Chapter 26

Just like that one month passed by peacefully as the world got to know the new team of heroes. There was nothing big taking place these days and most crime was taken care of with minimum damage.

Naruto and Kushina had gotten used to their new environment, and learned a lot in these days.

The bonds between the team members of the Golden Dawn had become solid as they spent time with each other along with Young Justice and Justice League.

In this short time, Naruto had become very popular with the hero community as they invited him when they needed a partner.

Naruto's jail system had also become the most popular solution to their problems and was approved by the JL without being public about it so that the government wouldn't get on their case.

It was just sad that the system would save someone like Luthor no matter how many he killed because he was rich and smart, making the lives of his victims worthless in their eyes.

Fortunately the incident wasn't made public and was thrown into the prison planet without much fanfare like Naruto promised.

Moving on, Naruto had managed to make Jump City's crime rate plummet to lower than anything in history with his swift response.

Breaking the limbs of criminals made sure to spread his name in a terrifying way since they never saw him coming.

Naruto would have kept to the shadows and acted like a proper ninja but that would go against his goal so the Golden Dawn was very visible and people could visit them by boat.

There was even a small forest with wild animals for people to enjoy a picnic.

Jump City wasn't the only place they got involved as Naruto had helped the planet heal and increased vegetation around the world.

He had utilized his water control to take out the trash from the waters and everything poisonous before dumping it into a demonic dimension as he heard they lived this stuff.

Raven had been joking but Naruto had taken it seriously as she rarely joked.

Finally the one month time limit had passed and Naruto moved out from the Young Justice hideout permanently. He had also found a new place to train and made a base inside the moon, which was the main base of Golden Dawn.

In this month he had been approached by Veritas a lot and understood that she had actually fallen in love.

It was something that made him happy and embarrassed. He had never thought he would hear these words again from another beautiful lady.

He was flattered but sadly he didn't return those feelings even if he found her attractive.

The romance didn't take place but Veritas was finally saved with Raven's help and she joined the group after a month of hard work.

Everything was going good except the fact that it was time to face the real problems, the people and their emotions.

Naruto had grown exceptionally strong in this time and people would say he was always born with power. Never needing to actually follow the rules if he just worked hard.

He couldn't deny that now that he understood even though as a kid he wasn't some genius that could have figured it all out without adult guidance.

But people wouldn't listen and it didn't matter as he was interested in learning how an average man lives.

He wanted to live their life and live within the limits of society as such he developed another persona for his dealings outside.

He got into an apartment far away from the Tower with only the basic necessities. He had Batman get him an ID so that he could work.

He didn't get any fake degrees or anything. Naruto decided to go with the things normally and not utilize his powers. For this he couldn't go with his main body and let a clone with weak stats do it especially since he didn't want to give up time to make himself stronger. That would just be terrible as he would lose the method to save the people after coming to the solution.

This clone would be the most risky as it would exist for many hours and actually experience life but it was a necessary step into truly understanding the world.

He had already read the countless books on the history of the world and other planets but books didn't capture the true essence of things.

Only through your body can experience be truly gained.

--------------

Looking at the apartment, Naruto was reminded of his old home. It had been in a similar state, giving of an ancient feeling.

It was small with a kitchen, a toilet and a bed room.

He had enough money in his pocket to survive a week if he lived frugally.

Looking at the time, he could see it was seven a.m and Naruto decided to start his day off. Getting out of the apartment, Naruto found himself with a woman in his arms as she crashed into him.

"Sorry sorry, I am in a hurry." The woman with blonde hair spoke as she got out of his hands and ran away

"Take care and watch your step" Naruto called out in a cheerful tone surprising the woman and making her smile as she ran towards her destination

Positivity will spread positivity and intended to just do that.

With his appearance similar to Iruka, Naruto was average as possible with his bland clothes.

With a smile on his face, Naruto started his journey to find a job to survive. He moved around with purpose and went from one add to another before finally getting one as a cleaner at a company because of his perceptive quality.

When going for the interview he cleared away the mess on the way to the company and this got noticed by one of the people from the inside.

Add this together with his communication skills, Naruto got it and his occupation changed from shinobi to cleaner.

Really it had been hard to find even this small job. A job that would barely pay his bills even though he was living alone.

Cutting away at the living costs would be easy if he used his ninja abilities since he could just slip into any place and sleep for the night. Kill wild life for food but now he was limited.

After a long time he had to endure hunger unlike his original that could go without eating for three days unless he dropped his chakra reserves.

"Hey you, clean the room here some old lady just threw up inside."

Naruto was taking a break when he heard an employee complain about a mess inside the smoking area. He had decided to work from today so he was stuck with it until 6 P.m

"Yes sir" These words felt so foreign on his tongue but he went with it and cleaned up the mess, which was extra disgusting to his enhanced senses that were not under his control now that he wasn't using chakra

No matter how much he tried, the clone was made with twice the peak human stats. His control skill wasn't enough to make it weaker.

But this point was only a curse since his enhanced stats made everything worse and even needed more food to keep up with the bodies need.

Really his usual life seemed so much easier compared to what he was just doing though the scale had become smaller and the goal wasn't anything actually difficult.

Survival compared to bringing true peace was not much since one was possible while the other one was in the realm of fiction.

Time seem to pass by very quickly with a job that didn't require much thought but he wasn't here to just live normally so he listened to things around him and talked to people.

Using his talking skills and his perceptiveness, Naruto found it easy to interact with these people.

Not everyone was receptive and some even gave harsh words but Naruto only responded with kindness.

--------------

Finishing up with his job, Naruto dragged his body to the apartment taking the bus after buying some basic things on the way.

As he was walking up the stairs, Naruto came across the same woman from morning and it seems she had been waiting for him.

"How was your day, Naruto?"

Hearing his name, Naruto was surprised as no one was supposed to know about this except his team and Batman.

"Who are you?"

"Relax, I am a friend going through a similar experience."

"You mean this isn't your real body."

"Yes, this is just a vessel made randomly so I can experience life."

"Okay, and why are you telling me this?"

"I decided to help you and now you are not going back until death comes to you."

"WHAT!" Naruto was horrified with what he just heard

This was one thing he feared using the clones too much and now she had just told him he was not a clone anymore.

Living too long and experiencing things without going back will cause imbalance in personalities when they mixed especially from the enormous amount of memories.

"Please undo it. I can't handle such a thing." Naruto calmly put his hands on her shoulders and asked nicely keeping his desire to wring her neck under check

"Naruto relax, I am not trying to be malicious with this step. I am helping you out do this thing properly. If you always go back and forth, it won't be a true experience. When this ends, you will have the ability to take in the memories and if not I will help you out."

"Give me one reason I should trust you?"

"I am Death of the Endless. I am the End of everything."

"Did you hit your head or something?"

Her hand touched his head and Naruto's eyes went wide as he understood the truth.

His luck was truly shining here. Death had just knocked on his door.

"Why are you doing this?"

"A long time ago I used to be sad and broody but then I came across a little child and he said why don't I experience death to understand the people.

So I took the advice and experienced death. Over the years randomly appearing, I live for a short time and die. It gave me a new perspective on life and made me into what I am today. A bubbly little girl filled with sun shine."

"I think you need to work on the sun shine part since I am only seeing dark clouds here."

"Didn't think our golden hero was scared of something so simple."

"Anyone would be scared of their existence becoming unstable. I have learned much about the problems caused by instability to have a desire to accept it."

"Luckily you have a good team and my help to get you through it. So let us enjoy our mortal time together, Menma."

"Well I got no choice and you are right this way is better but I just didn't want to take the risk….."

"Call me Mary" Death said as he flipped her short blonde hair and Naruto gazed into her blue eyes

From appearance she was short but beautiful woman with a strong body as scene from the packs and muscles but knowing she was who she was, Naruto could only think of one thing.

"Can you bring them back?"

"No, you see we have rules and I only take lives. I don't return them. For some folks death is release, and for others death is an abomination, a terrible thing. But in the end, I'm there for all of them. For death there is no distinction. That is all I do and even then, why should I bring her people? Is she special? How many other civilizations have died?"

Naruto couldn't deny her words, she was right.

"If I do it another way, will it anger you?"

"Nah, I am chill with it. You won't be the first one to do it. Many have done it countless times so you could find those beings or items to grant your wish. Of course danger awaits such attempts and playing with death brings you bad luck."

"I don't mind since this is for my best friend." Naruto replied as he started climbing up the stairs

"Hey hey, how about having dinner with me?"

Naruto wanted to curse and act negative but calmed his nerves by focusing on his core principal about the cycle of hatred.

--

--------------------

What was the cycle of hatred?

The cycle of hatred was actually very simple.

Negativity attracts more negativity. Positive energy attracts more positive energy. For example, you accidentally knock into a man who's using playing with his book while walking (i.e. reckless). He shouts angry words at you.

"Stupid idiot. Watch where you're going!"

It affects you deeply and you feel terribly annoyed and wronged after that.

But maybe, the man's just been through a messy divorce and his wife's receiving custody of the kids he loves more than life itself. That's why he's frustrated.

The most productive response would be to think "this isn't about me, the man is probably having a bad day" or "I'm sorry sir, i didn't see you." But instead what's the most common thing for someone to say?

"F#^! you, a&@*#!£" or something of the sort.

This will, in turn, evoke a similar response in the other person, which will provoke a similar response from you and so on so forth.

Later on, the waitress at the café you're at serves you the wrong order. You lash out at her in anger and frustration.

After work, she's demoralized and down after serving an angry customer on her first day of work. But it's the only job she's been able to find. When her children make noise at home, she immediately gives them a sound scolding and angry words that should not be issued to children come out.

This is how the cycle of hatred continues. But if you radiate positive energy, give kind words and a smile, you seriously make someone's day as well as your own much better.

As long as we keep reacting to each other with anger and hate, we will always be in a fight together. And there will always be one winner and one loser. One moment it will be one side, the next time it will be the other one. We ourselves keep this perpetual cycle alive. Then again… we are equally capable of breaking this cycle.

---------

"Thanks for the invitation, what do you have?"

"Fried rice with chicken"

Naruto looked at his items and nodded as he was too tired to cook something good now especially since his chakra was missing now.

The original Naruto heard the conversation and decided to let his clone handle it since he didn't feel any misgivings from Death.

'Life works in mysterious ways.'

--------

A.N Hope you enjoyed and comment

I will go back to the previous chapter and fix it later as i know it was too fast paced. If you have noticed some other placed that also need that treatment than please inform me.

Blue Mary from KOF