Chapter 63 The Stakes

By the time Naruto came to mentally absorb what had just happened, he realized he was being carried by his mother while his father fought Xel who had just fused with Samehada and became the shark-like Deep One. Chains from his mothers back lashed out at Xel but a psionic bubble made it impossible for them to grip.

"What the hell is going on here", asked Kushina as she eyed the Deep One.

"Drop my lord wench, or feel the wrath of the Deep Ones", said Xel as he still fought Minato.

Which was a rather difficult prospect seeing as he never occupied the same space for longer than two seconds.

"Lord", whispered Kushina to herself.

She looked down to Naruto, who's eyes were not only different, but so was his age. Naruto looked up at her. It wasn't long until everyone was in the room watching the fight between Xel and Minato, or staring at a shocked and speechless Naruto. Konohamaru was the first to sigh. He turned to Herbert.

"What is going on here", asked Konohamaru.

Herbert said nothing. He was once a clone of Naruto, and would latter gain Menma's memories. He was just as speechless as Naruto at this point. Konohamaru passed the frozen Sasuke and Sakura to go to Kushina. Instantly he found her Katana pointed at his throat. He stopped moving, but otherwise was uneffected.

"As interesting as this event is can you please put Naruto down so we can figure out what is going on", said Konohamaru.

Kushina had the look of confusion on her face before looking at Naruto again.

"Naruto, why did you call him Naruto", asked Kushina.

Her Katana never left from Konohamarus throat.

"That is his name, let us calm down and speak like reasonable sapient beings", said Konohamaru.

She lowered her blade.

"X-Xel, stop", said Naruto weakly, it was the first words he had said since the event occurred.

Xel stopped fighting, which in turn caused Minato to appear next to Kushina.

"Now that we are all calm, let us try and figure out exactly what is going on around here", said Konohamaru.

He led them to a room where they could speak freely. Naruto's eyes never left Minato and Kushina as he was carried to the room. Kushina held him close like he was a baby. He did not refuse this.

Once they made it to the rooms, they all sat. The room consisted of Konohamaru, Xel, Herbert, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Minato, and Kushina. Kushina rocked Naruto back and forth for a while before he reluctantly got out of her grasp to take his seat.

"Are you ok Menma", asked Kushina.

Naruto said nothing as he looked into her face. He smiled as black tears rolled down his face. Kushina's eyes widened at their color.

"As I said his name is Naruto. You are currently in another universe. One where you died the day Naruto was born. For him, it is the first time seeing you, you will have to excuse him", said Konohamaru.

They stared at Naruto who was still engrossed at simply looking at them. Konohamaru leaned back.

"I fear your presence may do more harm than good", said Konohamaru.

"We came here looking for our son", said Minato at Konohamaru with anger in his voice.

Naruto flinched but quickly recovered when Minato grabbed him into a hug.

"I'm sorry, our son has been gone for months, We tried to find him but we never could. When I went to Mount Myoboko to speak with the Great Toad Sage, he revealed that Menma was nowhere in our world. I spent what time we had to modify the Flying Thunder God Jutsu to find him, we just ended up here", said Minato.

Konohamaru nodded.

"Possible, currently there is a wound in our reality, this would have been an easy world to come to with it still in place, it takes time for them to heal", said Konohamaru.

"Where are we anyway", asked Minato as he still held Naruto tightly to his chest.

"This is the Cosmic Defence Agency, a secret organization under Konoha started by Naruto. We came to be to stop a being known as Cthulhu, a creature who is essentially a God. He awakens in little over nine years and will bring the human species to extinction. We started this to stop it. The army you fought were Naruto's Shadow Clones given a special Seal to become more hardy. This beastly monster is Xel, one of Naruto's summons from the eldritch beast contract, I am...", said Konohamaru before he was interrupted.

"I know who ou are, you are not that different from our Konohamaru", said Minato.

"I am not Konohamaru, I am a member of an extra terrestrial race know as Yithians. We time travel by switching minds with sentient beings throughout time, while the original mind is put in my body and allowed to view the Library of Yith, where all known knowledge is stored, from the beginning of life to it's end", said Konoahamaru.

Minato's and Kushina's faces dropped at that. He pointed to Herbert.

"And this is Dr. Herbert West, he is our scientist. And unfortunately he is technically your son", said Konohamaru.

"Menma", said Minato as he looked at Herbert.

Herbert shook his head.

"Not exactaly", said Herbert as he took off his mask.

They stared at his face, while it looked nothing like their son, it was remarkable close.

"I was once a clone of Naruto. I was the scientist for this instalation, one of my projects was the possibility of making Shadow clones real people. While looking through universes we came across yours. In our world Naruto was an S-rank missing nin. A criminal who stole and murdered. Since I needed a body that was as close to Naruto as possible, we chose this one. Believing that taking out a criminal would do more good than harm", said Herbert.

They said nothing as they looked into Menma's altered face. Neither one knew how to react to that.

"The result of bringing him here left the wound in between our realities. We had hoped the wound would heal in time but it has been reopened, and will continue to do so as anyone travels through it. Used long enough it can become an unstable portal between the space between our worlds, but it would make it difficult for anyone of us to reach any other world, not impossible, but much more difficult. And reopening it is going to anger the powers that be, most notably being Yog-Sothoth, who's body is the Multiverse", said Konohamru.

Minato stood slamming his hand on the table.

"My son was not a criminal", said Minato.

Xel put a purple glowing claw to Herbert head before pointing at Minato and Kushina. His index finger at Minato and his middle at Kushina. Suddenly the memories of Menma transferred to their minds. They saw the horrors committed by their own son before their very eyes. When Xel lowered his arm he stared at them for a moment.

"Your son was a monster, I am not sorry he is nothing more than a memory. A fragmented being who is no more. Your son is dead, and no amount of reagent or other such reanimation techniques can will bring him back. Accept his fate and honor what goodness their was in him, if any", said Xel.

Kushina nearly chopped off Xels head but it was blocked by Samehada. Had Minato not been holding Naruto, he would have done the same. Konohamaru stopped any possible fighting using mental fields to block them.

"Now is not the time to speak Deep One", said Konohamaru.

He sat back down and turned to the furious parents.

"You will have to excuse the Deep One, they are a vile and repugnant species", said Konohamaru.

"Be silent filth, you know nothing of my people", said Xel.

"I know enough", said Konohamaru.

"Now is not the time for fighting, this is not about your petty grievances between each other. If I can take this situation seriously so can you two", said Herbert.

His words caused angered glares from Minato at Herbert who slowly backed off. This was the man who wore their son's body like a suit. It was wise for him to be silent.

"Dad"

Minato looked down to see Naruto staring up at him. He was not listening to a single thing going on, only looked at his parents. Minato held him close and rocked back and forth as tears fell from his face. Kushina pulled Naruto into a hug as well and was crying much like her husband.

"This is turning into a mess. Not one of them is emotionally stable, and Naruto's emotions never were particularly stable to begin with, with this, no telling how he can act. This is not going to end well", whispered Herbert to Konohamaru.

"I know that, let me speak. Perhaps I can fix this situation before it spirals out of control", whispered Herbert back.

He took a deep breath.

"Look, I can sympathise with you. I admit, we should have realized the consequences of our actions, but we cannot change the past. You should leave and accept what has happened. Using Naruto as a proxy for your son will do harm to all three of you", said Konohamaru.

"No", screamed Naruto as he held his father closer.

"This is bad", said Herbert.

Konohamaru looked to Sakura and Sasuke. His head glowed a fain purple color.

'Please say you can help destabilize this situation before something bad happens' though Konohamaru as he sent that message to them both.

Neither of them could say anything. Sasuke had lost his parents, and even a ghost of them would be more preferable to...

He shot up and looked at Minato in his face.

"Is my family alive", asked Sasuke.

Konohamaru's head impacted with the table. He could think of nothing to say to stop this. Suddenly a fog came from nowhere followed by horst laughter.

"I was right, you are an interesting group"

From the shadows walked the Shadowed man. Drinking a wine glass of strange black fluid. As he guzzles down the last drop he smiled at the looks of terror on their faces, and the confused looks from Naruto's parents. Naruto gripped tighter to Minato. This caused a small chuckle as hr

"Though I am not enjoying the reaction of my future form, perhaps I should remove the doppelganger from this world", said the Shadowed Man.

Naruto shifted to his eldritch form and lashed out at The Shadowed man. Though all attacks passed through him as if he were air.

"This may prove Interesting after all", said the Shadowed man.

He turned to face the others. Seemingly all at the same time. Naruto turned back to normal and found sanctuary in his confused Psudo-father's arms.

"And here I thought you would hide the truth, and I would have to reveal it. Though you have robbed me of my entertainment. What should we do about that", asked the Shadowed Man

"Who are you", asked Minato.

The shadowed man seemed to smile.

"I am he whose name is feared by all, and spoken only in hushed tones for fear of provoking me. I am an Outer God my young Minato. These at this table are right to fear me so. I am the one destined to turn that child into a hollow husk, then allowing him to ascend to become another of my many forms", said the Shadowed man.

Kushina rose her blade to his neck.

"Over my dead body", said Kushina.

"Very Well, if you insist", said The Shadowed man.

"No", screamed Naruto.

Kushina fell to the table dropping her sword. Minato shot up to attack the Shadowed man but froze midway.

"Do you disagree with your wifes terms yellow flash, or would you be so petty as to deny her the very last request she made before her untimely death. Though if that is your wish, I can grant it", spoke the Shadowed man.

Suddenly Kushina's body took in a deep breath and jerked around as if having a seizure. Her body jerked from side to side, with the Shadowed man laughing all the while.

"I apologize, resurrecting mortals is so quaint, I find it much more interesting to see the suffering of life rather than the peace of death. As such resurrection can be a little messy when my full attention is diverted elsewhere, but it is always interesting to observe. Would you not agree", asked the Shadowed man.

"Stop this now you bastard", screamed Minato, all the while holding Naruto tightly.

" You will have to be more specific Minato, stopping this could be taken to mean anything I wish. Weather it be life or death, tell me what do you want", asked the Shadowed Man.

"Please, just stop this, bring her back", asked Minato.

"Very well, but you should know what are the stakes. Considering this is our first meeting, I am willing to offer my kindness. You could return to your realm, thus leaving the child so close to the one you hold dear behind. Or you could always stay and watch your son become that very hollow husk that would make what you felt with your own son seem like peace. Either way, I get to see suffering. It is an interesting humans trait, suffering. So simple, and yet so important. It can build men up, or tear them apart. Usually the is interesting to watch. Either way you now know what you will feel based on any choice. Should you stay, you feel suffering once more when I take his body for myself. Should you leave, you can move past your true sons death, and the boy suffers. Can you take away that childs parents Minato, or would you much rather feel it yourself tenfold, The choice is yours, it always was. Only now you know the stakes", and with that the Shadowed man faded from sight.

Kushina stopped jerking and stood up straight, breathing hard with her hand to her chest. Minato pulled her into a hug.

"What was that demon", asked Minato with genuine fear in his voice.

"That is the Shadowed man", said Konohamaru.

Konohamaru looked to the table and saw that the Shadowed Mans glass still remained, filled with the same black fluid.

"This is bad, you two coming here may have just messed everything up. Right when it was going so well. We captured the Color, the Zero Tails will arrive any minute. The prisoner brought was going to join us, maybe even the Akatsuki, we had an undead member of the Swordsmen of the mist and his apprentice on our side, was gong to use them to get the mist to ally with the leaf. Discovered the identity of the assassin who attempted to end the thirds life, and so much more. And now our leader is reduced to a child. You may have just doomed the species of this world simply by existing, if I were not here for my mission, I would leave right now and return to my Yithian kin", said Konohamaru.

Herbert hushed him.

"Look, right now things are hectic. We have been preparing to fight a literal God. One whose sole purpose at the moment, is the complete eradication of life on this planet. Naruto was the brains behind this, in his current state he isn't fit to run a D-rank mission, much less the CDA. Not to mention, as an orphan you can imagine the effect you are having on him. He is not Menma, Menma is gone. I'm sorry for that, but we cannot do anything. You saw what he did, your ninja dammit, you should know the dangers of your job. You knew Menma was a ninja, death could have happened at any time. Tell me, if you found out what Menma was, could you stop him, before more innocents got hurt or worse. I feel for you, really I do, but if we didn't do what we did. Innocent People would have died", said Herbert, acting uncharacteristically serious.

They took a Deep Breath as they looked as Naruto snugled close. He was sleeping. Minato started crying. He turned to Kushina.

As soon as she looked into his eyes, she began to cry as well.

"We lost our son once, I don't think we could do it again. We could stay", said Minato.

"You heard the Shadowed man. Naruto is living on borrowed time. He was prepared to stop Cthulhu and die when the shadowed man came. We are trying to find a way to prevent it, but we are fighting forces stronger than you can possibly imagine. His chances are small, nearly zero. He made peace with this as a possibility, could you do the same. Knowing that very child in your arms is to be worn like a shell, much like Menma is now. Only by a physical embodiment of chaos and wrongness", asked Konohamaru.

Herbert raised his hand.

"Not so fast Konohamaru, Naruto has been through much in his life. I suggest we wait for him to regain himself. Let him decide. This is his life, not yours. He always things things through. Whatever he decides I support. It is my fault we are in this mess, and I don't think either of us can cast judgement. Also we have long tried to find out how the fourths Flying Thunder God works, and here he sits", said Herbert.

"The fourth, wait a minute. I was Hokage", asked Minato.

"I take it yours was someone different", asked Konohamaru.

"Yeah, her father", said Minato who pointed at Sakura.

Her eyes bugged out for a moment.

"Me, really. This is way to wierd. My dad is still a genin. Plus he is really more of a Militia member than he is a ninja", said Sakura.

"Remember Sakura, not all universes are the same", said Herbert.

Sasuke stood again.

"Is my family alive there", asked Sasuke.

Minato nodded.

"They are, in fact your Brother is a member of the Mercenary Group Akatsuki, and was one of our best", said Kushina as she petted the top of Naruto's head as if trying to sooth him.

"Well, the Akatsuki are not murderers there. That can prove useful Konohamru. A Stable Portal between our worlds could prove invaluable with sets of powerful Ninja. Any over here who would not join us might over their. Imagine the Potential", said Herbert.

"A stable portal is impossible, every universe is apart of the conglomeration of spheres that make up You-Sothoth, he will not appreciate a long-lasting wound on his form. In any event we are still a secret. The world is not yet ready to know of these beings. Why do you think we are trying to alter the Academy corriculem. We are preparing them from madness that comes with so much as seeing these eldritch monsters has. Learning to much about them is also dangerous to an unprotected mind. Even if we could safely create a stable portal, should another world ever enters either of our realities, they to could link as well. This may appear as a boon, but those portals effect space-time, we have less than ten years until Cthulhu rises, would you also have Yog-Sothoth angered at us as well. And if we fail them all linked worlds could fall to that Cthulhu. This world is already in danger, theirs might not be. We need to risk what we do, they don't, Besides Narto may be immune to insanity, but he still has emotions, somewhat. This can scar him", said Konohamaru.

"Look, we can talk about this all day. but in the end this desision is not ours to make. You three have to be absolutely sure, if there is even a little doubt you should leave", said Herbert.

"This portal could ruin everything, it would weaken the realities and call another Outer God to us, Yog-Sothoth of all gods, who is mindless. As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with the Yithian", said Xel.

Herbert sighed.

"Lets just wait for Naruto to get back to normal, come the Zero Tails will arrive at any moment. Let him rest", said Herbert.

"You really should leave, but I have a feeling we have a lot to talk about", said Kushina.

They quietly left the room, leaving a sleeping Naruto with his parents. A shadow clone of Minato followed them.

"Is their something else", asked Konohamaru.

"I want to know everything, what is wrong with Naruto's eyes. What did he turn into. Tell me everything", said Minato.

Konohamaru sighed.

Not far away at Naruto's empty hose. Sai had just finished cracking the lock to get in. He stealthily searched through the house, finding little more than Ramen, and papers written in a strange language. He took several. He moved to Naruto's bedroom where he found the picture of Naruto as a baby with his parents, he ignored it as he went over to the icebox. Opening it Sai felt around until he felt a small crease. He popped it open to reveal a vial filled with a strange glowing green fluid. He removed the vial. As soon as he did a small nozzle went off, spraying a purple fluid into Sais Eyes. He tried to wipe it away but found he was getting tired. He leapt out the home with what strength he had. He made his way to the roof tops where he passed out sleeping. In his hand was the vial of glowing green fluid.