Heaven's over now
I know it's gone
I know it's over now
If colder heavens come
Carry me further down
Where our madness rests
Where I'll have less to doubt
All I misunderstood
My abandoned friend
Our parade has already left…

"Colder Heavens" - Blanco White

TDF


00:01

Fire. Deep red. Burning. Fire

Feet thumping on roofs. Windows shattered. Screams and chakra spikes. The air was...sticky. The wind burned.

Screams surrounded her. Her chubby fingers covered her eyes. The smell of burning flesh filled her nose. The screams of her parents have long since ceased, but the screams of the outside world still lived. Salty tears and blood ran down her face as the corners of her eyes turned black. It was getting harder to breathe.

Footsteps filled the empty house. They kicked open the nursery door. They. The blue eyed, green eyed or even sometimes red eyed killers. Even at the young and tender age of one, she knew that these people were dangerous. The people who seemed to have to do with everything and nothing at all. The people she would sometimes see peeking at her mother. The same people who she sometimes would see following her father. The same people who would watch her whilst she slept, as if she was going to grow 50 feet tall and engulf the entire village in flames.

Well, it seemed that someone had beat her to it.

"Hey! We got a baby in here!"

She wailed as she felt the bloodied hands of the killers on her charred skin. They pulled her out of her crib, restricting her flailing arms to her chest as they ran out the crumbling building. Civilians chased after them, begging them to save their children. Their wives. Their pets. She couldn't look away as she saw building after building crush them all. Watched as they all got caught up in the flames. She didn't have the heart to look at the monster who had caused all this.

The monster who killed her parents.


TDF

They set her bruised and burned body outside the village. From what she could see, many other children surrounded her, as well as pregnant women and wounded ninja. In the distance, she could see the flames grow higher and hotter. Even at this distance, she could hear the piercing screams. She was shocked. Just minutes ago she was able to cry about it. Scream even. But as she watched the monster rip through the only home she would ever know, the only people she would ever love, she found that her tears had dried up, and that all was left where glowing embers.

An Iryo-nin approached her, cooing softly. She didn't feel them pick her up and sigh. "Another one aye?" They walked past the women in labor and the wailing toddlers. She was set down farther past the group, in a small circle of infants. She recognized some of them. Her mother often set up playdates with them. With others, she would play with at the Academy daycare when her father was tied up in his business. They all had the same stony expression. Silent tears ran down their faces but they kept quiet. The Iryo-nin grabbed her arms and sighed once more. "It's gonna take a while for this skin to heal. But who cares. You're so young, you probably won't remember the pain anyways."

You're so young. You won't remember the pain

A vicious roar shook the ground. Some of the children snapped out of their haze and screamed, running deep into the surrounding forest. The newborn babies wailing in the stress of the situation. The Iryo-nin cursed and left her, running back into the village. She blinked as she stared at the monster, who seems to be staring back at her. She whimpered as the thing roared once more and turned to look at something.

Breathing in, she took the time to look around her as well. Some of the pregnant women had died in childbirth. Some of them mourning the death of their lost babies. The surrounding forest was slowing catching fire as she heard the fast feet of deer running north. The soft flaps of birds following. The grass had been covered in a layer of black soot, making it harder to breathe. It seemed that the only thing she could do was look and react passively. It seemed that the only she could do is-

A blast

"HEY!"

A sharp pain ran through her skull.

Blackness


TDF

Everything hurt, and in her natural baby instinct, she cried.

A Iryo-nin rushed to her side. "Oh. It seems like she's awake. What's her name again?" They moved to the front of the crib, eyeing the name tag. "Roku. Oh, Roku. Are you hungry? Are you hungry baby? Aw." They turned to a young nurse who was also in the room. "Can you get me a bottle of milk? Not the formula. Preferably some of the breast milk from the nursing moms. I would appreciate it." She heard retreating footsteps and a door close. The Iryo-nin looked down at her and frowned. "Come here kid."

They picked her up and set her bruised head on their shoulder. Patting her back, they walked around the small hospital room, cooing as they went. They walked towards the large window and turned her body to look as well. "So sad isn't it? But we all know we will recover as we do. But I'm afraid it will take years for some of us to heal. If you know what I mean." They looked back to check on the bruised baby, only to notice that she was staring at them, drool running down her chin. They laughed. "Oh Roku! Your so cute! Keep your mouth closed! Your drooling all over yourself." The door suddenly opened. In walked the missing young nurse.

"The milk? You have it." She shook their head. "We ran out. Though we got some moms and breastfeeding nurses at the pump as we speak." The nurse walked over and took her for the Iryo's arms. She walked over to the small chair in the corner of the room and pulled out her breasts, sticking one in Roku's mouth. She gladly began sucking. The nurse looked up and clearing her throat. "Any news on the Hokage? How is he?"

"Dead". The nurse gasped. "Private funeral is next week, on Friday. The public funeral will be decided when the village is up and running again." The nurse looked away, eyes sorrowful. She turned back to them. "And Lady Kushina? How is she?" The Iryo looked at the nurse before sighing. "They decided that their funeral will be held the same day."

The room seemed to have dropped several degrees. "But what of the village? Who's gonna lead us? We just got a new kage...not even a couple months ago! Are we gonna hold special elections? Who's even gonna run?!" The Iryo shushed her. "Listen. Calm down. You'll turn your milk sour." The nurse rolled her eyes and switched breast. "This isn't really a time to joke don't you think?"

"And this is definitely not the time to panic either. We got the Third on the line. He might be taking the throne. We don't know yet. Should all be decided by tonight. As you can imagine, the village has a lot more important things to worry about than who's going to be the next Hokage. Can you believe it? This," they pointed out the window. "Will take years to rebuild. Millions of Ryo and tons of hands. I would be more worried about that then who the next Hokage is. Besides, if he didn't marry that damned bitch this would have never happened!"

Their comrade gasped and yelled. "How could you say that about Lady Kushina! This was not her fault!"

"Of course this was her fault! Minato knew what he was getting into when he married her. He knew! In fact, this is his fault too. Don't you think that's selfish? He was knowingly setting this village in the path of destruction! He should have killed that bitch when he had the chance!"

"That is your Hokage your speaking so harshly about!"

"That was my Hokage! He's dead! And good riddance I would say! The Third will bring this village back to its original greatness."

The Iryo-nin exited the room, leaving the breastfeeding nurse and the baby. The nurse sighed and looked down at the baby. She smiled softly before she spoke. "As much as it pains me to say, I feel many villagers feel the same" She looked out the window. The day was set and many villagers were running around, grabbing wood or digging through torn down buildings. There seemed to be an offending and defensive air running through the village, as if another attack was about to hit.

She returned her breasts to the inside of her nursing shirt and started pacing the room, patting the babies back.

"Is it wrong I feel the same?"


TDF

The nurses would often leave many of the 0-5 year olds by themselves, that including her. She couldn't do much; her charred skin irritated her every time she moved. All she did was cry or watch the commotion outside. Most, if not all buildings were destroyed and the village looked blank, save for the many tents that dotted the space. Wood and other building materials were set off at the entrance of the village, where all capable hands were tasked to build the foundations.

Roku was moved to the rehabilitation center at the back of the hospital. Her room was dark and depressing. The white paint chipped off the walls and there was a thin layer of dust everywhere. She had fallen into a severe fever because of it. It seemed that many of the doctors and nurses counted on her to die soon. Many orphans had so far, mostly from sickness. Those who ran away did not survive long outside the village. She would often see the orphans dead body's carried back into the hospital after being found out in the forest, half decomposed. The village was too busy to mourn them. The reconstruction of the village moved quickly, the foundations already set.

A nurse would come into her room 5 times a day to feed her and clean her wounds. The skin on her arms and legs where badly burnt and flaky. The nurses would come in, peel off the dead skin, smear some sort of cream on her, wrap her up, then breastfeed her. These sessions where incredibly painful for her tiny body, but since she was so young, she would never remember the pain anyways.


TDF

After her skin had healed and the scaring didn't pain her anymore, she was moved to an orphanage. Being three, she didn't need the nurses to come in every day and breastfeed her. Nor did she really need them to change her. The orphanage was small, around 500 kids. She had her own room which, coincidentally, was exactly like her old hospital room. Chipped white paint. Small bed. Windows facing the dirt walls that surrounded the village. Suffocating.

She had first heard the name Naruto when she was sitting in her room, playing with her Hokage dolls the nurses gifted her when she arrived at the orphanage. It was screamed.

"NARUTO!"

She jumped up. She had half the mind to get up and investigate, but she never left her room during the day and she wasn't about to because of some commotion. She heard a quick struggle, then the wailing of a child. Sighing, she got up from her position on the floor and stepped outside her room. Peering down the hallway, she saw a caretaker spank the wailing child.

"Stupid kid! This will teach you not to move around when I'm trying to change you!" Her beatings where merciless and it seemed that whenever another caretaker came to see what the noise was about, they would shrug their shoulders and walk away. Some children walked past, some watching and giggling.

The wailing child suddenly looked up, right at her. His blond hair stuck to his face. Eyes like jewels. No, oceans. Wide and wet with tears. He whimpered every time the caretaker spanked him, and at the same time, his gaze on her worsened.

'What. You want me to come and save you?'

'Please! It hurts!'

'Get over it.'

She didn't smirk or smile. Didn't giggle or laugh. Didn't even move forward to stop the violence.

'Your name is Naruto?'

'Yes. Please help me!'

She turned and walked back into her room. Making sure to lock her door.


TDF

so i've deleted and re uploaded and deleted and re uploaded this story a multitude of times. I kinda want to stick with this version though so we will see if this goes anywhere. Updates will be inconsistent but at worst I'll try to get a chapter in every month. My goal is one chapter every week though so. I hope yall like it lol. There will be a love interest so please leave suggestions on who it should be, preferably any of the male rookies. Also, please leave as much criticism in the comments as possible. I don't have a beta so i need it. Thank you and i hope yall stick around!

First fun fact about Roku: her favorite color is gray. 1