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A SAGE ADRIFT

#6

It had been over a month since Naruto Uzumaki had found himself dumped on the doorstep of the farm of a loving kind retired couple.

He had been hesitant at first when he was first confronted with the idea of living with someone he barely knew, especially since he himself was completely new to this reality, unaware of all the little quirks that this new reality could present to him. That little problem was solved when he opened the luggage given to him by the Ancient One, for the first time, and found a book in the midst of the clothes, orange clothing that was given to him, as a gift, apparently.

The book was titled: “A Dummies Guide to this reality”

He had chuckled at first because that seemed like exactly the sort of hilarious prank that he would think of but his laughter ceased once he opened the book and it kept opening and opening until it eventually reached the same size as his entire torso.

Naruto was pretty sure he did not have the same horror-filled look even when he and Sasuke were up against Kaguya Otsutsuki and their odds were not looking good.

He was going to slowly fold that book back down and stash it away, never to be looked at again only for it to resist all attempts at folding it down. He tried, with all his might, to close the book only for it to not budge an inch. 

Resigning himself to the situation, Naruto rested the book awkwardly on his lap and opened it, expecting a mountain of information that he would have to read and memorise before going to the next page. 

There really was no other option other than finishing the book and hoping that it would allow itself to be folded into its smaller form factor because considering the space he had in his modest accommodations, there was no way he would be able to live in an apartment where the living room’s ten percent had been covered with an odd looking book.

That was the fastest way he could think of that would lead the Davis couple to kick him out of their precious farm. All the other inhabitants of this farm had that look in their eyes when they interacted with him that he did not want to exacerbate with even more eccentric activities, in their eyes.

So best to either finish reading the book or try to stash it somewhere nobody would find it. It seemed sturdy enough if even his full strength, injured as he was, wasn’t enough to even bend its spine. It should easily survive being buried a couple of feet under, at least until he becomes ready, mentally, to read the entire thing because the matter of fact was that he would have to read it anyway.

With no foreseeable option to go home, he was stuck in this reality and it would be extremely beneficial to learn more. Besides, back in Konoha, he had been dying to have a vacation of some sort and if he wanted to think positively of this place, considering it a long vacation with an uncertain ending date would go a long way in making him less depressed about leaving his people behind.

But that did not happen because the moment he opened the second page since the first page was just titled “Introduction to Earth 6969”, his hand got stuck on the rapidly heating up notebook, and before he could take his hand off, the book began glowing and the only thought in his mind before his vision was filled with white was, ‘Not again!’

The peculiar thing about the book was that only Naruto’s vision was filled with white instead of the entire room because as soon as Naruto slumped forward, the book stopped glowing and instead cast a near-invisible barrier around Naruto and his modest room, effectively isolating it from the outside world and discouraging anyone from checking in on Naruto.

The glow was green, reminiscent of the energy signature of the Time Stone that was in the custody of the Ancient One.

The Ancient One had foreseen the day Naruto would need a very comprehensive guide for this reality because as much as a goofball Naruto was, he was every bit of a ninja warrior here that he was back in his home world. She didn’t want Naruto to be picking fights with somebody because he didn’t understand the situation correctly. So, she devised a spell. A knowledge transference spell coupled with a time dilation spell. Due to the constraints of dilating time in an area, she instead chose to accelerate the speed at which Naruto’s mind operated at.

If it were a normal human being, the strain of just the knowledge transference spell would have spelled permanent brain damage for them but due to the healing prowess of Naruto’s Sage Body, he would at worst feel a little dizzy before his healing factor kicked in and repaired all the damage sustained. The dilation was necessary because the amount of knowledge the Ancient One was just handing over to Naruto was insane. Entire libraries’ worth of knowledge was being instantaneously downloaded in Naruto’s brain.

At the end of the session, Naruto will have all the general-purpose knowledge he would require to effectively blend in and also the necessary know-how of basic sorcery along with knowledge of the various supernatural hotspots and the people that live within. Normally, the Ancient One would never resort to such accelerated methods of learning since learning done through this method doesn’t usually end up well since the apprentices don’t value the knowledge they were given but the Ancient One is quite aware that if there was ever a soul that can be trusted with using his power in a manner that feels correct, it would be Naruto Uzumaki.

…

..

After a few hours of Naruto drooling on the tome of knowledge, the tome started losing its colour and began shrinking. In the process, Naruto woke up.

As Naruto sat upright and opened his eyes, an immediate change could be felt in the air. If previously, Naruto had an air of melancholy but still optimistic air around him, now all that was left was hard determination. 

To do what? Only he knew.

…

..

[1 Month after Naruto arrived on the farm]

Henry Foster was the very first employee that was hired by the Davis couple as permanent labour for the farm. He had been recommended by their driver who was going to retire at the same time as them, courtesy of a couple of good investments that panned out well. 

He was working as a carpenter and his wife was working as a nurse. They had a kid on the way and their life was generally going great until Sarah miscarried. The ensuing trauma, both mental and financial, was something that led them both to burn through their savings pretty quickly and if it had not been for a last-minute handout from his friends, he and Sarah would have been homeless when the Davis couple gave them the job.

It had been over six years since then and they had led a pretty good life since then. Mr and Mrs.Davis, sensing their predicament, had footed the entire bill for moving and even lightly furnished their new dwelling which was also rent-free. Of course, he had paid it all off over the years from his paychecks but the sentiment remained. 

Even now, when he could probably find a better-paying job in the city, he refused to even entertain that thought. Sarah was the same. After staying on the farm, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, she was as allergic to the city life as she was to peanuts.

Even when little Jenna arrived in their lives, they refused to leave the safe haven that was the Davis farm because, for them, it represented more than just a paycheck. It represented a safe environment for them to live in and for little Jenna to grow in. It helped that they lived rent-free on the farm, the only thing the Davis couple asking in exchange was help keep an eye on the farm even after hours, something that he and the other workers would have done without even asking since it was a place where they also lived and making sure that their families were safe was a top priority for most of them.

Life was good. They hired a couple more families that continued to live on the farm, as the farm grew the produce increased.

It had been almost a dozen families that lived on the farm when they approached the couple with the intention of starting an enterprise with shared ownership as another source of income for the labour as well as the owners. While Richard was against it since he had pretty much spent his entire life around corporations, Dorothy was all for it as it allowed them to earn more for their future and their children’s futures.

Not that Dorothy spared any expense in that regard. As was fitting with her background as a social worker, Dorothy made sure that all of the kids received proper schooling along with all the medical, dental, and regular expenses filled with the money the farm generated. 

Even if reluctantly, Richard later got involved in the financial aspects of it and worked on creating funds for the kids and their collective expenses. Nowadays, the farm actually had a minivan that transported all the kids to their schools by a rotating shift of dads who had driving licenses.

Life had been going good, great even when he heard that Richard and Dorothy had hired someone new. He had been curious, somewhat excited even to meet the new family that was going to live on the farm, especially since he knew that there was no proportional plan to increase the workload and nobody was leaving as far as he knew.

Imagine his disappointment when he found that it was just a single person, a kid, from the looks of it who was going to live on the farm with them. He had been fine with that as well but there were other glaring oddities that tickled him the wrong way.

There were these whisker marks on his face but that could have been explained away as birthmarks but it was the other things as well, like being able to work for over twelve hours at a time without even needing breaks, except for food and water. Even those he only took when everybody else around him started taking them.

It all felt like a way for him to blend in with the “normal” folks. He had been observing him for over two weeks and the things he had discovered had alarmed him, to say the least. First of all, the way Naruto handled chores was very very suspicious. Lifting loads, and crates weighing hundreds of pounds as if they weighed anything and doing so for hours after hours without any visible strain. 

Many times, he had heard the other people on the farm discuss how Naruto seemed to have a way with the trees as he was usually found jumping through the trees with supernatural dexterity. He had been hesitant to believe that but even he himself had witnessed him landing on his feet after a 15-foot drop.

That was not something a normal person would be able to do. The last straw was when he had hesitantly went to the terrace of their living quarters, where Naruto lived, to offer him a Brisket that his wife insisted on giving him since it was a nice thing to do. He was about to knock on the door when his gaze fell to the bottom where he could see light shining through. 

Already suspicious, he chose to look through the window if he could spot anything but the scene that greeted him was very baffling. It had been 10 PM when he had gone up and the scene through the window was completely dark. The bed had been made up and everything but there was no source of the light he was seeing.

Going back to the main door, he saw the same orange light. Rubbing his eyes, he double and triple-checked everything but no matter how many times he saw it, the window and the door indicated two different things. He had been at his wit’s end when Naruto himself opened the door for him, likely sensing some disturbance outside his door.

He didn’t think Naruto himself knew about it but the moment the door opened, his eyes widened as instead of Naruto’s normal blue eyes, two pools of orange light stared back at him. He had gingerly handed over the brisket and practically fled from the terrace, his heart beating loud enough that he could hear it.

He had talked to his wife about it but she refused to listen to him because according to her, Naruto was the sweetest little boy that helped everyone on the farm without even hesitating. He had been silenced by his wife then but he kept observing Naruto for anomalies and he did end up finding many. Somehow, Naruto had wormed his way into everybody’s good graces that worked on the farm. Even the Davis couple had been completely enraptured with his sunshine personality. Even the usually stoic Richard could be seen smiling with Naruto sometimes.

Fearing that nobody would listen to him or call him crazy to even think so, he turned to his friend who had warned him about such people.

*Ring* *Ring*

“Hey, Henry, Long time no see. What’s up?” A hoarse voice could be heard speaking over the phone.

Henry looked around as he paced around in his living room, “Hey Keith. You know you once told me about calling you if I found some “odd” people?”

Even Henry could feel the immediate shift in Keith’s tone as soon as he stopped speaking, “You mean you found a “mutie”?”

“Maybe, I don’t know. Look, he just has these abilities that don’t appear normal and somehow, he has become everyone’s favorite here. Even if I tried to warn everyone now, they would think that I was crazy.”

“You did the right thing, Henry. Don’t worry, they have an insidious way of charming people. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. Just send me the address and make sure that the missus and the children are not there tommorow.”

“O-Okay. Thank you.”

There was no reply as the line went dead. 

Unease gripped his heart as he thought about what he had done but in the end, his fear for his family won out and he sent the address for the farm. He just hoped that Keith didn’t do anything to the Davis couple. He had always been rowdy.

“Hey, Sarah, how about a trip to the park tomorrow?” He yelled out as he tried to remove the uneasy thoughts out of his mind.

Word Count - 2531

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