can attempt to summon my mother again?"
The spirit grinned, with his knowledge he could become a formidable ninja, as long as everything correlated to this new world that is. He remembers that after the main series there's about 15 years before the start of the cursed series. "15 years is a lot of time to change a lot of useless threads." He looked at Hagoromo with his grin growing bigger.
"Of course I can." He stated without a hint of doubt.
Hagoromo returned his grin with a small smile of his own.
"Good now look down." He stated.
The spirit looked down and saw a young boy with dark eyes and chin length black hair staring back at him. His face was sunken as if he hadn't been eating much and he looked like he was bedridden. It took him almost a minute to understand that it was his reflection as he rose his hand to his face to confirm his hypothesis. Instead of a pale blue apparition of a hand the was a small, thin, child's arm that met his gaze. A rush of memories flooded the spirit's mind, he saw a sickly child who would lay in his futon all day reading books and scrolls.
"What kind of game are you playing? This body couldn't leave its room much less travel to complete your tasks" The spirit growled.
"I dont have much time to explain. The three of you will have to start as children to learn how to properly navigate in this world. The seal has been activated so all i can tell you is assemble with each other and find those pieces of Madara. What you do after is up to you."
Everything around The spirit disappeared immediately after that sentence, and for a second he was staring into a darkness that seemed infinite. As the seconds passed he realized that he could hear his own breathing. He tried to lift his arm like before but it felt heavy, in fact he couldn't move any part of his body. He just lay there in the pitch-dark listening to his heart thumping in his new chest. Not long after he began to notice other sounds, a sort of shifting that turned into muffled yelling, then something happened that made the world shake, or just the compartment he was in. He understood what was happening just as a beam of light pierced into his dark world.
"Maruma!"
A woman's voice called out to him from the light as hands clawed at the darkness spreading more light until a partially obscured figure peered inside the darkness. It was the owner of the voice, she reached into the dark and called out the name again as she wrapped her arms around The spirit's new body. He recognized the name from his newly acquired memories, it was his and the voice calling him belonged to his mother. She pulled him from the cocoon he was trapped in and hugged him close to her body as she wept.Only one thought was in his head at that moment.
"Maruma."
Maruma somehow understood what was being said to him and how to respond in a strange language that seemed both foreign and familiar to him. Words on the pages of books and scrolls that were brought to him were recognized naturally he had even remembered reading some of the material previously, before the 4th Shinobi war. He stayed up late into the night reading clan and village history. There were a lot more important names than he was familiar with but it seemed to be the same world that he used to read about in his past life. Early in the morning when the sun had barely peeked over the horizon Maruma's mother was throwing the cocoon pieces left in the house out into the street when she spotted a familiar face in the compound. Maruma was attempting to plank while reading a historical scroll on Sasuke Sarutobi when he heard a shrill cry all the way in his room. He instinctually remembered the sound of the front entrance being opened earlier noting this body's impressive hearing sense. After realizing that his mother could be in danger he tried to stand but fell.
"This body The Sage of Six Paths gave me is so weak, I guess that's why he died before being freed." Maruma thought to himself as he struggled to crawl towards his door.
Before he could reach it though he heard footsteps moving towards his direction. They were too fast for him to react, as soon as he glanced at his door it opened to reveal a man that looked a lot like Maruma.
"Maruma my son, I'm home." The man said before reaching down and picking Maruma up and placing him on his futon.
Maruma recognized the man from his memories. It was his father Ichimaru Kohaku, the head of the Kohaku clan. After a lustful night resulted in pregnacy Ichimaru married Tayama Sarutobi, Granddaughter of Sasuke Sarutobi through his second son Koga Sarutobi. Maruma is their first born although this marriage was against the wishes of the elders who wanted Tayama to marry someone with higher social standing within the leaf.
"Are you happy to see your father?" His mother asked as she appeared behind the man.
She was pregnant with their second child which is why she didn't participate in the war, but his father did and he wasn't due back for a couple of days with the other ninja. Maruma looked at the both of them with a blank expression.
"He's early." He said dryly.
As if the words were arrows Ichimaru clutched his chest.
"My son, I rushed to his side to see I am no longer welcome." Ichimaru thought.
Tayama's face changed as she caught on. "I was so happy to see you, I never asked how it is I am seeing you. The war ninja should still be getting ready to leave their encampments, why are you here early?"
Ichimaru sighed a loud sigh and looked into his wife's face motioning with his eyes that they should talk in private. Though they left the room Maruma could hear everything that was being said. Apparently after Naruto had his tailed beast removed and Sasuke was killed by Madara he told his team that he was going home to die with his family. He explained how he was a part of the fourth division and watched Madara rain meteors for fun. He didn't think they would survive a stronger alive version of the monster, so he ran to be beside his family. Just as he made it to the forest though he got caught by the vines and Infinite Tsukuyomi. He reasoned that he committed desertion during wartime and he knew he would get arrested when the army returned, so as soon as he was released he ran to his family.
"He's an idiot, he could have gone straight back. Coming here makes he deserted the ." Maruma thought while putting his hand over his face in embarrassment.
He had to admit though at least the man cared about his family. The rest of the week Maruma worked on his calisthenics eventually he was able to walk though he would tire out easily. Three days after he arrived in this world the leaf army followed, Ichimaru was granted house arrest until after the funeral planned for the end of the week. Maruma remembered his pre rebirth feelings of his father, memories of him reading stories so Maruma could fall asleep. He had actually introduced Maruma to chakra a few months prior, explaining exercises to him in the hopes he would practice to become stronger and less sickly. Maruma was too weak prior to his rebirth, but now at the end of the week Maruma was strong enough to reliability self ambulate for extended periods of time. Though his body was still pretty weak it was ready for chakra stimulation through meditation. He wasn't a spiritual person in his past life but he did practice belly centered breathing techniques when he would meditate. To his surprise that was one method to stimulate one's chakra so he sat with his eyes closed cross legged with the soles of his feet facing the ceiling in the corner of his room and focused on his breathing. Inhaling through his nose allowing his abdomen to expand then exhaling through his mouth contracting his abdomen in a steady rhythm. After about an hour he felt something, it was a warmth swirling in his abdomen it grew bigger and bigger. It did not take long for the warmth to spread to his limbs. Soon his body felt almost as if it was floating, the warmth was everywhere from the ends of his hairs to the tips of his toes. The feeling was intoxicating and for a second Maruma thought that he could accomplish anything. His delusions were interrupted by a knock at his door followed by his mother walking into his room. He was barely able to get under his futon in time before the door swung open. After a week he was used to the lack of privacy so it did not bother him very much. He was reborn in the body of an invalid after all.
"Hello mother, good morning" He said.
"Good morning Maruma" His mother answered as she entered his room.
She was wearing a black Yukata and was carrying for him to wear to the funeral that was planned for those that died during the 4th Shinobi war. After bathing and dressing him his father came in to carry him. the trio moved in silence outside of the Sarutobi compound, joining the crowd making their way to the burial grounds. The Kohaku clan sends hundreds of ninja a year to konoha as per the deal of their alliance. Many of these ninja become jounin like his father or two of his aunts. It was their graves the trio appeared in front of on this cloudy gloomy day. Ichimaru handed his son to his wife and knelt beside the grave.
"Kanami... Aiko," Their names were almost caught in his throat as Ichimaru wept for his sisters. "Another war has passed but this time it cost two of us. Give Yuichi my best."
Ichimaru couldn't stop the tears from flowing and Tayama, his wife shared in his grief, but though the moment was somber Maruma's attention was elsewhere. From about 600 feet away Maruma saw him, the hero himself Naruto Uzumaki, sobbing in front of Neji Hyuga's grave. It took every bit of his decorum not to shout out to him. He trembled with restraint as he stared at the character he was obsessed with since he was a child in his old world. Tayama felt Maruma shaking and tried to console him.
"I will miss your aunts too." She said as she rubbed his back.
The ceremony lasted for about an hour and people stood by the graves for a longer time than that crying, screaming their loved ones named, consoling each other. It was a sight. A similar moment came to mind when Fugaku brought his son Itachi to a battlefield to see corpses.
"The harsh reality of being a Shinobi." Maruma thought to himself as he surveyed the sea of grieving citizens.
Not long after that thought, the crowd began thinning out over time. Some groups mingled some, seeing this as his chance Maruma wandered off straight to where Naruto was.
Naruto had finally gathered the energy to leave Neji's grave when a young child with tanned skin, dark hair, and eyes appeared before him.
"Nanadaime-Sama thank you for saving us." said the child.
He didn't seem sad to Naruto he was even smiling. It was infectious Naruto couldn't help but give a weak smile back.
"Seventh generation huh?" Naruto asked this child, "Who will be the Sixth?"
Maruma was beaming. As if fate itself took the duty to answer Naruto's question, Kakashi appeared behind Naruto.
"Naruto." He said putting his arm on his students shoulder, Naruto turned to face his teacher. "There's more that we have to go over with the hokage with what we've learned. Sakura is there now waiting for us."
Naruto chuckled, "Oh she's finally left Sasuke's side? I'll be there let me just tell this kid..."
Naruto turned around to see that the child had already left. Maruma was filled with glee and was just about to reach his family when froze in shock.
"Inever introduced myself" He realized.
Internally he was in anguish. After the ceremony Maruma and his mother walked with his father to a department of the Konoha Police Force where Ichimaru was to surrender himself. There he was received by the chief Takuma Fūma.
"Thank You for not running away Ichimaru Kohaku." He said upon meeting the family.
Ichimaru walked over with his arms out. As he was shackled he looked to his son.
"Well I have to be a good example." He said.
Takuma nodded, "I have one a little older than him so I can understand."
With that he turned around and led Ichimaru deeper into the station with two other officers following. Maruma listened to his father screaming accolades of his love for his family until he disappeared behind a door then Tayama and Maruma made their way home. The walk was mostly silent and Tayama let Maruma walk on his own after carrying him almost the whole day. He couldn't think of a better time to say it, time was of the essence. He had to get stronger fast.
They were almost home when Maruma asked, "Mother, would you train me to become a ninja?"
Tayama, for a moment, was without words. She thought about her day. the harsh reality.
"Your aunts were just buried, your father arrested, why would you even want to be a ninja after all that's happened today?" she asked puzzled.
Maruma looked to his mother his eyes unwavering.
"Those ninja didn't give their lives on a whim, my father didn't surrender himself on a whim. This is what the Shinobi world is," Maruma brought his thumb up to his chest and almost shouted his next words. "And I will become a Shinobi."
His resolve made his mother smile.