The Strongest Bystander

Summary: Uzumaki Naruto, once renowned as the strongest being to ever exist and a bored immortal decides it was time for him to explore the world again. All conflicts in the world should be over in moments with his interference, right? But the thing is, Naruto really doesn't want to get involved directly anymore. As he puts it, "how would these kids grow if I'd stop every conflict in minutes?"

Naruto Uzumaki never believed in fate. He prided himself as a man who made fate his bitch with all the insurmountable odds he had managed to conquer. As an academy dead last with absolutely zero control in chakra, he was supposed to amount to nothing but he managed to exceed all expectations and became the greatest legend in the Elemental Nations. But at the age of 30, he had a new impression about fate- it was ironic.

As all his peers showed signs of age, Naruto still maintained the same appearance he had at 18. It could be attributed to his Uzumaki lineage but he knew for sure that it was more than that. After consulting with the most skilled of medics, scientists and even the infamous Orochimaru, it was confirmed that he had obtained the one thing he never desired: Immortality.

It was quite a bittersweet realization for the Seventh Hokage because while immortality meant he could maintain the peace he had created, it also meant that he would outlive everyone he loved. Sure, he had the tailed beasts as his companions in his newly found immortal life but it isn't that simple. As an orphan, Naruto cherishes his family more than anything else in the world. He has come to a point where he couldn't live in a world without his beautiful wife Hinata and his wonderful children Boruto and Himawari thus, the knowledge that he'd live forever was disheartening for him.

Fortunately, Naruto was never a man who'd remain in a miserable state for too long. He resolved himself to just live life like he did before finding out his immortality because as the man put it "Hima-chan wouldn't like to see her papa look like this! Oh, my lovely Hima-chan, you're truly a gift from heaven!" Yes, the famed Savior of the World was a notorious doting father but that's a story for another time. Naruto decided to remain present in the affairs of the world until his family is no more. It was a simple idea that would normally work but, as time passed, the mentality of people changed.

With new people in charge of the other four Hidden Villages, Uzumaki Naruto was deemed as a threat. At the funeral of his last descendant Uzumaki Minato, the great great grandson of Uzumaki Boruto and Uchiha Sarada, ninjas deployed by the 10th Raikage, 10th Mizukage and 9th Tsuchikage were sent to assassinate the last remnant of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Why would they dare attack the supposed strongest existence? The few centuries of peace fostered the thought that they can take on Uzumaki Naruto, who they assume had stayed put in the years since he stepped down as Hokage.

Unfortunately, the hype surrounding Naruto's legend was no joke. Naruto killed all assassins sent his way, which the three Kages used as casus belli to declare the Fifth Great Shinobi War. The alliance of Kumo, Kiri and Iwa declared that it was the War to end all Wars and they were right. However, unlike the War of epic proportions and attrition that they envisioned, the war only lasted two days. They might have stood a chance had they fought Uzumaki Naruto when he was just named Hokage but, this several hundred years old Naruto has a different set of beliefs than his younger self. He can no longer be bothered giving people second chances, especially if it's people who ruined his effort to maintain eternal peace.

After the war ended, Naruto stayed true to his vow and finally disconnected himself from the world as his last descendant is no more. In his time away from the affairs of the Elemental Nations, he had a late realization: everyone was so weak compared to shinobi from his era. He did not really think much of his swift victory in the war until Kurama was in one of his moods and began to uncontrollably laugh at how pathetic the humans of this age are. Naruto then deduced that it was with his constant interference in affairs that caused the massive decrease in power. As the world was in absolute peace, there was barely any need for showcases of power and the shinobi forces became lax. Many of the higher rank techniques soon became myths as knowledge of it were forgotten since there was no necessity for it anymore.

Naruto's realization made him form a new resolve. If ever he finds himself interested in the affairs of the world again-unlikely as it is-, he will leave the resolution of the problems to other people. He might give them some advice, but he, in no way will solve the problem himself because no one will grow if there was always someone who'd hold their hand and for the years since he made his personal vow, Naruto stayed true to his resolve.

In those years, Naruto bore witness to the degeneration of the world. A thousand years after the Fifth Great Shinobi War, a deadly pandemic that targeted chakra users emerged and the world was left with only around 100 people capable of using chakra but even then, their chakra was barely enough to cast basic three jutsus. Naruto was left unaffected by the pandemic as he isolated himself in the ruins of Uzushiogakure. It was a big surprise to him when he returned to civilization and found people living like they did. There was basically no technology whatsoever and the people acted more primate than humans. But since it was not his problem, he remained a bystander and in rare occasions, a teacher. Naruto's students then turned out to be the pioneers that would lead the degenerated humans into a new age, much to his joy as it simply proved his point that letting people deal with their problems will make them even better.

Seeing the success of his students, Naruto decided to once again return to his home in Uzushiogakure and like a bored immortal, do whatever that he finds interesting, which usually involves making fun of Kurama, who can now manifest a physical form despite being sealed in Naruto. While the other tailed beasts are lazily sleeping around wherever they wanted to, Kurama stuck by Naruto's side. The fox sometimes wished he left too because this immortal Naruto is even more annoying than the time when he was a teen but as he put it, "Who'd keep this damned idiot at bay if I'm not around? Being immortal made him too bored and a hundredfold more annoying."

"Well, that's the prologue for my book. What do you think Kurama, it looks good right?" A youthful looking blond haired man grinned as he looked at the orange fox seated across him. This youthful looking man is Uzumaki Naruto, a man of many titles but as of this moment, the title that fit him the most is "Bored Infuriating Immortal."

"It's shit. People would only be interested in the garbage you write if the focus of the book is me. A great nine tailed fox is much, much more interesting than a blond idiot who people of this age know nothing about. You can write on how I murdered Madara and ate him whole!" replied the fox, who was munching on a piece of meat.

"Huh? You know that biographies should be accurate, right? You can only beat Madara if he was sleeping ya dumb fox! Aside from the Otsutsuki, Sasuke and myself, he was the strongest in the world. You stand no chance!" Naruto laughed as he awaited the expected explosion of anger from the Nine Tailed Fox. Pointing out how Madara could beat him was a VERY sore spot for the fox. Thousands, maybe millions of years- he wasn't really sure since as an immortal, time was basically nothing of concern- had passed but there is no one Kurama hated more than Uchiha Madara. The fox had actually been begging Naruto to learn Edo Tensei to have a rematch with Madara so he can prove he's stronger than him. It was a rather sad sight to see Kurama being so sensitive when his pride got hurt that it became funny for Naruto. Unfortunately for the fox, screwing around with the dead was not on Naruto's plans.

"WHADDYA SAY NARUTO?! YOU WANNA GO AT IT RIGHT NOW?! IT'S ONE THING MISTAKING ME FOR THAT DAMN TANUKI BUT PRAISING MADARA?" The fox then lunged at Naruto and since he was in his small form, attempted to scratch the blonde's face with his nails. Naruto, however, caught Kurama's paw and threw him several kilometers away from their home. As the fox was sent flying, he could clearly hear the curses thrown his way from the fox, some of it were insults about ramen. Kurama thought insulting ramen would enrage Naruto but it didn't work. The fox once again forgot that Naruto did not really mind because in his eyes, these kind of exchanges were like the bonding sessions between them and he treasured it a lot. Aside from that, fighting Kurama was a great work out. Whenever these exchanges happen, Kurama would come back in his full form and engage Naruto in an all-out (but not fatal) battle. It's basically just an excuse for the two to not get rusty through the years. If there was something the fox and the blonde agree on it was to never get weaker.

This time though, Naruto had other plans. He decided that he wants try to finish Kurama in a single blow as to not waste time. Usually when they have their matches, it usually lasts for hours, if not days when both wanted to test their endurance and with the plan forming in the blonde's head, he doesn't want to waste any more time. When the fox finally came within Naruto's vision, he was greeted with a plethora of Rasenshurikens and failed to dodge in time. It was rather underhanded in Naruto's part as they usually engage in dialogue before beginning their match but the blonde had no time to waste so he opted for a surprise attack and after the fifth Rasenshuriken landed on Kurama, the fox collapsed like a puppet who got it's strings cut.

After falling unconscious for two hours, Kurama opened his eyes and saw Naruto packing his things. The fox surmised that the blonde did not really pack everything but, the guy had seven large bags before him. Curious about the development, the fox then asked "Naruto, what the hell are you up to now?" Of course, the question was more of a formality than anything else. Whenever Naruto was like this, it usually meant that he is checking out the world once again but that only happens when he hears something interesting happening in the world. The last time Naruto went back to modern civilization for a long period of time was during the Second World War. Those were good times for the fox as the time they spent pranking the Hitler guy with failed assassination attempts was funny. The man turned paranoid and began even suspecting his closest confidants of betraying him.

"You remembered when Matatabi visited the other week?" Naruto asked the fox, who nodded in confirmation. "Well, it turns out that those three factions warring against each other eight hundred years ago are starting to get active again. I wanna see what they're up to this time. The last time was very exciting, after all." Don't get the blond wrong, he wasn't excited about the war taking place but was fascinated by the fact that the three factions had shown abilities to use supernatural powers, as it was the first time since the fall of the Shinobi that he witnessed such powers. As per his vow, he did not directly interfere in the war but he may or may not have a hand in the deaths of some annoyances.

"Eh, really? That's great! This place is great and all but it's damned boring in here! At least with those Christians, I can stretch my legs a bit!" Kurama's eyes shined as he heard the news from Naruto. The so-called Great War was one of the fox's most treasured memories mainly due to the fact that Naruto allowed him to do as he pleased and he got to kick a lot of asses. It gave the fox a much needed boost to his self-esteem as he always lost to Naruto in their battles and that was a downer for poor Kurama. Also, during the Great War, Kurama met with other Kyuubis in Japan and he was kind of worshipped by the foxes because of his overwhelming strength, which made him one happy fox.

Noticing the look in his partner's eye, Naruto developed a dull expression on his face. 'Man, this damned egomaniac fox loves everyone who worships him. How conceited can he be?' The blond then shook his head and proceeded to seal the bags inside the ring on his index finger, which glowed red after Naruto uttered the word "FUIN". The ring had several seals drawn on it and one of those seals allowed it to serve as the storage for Naruto's possessions. It is a very convenient object for Naruto, who went to learn about fuinjutsu when he came to live in Uzushiogakure. The ruins somehow had a lot of scrolls about the knowledge of fuinjutsu preserved and Naruto went to learn every single thing inside the scrolls. Studying is kind of out of character for Naruto but as an immortal, he can never run out of things to do and he is forever glad that he went to learn about the sealing arts.

"So when are we going brat? And where are we living? If you want to live near the deserts, I'd murder you in your sleep!" Kurama said as he grumbled internally about Shukaku. For the fox, the damned Tanuki talks too much for someone who lost to Naruto when he was a weakling which meant that for Kurama, Shukaku is lower than a genin.

"Why would we live in a desert, anyways? Don't tell me that you miss Shukaku that much! Hah, that's gold 'ttebayo!" Naruto chuckled as he was met with a fierce glare from the fox. Shukaku and Kurama's relationship... is rather complicated. From their spoken words, you could easily see that they can't stand the other but there's no mistaking that among the other tailed beasts, they are closer to the one another rather than the other seven tailed beasts.

"Anyways, we're living in Japan this time around. The epicenter of this new development is a town in Japan called Kuoh and we're going there... right now." Naruto answered Kurama's question. The fox merely nodded at his partner's response, hiding his glee at the fact that they're living in the same country as the race who worshipped him like a God.

"HIRAISHIN NO JUTSU!"

A/N: I haven't written a fanfic in two years and I suddenly had this idea in my mind. I'm not really sure if it good or bad but I felt like publishing it. I kind of have an idea how to proceed with this story but I won't give a guarantee that I'd be able to finish this one since all my other stories are on hold. Oh, and as to how Naruto somewhat had a Hiraishin mark on Kuoh, he had Matatabi to thank for that. I'd show how it happened in the next chapter so don't worry! Well anyways, please give me some feedbacks on how to proceed with the story. Thank you for reading up until this point, 'til next time! Cheers!