18Of Ninjas and Shadows: Prologue
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A world of wonder, plundered by reality
Heart torn asunder, blundered by depravity
A voice offers to melt the tundra, an unlikely panacea
In truth within the umbra, there lies a being ancient as Pangea
I listen to the fox, as ominous as it's glow manifests, I would still take any path out of this darkness
For amongst shadows do I face the harrowing winds of loneliness, bones trembling despite the feelings of hollowness
From the age of a minute, my plight was christened
A man masked with a cynic eye on a mission
A hero reached his limit and despite derision
He had to give in, and instill his hope within…
Me
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It was early October in Konoha, warm colored leaves littering the quiet streets. Usually, on nice days like these, you would see children running around while the adults made small talk and traded wares. But today was a day of mourning.
Today marked the sixth anniversary of Konoha's bloodiest night. As the sun set over the town and the light faded, people would light candles and lanterns in honor of those who had fallen protecting the place they loved, as well as for the innocent lives lost in the crossfire.
Everyone was dressed in black as they marched to the cemetery where they laid the candles in front of the graves of the lost and said a few prayers for the gods.
Well… Almost everyone. Some were not fortunate enough to ever have anything or anyone to lose.
Nara Naruto was an outcast, even amongst his own kin. The Nara clan did not mistreat the boy, but they were wary. They kept their distance and nobody bat an eye since he lacked any resemblance.
Bright, spiky, sun-kissed hair instead of shadowy locks. Glowing, blue eyes full of determination instead of lazy, carefree, and dark chocolate eyes. Six very distinguishable blacks mark slicing along his cheeks, three on either side.
It was his birthday, but he chose to spend it alone, wandering the empty streets, in a more serene solitude than he was used to.
He made sure to only tread where there were lights and therefore shadows.
He always felt drawn to the shadows. They made him feel safe, like a blanket protecting him from the cold night's air. They were the only things he could consistently rely on. The one constant in his life, always protecting him.
There were a few incidents he could remember. His first day at the academy some children a couple years older decided to pick on him. Their parents said he was a bad kid anyway, and nobody was around to stop them.
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They launched rocks at him, but the moment they came close his shadow reached up and shielded him.
It grew out of the earth and spread out into a flat shape, thin but tough. Bringing a quick end to the onslaught.
Naruto turned and faced the culprits not even fully aware of what was going on, as his shadow moved in tendrils around him. The children flinched, startled by his strange abilities and dead eyes. "How-what's wrong with you!?" "Ye-yeah! F-freak!" They quickly bolted not wanting to face any consequences they might be issued by passersby or the kid himself.
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Naruto tried not to reflect on the event too long. He knew it was getting late, most people probably had finished with the mourning ceremony and started to turn in for the night. He knew he should too but... It wasn't like anyone was waiting for him. Aunt Yoshino might check on him given the date but he still found it unlikely. Regardless she wouldn't punish him, she rarely got mad at him. His cousin, however, was another story.
His thoughts were interrupted as he heard voices in the distance, poor judgement and curiosity lead him towards them. As he approached the walls of the district, he slowed down and gently crept up to the edge, peering over the side.
There was a house by the wall with an alleyway between them. He could tell the voices were coming from the back of the house. He only made out a couple words with his sharp ears "tonight" and "plan."
He was a smart kid, he had gotten yelled at for eavesdropping before, but when you were as lonely as he was even just listening to other people interacting helped sate his primal need to socialize to some extent.
Tonight he would learn to trust his instincts.
He slowly tiptoed through the alleyway not peeking his head out this time, but still getting close enough to hear.
"When?" The first voice asked. "Not for a few hours. Fugaku said to get some sleep while we can, and expect to be woken thirty minutes prior to the mission." The second voice replied.
"Do you think Itachi will be there?"
"Che, doubt it. I don't trust the kid and if you ask me I don't think Fugaku does either."
"Still, he's a formidable Shinobi, it would do us good to have him on our side, especially when doing something as arduous as taking over the village."
Naruto let out a small gasp, barely a whisper in the wind. But all it took was a whisper to seal his fate.
The Uchiha froze, glancing at each other. "Well, I'll see you at the rendezvous point. Get some rest" the second voice said. Nodding to his companion with a grim expression "I'll take care of it" going unspoken. The original voice replied, "Alright, see ya." Nodding in return, then walking from the back porch, returning into the house.
Naruto slowly began backing away, but the moment he turned around he was shocked by equally surprised red eyes. Red eyes glowing in the dark with a menacing aura. The owner of said eyes had black hair, sharp cheekbones, and a strong clean shaven jawline. He was dressed in the typical Konoha Jonin uniform with an Uchiha symbol embedded on the arm.
Uchiha Shouta knew better. He was an accomplished Jonin with an excellent record. He knew better than to talk so freely about their plans, but the excitement of how soon the operation would take place made him impatient. The ease he felt knowing the secret wouldn't matter soon led to a careless error.
Shouta was trained to expect the unexpected. He was prepared for one of the Hokage's spies, a Root operative, hell even Itachi. This, however, he did not expect.
A child, the child, The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
He understood sealing better than most, but even still he couldn't help but resent the young Jinchūriki. The Nine-Tails attack had been a tragic day for him. He lost his wife that day, the one thing that held him together in this world. That night had been his darkest night. The night his eyes no longer saw the light. The night he unlocked the Mangekyō Sharingan.
He had only used it on a couple of missions, fearing its side effects. He wasn't as savvy with it as Fugaku. But if there was one thing he learned about the Sharingan since the feud with the village council started, it was that it had the power to control a tailed beast.
"I'm sorry child. But you have heard too much, I cannot let you leave."
The alleyway was very dark, but there was enough porch light that Naruto found a shadow that came to his aid immediately.
"None of that now." Shouta activated his
Mangekyō and channeled a large portion of his chakra reserves to his eyes, focusing them on the red glowing seal he could see with his Sharingan. Pushing, willing the chakra back where it came from.
The shadows quickly fell back and returned to their natural state. Naruto had never felt so exposed, so weak. Those terrible, frightening eyes drained him, took away his safety net.
The man with the evil red eyes quickly flipped through hand seals and released a bright flame from his lungs.
As the flame came billowing toward him, Naruto attempted to dodge to the side out of instinct. But he was too tired. Those horrible eyes, they took all his strength away. His mind screamed at him to move, and he takes a couple of steps. He was just so tired, so, so…
He falls.
Eyes closing as he did so. He avoided most of the attack because of the angle he had fallen at, but it still landed on the left side of his face right on his eye.
"Ahh!" Naruto screamed in anguish at the burning sensation, tears leaking from his eyes. He could only look up in horror as this man - no monster slowly marched through the flickering remains of the fire. Those awful burning red eyes, now forever ingrained in his psyche.
"You're persistent. Do not make this harder on yourself. Accept your fate."
He was panicking, desperate to get away from the monster with the red eyes. *Step*. He began scrambling back, pushing with his arms and feet. *Step*
Anything! He thought. *Step* Please anything, anyone help me! *Step* I'll be good I promise! *Step* I'm sorry! *Step*
The poor child believed he had done something wrong, he had been conditioned his whole life to think that he was a bad person. Tormented by loneliness, only small glimpses of what the care of a mother is like, through Yoshino-Oba. The vaguest idea of what having friends to rely on through his cousin Shikamaru. A sliver of the love of a grandfather from the Third. Only to perish for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
No… Not like this… Not yet...
He felt a tug in his gut, the subtlest pull of energy. He held onto it for dear life.
*Step*
The red-eyed monster pulled out a kunai and just as he lunged… Naruto closed his eyes… And pulled.
Chakra flooded the child's system catching Shouta off guard. Naruto had an instinct to convert his chakra into whatever felt right. Naruto pictured darkness.
The shadows cast around him by the flames solidified and roared to life. Emerging from the ground and spearing in every direction.
It was an unsightly scene. A gory mess. The Uchiha was strung up, blood spilling out of his mouth, expression locked in horror. Threads of shadow weaved through him like a tapestry.
After opening his eyes, Naruto could do nothing but stare blankly at what was in front of him. The tears had stopped, mind no longer operating at full capacity, unable to understand, to accept what was in front of him. He was snapped out of it as he heard steps inside the house next to him.
The shadows dissipated and the corpse fell with a horrendous squelch. Naruto turned away and dashed as fast as he could, tears streaming down his cheeks. He didn't know what he was going to do. He just knew he had to get out of there.
A piece of him died that night.
The other Uchiha started moving the moment he felt the foreign chakra, when he came outside the intruder was gone and his friend laid lifeless on the ground.
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Naruto felt numb. He had killed someone. He had killed a ma-monster.
But if what he killed was a monster… What did that make Naruto? Someone capable of doing such a thing.
Naruto found the word. He had heard from the village people's tongues behind his back. Always whispering that word. They called him a demon…
And they were right.
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Beta'd by: VeldtRevengeance
AN: I believe someone else has already done a Naruto Nara fic so credit to them. Let me know what you think of the first chapter of my first ever story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.