Naruto Retsuden: Naruto Uzumaki and the Spiral Destiny

tatru is an original story written by Jun Esaka and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto.

Prologue
In the Land of Stairs there is a hill whose top has been burning for allegedly four thousand years due to an enormous amount of natural gas underneath it. In the past the Sixth Hokage, together with Ikkyū Madoka, made a deal with the Land of Stairs to supply the promote the development of its stagnant economy. Now, a decade later, the inhabitants of the Land are in turmoil for the visit of the Seventh Hokage.

As Naruto Uzumaki is being interviewed by journalists, Yanaru Aze, an assassin that has been posing as a member of the Hokage's personal escort for the past three days, infiltrates the crowd of attendees with three copies created with the Shadow Clone Technique, whom he dubbed "Alpha", "Beta", and "Gamma". He was hired to kill Naruto, which, unbeknownst to him and the other people in the crowd, is actually a disguised Shikamaru Nara, which replaced the real Naruto through the Transformation Technique for safety purposes.

The three copies are dealt with by the other members of the Hokage's personal escort: "Alpha" is swiftly stopped and hit to the neck by the former Hokage Kakashi Hatake; soon afterwards, "Beta" is choked by Sakura Haruno; finally, "Gamma" readies to strike, giving credit to the rumours according to which Naruto suffers from an unknown illness that weakened him almost to the level of a civilian, but falls under the illusion of Sasuke Uchiha, and subsequently vanishes.

Later, the disguised Shikamaru and the members of the escort head to the seaplane where the real Naruto was tied by Shikamaru with a reinforced rope (made with concentrated chakra by the Scientific Ninja Weapons Team) so as to prevent him from participating to the visit in person. Hearing about the attempt by the now-arrested assassin, Naruto is saddened by the fact that "his condition" requires him to be protected by multiple people, which he would not have needed before.

Chapter 1
It all started six months ago. As Naruto was working incessantly to catch up with his bureaucratic duties, he started feeling an intense pain in his chest when trying to perform the Shadow Clone Technique. At that time, both him and Shikamaru thought it was due to overworking and sleep debt, so they did not give too much attention to it.

A month later, as Naruto was about to use the Earth Release to assist his son in the latter's training, the symptoms acted up again, this time manifesting as an accelerated heartbeat. He hid it and said he had to go due to an errand, much to Boruto's disappointment. As he rushed to the Village's Old City, he realized he would not have reached the hospital in time, so he entered an abandoned aviary he found on the path. There, the symptoms slowly weakened, and Kurama revealed to Naruto that Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki also suffered this condition in the Land of Redaku, but then he somehow recovered from it.

In the present, Naruto meets with Sakura, Shikamaru, Kakashi and Sasuke in a secret room in the back of Tami's shop, where he reveals the illness has manifested other three times since they came back from the Land of Stairs. After a long discussion, they decide to send Kakashi to the Land of Redaku to find out more about the time Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki spent there. He departs the following morning.

In the evening, Shikamaru informs Naruto that the Cultural Institute, an organization based in the Land of Stairs founded by the Five Great Shinobi Countries after the war, is deciphering per his request old documents regarding the Sage of the Six Paths. According to the first batch of information that was acquired from them, it is very likely that Hagoromo recovered from his illness in Redaku's Astronomy Research Institute.

The two then wonder who might have sent Yanaru Aze to assassinate Naruto. They cannot ask him directly since he committed suicide. They suspect of Furie Kanhen, the director of the Cultiral Institute, who might have wanted to worsen the Stairs-Leaf relations so as to keep the Leaf's funds invested in his institute instead of in the energy sector. They resolve to send Sasuke to investigate him.

When Naruto leaves his office, it is already the following day's morning. He climbs on top of the Hokage Rock and watches over the Village. In that moment, he has another seizure. As he crawls on the ground, he is reached by Sasuke, which tells him he is wants to go to the Astronomy Research Institute and try to find out a possible cure to Naruto's condition instead of going to the Land of Stairs and investigate Furie Kunhen because he prioritizes Naruto's health. Naruto vehemently disagrees, but Sasuke, through an illusion, manages to slip past him and head towards Redaku. Immediately after, Sakura arrives on the spot, and tells Naruto that, according to the latter's medical analysis' results, his illness is due to his Chakra Pathway System being afflicted, a condition which could potentially lead to him not being able to use chakra anymore. She then proceeds to follow her husband.

When Naruto finally gets home, he notices in the entrance a pair of shoes he does not recognize, meaning they have a guest. It is none other than Orochimaru.