A/N
Welcome to my newest solo project, World's Apart.
This is a Naruto AU based off the movie Far and Away, so if you see some familiar phrases or scenes that is why.
This is a NaruSasu story and may contain nsfw between two males aswell as scenes of violence.
I do not own Far and Away
I do not own Naruto or it's characters
I hope you enjoy!
Konoha had a name and a road, and very little more. The vast majority of the dozen or so houses had scruffy thatched tops that were gradually turning green. A kid sat in the road, blending the earth with his fingertips. A woman had one eye on him and one eye on the linen she was hanging up on the line. Further down the road, happily intoxicated men and women hung off one another, hoarse laughter sifting through the resonances of the livestock - some which joyfully meandered the road unmarked. Poverty is all the individuals have known, most of their cash earned harvesting the land winding up in the pockets of the rich landlords that crippled them with taxes.
Despite such destitution, the people made the most of what they had. Especially Naruto Uzumaki.
The Uzumaki family share a shack of a building just outside of the village, on the top of a hill confronting the ocean. Naruto, along with his adopted brothers Kiba and Shikamaru, work the land since their father can't - a combination of a bad heart and liquor addiction saw to that. Their potato harvest had once been sufficient to help them just scrape through the bills every month, but more recently the ever changing climate had seen their crops become less fruitful and now they are in debt. Soon the elder two siblings enthusiasm on the homestead dropped and they had taken to drinking just as often as their father, leaving Naruto alone to pick up the slack.
"Kiba!"
"What?"
"Would you look at our little brother? Slaving his ass off down there, ass-deep in mud.." Shikamaru takes a swig of his ale, watching his young sibling struggle to pull a cart of produce up the hill. After exchanging an amused glance with Kiba, the pair head down to join their brother.
"Give it up Naruto, is it not enough you've ploughed all this bog.." Shikamaru flicks up a bit of mud with his foot.
"My ambition for the day is far greater than the pair of you. Been at the ale again?" Naruto barely looks at two men he calls brothers and continues to tug at the wooden cart which is sinking further into the mud by the second.
"Ambition? This is ambition? Breaking your back on land that doesn't belong to you. Don't make us laugh. You and I both know this land belongs to Uchiha."
Naruto bristles, turning on the pair with narrowed eyes. "Oh fuck off the pair of ya, look there's a goat over there, go and improve your love life!"
The elder two exchange another glance, seemingly making a silent agreement before they both step into Naruto's personal space, backing him up against the cart. Now, neither Kiba or Shikamaru are particularly large and they have consumed enough alcohol to impair their judgment - but it's two versus one.
"I don't want to fight, there's work to do." Naruto's tone is firm but there's something in those blue eyes of his that promise something entirely different. Kiba and Shikamaru were laughing as soon as the words left his lips.
Let them laugh..
Whilst the elder two are holding their stomachs, Naruto seizes the opportunity and barrels his full weight into them, aiming a few powerful punches where he can. Of course they fight back, and all three siblings wind up in the mud, a tangle of limbs and fists.
"Lads! Lads! Your fathers hurt!"
The panicked tone of their fathers friend is enough for the three to break apart and jump to their feet, Naruto already running ahead to where their father is being carried into their home.
"Da! What happened?!" Naruto flocks to his fathers side, searching frantically for any sign of injury. There appears to be nothing out of the ordinary; his father reeks ale however.
"Yer da's a hero lad. He fought good, thirty men! Armed and with murder in their eyes, one by one.. with his bare hands lad! I got some of them too mind you.."
Naruto at this point ignores the other man. That was a tall story if he ever heard one.
"How do ya feel da?"
"Naruto, my son.. I'm dying.."
"Don't talk like that-"
"I'm dying!"
"But.. but you can't die, we need ya here da.." Naruto swallows the lump in his throat, blinking away tears that sting the back of his eyes.
"What do ya need me for? Naruto, you're an odd boy." His father sighs and reaches out to pat his youngest son's hand. "You have odd thoughts, I did when I was your age but dreams, in this corner of the world.. they end up in a glass of ale."
Tears falling freely now, Naruto shakes his head. "Not my dreams da. I'll have my own land some day. My own alone. Without land, a man is nothing but a slave to the rich. I refuse to live like this forever."
"Well Naruto, ya gonna need a miracle but if ya make it, yer old da will be smiling down on ya from heaven above, that I will. Don't let anyone get in yer way. Follow yer dreams Naruto, cause there ain't no other way to get there. There ain't no other.. way."
It happened so suddenly. One minute their father was talking, the next… gone.
"God bless ya soul Uzumaki." Their fathers friend takes off his hat as a sign of respect, but Naruto doesn't see this for his head is bowed, saying a silent prayer for the man who brought him up, tears dripping from his chin and onto their hands.
"I'll bet we'll be able to sell a thing or two now that the old man's gone.."
Naruto spins on his brothers, outraged. "Don't you dare!" He hisses. "Our father's just died, don't you have any respect!?"
"Naruto, he's left us with a huge debt on the land.." Kiba tries to reason.
"We'll settle the debt, if we work double time, we -"
"Grow the potatoes and pick them yourself you foolish idiot. This land hasn't turned up a decent crop for years."
They are right of course, but that isn't going to stop Naruto from trying. He has to.
It's a particularly blustery day when the whole village follows in a procession as Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru and the friend carry their father's coffin across the fields to prepare his burial. The wind whips up foam from the sea, hitting their faces and making the sombre walk difficult. There isn't a single person in the procession that didn't know their father and each wore an expression of sadness and loss. Indeed the head of the Uzumaki household was well-known and well-liked. His presence in the local pub would be sorely missed.
Naruto keeps his gaze fixed forwards, even as the sound of galloping horses reaches his ears.
The landlords men..
"What dead man is this?"
"Keep walking lads, we're burying my father today." There is no way Naruto is stopping for anyone.
"You need't answer but I represent Mr Fugaku Uchiha who by right of law, owns this land and all improvements upon it. Rent on this property has not been paid and you have been warned enough." A sheet of paper hits Naruto in the face but he keeps walking, unaware of the scenes unfolding behind him.
"Oi, the bastard's are burning our house!"
Naruto first snaps his gaze at Kiba and then behind to where their house stands. Men on horses surround it, throwing burning torches onto the thatched roof and in through the windows. It doesn't take a lot for the house to be engulfed in flames and just like that, Naruto watches his home.. his life be reduced to ashes.
Nostrils flaring, Naruto watches helplessly as the cavalry ride off out of sight.
"Where is this landlord Uchiha? I want justice for what he's done."