Minute-Man
A whole life-time of building what you have can be taken away in a blink of an eye, but when you spend your whole life destroying everything, you only need a minute to discover the reasons you never had. It's easy to believe time is an illusion until you put a timer on someone's life. SasuNaru and others
Dark icky things lurk everywhere in this fic. Be warned. Happy things are not my forte.
Very much A/U.
I own nothing.
Prologue
He coughed unable to breathe. The clench of his fist gave away his discomfort despite his attempts to hide the spasms of pain, he should have been used to it by now.
"Naruto-niisan… Are you okay?"
Naruto smiled softly down at the young boy. "I'm okay, Konohamaru. Where are the others?"
"Iruka asked all the children to come in early. It's going to rain tonight."
"Hmm… Well, you should go join them. I won't be long, I just need to stop by The Post."
The young boy's eyes lit up in excitement and anticipation. "Can you bring me something back? Like licorice or chocolate?"
Naruto's eyes squinted with amusement at the hyperactive child. "Those things are a bit expensive, but I'll see what I can bring back for everyone."
"You won't get caught in the rain, right?"
Clear laughter rang through the air as Naruto brought his arm up to shield himself from an offending dust cloud brought in by the wind. "I'll be home way before then, don't worry. Besides, this is the only chance we'll have to catch the bread truck. We shouldn't turn our nose up at free food."
Casually throwing a wave over his shoulder, Naruto made his way down the dirt road, the years of vehicles and feet compacting it enough to allow it to stand out from the rest of the land that was swallowed by lose blowing dust and sand. A heavy pack of trade goods hung from his right shoulder, the goods created by the orphans down the road. Small trinkets and toys, obviously made by children, but made from love all the same.
Naruto yelled behind him one more time at the boy idolizing him as he walked away, "don't forget to help Iruka lock down the orphanage before the rain." And then he was gone, swallowed up by the dust.
The town of Virmische was little more than shacks that stood only because they were huddled so close together they were supported by the others from the invading dust storms. Nothing more than thrown together shanties from the mass amount of people fleeing the large cities. People had learned quickly to make sure they had cover before they slept at night or die in their sleep from suffocation. The dust in the air was a quick killer of ranks for new travelers.
Naruto himself hadn't traveled much and while he hadn't been born in the tiny town of Virmische, he couldn't remember much of the time before he had. He wasn't going to complain, though, he enjoyed living with Iruka and the orphans. In fact, three years ago it had been Iruka who had given him his name. Uzumaki Naruto. He said it was because he had shown up during the first actual storm they had had in years. One that had almost caused more harm then good, followed by more than two tornadoes that quickly surrounded the town. He had been found, miraculously alive, after the storm had stopped.
He recalled telling Iruka once that maelstroms only happened at sea. Iruka had then replied that they were at sea.
And he had been right. A sea of dust and dirt , but a sea none the less, with a town floating somewhere in the center. This was his home.
Coming upon the town, Naruto was immediately greeted by several well-wishers who cocked their hat in his direction. Giving a short bow in return, he quickly made his way to the trading post to deal with the current goods in his possession. The town had taken to Naruto just like he had taken to them, quickly and with much affection.
The Trading Post, unlike most of the town was an actual building of wood. One of the first constructed, like the orphanage outside of town. The wood was grayish white from age and tilted to the left from standing above the rest of the buildings, officially causing it to take the brunt of the blowing sand. Queerly enough, the sign proclaiming the nature of the business tilted the other way. The owner's wife once told him that because they couldn't tilt the building back into place, then tilting the sign the other way would give it a much more rounded look. Naruto had tried hard not to laugh at her reasoning then and merely nodded in acceptance. Now, he would tend to agree with her.
The Post also doubled as a bar on the other side, and many travelers would find themselves spending time and money in the bottom of a bottle. Many people took refuge here when it rained, the reason it was so packed today. So when Naruto came to town he also took it as a chance to learn about the outside world as much as possible. He might not have wanted to leave, but he was still curious.
"It's going to rain tonight," came the somber voice of the old man behind the counter. "I miss the days it used to be a good thing."
Naruto looked skeptically at the old man. "Rain used to be a good thing?"
"Once."
"Then I wish it would rain like it used to." Naruto gave the man a smile as he unloaded his wares. "Hey!"
The bumbling dirty cloth of an old migrant woman pushed against Naruto, spirits crested her breath with a sour smell. Her eyes had a feverish look to them that caused him to look away. "Be careful what you wish for."
And then she had left as quickly as she came.
The Post owner was to Naruto's side before he knew how to respond. "You okay, boy? She didn't fiddle ya' did she? That old bat's been running around here lately proclaiming herself 'The Great Lady Tsunade', whatev'r that means."
Checking his pockets, Naruto shook his head. "No, I still have all of my money." A grin spread across his face. "But, I would like some more."
Laughing the old man went back around the counter. "Then lets get these sold!"
Unfortunately the sound of sirens cut off any more conversation. "It's the rain! It's coming" could be heard from out on the streets. People pushed their way into the building and Naruto found himself lost in a sea of bodies.
"Hold on to my stuff, old man. I'll be back for it later!" Naruto shouted over the commotion.
"Where are you going, boy!? Come back!" However, the pleas of the old man went unheeded as Naruto fought through the quickly amassing people.
Pushing and shoving, Naruto managed to fight his way towards the broken down door of The Post. His hand shook as he went to push it open, but bony fingers held him in place. The old woman from earlier grinned at him with broken and missing teeth. "Hey! Let go of me! I need to get home, I promised I would."
"You can't go out there, now, boy." The smell of spirits still assaulted his senses even with the compacted dirty bodies that surrounded him. Naruto didn't hesitate to pry her fingers from his wrist before flinging open the door and running outside into the now deserted streets.
And that's when the first explosion hit.
It was pretty far from the Post and heading away from his current location, but the ground still shook and poorly made shacks crumbled behind him. More bombs followed the first as they fell from the sky, the earth shaking and somewhere over the sirens he could here the cry of a child.
Naruto lost his footing on the ground as the tremors beneath him became more violent. He quickly scrambled over against the side of The Post, gripping one of the beams supporting the terrace roof. He huddled his body into as small of a ball as possible so any falling debris would be less likely to hit him. Opening his eyes- when had he closed them?- he watched the 'rain' fall from the sky, he watched as they headed in a direction they rarely went. As they passed over the area where the orphanage was Naruto closed his eyes again and began to count. 30...31...32...
60 seconds. Because the 'rain' never lasted for more than 60 seconds. Never more, never less. It would come and then go and all the towns people would hope and prey that their homes and loved ones would be missed during the brief show of hell.
In 60 seconds, Naruto opened his eyes, stood up from the terrace with a large calming breath and ran towards his home. He joined the rest of the town as they preyed and searched for their loved ones.
In all of his memories Naruto could recall that, despite all the terror and despair, never once did he honestly believe that the little orphanage in the distance would succumb to the bombs that devastated the world. He had slowly came to believe that it was the one place safe from all the heart ache of the war that ravaged every town and city.
Naruto fell to his knees, he was naïve to ever believe that. He clenched his fist and shouted out at the sky, "why does this war never end, huh!? What is there left to fight over!?"
The tears that fell from his eyes left streaks down his face from the dirt that covered it, black smoke blowing in his face. The embers of the burning wood smothered by the ever engulfing dust clouds. His fist clenched and his back bowed in defeat.
"Why!?"
The cackle and coughing behind him made his vision swim in anger. He turned quickly on his heel, no longer on his knees , but in a squatting position. "What the hell are you laughing at!?" It was the old woman from The Post, she had followed him here.
"You see what happens when you wish for the rain."
Naruto felt his anger subside, replaced by a chilling numbness. His arms went slack by his side, sweeping against the dirt beneath him and his face became blank as he turned once more to the orphanage. The building was now only a pile of kindle and limbs turn from bodies decorated the broken support beams like ornaments. He could even make out a head from somewhere underneath the rubble, but no body. The building had suffered a direct hit, no one survived.
A toothless grin and another suppressed cough was easily distinguishable in the voice that filtered into his thoughts. "What will you do now, boy?"
"I'm going to end this war. I swear it." To anybody else watching him, they would have thought he was talking to himself.
"No matter what, they will understand my pain." Naruto's eyes burned red.
Prologues are fun, hopefully you think so too!
Cheers!
