Title: To Continue Walking
Rating: T to M
Summary: YAOI. Itachi/Naruto. AU. Naruto awoke with a sharp intake of breath. He looked down at his childish non calloused hands and fingers. So... he had been reincarnated... alone. (Not a time travel/retelling story)
Warnings: Itachi/Naruto Eventually. YAOI. AU-ish. Will get graphic as the story progresses, but that's a long ways away. May contain spoilers. Identity Crisis. May contain spelling and grammar errors. Unbetaed.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Period.
Notes: Reincarnation and mystery based on a manga: Bokura no Kiseki. Its just too amazing! I recommend reading it, the story and art is wonderful and intriguing! Its not yaoi/shounen-ai so its a safe read. Also, even though Naruto is technically a different person by a different name, I will still call him Naruto. I am not copying all of Bokura no Kiseki, just borrowing the theme of reincarnation and the idea of it being the most natural thing to a sole person. Some elements will be used though for the mystery.
Laughter sounded in the air...
He saw a little girl with pink hair running around skipping with another girl with blond hair.
He saw a boy and his dog as they went down a slide together.
He saw a boy with shades on, poking at a beetle.
He saw a boy playing Shogi with his best friend eating a bag of chips right next to him, watching.
He saw cousins talking to each other happily.
He saw a boy with bushy eyebrows laughing at something a girl with two bun in her hair, had said.
Then he closed his eyes.
When he reopened them, the scene was gone...
Replaced by other children he knew nothing about. There was no flash of pink hair any where to be found.
Haunted blue eyes glanced left and right at the children playing innocently on the play ground. None had the dreams and the visions of their past self like he did.
Naruto sighed and wiped his tired eyes. He had remembered his former self since he was 9 years old. To him, it was almost natural that he had been reborn, Kyuubi had made sure he understood that it would happen... But to everyone else, the mere idea of reincarnation was impossible.
Sadly, he had to learn that the hard way. He just had to open his mouth and ask about the Great Shinobi War and as to why Konoha was never recorded in history... during class of all times. Every one looked at him strangely and his teacher sent him to the office, where they phoned his parents. Needless to say he was labeled for having an over reactive imagination. No matter how much he tried to find out about his previous life, if was as though it never existed.
Now, he was 12 years old and people looked at him like he was a freak. Which was nothing new, but it still hurt. He raked a hand through his long dark brown hair and frowned. He missed his spiky blond hair. But being reincarnated involved being a different person... didn't it?
"Hey Nin~ja!" Someone jeered at him on his left. Naruto looked at him and frowned.
"What do you want?"
"Ahaha! Look guys! Hiroto still thinks he's a ninja!" A group of 4 children bursted out laughing and pointing at his face. Shrugging and ignoring them the best he could, Naruto stuffed his hands into his pockets and left the bench he was sitting on.
He made his way towards the forest behind his school. The trees there covered most of the light, and reminded him of The Forest of Death.
Ah that's right... his name was Hiroto now. Sometimes he would forget. His memories were far too strong, while his current life left nothing to really remember.
Sure he had parents, but they thought he was living in a fantasy world and treated it as such. They were also fairly busy and never had that much time for him. His mother being a nurse while his father was always away on business trips. His mom did try to make time for him... but something was always missing.
He loved that he had parents... it just somehow felt... strange.
All in all, Naruto just felt empty...
Clenching his fist, he jolted when it felt a little warm.
He looked immediately at his fist, almost not noticing "it" at first.
Chakra...
He still had control over it! Excitement blossomed in his chest, this was clear proof that he wasn't making anything up! His hands itched. He badly wanted to pull his hands together and form the seals for his favorite move.
Instead, he chose something a little more simple. Pooling the chakra to his feet, Naruto stepped onto a tree root. He stared up at the tall oak tree in front of him and gulped. He could do this, surely. He's done it before after all.
With a look of determination he planted his right foot onto the trunk. However, right as he was about to take another step, he heard snickering somewhere behind him.
"Now what are you doing, Nin~ja?"
Naruto glared. The group of 4 children from earlier had followed him. The leader of the group; whom Naruto could never remember the name of, was holding something behind his back. Naruto looked at him suspiciously as he came closer and closer. The other children were trying to hold in their laughter, failing horribly.
"Didn't you mention that in your past life you had whisker marks?"
Naruto panicked when he found himself being tackled down. He kicked and flailed, resisting being captured. The other children were drawing close, wanting to help their leader pin him down. All together, they caused the dirt around them to rise slowly. Naruto froze a bit when he felt something cold against his cheek.
The damn kid had a small kitchen knife! Naruto shivered, it was so very similar to his past life with kunai. He felt a small nick at his cheek and he kicked harder, managing to cause a fairly large dust cloud. Getting an arm free, he threw sand into the kid's face. He felt a little pressure on his cheek and his eyes widened, he formed his hands together. Feeling a warm sensation around him, he was suddenly replaced by a log.
Landing up in one of the trees, Naruto felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest with how hard it was beating. He watched as the kids looked for him in confusion. Their leader cursed and wiped furiously at his eyes, barking out orders to find Hiroto. With the dust cloud however, they were unable to see where Naruto went or how he had gotten away.
They quickly gave up searching for him when they heard their parents calling for them to go home, much to Naruto's relief.
Naruto quickly climbed down the tree and ran home, frightened. Never had he believed he would have to be put into such a situation again. The danger, the rush, the strength!
He had used his chakra! His earlier fears vanished. Instead, he grinned, excited. He supposed he still had some instincts of a ninja despite being reborn after all.
"Honey! What happened to your cheek!"
Naruto blinked at the sound of his mother's voice. He looked up at his family name plate, Kamiyama. So he had gotten home in one piece. He hardly felt out of breath despite running all the way home. He supposed it was thanks to his chakra.
"Hiroto! Your cheek!"
Turning around, Naruto felt tears sting his eyes.
"M-Mom!"
He was crying tears of happiness. Over being able to get away, over having a mother and father, over being able to use his chakra again, and knowing his past self was real!
His mother took it as him being frightened and fussed as she led him to the bath room and cleaned it for him.
"What happened?"
"So-some kid-"
"What?! Honey, are you being bullied again?! That's it, we're moving, I'm going to get you into a much better school then this lousy one. Just because my child actually HAS an imagination the other children all gang up on him?! Honestly!"
Naruto smiled, he would never be able to tell her the full story but he was too happy to give a damn right now.
"Oh no honey! I think this is going to scar! My poor baby!"
Yes, it was probably best to stop digging around for his history, no need to be the weird one in this life time, and no need to worry his parents anymore. He didn't really need the information anyways since now, he did have proof.
It was REAL. Somehow, he just felt a lot more whole, just knowing that fact.
To Be Continued...
Yes, there will be a time skip and a slow unveiling of the past, this is merely the prologue.