X
By ZAFO
—
Gaara had always liked high places. Back in Suna, he used to sit on the rooftop of his apartment every night and stare either into the village or up at the stars. In the rare moments of relative peace in which Shukaku's screams dimmed down into chant-like mutterings, Gaara felt a sort of longing when he was alone. Longing for what, he didn't know, until now.
Here, in Konoha, the Forest of Death somehow just felt… right.
Maybe it was the shadows. Maybe it was the trees. Maybe it was the soft chirping of birds. Maybe it was the fact that they just didn't have this kind of scenery back in Suna. Whatever the case, 'Mother' had been completely silent upon first setting foot in the woodlands—and this was the reason why he had wanted to return. Entry into that tower meant losing that coveted silence, and if he didn't have to do so for another few days then he wasn't going to.
Now that he was back in the forest for a second time, however, a wholly different voice began to plague him.
"(…)"
It wasn't Shukaku.
It was young and female and completely unfamiliar. Gaara wondered if perhaps one of the faceless kunoichi he had killed in Sunagakure were haunting him. If that was the case, the redhead found himself thankful that the voice was so muddled.
"(…)"
—
—
It had been one full day since their encounter with Orochimaru and the Sound nin, and Sasuke, at least, had recovered enough to be effectively mobile. After securing a meager lunch of roots and berries, Sakura sat at their campsite with a still-unconscious Naruto laid out carefully by her side. She watched her long-time crush with growing concern.
Sasuke had become obsessed with trying to recreate the flaming fist that had melted off Orochimaru's face, currently going through yet another series of kata, focusing hard on his chakra pathways…
Poot.
The only result he ever got was a small, smoky fart sound.
Sakura clapped from the sidelines.
"What was that?!" The Uchiha snarled, in frustration. "That was the worst sealless jutsu I've ever seen!"
His teammate twirled her hair shyly.
"That one felt kind of warm." She said hesitantly.
"Don't patronize me!" He scowled, attempting to punch fire again.
Poot.
—
—
Far away, Avatar Korra visits the (once) Great Uniter in her suspended jail cell, five years after her defeat. The walkway beneath her sways, while Kuvira sits inside her wooden cage with undying arrogance.
Korra clenches her fists.
"Prince Wu is in a coma." She says. "The vines in Republic City are kidnapping people again, and the rebels are getting out of control. Now they use guns and cannons that shoot condensed spirit energy just like the technology you stole from Varrick."
Kuvira smirks, and brushes a loose strand of ink-black hair from her face.
"I actually cared about my people." Says Kuvira. "I wasn't lying when I said my goals were about equality. I took the Earth Empire to the forefront of the world stage, and now its loyal citizens are avenging my wrongful incarceration."
"There is no Earth Empire anymore."
"Not to you. But then again, you're an outsider. How could you understand?"
"This isn't right."
"This isn't wrong, but we can argue about that all day. You came here for something, Avatar. What is it?"
The watertribe woman narrows her aquiline blue eyes.
"Where is Baatar Jr.?"
Kuvira merely laughs. The harsh, mocking sound echoes throughout the underground cavern.
—
—
On the third official day of the Chuunin exams, the rising sun bathed the Forbidden Forest in a nostalgic array of red, orange, and brown.
With this, the unknown voice in Gaara's head became louder.
"Why (…)? I can't…"
Gaara gave a small grunt and leaned against the trunk of the tree he was perched in, touching his temple. Suddenly, an image flickered into clarity—the owner of the voice.
It was a dark-skinned girl with teary blue eyes, and chocolate brown hair looped into a long braid down her back. Gaara didn't know what to think of the faint feelings of regret and longing rising in him.
"All those people… (…), you monster!"
The regret intensified, then solidified into anger. In his vision, the girl continued; tears streamed down her pretty face as she grit her teeth, before pushing him—him?—away fiercely.
"Why (…)? I can't believe I (…)! You lied to me! You're sick and I (..)!"
Gaara growled as he felt a cold chill rack his body.
Yes, it was definitely a ghost. There was no other explanation.
But the girl looked like a foreigner, having features somewhat similar to people of the Hidden Cloud. When had he ever killed a foreigner prior to the Chuunin exams? When had he even stepped foot in Cloud to do so? Even during the exam, he couldn't yet remember killing a woman.
"(…), you MONSTER!"
"Yes." He found himself answering. He was a monster. But what did he care of the opinions of a dead woman? What did she know? Why did he have to care?
The jinchuuriki felt himself filling with rage—this time his own, not Mother's—and he snarled with contempt as he leapt off the branch and onto another, making a violent tear through the canopies.
Self-righteousness began to wash over him. Sabaku no Gaara fought only for himself and lived only while loving himself. All others in the world existed solely to validate his own life. The only reason he had to be in this dirty world was to kill others, because he was a monster. Everyone was against him. There was no one he could trust. He needed to kill someone again.
He needed to kill…
He wanted to kill…
For some reason, the first face that came to mind was the bright, sunny visage of Naruto's.
—
—
Darkness descended, and Naruto remained unconscious. There was something wrong—this was serious. Naruto never took this long to recover.
Sakura fretted over him still, wiping with his forehead with a wet cloth she had torn from her dress. Sasuke fretted over them both, twirling a kunai in case of attack with tired paranoia.
"C'mon dobe," He muttered. "Wake up…"
—
—
Naruto is lost, utterly lost.
He doesn't know how long it's been since he's woken up. The sky above runs dark, and there are no stars in sight to guide his way back. Gloomy foliage surrounds him, and the animals scatter when they hear the sound of footsteps. No one has yet ambushed him—but no one seems to be there at all anymore. It's as if reality itself has somehow stagnated.
He misses Sakura. He misses Sasuke.
He prays that the Chuunin exams aren't over yet, and he prays that his teammates won't hate him for going AWOL when they needed him most. Never in his life has he been so scared, because there's nothing to fucking react to now—nothing to distract from the gnawing sense of unease and loneliness threatening to overtake him.
He wonders if he's stuck in a genjutsu. If he is, he thinks bitterly that it's highly effective, because at this rate he'll surely go insane in the barren, endless twilight.
Eventually, Naruto spots a faint hint of light at the end of the labyrinth. After an indiscernible amount of time trudging despairingly through the same sights and sounds over and over, Naruto feels a surge of hope swelling deep in his chest.
He runs toward it—he wants to go home. Maybe it'll lead to home.
The light envelops him whole, and he closes his eyes.
When he opens them again, he thinks his heart has stopped beating when it doesn't.
Spread out before him now is a landscape even more grim than the Forbidden Forest. Here the sky is an odd hue of burnt gold, and there are only half-dead plants scattered across the dry, cracked earth. Thick mist drifts in and out his vision.
"No…" He whispers.
This was a genjutsu. This had to be a genjutsu.
"This is not a genjutsu." Says a deep, rumbling voice by his side—the first he's heard in a long time.
Naruto whips his head towards the source of sound, coming face-to-face with a young man dressed in robes of eras long past, chained to his wrist. His hair is long and crimson, and eyes are a bright, molten lava.
Naruto gapes at the taller stranger, bewildered, and the stranger looks down at him with a mixture of disdain and exasperation. Then the whisker-like scars on his handsome features grow dark and jagged, and when he opens his mouth, his canine teeth extend and sharpen menacingly.
"Human," He starts, rattling the chains that bind them. "Why have you taken us into the realm of Koh the Face Stealer?"
—
—
Sasuke felt a familiar presence hovering near them, and it definitely wasn't welcome. He threw his kunai at a nearby canopy, and watched as Gaara of the Desert descended uninjured in a swirl of sand.
Sakura shrieked, shielding Naruto's motionless body with her own.
"Get away!" She cried desperately. "We don't have any more scrolls! Leave us alone!"
"I don't want your scrolls." The Suna nin replied tonelessly. "I want the blonde one."
"Why?" Sasuke hissed.
Because he laughs so infuriatingly. Because that girl called me a monster.
Because my memories… hurt.
"I want to kill him." Gaara said simply.
"Then you'll have to get through me." Snarled Sasuke.
Gaara uncorked his gourd.
"Sakura, run." The Uchiha gritted. "Take Naruto with you!"
The pinkette barely managed to dodge in time as a tendril of sand shot towards them. Naruto was heavy on her shoulders—how was she supposed to protect them both?
—
—
A/N: alert! guys, I've only watched up to episode 10 of Book 4 of Legend of Korra. I'm writing this without knowing how it ends, so just to remind you–though I think it's obvious so far–that both Naruto and ATL:A worlds here are super AU. anyway, tell me what you think! ^^
Edited 1.8.18
