The Chronicles of Uzumaki Naruto
|The Guardian of Love and Hate|
[Inspired by Evanescence's My Immortal]
Preface
Why was I hated by everyone? What had my six year old self done to deserve this kind of treatment? I try, I ponder, I fight my way through the everyday stress of having to face the oncoming hatred that I have no knowledge of. I continue moving forward, step by little step, deep in unconscious wonder and a slowly unknowing aching heart.
It was another day for six year old Naruto Uzumaki—another tauntingly lonely day. Every day was the same: get up, wash, clean, and tidy, dress, leave, go to school, return, eat, shower and then sleep. Every single day was the exact same routine. It made the young boy wonder, was this life what everyone in the village were caged in? Was this the result of being a shinobi? Sometimes, he thought so. But other times (most of the time that is) he thought it was just him.
School had never been any fun for the young boy. Whenever he enters the room, the students his age chit chatting about different things suddenly change their subjects to taunts, rumors, spiteful words that dug the hole he stood in even deeper. Why did he have to be the center of their prejudice?
Why me?
Sometimes, the students would gang up on the parentless child and beat him until nothing but bruises, cuts, and broken bones lay on the ground before them. And before they left, they spat their ugly saliva, urinate on, yell and scream words of no acceptance. And yet, for some odd reason, Naruto felt as though their words weren't true. These were just kids the same age as him, some even younger, treating him like an outsider, the outcast, the scapegoat of their daily problems. It were as if he sensed some other force pulling the strings of these kids—most likely the older generations, like their parents, grandparents, the adults. Something must have happened years ago and now he was being blamed for it. For what, he knew not of. For what, they never told him. Why? Good question; why indeed.
It was October 9th when the young Naruto walked back from the Konoha Academy. Today was the class midterm—perform a few Henge no Jutsu and throw five shuriken at the bull's eye perfectly. He hated these exams to be quite frank. They only made an embarrassment out of him and he resented that. The entire village had already labeled him as their source of all problems; why not add some embarrassing failures at ninja school to that too!
Obvious to his other classmates, he had failed miserably. He couldn't perform the Henge and couldn't even throw one shuriken into the bull's eye.
What a lousy guy.
Heh, I wonder how he even got enrolled in this school.
He wants to be Hokage? Forget it! Loser!
You failed again, fox kid! Give up already! You suck anyway!
He tried to block the words from his head, but it was useless. Each and every one of their words sliced through his being like senbon needles into an experimental carcass. The more taunts, the more needles, the bigger the holes and the grander the damage. Sometimes, he just wanted to scream his lungs out and fade into nothingness. Death seemed like the answer to all his problems. It seemed like the only solution to his ultimate salvation from this wretched village and its heartless inhabitants. If only he could escape…
Without anyone knowing, he had attempted multiple suicides beforehand. Overdosing on stolen sedative pills from the pharmacy, ripping a kunai or two into his arms and legs, drinking several vials of toxic poisons, getting beyond "high" on drugs taken from the upper-class shinboi—any of those actions should have sent him straight to heaven months ago. But they didn't. The amounts weren't enough. Was this the reason why the village hated him? Because of his superb ability in ultra fast healing and repelling of almost any toxin known to man? Because he had attempted suicide at least nine times and hasn't dropped dead on the streets in broad daylight? Overtime, these thoughts began to get the best of the little boy.
Trying to shake off these suicidal thoughts, although that was all that he thought about in his spare time, he walked up the stairs that led up to his rundown apartment above the wooden building. At the age of four, he asked the Hokage if he could live by himself. He felt weird living in the Hokage's house, or rather, the building next to it and being around the much older village leader. He wished he hadn't made that decision and stayed with Sarutobi instead. At least, he wouldn't get as many taunts as he would around the well respected man.
Only a couple more steps until he would reach his apartment door. What was his house number again? 37, was it? There were times where he was so entranced in his inner thoughts that everything else around him would fade away from his mind, disappearing into the far corners of the universe in his still developing mind. It was only him and his inner consciousness.
Finally on the top of the building, he made his way towards the old metal green door that led to his "home". It didn't really feel like home that much. At it had was a small bed, a table, two chairs, a sink and refrigerator, a bathroom, and a few windows. Below was a concrete floor. It wasn't much of a cozy place, but to Naruto it was enough. At least this hunk-of-junk apartment gave him a roof to sleep under. He remembered the nights where he ended living on the back alleys of the village. Those days were never pleasant.
As he approached the door, he felt a presence close by, probably a couple yards from where he stood. Naruto stopped in his tracks and concentrated on the presence he felt. Nobody had given him the chance to prove himself, but Naruto could sense a change in their air, or what shinboi say a change in chakra levels, several miles away. His hypersensitivity had paid off as he was able to mingle his way through the streets of Konoha at night without being mugged, beaten, or killed, at least.
The chakra level was calm, but at the same time powerful. Something about it sent chills down his spine. Should he approached it? From the approximate location of the chakra change, he could tell something was in front of his door. And he needed to get in.
Pondering a few moments, the six year old decided to take a couple steps and find out what this strange chakra was. The worst it could be was a villager coming to give him a good piece of his so-called "right mind", though he couldn't recall anyone in the village with this level of chakra, besides the Hokage of course. It made him fear for the worst, yet intrigued him at the same time.
Slow step by slow step, he made his way in front of his door and was surprised to find his suspicions were completely wrong. What stood in front of his door wasn't a villager, or the Hokage, or any type of person at all. In fact, it was smaller and weirder than he anticipated. Sitting on the cement in front of his beaten door was what looked like a small white pup, like some kind of sea lion pup or something of that nature. What was it doing here in front of his house? And how come it was emitting such strong chakra? When he stepped closer, the eyes of the pup began to flutter open. Obsidian, round eyes met his crystal blue ones. Then Naruto saw it—and it saddened him greatly.
There were burn marks on the pup's body and on one of its face several scars and the way they were marked, it were as though the pup had been under the mutilating hands of a horrible abuser. A feeling suddenly burst into his chest and Naruto suddenly ran up to the pup and hugged it tightly in his arms. For some odd reason, tears began falling from his eyes. "It's okay, little guy. Everything's going to be okay now."
Why am I saying this? What is going on with me?
He lifted the pup gently in his arms and pulled out a key to unlock the metal door. Once they were inside, he placed the small thing on his bed and rushed over to the bathroom where he ran a towel under hot water. He returned and wiped the pup clean of the grime that covered its skin.
No one ever saved me. So why do I feel so affectionate towards this little thing?
He continued to question himself until the pup was all clean and warm from the heat of the towel. Suddenly, the pup squeaked and lunged itself onto Naruto, at the same time licking his face.
"Hey, hey, don't do that! You'll get yourself dirty all over again. I'm not clean yet!" He set the pup back on the bed and went to the bathroom to wash up. Ten minutes later he returned with wet matted blonde locks and a pair of blue boxers. The little baby whatever-it-was was already sleep on his pillow.
A small smile crept onto the surface of Naruto's face, curving his usual upside down lips into a tiny smile of partial content. He couldn't understand what this feeling was inside of him, of why he had saved the pup or why he was willing to help the poor little guy while he suffered his entire life. Was it because of the scars and burn marks he saw on the baby's body, that it was a sign he too was rejected and beaten? Maybe they both knew what it felt like to be in pain and feel utterly helpless. Maybe that was the reason why he saved the pup and why the pup had accepted his help soundlessly. They may have been different creatures and were brought up in obviously different locations, but they shared the same experience—pain and loneliness. And it only takes an apple to recognize another apple.
He went around the house and blew out the candles before climbing into bed. With an extra small blanket, he folded it into a mini pillow and rested his head on there. Meanwhile, the thick knit blanket that he used to repel the heater-lacking atmosphere of his rundown apartment, he pulled to cover both him and the pup's tiny body. After whispering a pleasant "good night" to it, he feel into deep sleep and for the first time in three years, slept without nightmares.
A/N: Um…I am currently speechless at this point. I had no intention of writing this at all, but after watching the 2013 Memory Games and reading some depressing Naruto fanfictions—oh, and making a journal on dA this morning or yesterday late night (I don't remember when), I just had the urge to get on my computer and write this. At first, I was going to go with one of my characters waiting for him in front of Naruto's door, but I decided to add a little twist to that part. Instead, I put the little seal-looking pup. The pup's not a seal, or sea lion, or any of our existing animals we find in today's modern oceanic environments. I really don't know what it is—it might be a combination of a seal and long neck dinosaur-thingy-of-whatever! Yeah, it's a creature from my imagination. Anyways, this ended up being 5 easy pages—this only happens when I really want to write and this happens to be one of those times.
Anyways, please favorite, review, comment—do something! I have no idea what to think of this story, so I need your critique. Should I continue? Interest points? Want to guess what kind of dinosaur I was talking about? Yeah, have fun guessing and let me know! :-)
Cheers!