A/N:

So yeah, the Boruto plotline… no. Fricking alien shinobi? No. Just… no. The way this is set up, Kaguya brought the world to it's knees, and our favorite Asura incarnate was sent back to fix it, but said incarnate won't remember that.

I don't own Naruto.

"Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go."

-Hermann Hesse

"You'll have to go back."

"What…?"

"You won't remember me, or anything, but the strength you have gained will remain. You will have to retrain your new body to handle the power."

"Why are you telling me this? If I won't even remember…"

"I don't really know… I suppose, I just wanted to say something, because this is the last time we will see each other. My other self… I will not know you, and you will not know me."

"I… I don't want to say goodbye."

"You have to let go, do you understand? There is nothing left here for you. This is all I can give to you. A chance to be reborn, and change all of this death."

"But I won't know any of this happened. How am I going to change anything? Will I even still be me?"

"You are too stubborn to be anyone else, no matter what skin or name you wear. You will always be you."

The world had gone mad. Or, maybe it was always mad, and it was just now tearing everything apart.

"But…"

"Just let go. Let it go…"

"Okay…"

"I knew you were strong. You are unlike any person I have ever met. And I… I am proud to have been your friend."

The world began to collapse in on itself as time was altered, the future and the present were beginning to erase.

"Just be yourself, and I know you will do remarkable things… Naruto."

And then, the present shattered.