Death of My Heart
Strawberry Seraph
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto in any way shape or form so NYAH!!!
Chapter Two
Fox knelt in front of the Hokage, his mask conspicuous in its absence. He missed it with its familiar weight, however slight, and the safety of being someone else. Now, his mask was shattered, lying in pieces on the floor of a foreign forest.
Now he was once again Uzumaki Naruto.
Fox was his strength. His power. His pride.
Uzumaki was forever his failure.
Sasuke had shattered his mask. Shattered his ability and reduced him once again to the empty shell that he was.
Fox bowed his head lower in shame, "The mission was a failure, Hokage-sama."
Tsunade sighed and stood up, causing Fox to close his eyes and look away, unable to face the one he had come to view as a mother figure over the years.
He had nothing to give her for that invaluable gift. Merely mistakes and complications and new enemies. Failures.
A hand landed unexpectedly on the top of his head, causing him to flinch and shrink away from it. Even as he attempted to get away, he was drawn into an almost bone-crushing hug. He went ridged at the contact and started shaking when she didn't release him.
"H-Hokage-sama!"
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Sakura had stepped into office expecting to have to wake up her slothful master, not having her holding a trembling ANBU in a bear hug, making sure that he couldn't get away. At least not without seriously injuring her. And that was something no ANBU in his or her right mind would do.
Her blurted words didn't seem to help the situation at all only gaining her an angry glare, until exactly who she was registered and the Hokage's entire expression brightened.
"Perfect!" Tsunade crowed, a crazy light seeming to come into her hazel eyes before she turned to the blonde ANBU who she had her arms wrapped around.
In a soft, gentle voice, the Godaime spoke to the distressed ANBU, "Fox… No, Naruto," She said, in a voice too low for Sakura to catch, "It was bound to come out sooner of later and I think she is the first one you should tell, if only her and no one else."
"He may have broken your mask but you are still the same person with or without it. Whether as ANBU or not."
"He hasn't broken you until you let him."
Tsunade took one of his hands which was clenched about a piece of porcelain, and painstakingly unwrapped his fingers from the sharp edges that had dug into his skin, causing his blood to stain the previously white shard, "Take what remains, hold it close and never give up."
"After all, weren't you the one who told me that you never take back you unbending words? That that was your nindo?"
Sakura gasped in shock as she put two and two together.
"Naruto?!"
Slowly, the blonde turned to face her and she noticed the many differences from when she had last seen him, so long ago.
Baleful red eyes stared at her and even though they were currently fearful and lost, she couldn't resist a shudder which wracked her frame at the sight of them. Previously thin, whisker-shaped marks had branched into triangular clefts and fangs poked out from beneath his upper lip as his mouth parted slightly.
"…Sakura," he said softly. So softly that both of the others in the room had to strain to hear him.
For the pink-haired kunoichi, it was a major shock. She had almost been expecting him to shout her name in a vigorous manner that had been such an integral part of his character.
She shook herself out of her daze, "Wha-What happened to you?!"
Fox's lips sealed shut in a thin line, causing is more mature face to gain a grim and solemn cast.
Sakura took a hesitant step towards the ANBU kneeling in front of her, "…Naruto?"
His eyes sharpened at the name, now that he was over his shock, "Haruno-san, I must respectfully request that that name not be used in my presence. Uzumaki Naruto was killed several years ago." He looked away from his former teammate, now pointedly ignoring the Slug Sannin's apprentice, "Godaime-sama, I must report to headquarters, may I be dismissed?"
Tsunade sighed sadly in disappointment, "Of course…" She gestured towards the open window, "Go."
Fox nodded respectfully towards her before slipping quietly and quickly out of the office, leaving the two medic-nin to the now suffocating silence.
It was several minutes before Sakura recovered her wits enough to speak, "What…" she floundered, "Who…"
Sakura's master took pity on her as she sat slowly in her chair, her weariness showing through her authoritative mask, "You just met the chief phantom of our entire ANBU forces. All of Konoha even. He has the credentials, the power, and the ability to become Rokudaime Hokage… but he's a wreck here," she tapped two fingers on her left temple.
"He has been hated, neglected, abused, tricked, betrayed and broken, since the day he was born." Tsunade closed her eyes as if in silent agony, "I am surprised that he was still sane when I found out the extent of the physical and mental torture he has been made to experience for longer than he can remember."
Sakura's throat worked but no sounds came out. What was she supposed to do? To say? Why was Tsunade-sama telling her this?
"He told you that Naruto died," the older female shook her head, "In a way he did."
Tsunade pulled out a drawer and riffled through it before pulling out a picture frame and laying it on the desk then turned it around so that her student could see.
Amethyst eyes stared blankly up at her form an emotionless face. Sakura stared at it as if hypnotized while Tsunade spoke.
"This is the last picture I was able to take of him. He said that if there were no signs of him, he could become a shade, one of the demons that prey on the hearts and minds of even the steeliest shinobi. He said he would become a vessel of Konoha's will of fire, working in the shadows. He has no family and he gave up what friends he had made. He became the embodiment of the perfect lifeless shinobi tool, without will of his own, by sacrificing his humanity. In short, he became everything that he was not, while giving up everything that he was."
Tears glimmered in her eyes was she put her head in her hands, "I don't even know where to start helping him. I have seen the silently, inwardly crying child, the loud, obnoxious prankster, the number one, most surprising ninja of Konoha, and I have seen the heartless ANBU. Sometimes I wonder just who Naruto really is." Crystalline streams ran down her cheeks silently and Sakura could give her no council.
The tears were for all the ones that Naruto could no shed, or else risk drowning in maddening grief.
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