Naruto

Most of my family thinks I am dead.

It might be better that way, I can't imagine the grief I would cause them if they knew who I am; let alone alive.

At least once a month, I see my Wanted posters littering the streets of downtown Konoha. It's very unfitting. Konoha's a nice place, with lots of children and smiles abundant everywhere, housewives giggling and chatting all day in the shopping district, tourists here to see the famous Mount Hokage; a mountain with our previous Hokages' faces chiseled in. There's also a lot of propaganda. "Root needs you to join," the ads declare "Don't let the Rebels win! Support the cause!"

Then there's my criminal report, scattering the streets in paper-thin madness.

WANTED BY ROOT FILE NUMBER: 65698-999 "Kyuubi" WANTED FOR ASSAULT, THEFT, ARSON, DESTRUCTION OF ROOT PROPERTY, AND HINDERING MILITARY EFFORTS. 200,000 KONOHA NOTES REWARDED FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO ARREST.

The funny thing is, they always have a different picture of me. Sometimes it was a young boy with curly brown hair, and dark rimmed glasses. Another time it was tall man with dark eyes and no hair. Sometimes I'm black, sometimes white or brown or blue or red or whatever else they think of.

You see, because they've never seen me before. They don't have the slightest clue as to what to look for. So I can easily lead them on wile goose chases that exceed five or six days. That's why they hate me so much, why I'm the most wanted criminal in the country. I make them look like fools.

It's only a little after noon but the sky is pitch black. As if something was blocking the sun, refusing to let the light shine my way. I had sneaked my way into a crumbling building earlier in the day. This used to be an apartment complex, but its now beyond repair. The room I am in now is on the fifth floor and has broken glass and window shards all around the floor. A dusty portrait of our previous Hokage, the Sandaime, lays in one corner. Those were peaceful times, when he was manning the helm. Now we are at war with seemingly everyone thanks to our new Hokage-turned-Dictator.

My bright golden hair is hidden underneath my old sedge hat, per usual. My baby blue eyes are watching a particular house from the open window. My fingers play with the pendant tied around my neck.

To my right is Sakura who is currently laying on the bed, watching me with her hawkesque eyes. I'm nervous tonight and, as always, she can sense it.

And I'm nervous with good reason. The virus has hit my hometown pretty hard. The number of Infected people are rising by the minute. Sakura and I can see the routine soldiers going door-to-door, inspecting each home. Their worn boots, shiny capes, and black gas masks give them a semi-mencaing appearance. Sometimes when they leave a house, the spray paint the front door with a large X. No one can enter or leave that house form that point on. AKA Quarantine.

"Still don't see them?" Sakura whispers. Her voice awakens me from my trance. I turn to look at her, but my eyes haven't adjusted to the darkness of the room.

"They haven't been downstairs so far, and it's almost dinnertime." I shift my leg so it doesn't fall asleep.

Tess moves next to me to have a better look. "We should leave the city for a couple weeks." She tries to keep her voice calm, but the fear is evident when she speaks. "Just until the virus passes through, then we can come back and visit."

I toss an irritated glance at Sakura "One night a week, remember? Just let me check up on them one night a week."

"Yeah, but we've been coming here every night this week."

"Something is off this week. There shouldn't be this many inspections in one week."

"What if you get the virus?"

"I'll take my chances. Besides, you could have waited for me back home."

Sakura rolls her eyes "Somebody has to watch over you" We're the same age but I swear sometimes she sounds old enough to be my mother.

We continue to watch in silence as the soldiers inch closer to the house I am staring at. The house my family lives in. I estimate about an hour wait or so before they reach my old home. I hear a scream from the house the soldiers are in. It's an infected. They drag her into the street and toss her to the ground. They shine a bright light in her face. Her family in the back begging them to let her live. I can see three children and what I presume to be the father. Tears stream down their faces as they let the whole street know what is to come. I look back at the infected woman. Her skin is deteriorating, the bags around her eyes are wrinkled and rotting away. Her nails are cracked and bleeding. She stumbles around blindly until she trips and falls. One of the soldier approaches her with a weapon drawn while the other forces the family back inside. I know what is coming and motion to Sakura to shut her eyes and cover her ears. The soldier lifts his gun and aims. The loud boom of the gun echoes in my ear. She lays completely still and silence settles in once again. The quiet sobbing of the family can be faintly heard.

The soldiers continue on nonchalantly to the next home. As if taking a human life was a menial annoyance for them.

I glance at the gun, I wish we could get our hand on one of those. Just for protection, I don't approve of killing unless your life is in danger. Even then, I'd rather flee than partake in murder. A nice weapon like that doesn't cost much on the black market, 400 Notes or so. Powered by technology it can shoot a target accurately from five blocks down. Sakura and I could buy them if we wanted, over the years we've learned to save and stash away extra money we steal and save it for emergencies. But the problem is that all guns are Root-traced. Meaning they have a tracking device that uses your fingerprints to trace and pinpoint your location. So I'm left with homemade weapons, metal branched slingshots and other gadgets.

I think Sakura sees me spacing out and tries to distract me by nodding to the bundle near my feet. "What did you bring them this time?"

I smile, "Just some goodies we had stashed up this week." I reach down and untie the bundle to show Sakura. "Like these goggles for Garra," my older brother turns nineteen next month. He works in the local power-plant factory and is always rubbing his eyes form the smoke. I was lucky enough to snag these from a military shipment.

I shuffle through the rest of the stuff. Mostly cans of meat and loaves of bread, potatoes and some small fruits. Tucked beneath all this is come cash.

I wish I could be the one to give them these goods, but Garra is the only one who knows I'm alive. And I made him promise not to tell Mom or Shikamaru.

Shikamaru is the same age as me but is physically ill, so he started school a little later than me. Which means he will probably go through the Ranking later this year. I failed my Ranking two years ago. That's why I worry about Shikamaru, even though he's easily the smartest one of us three, he's too sure of himself. Like I was. When I finished my Ranking, I was so sure of my answers that didn't even bother to double check or watch them grade it. But then shortly the admins rushed me to the back room with a bunch of other kids, stamped something on my test paper, and stuffed me in a train heading downtown. I didn't even get to pack or say good-bye.

There's a number of things that happen after you go through the Ranking. If you get a perfect score of 2000, which I hear has happened only once to some kid a few years ago, then you're sent to the Hokage Training Facility. I don't really know what happens honestly, probably lot of money and fame.

If you score between 1800-1999 then you're granted immediate access to four years of high school and another four to the top university institutions across the country. Then you can become an adviser to the Hokage or part of the council committee or something else that requires you bending over backwards for your superiors.

You get a good score, somewhere around 1400-1799 you get to go to high school and if you're lucky enough assigned to a college. Somewhat decent.

You squeeze by with a 1000-1399 then you are banned from high school. You get a local job at a power-plant or some grocery and then wait to die in a ditch.

You fail. If you fall in this unlucky category then you can proceed straight to die in a ditch. Root shows up to your family's home and makes your parents sign a contract giving Root full custody of that child. They give your family 1000 Notes and send you to labor camp where you spend the rest of your miserable life being trained to serve the glorious and all mighty Hokage.

Just utter and complete bullshit. It's all a lie. Root doesn't need a kid with bad genes within their ranks. What really happens if you're lucky is they kill you without being experimented and tested on at a lab.

A small ruffle of the curtain distracts me from my internal rant. I see my mother walk by and the familiar face of Shikamaru peeking at the window. He points some metal contraption at the soldiers then ducks back inside. Knowing him, he's probably made a device to measure how far away something is something like that.

I can see Garra walk past the window and speak to my mother. His hair, a natural red, makes him stand out in our sector. And his eyes are always dark from lack of sleep and the constant smoke and ash blowing in his eyes.

I sigh, at least all three of them are healthy enough to walk around. No sign of infection anywhere. I can't help but imagine the scenario where the soldiers mark my family's door. I don't know what I would do. What would they do? My mother would put her usual brave face, until she goes to bed and weep by herself. Garra and Shikamaru would stand frozen at the living room and wait for morning. where food and water will be rationed to them until they die.

I wish I could buy them some Virus Medication but I simply don't have enough. Only the wealthy get those benefits.

I pass the time talking to Sakura or fiddling with my pendant.

Then the time comes. I lean forward, so far that Sakura holds on to me so I don't fall. The soldiers pound on my door. My mother opens the door and lets them in. I let out a heavy sigh. The sooner this is all over the sooner I can call Garra and give him these gifts.

The silence drags on. I count the seconds in my head. One minute passes. Then two, then four, then ten minutes.

Twenty minutes passes. Twenty-five.

I look at Sakura. She shrugs "Maybe their detector is broken," she suggests.

Thirty minutes pass. Fifty. An hour.

"Something's wrong" I whisper. I'm panicking

Sakura pauses "You don't know for sure"

"Yes I do, it never takes this long."

Then the soldiers exit my house, expressionless. The last soldier shuts the door and reaches for something around his waist. I feel dizzy. My heart stops beating as I see the soldier sprays one long, diagonal line on our door. Then he sprays another line, making an X.