Silent Night
Beauty. People often forget or fail to notice all of the beauty in the world. They see it everyday, and merely glance at it like it's no big deal. Some people, a very small amount of people, actually stop and appreciate it.
But for the most part every one just ignores it. It's become a regular thing for them, so why should they spend more time with it then usual.
Many people see a beautiful sunset, or a pretty arrangement of flowers, or the serenity of a secret lake. It is the simple things that hold so much beauty in them, yet the average human forgets them.
Things that happen in everyday life yet still bear such a huge impact on our life.
Imagine for just one moment that any of your five senses were impeded, how your whole life would change.
I appreciate the beauty in the world because I can no longer see it.
I remember when I was younger how I would sit on top of the Hokage monument and watch the village or the sunset or sunrise. I would find little hidden ponds or lakes in the countries area and just enjoy the peaceful beauty that they held.
I didn't know at the time why each one of these moments, I would feel like it was getting closer to the last time I would see something as beautiful as that, and whenever I would ask Sarutobi-Jiji he would just say that "I have a love for the beauty in the world that was so strong I don't want to part with it".
And he was right. For no two moments are the same. Each moment holds it's own special quality that can never be repeated.
I lost my eye sight when I was seven years old. It was October 10th when it started happening. As usual for the past seven years, the town held it's annual Kyuubi festival where they would celebrate the passing of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and honor the sacrifice that the Yondaime Hokage made to protect his people.
And, as usual, some of the villagers civilian and shinobi alike, would find me and beat me within an inch my life. All with smiles on their faces, shouting things like "DIE DEMON CHILD" or "ROT IN HELL DEMON". I didn't know at the time why they did it, but that doesn't matter, they still did it and it still hurt.
On the seventh year of this, which is my seventh birthday, is when it happened.
They found me, I tried to hide, to get away, but even with natural talent for remaining unseen and disappearing, it is hard to hide from a mob of people that are looking for you.
This year I ran into a closed store, and I would've escaped. But the world didn't like me this time.
As I was hiding from the mob behind a rack of clothes, while peaking outside to see if they disappeared, I heard a voice from behind me.
"What are you doing here demon?" A man asked.
"Your not allowed in here." He said, before picking me up by my collar and looking me in the eyes. I merely whimpered.
"Trying to hide from justice I see. Well, no matter, justice will always find you demon."
I was tired of this by that point. Every year, the same thing. While every other kid would celebrate their birthdays with their family and loved ones, and be happy, I have never had a birthday that I enjoyed.
This time I choose to stand up for myself.
"You call this Justice!" I screamed at him.
"Every year, on the day I supposed to celebrate my birth, I instead have to deal with the pain you people cause me." He merely punched me in the face.
After I stood up, I just looked him in the eye defiantly.
"You killed my son." He stated. "I've killed no one!" I shouted.
"Everyday I live with the fact that my line has ended, that my son, my pride and joy, my reason for happiness is no longer here." He stated coldly.
"You are the reason for my suffering, and for that you shall suffer."
I just stared at him, a cold, angry stare. Arguing with the man would be pointless.
This was going to hurt.
"Don't look at me like that. You're getting what you deserve." He stated.
I just looked at him.
"STOP IT!" He screamed. I just looked at him, my heart filling with a small glimmer of hope that maybe I could get him to stop.
"I gonna cut those evil eyes out you." He explained, and before I knew it he punched me again.
He grabbed a kunai from his counter, put his knee on my chest, and lowered the blade ever so slowly down to my eyes.
When it made contact I screamed. But with the shouting and cheering for the festival no one heard me.
He started with my left eye. He put the blade about three inches above my eye and dragged it down. Dragged it in a very agonizing slowness. When he pierced my eyeball, I screamed harder then I ever screamed before. It was the most painful thing that has ever happened to me. He stopped about two inches below my eye. Then repeated the process with my right eye. When he was done I passed out from the pain.
Now this point is a little foggy. But it was explained to me that when he was done and was going to slit my throat to finish the job, an ANBU ninja arrived and stopped and killed him before he could kill me. And then all became. The noise of the night disappeared. It became a silent night.
The ANBU then rushed me off to the hospital.
I awoke two days later. I awoke to a world of black and white. There were these faint colors in some objects around me. Mainly blue or green. But that was it. I couldn't tell if the chair next to my bed was pink or if it was brown. I just saw the out line of everything. Then I saw the outline of someone standing at what I guessed was the window.
Here I gasped. There was an amazingly beautiful display of a blue… pulse through this man's body. It was like a well of the color powerful, strong, and deadly.
"Who's there?" I asked.
"Naruto. It's me, the Hokage." He replied.
"Jiji, what's going on? How come I'm not seeing properly?" I asked.
He stayed silent for several moments, making me uncomfortable.
"Naruto, I'm so sorry. We couldn't protect you. I'm sorry that the people have done this to you. I never thought they would go this far." He explained.
"They should never have done this to you. They should never have vented their anger on you like this."
Silence encompassed the room.
"It's ok Jiji. These people had something terrible happen to them. I just wish they wouldn't take their anger out on me. I mean why do they do that?"
The Hokage just stared at me. A slight look of concentration, plaguing his face as he was we having some sort intense debate with himself that he didn't want me to know about. It was barely noticeable upon his face. In fact if it wasn't for the way the color started pulsing then change into a slightly reddish color, I wouldn't of noticed it.
'What's going?' I asked myself. 'Why am I seeing these colors?'
"Naruto." The hokage finally spoke. "There's something I need to tell you."
"What is it Jiji?"
"You remember when I told you of the story of the great battle between the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze?"
I nodded my head in the affirmative.
"Well that's not really what happened." He paused for a few seconds.
"You see Naruto, the Kyuubi is the greatest of all Bijuu. A being made entirely of a malicious and vicious chakra, you remember what chakra is from our lessons right?"
Again I nod my head.
"Well, even with all of Minato's strength, even he could not defeat it. So, he made a choice; sacrifice his life in order to seal the Kyuubi away."
He pauses for a few more moments.
"You see Naruto, the only thing in the entire world that's capable of holding a bijuu, is that of a newborn babe."
And then it all kicks into place. My birthday, the way the villagers treated me, the name-calling. 'Honestly, how could I have not put these pieces together? It's so obvious.'
"So he sealed it into me." I state coldly. "That explains everything. The villagers, civilian and shinobi, my birthday, the healing…"I pause for a second, "Is that why I'm still able to partially see even though I know I should be blind from what happened?"
At this, the Hokage's eyes shot open. "What do you mean Naruto?"
"Everything is in black and white and it's really just an outline, however there is this slight glow in everything. Some of it's blue, some, like these tags on my arms are green. But you… you are like this great explosion of the blue glow, and even still mine's brighter then your's." I explain.
"Naruto, you still have bandages over your eyes." He replies.
My hands shot to my face, and sure enough, I feel the bandages. "What? What's going on? Is the Kyuubi doing this?"
The aged Hokage goes quiet again.
"Naruto, there's something else I need to tell you." He gets serious.
"Your real name is not Naruto Uzumaki." I snap my head towards him.
"What!" I ask.
"Your real name is Arashi Namikaze." My jaw hits the floor.
"Namikaze? As in Minato Namikaze?" I inquire.
"Yes Nar- I mean Arashi. The Yondaime Hokage was your father. That's why the Kyuubi is sealed into you. Minato couldn't ask any other family to do it. How could he, if he wasn't even willing to do it to his own child, would he have the right to ask any other family? He wanted to protect this village right to the very end. That's why he died, and you became the Jinchurikki (Human Sacrifice) of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He wanted the village to see you as the hero you are for keeping the beast at bay, not the beast itself. However the villagers ignored his last request."
I take a moment for this to settle in. First, I feel rage. 'Why did my own father do this to me? Didn't he love me?' The last few words repeat in my brain. ' "He wanted the village to see you as the hero you are…" He did love me.' Then the whole reasoning makes sense; ' he loved this village with his very heart and soul for all that it had given him.'
"Are you mad at him Arashi?" The Hokage asks.
"No, he did it to protect the village and the people, that he loved so very much. I know I don't have these kinds of precious people yet, besides you Jiji, but one day I hope to be as great- no, even greater then my father. I'll protect this village even if I have to die to so." I say with all of the conviction that I could muster while looking out of my window at the village below.
The Hokage has a slight tear run down his face. "Thank you for considering me precious to you Arashi. However, there is something else."
I face him again.
"You see Arashi. Your father's clan, though practically wiped out, had a bloodline.
It was called the Seishukugan (Silent Eye)."