Chapter 20: Chapter 20 Previous Life
"Tell me, how did you obtain the Sharingan?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes, the double tomoe spinning intensely within them.
His entire clan had been massacred, and the only one left alive was Itachi.
For Naruto to possess a Sharingan could only mean he had desecrated the eyes of Sasuke's deceased kin, which is extremely disrespectful.
Sasuke couldn't tolerate such an offense.
However, a sliver of hope lingered in his heart, a desperate wish that Naruto would clarify matters and deny his worst fears. If not, regardless of Naruto's assistance in helping him grow, Sasuke would be compelled to kill him.
"Are you stupid or what? The Uchiha clan's Sharingan is a Kekkei Genkai. All your clansmen have black pupils. Can't you see my big blue eyes? Mine's just a prop."
As he said this, Naruto removed one of his contact lenses.
Seeing the translucent contact in Naruto's hand, Sasuke was taken aback, "So it really was a prop? Why didn't I notice it before… But wait, that's not the main point. If you don't have a real Sharingan, what did you mean by saying that Genjutsu would be useful for you?"
"These contact lenses are quite special. They have effects similar to the Uchiha's Sharingan. And to upgrade them, I have to go about it the same way your clan does. Now do you understand?" Uzumaki Naruto explained.
Upon hearing this, Sasuke finally understood and deactivated his Sharingan, his eyes returning to their natural color.
"If you have no more questions, then let's start with the Hell Viewing Technique."
"Okay!"
Time flew by, and before they knew it, half an hour had passed.
Thanks to the formidable insight provided by the Sharingan, one of the Three Great Dojutsu, Sasuke quickly grasped the essentials of the Hell Viewing Technique.
"Shall I begin?" Sasuke asked.
"Go ahead!"
Naruto took a deep breath, feeling a bit uneasy.
In his previous life, he had watched too many horror movies, so he was worried about being thrown into a similar scenario by the Genjutsu. Even knowing it was all fake, he feared the sight of blood-soaked spirits might scare him half to death.
"Hell Viewing Technique!"
As Sasuke formed the last Tiger seal, Naruto felt the world spinning around him. When he finally steadied himself, he found himself not at the Hokage Rock but in a solemn place filled with wreaths and an oppressive atmosphere.
"Is this a cemetery? Damn it! Of course, I'd end up in a horror movie scene!"
Naruto thought about the memories in his mind. But there were too many horror movies with cemetery as the setting, and he really couldn't guess where a ghost would jump out from.
At this moment, a crowd of people dressed in black walked towards his location.
'Phew, thank goodness there are so many people around… Wait, what if they're all ghosts?' Naruto couldn't help feeling nervous.
If they were all ghosts, then he would be in big trouble!
But in the next moment, his nervousness turned to surprise.
He saw that the two people at the front are his parents in his previous life.
It was a rare occasion for him to see his parents again, so even if they turned into ghosts, he would remain calm.
But what puzzled him was that although his parents' faces hadn't changed, their hair had turned completely white. He wondered what was going on?
Naruto walked up to his parents quickly, but they seemed to look right through him, continuing on until they reached the grave nearby, where they dropped to their knees, tears streaming down their faces.
Seeing this, Naruto was even more confused. He wondered who had died to make his parents so heartbroken.
Following their gaze, he saw a black-and-white photograph near the grave. In the photo was a young man with a bright smile.
It was none other than him in his previous life!
"So… they're here to say goodbye to me?" Naruto murmured dejectedly, feeling a mix of sorrow and regret.
"Poor Mr. and Mrs. Moore," someone nearby whispered. "They raised their son with such effort, only for him to die so young."
"That's right. Just recently, Mr. Moore was saying how he'd soon be welcoming a grandchild. He looked so proud and full of life… and now that his son's gone, his hair turned white overnight."
"The old sending the young away… How will the old couple get through this?"
"…"
Among the crowd standing behind his parents, some people offered words of comfort, while others sighed in sorrow.
After hearing these words and seeing his parents' heads of white hair, Naruto's heart felt as if it were being pricked by needles, and he was overwhelmed by indescribable grief.
"Dad, Mom, look at me! I'm not dead, I'm alive and well!"
Naruto kept shouting desperately, but no matter how much he called out, even until his voice was hoarse, his parents couldn't hear him.
Not only that, the scene in front of his eyes began to blur and fade away.
The Genjutsu had ended, and Naruto collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed with helplessness.
Yes, he was afraid of horror movies, but what he dreaded most was the sight of his parents sending him away. Even knowing it was a Genjutsu, even knowing it was fake, he still couldn't bear to imagine it.
Because... it was all too possible that his real previous life might have unfolded this way, steeped in such heartbreaking sorrow.
"Naruto, are you okay?" Sasuke hurriedly stepped forward and helped Naruto up.
Naruto tried to speak, but the sadness in his heart was too overwhelming, like a river flowing backward. He felt like there was a huge rock lodged in his chest. This complicated feeling was simply difficult to express in words. He then fainted on the spot without even saying a word.
Who knows how much time passed before he finally woke up.
The sky had turned dark.
At this moment, Naruto found himself lying in an unfamiliar room, with the fan emblem of the Uchiha Clan printed on the wall.
"Naruto, you're awake?" Sasuke's voice, filled with relief, reached him as he walked in with a bowl of hot soup.
The yellowish tint at the bottom of the bowl indicated that Sasuke had reheated it several times.
"How are you feeling?" Sasuke chuckled, remembering his own experience with the Genjutsu's intensity. Now that Naruto had been out for a whole day, he couldn't help feeling a bit smug.
But Naruto, contrary to his usual behavior, did not respond.
He sat in silence for a long time before finally getting up and said, "You've already awakened your two-tomoe Sharingan. You should master it well for the next few days. I won't be training with you for the time being."
"No training? Then what are you planning to do?" Sasuke asked puzzledly.
"That's none of your concern," Naruto replied calmly. "Don't worry, I'm fine."
After saying that, he dragged his weary body out of Sasuke's apartment and returned to his own small place.
Several days passed, and he stayed at home, silent and withdrawn.
Then, one day, a sound rang in his mind.
[System Notification: The host has not signed in for multiple days. The system's energy is about to be depleted. Please complete a sign-in as soon as possible.]
Hearing this, Naruto sat up abruptly, his eyes gleaming with a new light.
He wasn't alone in this world… he still had his system!
He hurriedly asked, "System, is there a way for me to return to my previous life? Even if I couldn't stay for a long time, it would be fine if I could just say goodbye."
His days of sorrow had been fueled by his yearning for his parents from his past life. Even if he was dead in that world, he still wanted to give his parents a closure, to honor their years of care and nurture.
[Host currently has insufficient authority and cannot jump to another time and space. But you do not need to worry, Host, you came here with soul exchange.]
Hearing this, Naruto was taken aback.
'Soul exchange?'
'So I hadn't died from drinking cola in my previous life but had swapped souls with the original Naruto?'
'In that case, my body in the previous life is not dead, it's just that the original Naruto is taking my place.'
He quickly sought confirmation from the system and received an affirmative response.
"Damn it, I worried for nothing all these days."
Naruto jumped out of bed to wash up, planning to head out and treat himself to a big meal.
As for his previous life, he was no longer worried. Although it was the young Naruto now living it, he might mess things up, but at least his parents wouldn't have to mourn over their dead son.
Since he knew his past life's parents would be at peace, he was satisfied and would not ask for anything more.
It was only after he finished washing up and looked at himself in the mirror that he realized he had never taken off his contact lenses.
But when he looked at his eyes carefully again, he was stunned.
In the crimson depths of his eyes, the tomoe were no longer just one… or two… but...