Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.
Summary: Because sometimes, blue was red.
Simple Concept
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It was a simple enough concept to understand, but they just didn't get it. Every second, the world was changing; little alterations in the workings of its nature, in the position of a passing dog or the arrangement of the trees. And yet, despite this universally accepted fact, they could not face the truth of what he said.
Sometimes blue is red. When he'd said this in passing at dinner after a particularly difficult mission, Ino had scoffed at him and Sakura had asked why he always had to be an idiot, because of course blue was blue and red was red, they just were not the same thing. But he insisted, yes, blue was red, sometimes. She yelled at him for being a stubborn moron and he stepped down, not wanting to make a scene. Shikamaru had stared at him for a while with a surprisingly focused expression before going back to eating. Naruto was thankful that the Nara genius didn't say anything.
Naruto didn't even know why he'd said it in the first place…he'd seen one of Sakura's arms, the crimson stained bandages and the vein of her inner elbow, and it had just sort of come out. He still clearly remembered the mission. He didn't think he'd ever be able to wash that memory away. He looked down at his hands, envisioning claws on the tips of his fingers instead of the nonthreatening human nails that adorned them now. He could see it so clearly.
It was getting worse.
He suddenly didn't want to know what would happen after this. He wished he could sit at this table with his comrades and friends surrounding him, celebrating a successful mission, and never have to walk out the door, go back to an empty house and sleep—only to wake up again not knowing what the new day would bring. He wanted things to stay just as they were now.
It was a simple concept, really. If other things in the world could change, then certainly blue could change to red. Why wouldn't it be able to?
His mind drifted back to the mission again. The final straw…
There had been an abrupt demand for several shinobi, chuunin rank and above, to participate in an out-of-country mission. The destination was Rock country, and the mission was an assassination of a large group of missing nin that had been spotted in the area. It was reported that there were several key Leaf missing nins traveling with the group, and the rookie nine had quickly agreed to take the mission. The Hokage had agreed and sent them off immediately.
If only he'd known.
It had been a routine job—infiltrate the camp, kill the enemies, and then have the hunter-nin (Team 10) take care of the bodies. But it hadn't been that simple, because blue was still able to turn into red.
And it did.
Naruto remembered the entire experience. He had done his duty to the Leaf, easily defeated his opponents, and was ready to call it a day. The bodies had already been disposed of and the group of Leaf shinobi was just clearing the area of signs of the battle. Naruto had wandered over to a nearby stream to clean the blood off his hands and arms—Rasengan was messy.
It was when he looked into the water that he stopped cold, staring at his reflection as the chilled water spread over his fingers, though the sensation didn't even register in his numbing brain.
His eyes. He stared at them, reflected in the water. Blue was red.
He quickly pulled his shirt up to look at his stomach exposed—the seal was still there, a dark black against his naturally tanned skin.
He started to panic. Why wasn't the chakra leaking away like always? Why wasn't the seal reacting and pushing the Kyuubi down, like it ought to?
It took Naruto several minutes to calm himself down, and then he just stared at his reflection quietly, an almost completely unblurred image in the calm waters at the bank of the stream.
So this was what it had come to. He should have known it would happen eventually. I mean, come on, this was a demon they were talking about—and not just any demon, but arguably the most powerful of the bijuu. He was a fool to think it could be contained completely forever.
His gaze slowly fell onto his hands, where the blood of his enemies was crusting up on his skin as it dried. Naruto was jolted out of his morbid thoughts by a shout from one of his teammates, asking, was he ready to go? He shouted back a little too quickly that he needed a minute—he was trying to get a stain out of his shirt. Shikamaru, the one who had called him, only looked at him a second too long before going to tell the others, leaving Naruto alone again.
He put his blood covered hands back into the still waters and started to rub the blood off. He could see the veins under his skin standing out vividly in the cold. After he thought he'd cleaned most of it off, he slowly stopped, leaving his hands in the water as his head came up to look at the setting sun. The normally golden rays were cast at an angle over the earth, and were bathing the rocky cliffs around them in hues of pink. As he watched, the sun sank a little lower, and the pink darkened until it changed into a new color.
Naruto knew he was right, then, as he watched the red sunset through a demon's eyes, feeling the blood-tainted water cooling his fingers. It was a simple concept. And it was true, he knew it just as he knew that the blood under his skin would look the same as the blood in the water were it to spill.
Because sometimes, blue was red.
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AN: Just a little idea that came to me the other day. Thanks for reading.
-Itallia