The war was done, the fight was over, Konoha had won and Madara was nonexistent. Sasuke was home again, facing trials for the crimes he had committed, but everyone knew he would go free. After all his help during the war, how could they execute him? Especially since Naruto was backing him up, but that was strange though, for no one had seen him after the war. Naruto had disappeared, like a leaf that had caught fire he seemed to have just burned away. Those that saw him didn't recognize him, but most people never saw him anyway. Life moved on and everyone was too busy to notice their surroundings as they rebuilt their beloved village and home. Even Sasuke, on trial as he was, was busy thinking of how he would become Hokage. Unfortunately for these people, the series of events that would occur in the future could have been prevented if someone had simply paid attention. For while everyone was busy and while everyone was too engrossed in their lives, they forgot about a certain blonde haired savior. They forgot about Naruto and forgetting Naruto was just what one person wanted. For Naruto was what they wanted and what they needed to carry out their future plans. Naruto was the weapon that was required to eradicate the known village of Konoha and Naruto was what one person silently acquired as everyone forgot him and he went unnoticed. For Naruto knew what pain was, Naruto knew darkness though he tried to stay in the light. However, this time, darkness wanted Naruto and it would have Naruto even if it had to drag him in. But, let us start at the beginning; let us start before the end. For these events will unfold like a lunar eclipse, taking its time before reaching its full glory before slowly dragging out to the end. For this story will happen just like the blood red moon.
Naruto was tired. He was tired of fighting, tired of being the hero, tired of smiling all the time, and tired of running after people who didn't even acknowledge his existence. Ah that reminds him of Sasuke, the one who he had chased, who he had brought home, and who he was still fighting for. Someone who barely looked his way and simply thought of him as a useless existence, ironic considering Naruto was the one who had defeated Madara and one the war. In fact, all of Konoha barely acknowledged him. It felt like when he was younger, but without the physical violence. Naruto just simply didn't exist anymore in the eyes of village. Naruto understood on some level that most of this ignorance was because the war was over and the village needed rebuilding, but he felt useless. Thinking often that now with the war over and the village no longer needing a hero, he was no longer needed. Especially when more whispers started to go around about Sasuke trying to become Hokage, for who could oppose an Uchiha and especially one that had helped Konoha in the war. Naruto's achievements seemed to pale in comparison to Sasuke's. Naruto could feel that darkness again, though he tried so hard to stay in the light. He tried so hard to smile and be positive, going on about how he was going to become Hokage, but as the days wore on and his existence was less noticed the more Naruto thought that the darkness might not be so bad. Leading him to drag up thoughts long left behind in his dark days. 'Darkness. There is darkness everywhere, a black void of nothing that I seem to fall into every time. Sometimes I step in willingly. In place of someone I love. Sometimes I fight against it, pushing it behind me. Staying above the murky depths long enough to pull someone else form the wicked tides onto the calm shore. I never stay there long though, on that shore. I always dive back into the darkness eventually and the times I don't, it pulls me back in anyway. It's constant, this darkness; a comfort on some nights, a nightmare on others. Those nightmarish nights are when I'm weak, when an even blacker existence takes root, a darker, blacker void. These nights destroy me, tear me to pieces. Leave gaping holes in me, reducing me to nothing more than a shell, until I can gather the strength to retaliate, when I 'm strong enough to swim towards the calm shore. To rest until I repeat the cycle again. For this is endless, an always continuing torment and comfort.' Thoughts like these ran through his mind constantly. For darkness was always there, always at the edge of the light waiting to pull Naruto back in and now that Sasuke was free of it. Now that Naruto had succeeded in pulling him into the light, the darkness wanted Naruto in return. For that was how this worked, you could take something away form that darkness, but something else had to replace that existence. This time it wanted Naruto, he could hear it like a whisper in the back of his mind. He could feel it pulling on him more and more each day, trying to drag him in. As time wore on, the less he fought it, the less he resisted, and the further he slipped off that calm shore and towards those hellish tides. Still no one noticed Naruto giving up, no one noticed as he slipped further away from them, and no one noticed when he disappeared altogether for they were far too busy. So here Naruto was, locked away from the world in his apartment which had escaped relatively unscathed in the war. Here was where Naruto teetered on the edge of the light and the darkness while waiting for slumber to take him and this was where it would all begin for something was coming for him.
