Mr. 96: Happy Halloween, people! Here's Mr. 96, with a brand-new story! It's an adaptation of my very favorite book, Something Wicked This Way Comes! I wanted to make the chapter longer, but I wanted to give people a chance to read it before November. Don't worry, I'll lengthen this particular chapter. It's not even done anyway. Something Wicked This Way Comes is owned by Ray Bradbury, ditto for Naruto and Masashi Kishmoto.
October. A rare month for boys-not that all months weren't rare, but there were good months and bad months. Take September, for example. Kids hated it. They were well into school. June, on the other hand, now that was a good month-where September seemed a thousand years away. But October, now that was a month of darkness, plain and simple. But no October was as strange as this one. On this October, Halloween came early. On October 24th, Orochimaru and Sasori's Pandemonium Shadow Show brought Halloween to town seven days before it should have come. On that day, Naruto Halloway was thirteen years, eleven months, and twenty-four days old. And Sasuke Nightshade was thirteen years, eleven months, and twenty-three days old. But that carnival came, and neither of them would be young or innocent anymore after that day.
The lightning-rod salesman finally came to the town of Konohagakure. He stood for a minute, then his eyes finally came down to a lawn which was cut all wrong. No, not the grass-the two boys on the grass. The salesman lifted his gaze. "Howdy, boys!" he said. "Folks home?" The two shook their heads. "Got any money yourselves?" Again, the boys shook their heads. He looked up. "What's your name?" he said, looking at the blond boy. The blonde looked up. He had six scars on his face, looking like whiskers. "Naruto Halloway." he said. "And you?" the salesman turned to the other. "Sasuke Nightshade," the raven-haired boy said, hardly looking up. His eyes were a deep scarlet, like something out of a Japanese painting. "Nightshade!" the salesman whistled, "That's quite a name!" "And only fitting," Naruto replied, "I was born one minute before midnight, on October Thirtieth. Sasuke was born one minute after midnight, which makes it October Thirty-First." "Halloween," Sasuke said, finally cracking a smile. The salesman listened intently as Naruto described the day when they were born, and people called them brothers. Naruto was known as having a heart of light and hope, while Sasuke was often described as having a heart of darkness and shadows.
Jiraiya-the lightning-rod salesman-whistled. He hadn't expected to find two boys like these in quite a while. He paused for a minute.