Authors Note: Um, yeah, I kinda wrote this after reading a book where the main character was being all emo and depressing and one of the other characters knocked him around until he got over himself. I caught myself wondering if I'm ever like him. Then I realized, I have always compared myself to characters in a book. Looking for flaws I myself possess. Hoping that maybe I'm a little like a hero myself. This short short story is forall the people who have ever dreamed of being something more but feel like they fall just short of the finish line.
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto. I never will. I can only dream.
Dreams
When you read a book you find a least one character you think you can relate to.
When you read about a villain or learn about a heroes past, sometimes you say, 'Hey, that sounds similar to my situation.'
In every book, in every short story, a oneshot, hell, even a poem. There will be that one sentence that will help you relate to the character.
You will put yourself in their shoes, you will even say how you would have handled the situation the character was faced with.
Maybe you fought a villain. Maybe you saved the world a dozen times in the words of a book.
But maybe you weren't reading a fiction. Maybe you were reading about history. Maybe you read about this person from the past.
In your mind, you will think, 'He actually existed, he did these things.'
You might even decide you want to be as great as that person. You decide that your goal in life, your raison d'etre, will be to be as great as this person.
And you know that if your life were different there wouldn't have even been the possibility of you becoming this person.
But now you see a chance, not now, but one day, a future that follows you like a shadow, there but not solid, not yet.
But.
What if this dream version of you became a reality.
What if it came with a cost.
To have everything you could have ever wanted and nothing.
To have your dream sitting there in front of you, within reach and knowing that this person you dreamed of being and now are is a reality.
What if when you grasped your dream you were alone.
Your best friend is now your bitter enemy.
The woman you had come to love like a sister is now a corpse lying deep within the ground.
The parents you were born to died before you got to know them.
The man you had come to think of as an odd Grandfather was brutally killed by a snake.
The man who has been like an older brother to you, who supported you through your childhood, he was killed when you weren't around.
The two people, while much too old for it to be true, you had come to know as a kind of family, they were dead too.
Everyone you love is dead.
What do you do?
You have your dream, your the strongest shinobi in the village.
Your their leader, their hokage. Everyone looks up to you now.
But the people that really matter are dead.
Yeah, some friends are still around. But it doesn't feel like much when every time you look at one of them you think of another. You even force yourself to smile so they don't worry.
What do you do?
I read the stories about the previous hokage, about all of them.
They were great and I wanted to be one too.
Now I am.
But all I can think now, is how I would give it all up. Everything. This title, this life, my life. Just so they could live.
But I can't.
I have a duty now.
Though sorrow and despair rests upon my shoulders like a heavy cloak, I will keep going.
I will protect this village and everyone in it until the day I die. I won't lose anymore friends.
I am Naruto Uzumaki, and I am the Hokage of the Village hidden in the Leaves.
I won't ever give up.
No matter how much I want to.
~The End~
Authors final Rant: I wrote this short when I was in a bit of a mood. Its partially a story and partially me being expressive and shit.
But, if you have ever felt like you wanted to be something but don't think you can, this story is to tell you to not give up. Life is painful. Life royally Sucks! But don't give up, it might hurt but if its your dream then who knows, maybe the ending was worth the sacrifice. We can never know. This story is a "What if..." story. In case Naruto wins but everyone dies, should he just give up? I don't think so. There is a reason the Hokage believes in him. This is going to sound corny, but there is greatness in him. There is greatness in everyone. We just have to let it out. If this happened, maybe Naruto would screw up. Or maybe he would become the greatest Hokage ever. Only time would tell.
Reviews would be cool, but if you read this and something in what you read rung true then I'll be happy.
We may get hurt, but what matters is that we don't give up.
This story is probably crap, but I'm glad I wrote it.
