Fragile World
Disclamer: I don't own anything in this!
AN: Now I have come back for a bit to see how my writing improved after a while. I'm writing this as a test seeing the other story that I had planned to finish I'll probably need to redo the direction and figure out where I once was going with the plot. Still bothers me that the tab indentation is lost on format conversion.
Prologue: The Glass World
A being of power sealed in the belly of a human no older than 13 year of age stared down to a boy lying in the sewer water of prison. This being of power is an ancient and powerful nine-tailed fox staring down at its own host, channeling its energy to keep him alive from his last battle. The fox cut off its supply of power and roared in frustration.
"It's futile," thought Kyuubi. "The boy used too much of my power in too little time. I can no longer repair anymore damage that Uchiha brat has done without damaging this idiot."
The finale of the fight in the valley of the end left his host, Naruto, in terrible condition. The fox cloak that Naruto summon started to draw and boil blood from his body. While blood lost is minor threat to his survival, it was the other problem that threatens the existence of the fox. One major problem is the strike to the heart from the Uchiha's last Chidori attack. While Naruto scratch the forehead protector of his rival or friend, Sasuke manage to deal a chidori strike that barely punctured the blonde boy's heart. With the heart pumping life out of the body, the brain won't be able to get any oxygen or nutrients that his missing blood would supply.
"This wouldn't happen if the brat killed him instead of taking the blow." The Kyuubi thought as its eye lids started getting heavier as moments passed as his container started to slip from being merely passed out to sleeping in a coma due to brain damage. It wasn't long until the Kyuubi thought it was a good time to slip into a nap.
On the outside world, Kakashi discovered where Naruto was. It wouldn't be later that he would found out that if he was a couple minutes late that he would be going to his student's funeral. As the white haired jounin picked up the boy, he noticed how cold the boy was as well as the chest wound that would not stop bleeding.
"Shit!" cursed the panicking ninja as he applied basic medical knowledge and tried to stop the blood from flowing as he rushed back to Konoha. "Don't die on me Naruto."
Konoha's Hospital was busier than usual as the team sent to retrieve the renegade Uchiha had come back with injuries varying from broken fingers to massive chakra drain to holes through the chest. If the hospital was in state of disarray before the current Hokage bursted in and started barking order then it was utter chaos afterwards when Kakashi arrived with a near dead boy. As people dashed around getting tools and yelling around the hospital, the Godaime hustled into the room the Naruto was going to get operated on and closed the doors. Moments after the doors closed, a pink haired genin collapsed at the doorway.
On chance that Sakura saw her Jounin-sensei carry her limp teammate to the hospital as she waited for the team to report back with Sasuke. Fearing the worse, she quickly tried to follow and keep up with her teacher, but he was far faster; however, as much as she dreads it, she knew where the jounin was going. As she stood, oblivious to her surrounding, in front of the gateway to the blonde boy, she thought of the last thing he had said to her.
"Promise of a lifetime!"
"Naruto, I'm sorry. Don't die and leave me too." Sakura thought. Although the more vicious self inside (which was dubbed Inner Sakura) said something along the lines of "I didn't mean you should die for it!" It wasn't until tomorrow that she would learn about the condition of her teammate.
On the next day, the remainder of Team Seven met in the Hokage's office. The habitually late jounin wasn't late for once as Tsunade summon him and his last genin. The pink haired girl was looking under the weather as she didn't quite look like she had a good sleep. The jounin next to her looked the same, but the Godaime felt the depression that a ninja will not outwardly show. Even when the two ninjas arrived, they stood in silence until the pink haired genin spoke out.
"How… How is Naruto?" For the first time, Sakura didn't ask about Sasuke first. She was genuinely worried about her more clumsy and stupid teammate than if her first crush was brought back. From yesterday's events, she had convinced herself that she was the one who drove Sasuke away and sent Naruto to be critically injured.
"For the moment, he's alive, but that's all we can say. He suffered from oxygen deprivation due to blood lost and that gave him brain damage." The Hokage explained. "The other injuries that he suffered was the punctured heart and massive chakra burns to his network. We managed to heal the the superficial injuries, but the damage that was done to the brain may leave him in a coma for an undefined amount of time."
After hearing the diagnosis, the girl broke down crying as she rushed out of the room. Kakashi still in the room still had additional question to ask.
"What about the seal and why hasn't the fox healed him anymore?"
Tsunade turned and looked out of the window as she answered the questions. "The seal is fine, Minato made sure it will hold no matter the circumstances. The fox can't heal him anymore because he's the reason why the chakra burns are there in the first place. It seems that Naruto used a lot of the fox's power in the fight against Sasuke. He pulled so much chakra out that it was destroying his body." Tsunade paused then she turned around to face Kakashi. "If you have no other question, you're dismissed."
Days passed by as Naruto's room started to gather flora of different colors place by two different people. One being from the normally violent female teammate of the blonde and another in the form of a shy but stalker like Hyuuga. Both girls were equally concern for the blonde, one from the long time love interest and another from guiltiness of making the 'Promise of a Lifetime'. They both hoped that the blonde boy woke up from his long slumber and still be the bubbly boy they knew. What they could not predict was the pandemonium that would result when he did wake up.
Naruto awoke and sat up in a bed that was completely unfamiliar to him. Normally what that means to him is that he woke up in the hospital. As he yawned and stretched, he suddenly remembered the last time that happened. He remembered the fight against Sasuke then the piercing pain in his heart. Getting up from the bed, the first thing he noticed was that he was still dressed in his clothes instead of the normal hospital gown.
"What the hell, did I get up at night?" Naruto asked himself softly as he check outside door leading to his room he awoke from and discovered there was no sound or activity at all. Looking toward the window of his room, he could see the sunlight peering out. Being that this was a strange occurance he started to wander the hospital while calling for anyone. It wasn't long until he could hear sounds coming from the front desk to the hospital.
"Hey lady, where is everyone?" Naruto asked as he approached the secretary. The women seemed to not have hear Naruto as she kept writing on papers on the desk.
"Hey lady!" The boy tried to get the seemly oblivious lady's attention again. Seeing that he was being ignored for some reason, he grabbed the hand that was writing on the paper. As expected, the lady stopped but what he didn't expect was why she had stopped. The instant Naruto made contact with the women, she simply fell apart as if he had unraveled the string the held a doll together.
"W-What," The terrified boy stutter as he backed away in horror. He backed into a nearby chair and like the lady, it too fell apart. "What's happening?"
Unable to comprehend what was happening, Naruto ran out of the hospital. When he exited the hospital, he found himself suddenly in a busy area of Konoha. Looking behind him, all he could see is his favorite ramen stand.
"Naruto! There's where you're at! C'mon we need to meet with Kakashi!" The boy snapped his head around and saw a pink headed girl stomp toward him.
"Sakura what's going on? I woke up at the hospital and no one was there. Then there was that freaky lady that fell apart," Naruto asked as he was feeling uneasy about the confusing situation he was in.
"Let's go Naruto, we're going to be late." Sakura said as she turned around.
For a moment, Naruto was confused why Sakura ignored his question. He wondered if she was mad that he didn't bring back Sasuke. "Sakura, are you mad that I didn't bring back Sasuke?"
Sakura's replied was that she started to walk away. However, before she could move out of arms reach of Naruto, he grabbed her wrist. Like the last lady, Sakura too, fell apart. To Naruto, it looked like it was in slow motion. It was like he could see every piece of Sakura simply disconnect from herself then shatter into smaller bloody bits. After that happened, Naruto fell to his knees and threw up.
By the time, Naruto looked up, he saw people gather around him and stared at him as if he had done something wrong. "I didn't do anything! All I did was touch her!" The boy yelled. The crowds of people were unfazed and still looked at Naruto as if he was a murderer.
The demon container started to back away from the bloody mess then he bumped into a person behind him. Like all the things he had touched, it fell apart. When Naruto turned to see who fell apart, he saw Hinata. Then one by one, everyone in the crowd started to fall apart and for each person he saw, he saw a friend.
"Why? Why is this happening!" The distressed boy yelled. The sky started to darken and soon the blonde haired boy was alone and weeping.
Naruto suddenly awoke in a hospital bed. He sat up and noticed that he was in the a hospital gown and that he can hear activity outside his door that was associated with a noon time hospital activity. "Oh, it was only a nightmare?"
When Naruto looked around the room, he wasn't drawn to flowers on the table, but rather the interesting design of red lines that seem to coat everything around him and the room. "Freaky, what's with these red lines?" He scratched the surface of the red line on the table that held the flowers dedicated to his well being. Suddenly the table fell apart at the lines he could see and the vase of flowers hitting the floor with a loud smash. The boy look at the table for a few moments as the events started to clear up in his head, then he saw a nurse run into the room from the commotion. When Naruto saw the lady, what he saw was a mess of lines joining at a single point. The lady he saw seemed to be stuck at a state of falling apart at the lines and being perfectly fine. At this point, the boy screamed.
The large red fox in Naruto stirred awake. "It seems I was fortunate to be sealed in this container. Everything in this world has flaws. It seems the boy can see those flaws and see how fragile the world is."
End of The Glass World
AN: Shouldn't be too hard to figure out where I derived Naruto's new ability from. The next chapter will be about Naruto adjusting to his new outlook to life or at least his view to life.