How pleasant the salt anesthetic
Of the air and the sand and the sun;
Leave the earth to the strong and athletic,
And the sea to adventure upon.
-Ogden Nash
Halcyon Days
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I am not making any money from this.
Warnings: None
Author's Note: this take place before the start of the series, as illustrated by Naruto wearing his goggles.
Iruka should have figured it would happen. He knew that Naruto admired him and the sad lack of understanding adults in his life caused the boy to latch on to Iruka as a sort of father-figure. But honestly, Iruka never planned for Naruto to follow him all the way to the Wave Country. So really, he hadn't broken his vow to never take young Naruto away from Kohona. He didn't know that Naruto was following him. He should have known, but that was beside the point.
On the last night before reaching the Wave Country's border, Iruka was relaxing by his campfire when a crackling noise of snapping underbrush had him jumping to his feet, kunai in hand. Then Naruto was stepping into the tiny clearing, grinning sheepishly and looking like he had just rolled in a lake if mud and then tried to wash in a swamp. "Hey, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto scratched the back of his head and hoped that Iruka wasn't too mad at him. Iruka had a scary temper, though it always subsided quickly.
"Naruto!" Iruka sighed, pretending to be disapproving while hiding his grin. It was impressive that Naruto had trailed him all of the way from Kohona and never once did Iruka sense Naruto was back there. But then Iruka was very eager to get to the Wave Country and was admittedly not paying very close attention. "You are going to have to go back in the morning, young man," he said with his voice stern and tucking his kunai away.
"But, Iruka-sensei, what if I get lost? Or what if enemy ninja catch me? Or I get attacked by wild animals?" Naruto asked plaintively as he slid his backpack off and set it on the ground, his legs aching with weariness. He could see that Iruka wasn't really mad; maybe he had impressed his teacher enough that Iruka wouldn't think Naruto's presence would be a burden. Naruto plopped down by the campfire with a huge sigh of relief. The past two days had been unexpectedly challenging. How was he to know that you couldn't cook cup ramen over a campfire without a pot? Or water?
Iruka dropped the stern mask and grinned. He had made his token protest, should anyone ask. "You are correct. I suppose you will just have to stay with me until I finish my vacation," he said with a voice full of mock suffering. This earned him a laugh from the dirty Naruto. He handed Naruto some dried rations, which the boy immediately shoved into his mouth. "Did you have any problems keeping up with me?"
Naruto shook his head. "Nah, you were going pretty slowly," he said around a mouthful of food. He shoved some more food into his mouth, grimacing at the dryness. Iruka handed him a canteen of water which Naruto accepted with a grateful nod. After he finished his meager supper, he sat back with a sigh and looked at Iruka. The teacher didn't seem mad in the slightest, which relieved Naruto to no end. "How much further do we have to go, Iruka-sensei?"
Looking up at the stars through the canopy of dead leaves, Iruka replied "We should be there early tomorrow, if we get an early start." He focused on Naruto who widened his eyes in comic innocence.
"What? I always get up early," Naruto protested.
"Unless it is a transformation jutsu test day, then you always seem to oversleep," Iruka teased gently.
"Hey! That isn't my fault. I stay up late practicing that stupid jutsu and I oversleep! It isn't my fault!" Naruto took off his goggles and scrubbed his dirty blond hair making it stick up in all directions. Now that he had food in his stomach and a warm place to sit and a person with whom he felt safe, he was getting sleepy. The crickets had started chirping, lulling the young man.
Laughing softly, Iruka shook his head at the wrinkled blanket he dug out of Naruto's backpack and shook it out for the boy to lie down on. Naruto did as Iruka indicated, laying back with his hands behind his head and looking up at the brilliant night sky. "Say, Iruka-sensei?"
"Yes?"
"Will you tell me a story?"
Smiling with affection, Iruka shrugged. "I suppose I can, are you comfortable?" he asked as the fire crackled and popped quietly.
Wiggling around briefly, Naruto nodded, still not taking his eyes from the sky. "Yup, I'm ready."
Poking the campfire with a stick and sending sparks into the air, Iruka started. "Once upon a time, there was a pod of dolphins that spent their days laughing and playing in the ocean."
"What's a pod?"
"A group of dolphins."
"Oh."
"These dolphins were different than other dolphins for they were the sacred immortal servants of the ocean god. They were not only his servants but his most trusted friends and he would often swim with them in his dolphin shape, laughing and playing. But even more extraordinary was their leader. She was a beautiful dolphin, a rich gray with eyes that shone with mischief and fun. She was beloved by all the other dolphins in the pod. Even the ocean god loved her above all the other creatures in his realm. She was carefree, funny and made everyone feel good."
"Boring."
"Naruto, do you want to hear this or not?"
"Okay, okay just not too mushy, alright?"
"Who it telling this story again? Now if I may?..." Iruka asked, twitching an eyebrow at Naruto.
"Anyway, one day the dolphin was swimming off by herself for some unknown reason when she saw a ship in the distance. Curious, she swam closer to look at it. It was a small ship, and fast but she had no problem keeping up with it. Not seeing anything unusual or interesting she was just about to swim away when she looked up and nearly faltered in surprise. Looking down at her over the ship's railing was a human male. Now she had seen humans before, but not like this one. His hair was bright yellow like the sun and he had eyes the color of the ocean. Some instinct told her that he was very kind, yet he too loved to have fun. You see, to dolphins, having fun and making mischief were the point of living. Life without fun was no life for them." Iruka paused with a far away look in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he brought himself back to the story before Naruto could prod him.
"She swam alongside the ship for a long while, mesmerized by the human. She might have stayed there forever, but there was another ship sailing nearby that without warning turned and attacked. It turns out that this other ship was actually a pirate ship. The smaller ship was faster, but the cannons of the pirate ship cut down the small ship's sails and so the small ship was unable to get away. Instead, they were forced to fight."
"The fighting was brutal. Cannonballs ripped through the ships, tearing them apart, and their human passengers along with them. The dolphin was shocked and sickened by the violence but she wouldn't leave until she found out what had happened the yellow-haired human. She circled the battling ships unable to do anything but watch in horror as the ocean began to turn red with blood." Iruka paused again, glancing over to see if Naruto had fallen asleep but Naruto rolled onto his side to see why Iruka had stopped.
Smiling, Iruka continued. "The battle had been raging for a while when a huge explosion destroyed both ships. The dolphin searched and searched for the yellow-haired man and finally found him, injured and unconscious floating amongst the wreckage. Carefully, she maneuvered herself underneath him and started swimming to the nearest shore which was about ten miles away. It took a long time because she had to swim slowly. The man remained unconscious throughout the journey and she began to worry that he was dying. Finally she reached the shore of a small village and pushed the man up onto the beach. She splashed around to get the attention of the villagers. They found the man, badly hurt but he was still alive and was able to save his life. All that time, the dolphin stayed near the shore, waiting to see what became of the yellow-haired man. After many days the man regained consciousness and when the villagers told him about the dolphin that had rescued him, he walked down to the beach and thanked her She leaped in delight, happy to see him healthy again. He took off his forehead protector and gave it to her to remember him. Then he explained that he had to leave, that his mission was very important and he had to get back to his village immediately. After thanking her once again, he turned walked away. The dolphin's heart broke as she watched him leave."
Iruka saw Naruto frown at the unfair turn the story had taken, "Well think about it this way. Say, when you get to be a ninja, what will you do when you are on a very important mission? Would you stay for a while with a creature, even though the safety of your entire village was at stake?"
"No, I guess not," Naruto replied reluctantly. "The village must come first."
"The human thought the same way. In his eyes, he had done nothing wrong when he left the dolphin. It isn't like he could take her with him. Indeed he had thanked the honorable dolphin and given it his forehead protector. He couldn't possibly understand that she had fallen in love with him. The human simply had no idea she was anything more than an ordinary dolphin. After he left, the dolphin eventually returned to her pod but she was no longer the same. She moped about, not laughing anymore and the other dolphins in the pod were puzzled at the change. Finally the ocean god himself grew concerned and asked her what was wrong. She told him what had happened out on the ocean with the human. She then begged the god to change her into a human so she could find the yellow-haired man. At first, the god said no, because if he did she would become mortal and never be able to return to the ocean where she was safe and loved. Seeing her stubborn look, he then argued that humans were too different to understand. They were vicious and cruel and killed each other for no reason. True, there were vicious creatures in the ocean, he said, but none of them killed out of the sheer cruelty displayed by humans."
Prodding the fire and sending another shower of sparks into the air, Iruka continued. "She wouldn't listen of course. She kept pleading with the god to change her so she could find the human. Finally, because the god could see that no matter what he said, she would not be persuaded from her desire, he relented and changed her into a human. With the forehead protector as the only clue she had, she set out to find the yellow-haired human on the strangest of places called land."
"Did she find him?" Naruto asked.
"You are jumping ahead but yes, after many hardships and unpleasant realizations about the human world, she found her way to a village hidden deep in the forest. When she showed the forehead protector to the people there, they took her to their leader who turned out to be the yellow-haired man. When the yellow-haired man saw the woman with his forehead protector, he knew immediately who she was. And as he got to know her, he began to fall in love with her cheerful personality and her sense of fun. They never told anyone else who she really was but soon after they were married, she became pregnant with their first child. Are you still awake, Naruto?"
"Of course, Iruka-sensei. I am listening with my eyes closed. Keep going. What happens next?" With his eyes closed, he didn't see Iruka's skeptical stare. But Iruka went on, regardless.
"Even though the dolphin was finally happy, her friends back in the ocean missed her very much. When she sent word to the ocean god that she was expecting and wanted him to bless the unborn child, he agreed to go to the hidden village even though it was dangerous for him to go. So he disguised himself as a young human boy. He also took two of the other dolphins who eagerly volunteered and disguised them as his parents. They journeyed to the hidden village where they are warmly greeted by the villagers even though they did not know that it was the ocean god himself in their midst."
"Why did the god have to disguise himself?" Naruto asked, just when Iruka was sure he had fallen asleep. "I mean he was a god, wasn't he? What can harm hurt a god?"
"By being on land so far away from the ocean, the ocean god was vulnerable. His power is the ocean and if an evil person catches the god on land, he is powerless to defend himself. But the god was willing to take the risk to make his dolphin happy. He counted on the fact that humans look at a young human boy and don't really expect to see anything more than that. He didn't understand back then that shinobi are taught to look underneath the underneath. Their journey was uneventful and they arrived at the village just in time to celebrate the birth of a son to the dolphin and the yellow-haired man. The dolphin-mother told the yellow-haired man who the young man really was and the yellow-haired man greeted the god with respect and honor. The god then blessed the baby and vowed to protect him whenever the child ventured near the ocean as was asked by his parents. Then there was a huge celebration and everyone in the village attended."
"What they did not realize however, was that there was an ancient demon living under the hills nearby. It had been asleep for countless millennia but the god's presence so near had made the beast wake up. And it woke up enraged."
"Thinking the god was there to harm it, it went on a rampage, killing every living thing near it, trying to get at the helpless god. The village tried to protect itself but lost many of its people including the young dolphin mother who died in the initial attack, protecting the baby from falling debris when their building collapsed in the hurricane winds generated by the demon's many tails. Desperate to prevent any more deaths, the yellow-haired leader of the village sacrificed himself and his newborn son in order to cage the demon."
"Wow, that awful," Naruto whispered, wide awake now.
"Yes, it was." Iruka agreed. "The god was inconsolable. It was his fault that the demon had attacked the village, even if he had not known the demon was there. For the first time in his existence the god felt guilt. His arrogance had resulted in so many deaths, both of the dolphins with him and so many of the humans, that in trying to make up for it he became trapped in binding vows. He had already vowed protection for the child. Now, the old leader of the village from before the yellow-haired man made the god take another vow to help rebuild the village he inadvertently destroyed; and help shape the next generation of humans, including creating a leader worthy of taking the yellow-haired man's place. So the god remained in the human village, still disguised as a young man until the child of the dolphin and the yellow-haired man grows up and can take his place as the leader of the village." Iruka stopped poking the fire and turned to Naruto who was waiting for him to finish. "That's all I know of the story."
"What? That sucks! Who told you that story anyway? Stories that don't have ending are dumb. Do they know how it ends?" Naruto demanded, sitting up.
Iruka shook his head. "No one knows how it ends, Naruto. There is a very real possibility god failed to protect the child or himself from evil humans. Or maybe it turns out well and the god having fulfilled his vows, goes home to the ocean where he longs to be. Now go to sleep, tomorrow we need to get an early start because the Halcyon Days are beginning." Iruka lay down on his own bedroll and stared up at the bright stars in the velvet black sky.
"What are Halcyon Days?" Naruto asked as he laid back down.
Iruka didn't answer. He was thinking about tomorrow. Tomorrow he would be home.