This is my first time writing something in a long while. You'll have to forgive my errors and spelling mistakes, my sometimes poor grammar, and all that.
I've noticed a glut of time travel fics lately, and I wanted to try my hand at it, as a few ideas popped up. So. Let's do this
With that being said, I don't own Naruto.
It was the smell more than anything. The sweet smell of cooked meat. The next thing he acknowledged was the popping of fat, which seemed to pierce through the ever present ringing in his ears, and then the stench of burnt cloth. Then the pain hit. A thousand little fires, across his entire being, ate away at his sanity. The boys bright blue eyes attempted to widen in response, his dizzy mind drinking in the cloudy gray skies and wisps of smoke drifting upwards. A gasp attempted to rip itself from a mouth that wouldn't open properly. With effort, he turned his head. The earth, he dimly noted, was charred, and red embers danced precariously over blackened soil.
Another gasp. This time, something came out. Thick, a metallic taste vaguely noted, the unexpected fluid sent the boy into a fit, his unruly blond hair raising from the ground with every cough. "I need to find the others" thought the boy, before another wave of pain wracked his body, dispelling any such thoughts from his head.
And still with that smell. That horrible smell. It hung thick in the air, and with every whiff, the boy's stomach seemed to grow heavier and heavier. "What's this feeling?" he vaguely wondered "This dread. It's like. It's like I'm afraid. Why would I be afraid?"
Another wave of pain. More coughing. More fluid. Looking to the sky, his vision blurry, he grasped at the thoughts just out of reach. Drowsiness washed over him. His eyes, so very heavy, began to close. Darkness edged its way, drowning out the infinite sky.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
"Pathetic"
A voice, heavy with malice, laced with eons of hatred pierced through the boys mind, and like a flood, a rejuvenating energy rushed through his body. His eyes widened as his body jerked.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Red energy danced across his vision, roping and twisting, starkly visible across the dreary sky. The pain was still there. But it was an afterthought. An annoyance. And still that smell. That damnable smell. With a twist of his shoulders, the boy propped himself on his elbows and turned towards the smell. He wished he hadn't. Face down, a blackened corpse lay on the ground, unidentifiable but for small bits of a red vest peeking through the silt, and a hint of pink on top of the head.
There was no more gray after that. No more blackened earth. No more pink hair .No more thoughts of potential fears. All the boy saw was red, flooding his vision and drowning out all else. Rage swept through him. Bones cracked, and his hands ached. His skin, already blackened and marred, began to smoke.
The boy didn't notice. All he saw was red.
"This isn't how it end's."
That voice. There it was again. Oily, powerful. A voice to be listened to, even in the boy's anger riddled state. "A bargain, boy, will I make with you", said the voice, its baritone fluttering through his mind like a hurricane, sweeping aside the rage. "A child of prophecy. Trained by A Gallant Sage, his dream passed down to you. You, so foolishly wish to change what cannot be changed. To break a cycle that has existed far longer than even I. A bargain do I offer thee, boy. A chance to try again. A chance to fulfill the dreams passed onto you."
As the boy listened to the voice whispering honeyed promises and candied propositions, clarity began to return to his mind. Accepting such a deal... He wasn't sure he could pay such a price. A deep breath.. It was a mistake. The smell hit him again. With a heave, his stomach emptied itself.
"Why bother putting it off, boy. We both know you'll accept. Your dreams of a peaceful world. Your dreams of acknowledgement. Even of being the precious Hokage... They were never really YOUR dreams boy. The only dream you had is nothing more than a husk of meat, still smoking from the barbeque"
The boy shook his head, a sob escaping his lips as he crawled to the body. It was all he had the energy to do. "It's not what she would want" the boy thought back viciously. A deep chuckle reverberated within the boy's mind, seemingly shacking his bones. "What she would want? Pathetic. Always pathetic. It's always what "she" would want with you boy." A dark feeling of amusement swept through his mind... "But not today. Today, boy.. You learn what it means to be selfish. Accept the deal. Take the prize. Grasp your dreams. It won't cost you much. Why, one could even say it won't cost you a thing"
Blue eyes gazed down at the corpse. How the smell ate at him. He knew the voice was right. Gazing down, he knew there was no option. Not for him. He could put it off. He could think about it. But he knew, in the end. A man with no dreams, after all, wasn't a man worth existing.
And so, with a determined sigh, the boy stood, his frame cloaked in a garishly orange cloth. Blue eyes filled with steel took one last glace at the gray sky, his hands running through char covered blond hair.
With a sigh, the boy did something he had sworn to himself he would never do. He made a deal with the devil, as it were, and in that instant, he knew there was no going back..
And with a swirl of red, Naruto Uzumaki, Genin of the Hidden Lead Village, and container of the Nine Tails Fox was no more.