He was different in the cold cell. His eyes were cold and tired for he never slept anymore. The ANBU found it funny to torture him by keeping him up for nights on end by banging on the bars and shouting at his face. In the end, he would always be caught staring out the barred window with a blank face whenever his friends came. They didn't understand his crime for it was said he killed Uchiha Sasuke. He didn't kill the Uchiha; he only brought the body back. Uchiha Itachi was the killer once again, but Naruto wouldn't speak about the mission to anyone. He acted almost afraid to for something must've happened to him, or he'd be demanding his freedom with his loud voice. Fear was eating away at his heart and mind until nothing was left but insanity. It felt like he never had anything but his insanity anyways.
Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru were called in to pull the information out of the seventeen-year-old a year after his arrest. The shadow ninja was only there because Naruto wouldn't let the interrogators come close to him. Ino was going to pry the information straight from Naruto's mind as if she were fishing. In the cell, she sat in the chair beside Shikamaru, who was holding Naruto to his chair across from them. He looked almost lifeless to them. Something seemed to be missing from him, from his heart. Ino and Shikamaru brushed it off and continued with their mission. The blonde mind controller entered Uzumaki Naruto's mind. She didn't know what to expect or how to react to the scenes in his head.
She came to after an hour. Naruto's hard cold eyes stared at her as if looking into the depths of her soul. She shuddered and almost screamed. The blond fox boy broke Shikamaru's jutsu, and he took steps over to Ino. Shikamaru could no longer hold Naruto for more than a second. The boy found the weakness and broke it. Naruto crouched down in front of Ino, whom had no energy left to fight. She knew what was missing. She just saw everything there was to Naruto's life. The pain was on her shoulders too, and it felt like five hundred grown men sitting on her shoulders. She gasped when he touched her cheek. The hand was cold and felt strange.
"You're real," he whispered coldly as he held back pain. She wanted to scream and kick him until he was unconscious, dead, or understanding, but she didn't move. He kept his hand on her cheek with serious eyes that didn't belong to the seventeen-year-old. He took some of her hair in his hand then. Ino backed away then. Naruto looked hurt and confused. He went back to staring at the bird outside his window without another word. For a boy that refused to let other interrogators come anywhere closer than five feet, Ino was the one with all his secrets and fears. She was the one with answers and questions, and he was letting her go with them.
"Ino, Naruto is going to rot here if we don't prove him innocent," Shikamaru said as they were leaving. He knew that the jail was having negative effects on Naruto. He had seen it happen to others before Naruto. Being an ANBU requires one to know what a criminal looks like, how to interrogate them, and how to kill them when they lose control. Shikamaru wasn't a big fan of the job, but it paid more, and he needed the money for he was saving to pay for his parents' house since they were both getting old and ready to retire. He let out a long sigh. "What's wrong with him?" The words themselves sounded forbidden, and he found himself almost afraid of the answer.
"He was in a dark place. Itachi tortured him for months, and he wanted to escape. Sasuke came, and he died right in front of Naruto. Shikamaru, Naruto's lifetime promise made to Sakura was broken, and failing his friends means he failed himself. Sasuke didn't see him for Itachi had placed a jutsu on him, but when he hit the ground, Naruto's other self woke and killed Itachi. We weren't told any of this. Tsunade isn't going to be happy when she finds out," Ino said. She didn't cry like she use to over Sasuke; she didn't care to say the least. She saw Naruto's life, heard his thoughts, and felt his pain. All he had to say was 'You're real'. Did he think of the jail and its people as fake? No, Itachi's jutsu never left Naruto completely.
"Hey! Look at the Konoha freaks! Aren't they the ones who put us in here?" a big bald guy asked. No, Naruto brought most of them in. He was their police on the other side. He went behind enemy lines to free comrades that were captured, killed S-class criminals, and smile like nothing happened. Ino knew that Naruto was a false hero. Yes, he did save allies and killed criminals and enemies, but he only did it for his own reasons. He killed for the fun of hearing their last cries. He was gone on the insanity path and not coming home. "Blondie!" The bald guy wanted her attention. She looked at him. "Where's Uzumaki? He's here, isn't he?" She didn't want to tell this lowlife anything, so she just kept walking next to Shikamaru, trying to forget what Naruto said to Itachi as the Uchiha died. 'When are you coming home, Sensei? I missed you.' It made her shudder at the thought.
Naruto was Itachi's student when the blond was six years old. Actually, he was the Uchiha's adopted son by the papers. Naruto never knew that his sensei had orders to kill him on his sixteenth birthday because that was the year everyone predicted Naruto to go crazy. The blond didn't though.
He was nearly killed eight years too early. On the night of the Uchiha Massacre, Itachi went to kill Naruto first, and he almost succeeded too. Sealing away Naruto's demon powers a little bit farther, he sliced at the child that was no older than his own brother. It didn't matter anymore because Naruto was dealing with much more.
Ino explained everything to Tsunade, who got Naruto's file to back the story up. The Fifth Hokage sighed and leaned back against her chair. Naruto's only crime was killing the person Sasuke wanted to, but Sasuke was already dead by the time Itachi was killed. Naruto was innocent in all the charges put against him. She ordered several people to let Naruto go.
Hatake Kakashi and Tsunade walked over to the cell. The limp body hanging from the ceiling by a bed sheet tore up to make a rope. This was obviously planned out months before by the dead man. The silver hair Jonin sighed and looked at the smile on the man's face.
"He's free from his curse," Kakashi muttered. Tsunade smacked his head and was crying. She asked him to take the body down and lay it on the bed. Kakashi cut the sheet and caught the body. It was light and small compared to most of the bodies Kakashi carried around.
The Jonin removed the noose and tossed it aside before placing the body on the empty bed. The blue eyes were closed, and the smile made his entire face look peaceful to the two that looked at it. Tsunade kept on crying, and Kakashi couldn't bring himself to cry. Sakura was going to freak when she heard the news. Why did he die now instead of later as an old man?
"Goodbye, my student. Hope you find peace soon, Uzumaki Naruto."