Secure Apartment – 11:41 PM
Naruto sat up. Slowly. He crossed his legs, facing her.
— "Kurama just spoke," he said softly.
She raised an eyebrow.
— "What did he say?"
Naruto straightened. Slowly. He sat facing her, legs crossed.
— "That I need to tell you. The real beginning. Not the one you saw here. The one before. The one… I left behind."
She sat up as well. Her gaze was direct. Ready to receive.
Naruto closed his eyes.
And began to speak.
"I was born an orphan. In a hidden village called Konoha. A real place. Solid. Made of walls, rooftops, voices, glances… and of forgetting, too. I wasn't a hero there. I was a vessel. The demon kid. The one people avoided in the streets, the one they whispered insults about."
He paused. Natasha waited. Not a word. Not a question.
"But that world… it's also where I found my first reasons to love. My first friendships. My first determination. And Hinata…"
He closed his eyes, just for a second.
"She always looked at me like no one else ever did. She never asked me to be a hero. She loved the broken boy I was. And she died saving me. That day, everything collapsed."
He placed a hand over his chest.
"I kept going, Natasha. I fought, united nations, saved my world. But in the end… I was left alone. Completely alone."
She moved closer. Her hand touched his.
"And it was when I received my diploma… in that classroom… that everything came back. All the memories. All the lives. The past I had forgotten. And the system."
He looked up at her.
"The system said that world was finished. A closed loop. And it gave me a choice: disappear with it, or cross over. It didn't say where I'd end up. It just said I'd have another chance. Another war. Another story."
He took a breath.
"I landed on the roof of that tower. Naked. Empty. Without purpose. Until you."
Silence fell again.
Then Naruto continued.
"That second Konoha… it's more than a memory. It's a part of me. A place, a people, a life I never wanted to abandon. I left promises there. Children to protect. Parents I never truly knew. Brothers-in-arms… who might still be out there somewhere. Or in another fragment of time."
He turned his eyes to Natasha.
"I don't want to go back alone. Not if I can build something here. Not if… you, Tony, and maybe others, can understand what I am. Not a hero. Not a monster. Just a man who wants to believe that two worlds can come together."
Natasha took a deep breath.
Then she said, slowly:
— "Then we'll go back. One day. Together."
And in that promise, Naruto felt the seal tremble. Softly. Like a heart at peace.