Redemption

5

So... I may or may not be out of practice for this story. I apologize.

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After what had happened in the classroom, Naruto went home.

For a time, he didn't do anything but cry and try to drown out the mutterings of his shadow. He didn't know what it was or if it could hurt him, but it still deeply unnerved him in its near-unintelligible mutterings. He cried and screamed, then hiccuped when he could cry no longer.

And when he tired of this cycle because crying would do nothing, his attention was drawn to the little honey book that he'd very nearly forgotten.

It ensnared his interest, urging him to open its pliable cover and read all its contents. Had he been in in a lucid state of mind, he would have thought this to be odd, (as he almost never found joy in the written word.) But as it was, he wanted an escape from his turbulent emotions, a distraction.

So, he dragged himself up from his bed and retrieved the thin book.

Its title was too faded to read, and opening to the first page, he saw a scrawl of fancy calligraphy, handwritten and... changing?

Before his very eyes, what used to be on the page had shifted to address him. This would have normally alarmed him, but somehow it was like he had expected this to happen. Like it was completely ordinary.

'Hello, Naruto.

I know we were never there for you, but please know we loved you will all our hearts before we died. We loved you so, so much; and we're sorry for doing this to you.

We've left you our legacy, detailed our family techniques for you to learn. Please take care of this book in our place, and do your best! Life gets better, just you wait!

Your parents, Minato & Kushina.'

Though Naruto couldn't cry again after his last episode, his puffy eyes stung with the emotion.

He had a family. They hadn't wanted to leave him on his own, they weren't nobodies like everyone said, and they had loved him. But then, that didn't make any sense, did it? Mr. Shinohara had clearly told him that God didn't love him, the monster that he was. The Kyuubi, whatever that was.

Did that mean he was wrong? But how can you be so wrong about something like that?! Didn't that make Mr. Shinohara and his God wrong?

So... so God really did love him! He wasn't unlovable, it was just that Mr. Shinohara's God had misled the others. That made so much sense!

Turning the thin, dry page, the little blond started reading its contents hungrily. It described somewhat dark techniques in detail, of its linkage to the god his parents and grandparents had worshipped.

Of Jashinism.

He didn't want the other villagers to continue worshipping their false god that spread lies if they kept doing others harm. So maybe they'd listen to him if he introduced them to Jashin. He'd heard of 'Messengers of God' at various small churches established around the village, and he had never met another follower of Jashin. So didn't that make him the Messenger of his God?

He felt his excitement rising, finally finding a renewed sense of purpose. He might not want to be Hokage if the villagers were so stubborn and mean, but that didn't mean he wouldn't continue his family's legacy!

But a particular facet of Jashinism and the techniques he was given was it doing harm to others when he was harmed. He knew he could heal fairly quickly compared to others, (his eye was proof of that,) but he didn't think that such intense techniques would work too well against enemies if he could easily die from his own skills. How did one remedy the issue of mortality?