In Black or In Orange

Prologue: Dreams of Mine, Dreams From There.

A lone figure stood amongst a sea of white. A sense of floating, yet, falling at the same time, washes through him almost in waves, as sensations after sensations went by him. Then, those sensations stopped, and he is now standing on nowhere, in nowhere. Amongst the white, his sun-kissed blonde hair is like a single dot that can almost be easily spotted in this eternity of white. He looked around, confused as to what is happening, and where he is. He tries to voice this question, but is shocked that he cannot hear the syllables or the sound exit from his lips. He then tries to yell, but to no avail; and yet, he can feel his throat tingle with the slight vibration that happens when one is shouting. He then decided to just give for the moment.

Then, the sea of white begins to contort around him, colors appearing and mixing, almost like watching a painting paint itself amongst the vast canvas. Then a picture was finished. It was a big city, with almost ancient and rural designs, mixed with modern styling. But this is not the thing that drew his attention. And it was also not the fact that his hearing seemed to be working again. It was the large mountain, upon which four faces were carved upon it, and hints of a fifth one in progress was visible, as the workers, unseen due to the distance upon which the figure stood, were working. The faces seemed to look on with pride and attention, as if forever watching this city, like a group of kind leaders, forever watching over the people they served themselves to. He scratched his head slightly, wondering where that thought had come from. He shrugged his shoulders. He then decided to check this strange city.

The people went along with their business, walking to and fro, as children laughed, running about, chasing each other, or carrying some toy or other. A kind smile appeared on his face as he watched on. Then, a voice rang out from behind him. He would have generally ignored it, and would have just enjoyed the peaceful scene, the next words he heard shocked him.

"NARUTO! GET BACK HERE!" A male voice cried out. Those words made him turn around so fast; he could have sworn he heard his own neck break. He looked at the source of the voice in wonder and fear.

The man had an older-brotherly look to him, looking a few years more than 23. His brown hair was tied in a short, spiky ponytail. Though his face was slightly contorted in annoyance, his face held kindness in them. The only prominent thing on his face was a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose.

He laughed nervously, "Eh he he he he he, um can I help you?" He said. But the man either ignored him or didn't hear him him. But he gasped out, as it was the latter, as the man walked past him. But what really surprised him was the fact that the man walked right through him. He clutched his chest, gasping as he watched the ghost-man. But what he saw next nearly stopped his heart.

It was...himself.

Well, not really himself, but a younger version of him. The child had the same sun-kissed hair as he did, and the same bright sky-blue eyes, and also the same whisker birthmarks on his cheeks. He stared.

"Damn it, Uzumaki! Can't you at least wait before we go out for ramen?" The scar-nosed man shouted at his younger self. But it was not unkind, it was more of endearing, friendly, like this usually happened.

'Wait,' he thought to himself, 'I'm not Uzumaki. I'm Mizukau. I may have the same name as the kid, but I'm Mizukau Naruto. I don't remember any of this. So this must be a dream…' The now named Naruto sighed to himself, not that anyone would notice. "I'm so confused…" he said to no one in particular, though he doubted anyone would hear him… That made him more confused, so he clutched his head with his hands.

(Frankly, this is just going to make the whole dream sequence more confusing, lol, so I'm just going to refer to both of them by their last name.) .

"Oh, but come on, Iruka-sensei!" His younger self (Uzumaki) shouted. "You know how I hate school! It's so boring. I just wish I get to visit in a much cooler place." He added, his eyes twinkling like stars, possibly thinking of 'the much cooler place for Iruka-sensei to work at that he can visit.'

"Ah, whatever." Iruka-sensei sighed in defeat, and lightly chuckled at the Uzumaki's starry-eyed expression. "Let's just go get ramen." That seemed to have snapped Uzumaki out of his thoughts, and he let out a resounding cheer that echoed across the village.

Mizukau smiled fondly, watching his dream self and this Iruka-sensei walk off to somewhere, his dream self happily bouncing and telling Iruka-sensei something that he cannot hear. Then, he felt a tingle on his back, and he quickly turned around. (Not as fast as the first time he did, mind you.) He felt the colors of his face drain away from him

In floating right there in the middle of the air, staring at him, was a pair of burning red eyes, malice and hatred and anger swirling around like a maelstrom. (1) Then, a detached voice, deep and resounding in his head, full of the same emotions as the eyes held.

"YOU.WILL. NEVER BE FREE OF ME.(2)" The voice boomed in his head, making Mizukau clutch his head and fall to his knees. Then, the whole peaceful scene of this dreamscape-town started to burn like a canvas, the corner and the edges yellowing, until altogether burning to nothing, as the town was replaced by inky blackness.

Then. Nothing.

Naruto Mizukau woke with a start, bolting up from his bed. But that action made him fall from his bed altogether due to the odd angle he had slept in, as an audible thump resounded in his room. He was gasping for air, as sweat poured all over his face and back, ignoring the fact that he just fell from his bed.

'It…It was a dream…It was a dream.' Naruto assured himself, his breath hard and fast. He slowly stood up and checked his cell phone for the time. It read 5:30. He sighed to himself. He had an hour before he was supposed to wake up. He sighed again, scratching his head and yawning out the rest of his sleepiness.

'Another dream,' he thought. "When will I ever get any decent sleep? Without any weird dreams?" He said aloud.

He exited his room, oblivious to the fact of a pair of dim red eyes following his movement, before it disappeared into the dark.

Naruto can't seem to remove the foreboding feeling welling up in his chest…

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END OF CHAPTER!!!!

Naruto's name can mean 'maelstrom.' Lol, a bad wordplay there, if you don't get it.

This line was inspired from one of the fanfics I'm reading.

Author's notes: Well, how do you like that!? My first story in years! I'm so happy! Yay me!

does a little jig

Personally, I'm happy with this accomplishment. And I do hope I can keep this going.

Anyways, I hope you liked it, and that you leave good comments! Oh, I also need a good beta-reader. Just e-mail me!

HOPED YOU LIKED IT!

CHAPTER PREVIEW:

Naruto Mizukau enters another normal day in school. He says hello to friends, goes to class, yadda yadda yadda. But what is this feeling that something is different today? Ignoring the fact that his teacher is wearing a face mask…