Naruto remembered it being taken a week before they had started training his sisters, back when they were one big happy family.
Letting out a sigh after seeing the picture Naruto got up and decided to go for a walk to clear his head, knowing his parents wouldn't be home for another few hours at the least.
He didn't bother telling either of his sisters he was going out, planning on being back before they really noticed. He also didn't want to risk one or both of them insisting they come with him, which especially after his outburst last night he knew had no doubt they would do.
Using the same method as when he left to unlock his chakra, Naruto made his way over to the loose board in the fence and into the forest without any particular destination in mind. Just wandering letting his feet take him where they may.
Yet after about half an hour of just walking and using his newly discovered Sensory ability to feel the different things around him, Naruto somehow ended up back in the same clearing he had unlocked his chakra in before.
The body of the hawk he had killed was gone, though judging by the trail of blood and feathers Naruto guessed a fox must had found it and taken it back to its den.
After looking around the clearing for a moment he gave a small shrug before walking over and sitting on the rock that was stuck up slight, protruding from ground in the middle of the clearing.
Naruto wasn't sure how long he had been sat there, simply listening to the wind blowing through the leaves and feeling the thousands of tiny chakra signatures of the insects crawling around in the grass below him.
However because of how focused he was Naruto didn't even realise as the world around him was slowly slipping away.
"Well I must admit this is a nice surprise, I wasn't excepting to see you again for another few years." A soft sibilant voice spoke up, breaking Naruto out of his meditative trance.
Naruto's eyes shot open at the sound of the voice, only to widen in shock at what he saw.
He was stood on what seemed to be a stone wall acting as the border between two landscapes, both of them as different as night and day…literally.
On the landscape to his right it looked like the forest that surrounded Konoha, covered in tall lush trees and bathed in bright sunlight and in the distance there was what looked like a lake. Everything looked alive and healthy, and the air was filled with the scents of nature and even though he couldn't see any actual animals, it still felt like being in the middle of a peaceful forest. The sky was mostly clear, with the odd clouds slowly floating by in the clear blue sky.
The land on his left was the complete polar opposite however, it seemed to have been bleached of all colour.
The earth was barren and was covered in dry sand, that was as white as bone and swirled around in the air pushed about by the slight wind. Just like on the other side there were trees, but unlike the other side they were as dry and white as the sand and looked dead, there shriveled branches looking like they were clawing angrily at the sky.
There were also several rocky outcrops bunched together there shadows seeming to be stretching further then should be possible, the stones themselves were black as night. And unlike its counterpart on the other side of the wall, there was absolutely no life at all.
The wall Naruto was stood on was as probably as tall as the Hokage Mountain and looked almost three hundred foot wide, and made from a dull grey stone.
However the thing that shocked Naruto even more was the fact that above his head there was a giant grey orb, very similar to the one he had eaten from the bird, only with a purple centre that seemed to act as the sun for both sides of the world.
"Not what you were expecting I imagine, just take your time and absorb it all. After all it's not easy to see your own soul in physical form." The soft voice continued echoing slightly.
Naruto quickly turned around, looking for where the voice had came from, his eyes widening even further in shock as he found its source, Naruto taking a step back in fear as he did so.
Standing on the wall not ten feet away, was a boy the same age as him. But Naruto couldn't understand what he was seeing, because the boy looked like he could be his long lost twin.
He had the same face as Naruto, he even had the same whisker marks, but unlike Naruto though his short spiky hair was pure white and his skin had a greyish tinge to it.
Sticking out of the top of his head were a pair of four inch long horns the same colour as his skin, and unlike Naruto he was wearing a large baggy black shirt and a pair of black shorts, on his feet he wore nothing at all.
He also had a knife without a guard, the handle wrapped in bandages tucked into the belt at his waist, as he stood before Naruto he had his hand resting on the handle.
But the thing that really took Naruto back though were the eyes of the lookalike in front of him.
Instead of white sclera were dark black, with dark veins spreading out onto the skin around his eyes like spider webs. Then there were the iris, two burning red eyes that stood out making him look absolutely terrifying.
Naruto watched as his mouth opened, revealing his sharp pearly white teeth and a long dark tongue as he chuckled slightly at Naruto's reaction.
"You're not going to piss yourself are you? Because if you do I am not cleaning it up." The voice said mockingly.
The teasing tone was easy to hear, but what was more unnerving was that it was said in Naruto's own voice, and that surprise was enough to give Naruto a little of his courage back.
"W-who the hell are you?" Naruto said in a slightly shaky voice as he stared at the boy opposite in surprise.
The boy just gave another chuckle and moved over to stand next to Naruto, before turning and looking out over the dark landscape, his hand still on his blade.
"Relax I'm not going to hurt you, not even sure I can to be honest. After all, we are technically brothers." The boy said not looking at Naruto as he continued to stare out at the dark landscape.
Frowning at the boys words as he stared at his back, taking note that he had exactly the same slight build as Naruto himself had, Naruto took a deep breath to steel himself before he moved so he standing next to the terrifying looking boy.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked calming down slightly now the boy was no longer looking at him with those terrifying unnerving predator like eyes of his.
Naruto watched as the boy licked his lips, a habit he knew he himself had.
"Well now you see that is quite an interesting question, as not even I am entirely sure of just who I am. Am I you a stronger more powerful version of you? Or am I something else entirely that has just taken your form? It really is quite the quandary as in a way I am you, I know everything you know and I feel everything you feel.
But yet, I also know so much more than you know, and have experience beyond what you have experienced." Voice continued curiously, the voice becoming more and more like Naruto's own soft spoken tone as he spoke..
"Ermm what?" Naruto asked his face scrunched up in confusion as he tried to dissect the boy's words.
"I don't know; just call me You I suppose." The boy spoke up again, the intimidating aura he first gave off fading the more he spoke.
"Wait so I should call you Naruto?"
"Know just call me You."
"So call you Me?"
"No You."
"Naruto?"
"Are we really going to go this…?" The mysterious boy said his soft silky voice holding a note of amusement.
"It is kind of fun." Naruto replied a smile on his face as he argued with himself, he was to tell anyone in Konoha about this they would no doubt think him mad. Though after his outburst last night, that may not surprise them, it was as he thought that that Naruto's good mood came crashing down.
"Yeah, you have been having a pretty shit time of it recently haven't you?" The voice said crudely, the statement made all the strange by how calmly it was spoken. It was not really that surprising that the boy knew of Naruto's thought, he had said it himself after all, he knew everything Naruto knew and yet so much more.
"So where are we then?" Naruto replied uncomfortably, the boy quickly changing the topic of the conversation, not quite ready or willing to talk it all out yet.
"Hmm, well I would have thought that was obvious, I mean we are obviously not in Konoha and you are talking to yourself." You replied blandly, only to frown slightly as he saw the confusion still on Naruto's face, letting out a sigh he decided to answer properly this time. "We're in your mindscape, a physical representation of your mind and soul."
"But…then why are you here? Why are we here?"
...
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