Waking up that morning, Naruto went to his closet and pulled out some black pants, an orange shirt with long blue sleeves that clung to his toned chest almost like it was a second skin… Once he was dressed, Naruto pulled on his black shoes and curled his toes a few times to make sure they were on properly. Sighing softly, Naruto walked out of his home and looked up at the sky… it sure was a beautiful day that was for sure…
Naruto yawned softly; he hadn't had a decent night sleep for the past few nights. It seemed like his dreams were happening a little more recently. Running a hand through his hair, the young man kept on walking around the village hoping to clear his mind of everything that was happening around in his life. There was the whole 'him delivering a gift to the royal family'. Sighing softly, Naruto looked up at the sky, wondering why it seemed like it was a little different…
"Ah well, it can't be something horrible."
Shaking the thought out of his mind, Naruto kept on wondering around the village, thinking that he should help his dad herd the goats or help in the garden. Knowing his mother though, she would be checking on his horse Luna…
She was a beautiful horse, that as for sure, she was a black horse with a beautiful raven main and tail though had a crescent moon on her side, where her leg joined with her body… which had given Naruto the idea to name her Luna. Chuckling, the young man walked over to his teacher's home hoping to get that sword that he had been promised today…
Though, not that he was expecting anything different to happen today at all. Yawning, the young man ran a hand through his blonde locks and walked over the wooden bridge and toward the house on the far left, the only one on a small hill… it was kinda sad that Kakashi didn't have any children, he and his girlfriend Anko have been trying but it just seemed that nothing worked for them…
Shaking his head, Naruto gently knocked on the door and waited for a moment… Crossing his arms in irritation, he wondered if Kakashi was late coming to the door as he was to when they would train…
Lifting his hand to knock again, Naruto noticed that the door opened and he blinked in confusion. Standing in the door way was a tall man with grey hair that defied gravity… a black shirt and matching pants that clung to every muscle of his body as if it was a second skin… well, not as much as the pants anyway thank god… he wore black fingerless gloves and finally, to complete his outfit was a black strip of cloth that covered half his face. It started from the bottom half of his right cheek going all the way up to cover his left eye. It was strange for Kakashi to have his eye covered but he guessed it was because it was attacked when he was a teen… from what he had heard anyway…
"Hello Kakashi-sensei, I was wondering if you had my sword ready…"
The tall man nodded as he said "of course, I had it ready yesterday."
Naruto's eye twitched… Kakashi… had the sword… finished yesterday? Growling, the young man took a deep breath as he shouted "why didn't you give it to me yesterday then!"
Kakashi laughed a bit, seeming to find Naruto's anger very humours. Which only seemed to fuel Naruto's anger to the point where he wanted to punch his teacher in the face, oh how he wanted to do that… but he kept it to himself for now… "May I have my sword Kakashi-sensei?"
Nodding, the grey haired man handed Naruto a simple looking sword. He just stared at him with a raised eyebrow as if saying 'why the hell are you giving me this sword?' Though he kept silent and accepted the blade. The sword was just as simple as he thought it would… normal looking hilt, not much of a guard really… the sword was straight, no cool designs on it or anything but he could live with it for now…
Shaking his head, Naruto knew that he had to just accept this while he had a chance. He knew that he had a mission tomorrow to get to the castle of Hyrule… mostly to get this village to be seen as more than just a farming village, but that people here were just as strong and would need help now and again… and the gift that Naruto was going to deliver… it would be the gift of peace so to speak… Running a hand through his hair, Naruto walked off after thanking Kakashi for the sword.
He started to wonder around to the training grounds, hoping that he would be able to find something to help him train his skills with a sword. Sure, he was only one of few warriors in the village, but at least he could train in the art that had been passed down in his father's family, along with Kakashi's training gave Naruto the ultimate style of swords play.
Once he arrived to the training ground, Naruto couldn't help but smile when he saw the three kids playing around… one boy had brown hair that went straight up like Kakashi's, black eyes and he wore a headband around his forehead, which did help him to keep his hair up. He wore a simple yellow shirt with an orange swirl on the middle, and light grey shorts and the same kind of sandals that everyone wore in the village, well; his were black which was rare for people to wear in the village.
Next to him was a girl with a sandy orange coloured hair that was up at the sides of her head almost like pigtails, but the elastics were at the ends of her hair, her eyes were big and dark, almost black… Her clothes were a pink top with long pants that were white with red swirls around the legs.
And finally, there was another boy with a bit of a bowl haircut, his hair was brown, his eyes dark as the night… Though, Naruto was always confused why he always looked tired and sick at the same time. He wore a black shirt and grey shorts; it sorta suited him in a way…
"Hey boss! Did you get your sword?" asked the brown haired boy, which made Naruto just smirk… ever since he had saved the kids from a wild boar a few years ago, they looked up to him as if he was their leader… Not that he minded, it was some practice when he took over the village for his father… even if it was with little kids, Naruto did worry about them like they were his younger siblings… (If he ever got any)
"Yeah, I got the sword, not what I was planning on getting … it doesn't look like it could stop any enemies but at least it's something…" calmly said Naruto as he placed the sword in the plain brown sheath that came with the sword. Sighing softly, he stared at the kids asking "what are you two doing out here anyway?"
"We're monkey hunting," said the brown haired boy, which only confused Naruto all the more.
"Monkey hunting?"
"Yeah, the monkeys have been acting weird lately and we're hunting them down to get them to stop." Said the bowl cut haired boy.
Sighing, Naruto stared at the kids as he said "Konohamaru, it isn't a smart idea to bother the monkeys, maybe they're trying to tell us something. Monkeys are smart after all."
The brown haired boy, known as Konohamaru just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, a sure sign that he was not pleased at Naruto's words, he calmly said "but boss, they've been causing nothing but trouble for a week now and we have to do something to stop them!"
"No, the warriors of the village are to do something, the children are to go home, do their training and stay out of trouble."
The children were not amused, they didn't want to stay back and watch all the action take place… Naruto knew that, but he also didn't want them to get hurt without the proper training… Suddenly, all they all heard something… Looking around, Naruto thought he heard something, more like an animal? Closing his eyes, the young man reached into his pocket for something… a hidden weapon… Eyes snapping open, Naruto threw a kunai at the tree, which had caused a monkey with a red and pink flower on its head to fall over.
"A monkey!" shouted the girl, which Naruto remembered was named Moegi, he knew that she loved animals and wouldn't want to hurt the monkey, only to try to get it to stop causing trouble for the villagers.
While the sickly yet tired looking boy just gave it a tired stare, Udon was the smart one out of the children, and the one with the sense of reason. He tried to reason with Konohamaru, to get him to stop bothering the monkey but sadly, he ran after the monkey, with Moegi right behind him and of course Udon shaking his head and running after his friends into the woods.
Naruto growled for a moment before running after them, he had to stop them no matter what! Looking over, he saw a piece of long grass, he was glad that he had learned a simple melody to call Luna to him no matter what… it didn't matter what it was played on so long as Luna knew the song she would always come to him. As soon as he started to play, he could already hear the sounds of stomping heading his way.
Naruto couldn't help but smile, the sound of panting soon followed the sound of stomping of hooves… the sound of her cries echoed through the air…
It was so soft, that most people wouldn't hear her coming, but Naruto knew… he knew when she would come; his ears were so in tuned with nature that most people wonder if he was an animal in a sense… Maybe he was, but didn't know it… at the moment, he didn't care if people thought he had animal senses, all that mattered was getting a step ahead of those kids, the woods were dangerous…
Monsters have been seen lately, and he had to protect them no matter what.
Soon enough, he opened his eyes and saw his horse marching up to him before skidding on the ground. Smiling, Naruto climbed up onto Luna and tapped her sides with his legs and held onto her reins tightly as she ran forward. He wasn't sure how long this would take, but what he did know was that he had to save them. Those kids didn't know the dangers of the forest… there was just too many dangers in this place.
"Go Luna go!" shouted Naruto, he could hear the sounds of monsters… the sounds of their footsteps through the leaves as it crunched under their feet. The young man saw a closed off gate ahead of them, narrowing his eyes into slits, he pushed Luna to run even faster, he had to make sure that they stayed safe, and that means fence or no fence! "Come on girl you can do it!" he shouted through the wind as it tossed his spiky blonde hair.
Finally, Luna jumped over the fence, landing a little roughly but it didn't stop her from running. Naruto patted her side as he said "good girl, now let's get the kids."
Hearing her snort, Naruto knew that it was a sound of agreement… Looking on ahead, Naruto saw Moegi and Udon, they both looked like they were worn out, and knew right away that they had stopped… but what confused him was that Konohamaru wasn't with them.
"Where's Konohamaru?" asked Naruto, giving the children a disapproving stare that they had lost the brown haired boy. When Konohamaru's grandfather had passed away, he had asked Naruto to look after the boy, and now… it seemed like he was doing a poor job of it. The kids pointed on ahead, which made Naruto's blood run cold. Back there was the path to the temple, no one had ever gone there, it was forbidden to go there for the beasts that were there… they could easily kill and devour anyone.
Cursing under his breath, Naruto gently hit Luna's sides and got her running on ahead, he had to hurry and get to the temple before it's too late to save Konohamaru.
Taking the path that lead to the forest, Naruto could easily see some strange looking monsters. Narrowing his eyes, he grabbed his sword and swung at the strange plant-beasts with a blue head, or he should say a blue mouth since it was only a big head with a jaw. Slicing it at the steam, Naruto rode off even faster. He could see that the forest was clear of any of this darkness influencing it… that was a plus for him at least.
Looking around, Naruto noticed that there were strange little creatures. They had the mouths of a shark, a white Mohawk, blue skin, a club in their clawed hand and wore a piece of cloth which he guessed was a loin cloth. "Creepy…" Naruto said to himself and Luna before they charged, the only way to the temple was to destroy these beasts. "Let's go and kill some monsters girl!" shouted Naruto with a smirk, tightly holding the sword in his hand.
As soon as Naruto had charged the beasts charged at the two charging heroes.
Naruto swung his sword in the hopes to stop the beasts; he swung his sword as the beasts got close. As soon as his blade hit them in the chest, they fell over but pushed themselves back up. Not what he had in mind, but at least it was enough to stop them. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto felt himself bending over, for Luna had lifted her back legs and kicked one of the monsters in the head. "Thanks girl, let's keep going," shouted Naruto, as they ran deeper into the forests, slashing and cutting down anyone that dares to get in his way, though as he fought Naruto had failed to notice the mark… his birthmark on the back of his left hand glowing a soft gold.
As soon as he had broken down the fence, Naruto charged in, Luna sounding like she was short of breath. "Come on Luna, just a little further!" encouraged Naruto, hoping that she would keep going… they just had to keep going or it could be too late. Though, just as he was passing a big area, he couldn't help but notice something at the far edge… Was that… "A bridge?" Naruto whispered in confusion, shaking his head they kept on running on ahead.
As soon as both Naruto and Luna arrived to the wooden bridge to the temple, Naruto noticed something… "Why does this bridge look like a giant root?" Shaking his head, the young man jumped off of his horse and ran to the gateway that would allow them to go within the temple. Just as he arrived, Naruto slowed his running into a soft walk; there were two more of those monsters… But they were facing a wooden cage… Eyes widening, Naruto saw that the cage contained both a monkey… the same one the kids were chasing… and Konohamaru…
Narrowing his eyes, Naruto knew that he had to think on what to do… But he might not have enough time, for one of the blue monsters were holding a torch… damn it, they were going to burn Konohamaru and the monkey alive! He didn't have time left, he had to just attack! Jumping from his hiding place, Naruto sliced the one monster in half, his body turning to dust and disappearing in the wind.
Narrowing his eyes, Naruto growled at the other, the beast growled and took a step toward Naruto, which only fueled the young man's rage before he charged. Sword and spiked club clashed. Naruto knew that this might be tougher than it should be. The beast slammed its foot into Naruto's stomach causing Naruto to go flying into the wooden wall that surrounded them.
Hissing in pain, Naruto didn't think that it would be this hard to beat them… damn it. Looking up, his face twisted with pain… the birthmark on his hand started to glow again. Giving him more strength than he could ever imagine, narrowing his eyes, Naruto's sword started to glow… his own energy flowing into the blade to give him more power. Screaming at the top of his lungs, Naruto charged at the beast and slashed at it from its waist, right to its shoulder…
The beast turned into dust like its buddy…
Taking deep breaths, Naruto didn't know where that burst of energy came from… only that it had disappeared once his anger had cooled down. Shaking his head, Naruto looked over at the wooden cage and started to rip the wooden poles from the roof and bottom. "What happened Konohamaru?" He asked after breaking the cage, the monkey hugged Naruto's leg before running off.
"I got too deep in the forest… and those monsters came out of nowhere and… and the monkey tried to protect me but it wasn't enough… I was scared…"
"I know you were, that's why you should have listened to me in the first place. The forest is dangerous now, more and more monsters have been appearing and it had made our life more dangerous… that's why we're all training. You can't defend yourself yet Kono… let's get going, I bet everyone is worried about you."
When he saw the boy nod, Naruto walked with the small boy back to Luna and both rode the horse back to the village. He had to get ready to bring the gift to Hyrule Castle, to present it to the royal family to make peace and hope… that they would help us with the danger of the beasts that have been roaming the lands lately.
Though, as Naruto walked to the village, catching up with the other two children, he wondered… why his hand was burning… why he had that power mere moments ago… and why he was having the strange sense when the sky was starting to darken. The hour of twilight was upon them once more…
But it looked strange… instead of it being a peaceful looking hour, it was looking… ominous… more dangerous… 'Is something bad going to happen? Even the animals are uneasy…'
As soon as they entered the village, Naruto's parents came up to him and smiled. Happy that their son had returned, though Naruto hoped that they never find out that they all just came back from the edge of the forest… That, was the last thing he needed his mother to know, she was a tough woman that was for sure. Shuddering at the thought, Naruto looked over and saw a boy with black hair, matching black eyes, his skin was a little pale though that was normal for him… He wore a blue shirt with shite shorts.
"Here dope, don't screw it up." Said the boy as he handed Naruto a box, tilting his head to the side, Naruto opened the box to reveal an Ocarina… the instrument was a bright orange that sparkled in the light that shined through the sky, though it had swirls of black and on the side, was the symbol of the Triforce… the same on that was both the marking of the royal family, and the reminder that he had the same marking on the back of his hand…
But why he had it, he'll never know…
Shaking his head, Naruto turned to the black haired boy as he said "what's the matter Sasuke, jealous that I'm going to the castle while you're here tending to the goats?"
Sasuke just narrowed his eyes, yes they were originally going to pick Sasuke to deliver this gift to the royal family but… well, and that wasn't going to happen this time. Nope, instead they chose Naruto to do it since he had a horse that liked him while Sasuke didn't have a horse that would put up with him.
And on foot it would take a day or two to get there.
Taking a deep breath, Naruto looked at his parents and smiled, he would make them proud of him, not that they weren't already proud of him but he couldn't help but grin. That is, until his mother saw the blood staining Luna's coat… and the small cut.
"Naruto, what did you make Luna do? Sometimes you can be so irresponsible!" shouted Kushina as she grabbed Luna's reins and started to walk away.
"Kushina wait! Naruto needs Luna to get to Hyrule Castle!"
"Dad, just remember… you married her."
"I know Naruto; I know… just go talk to your mother and try to explain to her what had happened…"
"You know?"
"Kakashi told me, he saw the kids take off into the forest and you going after them."
"… Damn it."
Sighing, Naruto ran off to go and talk to his mom. He had to explain what had happened and why Luna was hurt in the first place. Though… the feeling that something wrong just wouldn't leave him alone. It kept bothering him, and he couldn't push it to the back of his head. No, instead it kept coming back to his main thought besides Luna of course.
Looking at the closed off springs, Naruto saw his mother and frowned. Damn it, why did they have a gate to the springs in the first place? This… was so unfair. Looking around, he hoped that the old tunnel he made as a kid was still big enough for him. Turning and going back to where he came from, Naruto turned to his left and looked down…
He pushed aside the wall of moss and leaves that covered the hole, he couldn't help but grin no matter what, no one had ever been able to get rid of this hole, and for that he was thankful. Taking a deep breath, Naruto got on his elbows and started to crawl his way through.
The ground was soft, thankfully, it wasn't wet or it would ruin his favourite shirt and pants.
Once he had made his way out of the tunnel, Naruto stood on his feet and dusted himself off before walking toward his mom. She turned her eyes at him with a soft glare, showing that she was not amused on how Naruto took care of Luna… Frowning, he looked at the ground like he was a little boy once again… and his mother was scolding him for stealing a cookie.
"Mom… I… I was trying to save Konohamaru… he took off and… some monsters were going to eat him. Luna only wanted to help and… I didn't want to leave her where monsters could get her."
"That doesn't mean you should have brought her with you in the first place Naruto."
"But…"
"No buts, you have to learn to be careful. What if it was you that was hurt instead huh?"
"Mom… I'm a grown man."
Kushina sighed softly and gave him a soft smile… Naruto knew that his mother was only worried about him as well, not just the horse. It must be hard for her to see her son becoming a man that was for sure. Giving her a smile of his own, Naruto walked over to his mom and gave her a hug. "Mom, I promise that I'll be more careful when I go to Hyrule Castle. I'm strong… I've been trained by the best."
"I know dear…" Kushina whispered as she hugged Naruto back. When mother and son broke the hug, Kushina gave Naruto a wink as she said "let's go make you some ramen before you go okay?"
"Awesome!"
Though, before they could leave there were tremors… It felt like an earth quake… Looking around in fear, Naruto and Kushina looked up and saw boars bursting and breaking down the gate. Both Naruto and his mother tried to make a break for it to the tunnel.
"Mom get to the tunnel! I can handle these things!" He shouted, looking up, Naruto could faintly make out that whatever these were, their skin was green… and they wore masks but the big one… you could make out crooked teeth and red eyes… plus, some big horns that shot up toward the sky.
Kushina headed to the tunnel but one of the creatures that rode the boar shot an arrow at Kushina's leg, causing her to fall over in pain. Naruto turned; rushing his mother's side but… before he could even get close to her Naruto felt something hitting him…
His vision blurred as pain exploded in his mind, he felt something warm and sticky dripping down the side of his head… Grabbing his head, Naruto saw blood on his fingers… Looking back up again, the monster gave him one last hit to the head… Naruto fell over in the water… his face twisted with pain though; the last thing he saw was the monster holding his unconscious mother in his arms before riding off…
