Yo. I'm Jade Wylkyns and there's just couple of things I wanna clear up. First of all, the story plot actually belongs to BlackPANDA xD, not me, well at least the beginning of the story. The rest will belong to mine. Also, I received permission to use her ideas with my other account, which actually has this story. In fact, I wrote the story based on BlackPANDA xD's aSTRAY, naming it The Truth. However, over my little forced vacation, I came to hate my story and decided to change it... quite a bit. Yes, I admit that I was too lazy to rewrite the prologue so this is nearly word-to-word account of BlackPANDA's prologue, but I actually wrote the next chapter, twisting couple things here and there. The events that happen in the aSTRAY will happen in this story as well, but I'm going to be rewriting them, adding some of my ideas as well. In fact, I will start diverging from the aSTRAY from chapter three or so, possibly even four, and from there, my ideas will begin (yes, there will be some my ideas here and there in the first two-three chapters but it won't be like SIGNIFICANT kind). By the way, I decided to get rid of the OC that I put in my story The Truth. There will be no OCs in this story, well not as the MAIN main kind.

To BlackPANDA xD: I actually got your express permission with my other account Kaerelie Cecilia. I plan to take down The Truth from my KC account if I can figure out what the heck I'm supposed to do and start a new story based on your aSTRAY in my JW account - actually, it's already started but... anyways. If you don't want that, then just Private Message me and I can always fix it up (like move it back to my KC account or something).

Thanks guys. The first 2K of my first chapter is written already and I'll try to finish it up as fast as I can.

By the way, Memento mori is a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die", or "Remember you will die", literally "[in the future] remember to die", since "memento" is a future imperative of the 2nd person, and mori is a deponent infinitive. It names a genre of artistic creations that vary widely from one another, but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their own mortality. The phrase has a tradition in art that dates back to antiquity.

I finally found a great beta! With her, I'm rewriting all my chapters (and make it better). This means that I'll upload my fourth chapter a bit later but the first three chapters will be a lot better so I guess it's kind of fair price. You guys might want to re-read all my chapters as I rewrite them because I'm going to add more descriptive words and might change couple things (it'll be minor change though so it's not like you HAVE to reread them). Thank you, SerbiaTakesCntrl (my awesome beta)!

- Jade

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein

"If ever you should need my life, come and take it." - The Sea Gull

"The darkness that surrounds us cannot hurt us. It is the darkness in your own heart you should fear." - Silvetris

Prologue:

Shimmering silvery frost permeated through the velvet sky like breath chilled from chewing ice. The burgundy moon illuminated the vast expanse of trees, bathing the brush and leaves with a slather of blood. Trembling hares and shivering foxes sought comfort beneath the shelter of dirt holes and ragged nests, and the usually chattering trees were muted with an ominous silence, leaving only the minute breeze to weave amongst the branches, the reticence thickly settling over the drab ground.

But deep in the middle of the throng of trees was a village. It was an uncommonly large village, stretching for hundreds of thousands of acres in a rough circular shape, barricaded by rocky mountain on one side and thick forest shutting it off from the world on all others. The complex spider web of the streets and alleys twisted their way to the colossal red tower that sat in the shadow of the mountain like the chain of a complex maze. All along the labyrinth were lights that shone brightly in the darkness of the night, twinkling like some sort of candle show. Laughter and cries of joy rang through the air, breaking the oppressive silence that had claimed the other regions, so alarmingly different from the rest of the world.

There was a festival, a celebration of the villagers freedom, and everyone could feel the excitement vibrating in the air as they danced, laughed, and played and sung. The parents, who were enjoying a timely respite, toasted with one another jocundly, giggling and chortling at one another's jokes, while otherwise single men and women wandered curiously about, eyeing each other with eager scrutiny. A man with graying hair sat in relaxed manner next to a dango stand, sipping a steaming cup of spiced tea while watching a small child carefully attempting to scoop up a goldfish from a basket filled with water. The vivacious air was imbued with lively music that people, young and old, swayed to blithely.

The world was asleep, but the people didn't care.

It was a festival.

They were finally free, free from the constant edge that they had lived in for the past years. Was it so wrong to celebrate that? And so, they continued with their happiness, oblivious to the chill of the rest of the world.

But there was one man, so unlike from the rest. He was shrouded in a shadow of mud red, a cloak that hid him deeply within the comfort of darkness. All that was left to be seen were his thick-soled boots and a trace of a frown as he bowed his head and tread through the crowd of convivial villagers. As if he were a ghost, he passed by each individual as though he were nothing but a wisp of wind, just another shadow.

Just another memory.

There was no sound to indicate that he had existed, no evidence of him having been standing on top of the Hokage mountain that he had just left. He blended in with the crepuscule night like a phantom would among the spirits. Like a forgotten memory…

And this man, so different from the rest, avoided the people and went to the reality of the world. He found himself at the gates of Konoha, and just stood there alone, away from the laughter and away from light.

Then, he was consumed by the silence.

And without a backwards glance, the man left the light and embraced the darkness of the truth. He walked with quick and sure steps as he disappeared into the trees and his figure was soon enveloped by the darkness.

The night was cold and stars glinted brightly against the dark sky, not as fire would, but ice.

But only one person in the entire world could feel it.

~xXx~

It was morning in Konoha, as the light of the sun finally broke through the horizon and into the clear, light blue sky of the morning.

A tall figure walked through the deserted street. A head of unruly dark hair stuck up in the back of his head and his swagger was one of someone who was used to respect, to constant attention. His attention was not diverted by the discarded litter on the ground, or the festival lanterns still swinging high on the rooftops. The dark onyx eyes that were partially hidden by the man's long bangs had his sight on one thing alone: a lone, dreary apartment that stuck out against the calm and bright background like a sore thumb.

But as he stalked past the building, a rather odd feeling clenched in his stomach and pinched his skin. Something cool settled along his brow, making its way down the contour of his face, and he suddenly understood that something was amiss. Something about the place was not quite right and it made him feel a solitude that he hadn't experienced for a long time since the event years ago. The apartment was abandoned and he knew it. His steps became quicker and hurried, his torso bouncing unevenly to the inconsistent rhythm of the footings, until he was to the point of breaking out into a sprint.

To the figure's shock, a whiff of air saturated with the rancidodor of alcohol and explosive powder bombarded his senses as he pushed open the creaky front door of the dilapidated apartment and set his foot inside. He began running up the stairs, skipping a stair or two at a time, subconsciously crinkling his nose.

When he reached his destination, he slammed open the ajar door and froze.

The apartment was filled with mangled corpses lying everywhere.

Their heads were completely missing. No, their heads weren't sliced cleanly off; it was more like as if somebody stuffed batches of explosive notes in their mouths and detonated it, judging by the amount of blood splattered against the walls.

The figure stepped numbly into the apartment, when his foot suddenly broke through the wooden flooring. He hastily withdrew his foot and found, much to his surprise, that it was a loose floorboard. Dismissing it as just the flooring in need of repair, he proceeded to step over it when a dark shape under the floorboard caught his eyes. He crouched down carefully and found the identity of the shape:

A single black book.

The figure curiously took out the small book, and with trembling hands opened it, and began reading the neat letters written in dark ink.

To the curious reader that finds this…

In this book is my life, with all the details and thoughts that I could catalogue and remember. I left this behind so that people might one day understand why exactly I did what I did. Why I acted as I had.

If it's you Sasuke that picked up this book, then, teme, I have one thing to say to you. Get over that silly and pointless skulking and start actually living your life for kami's sake.

- Naruto

Sasuke, for that was the figure's name, simply stared at the familiar writing, incomprehension covering his features before something red at the bottom of the page caught his eyes. At the bottom of the page was another sentence, written suspiciously in what looked like blood. The words themselves were written in a different penmanship.

LOOK UP UCHIHA.

Sasuke quickly glanced upwards and his onyx eyes widened as he saw the tens of thousands of explosive paper notes stuck to the ceiling, their ends burning rapidly, triggered by a long wire that, to Sasuke's horror, was attached to the book itself.

A long way away, at a large red tower almost underneath a massive cliff, the Hokage jumped in shock as he felt a large tremor coming from Naruto's apartment.

This is my life. This is my story. Believe it.

Thanks guys for reading~!

- Jade

posted: 11/24/2010

last edited: 12/18/2010