I find that reading a fanfic is most enjoyable when I also listen to music. Perhaps you will too.
This chapter took longer to put forth than the others. Thanksgiving break and a nasty computer virus will do this to some. I hope that this chapter is acceptable and I think we all look forward to the next.
Naruto bit down into a large chunk of food as he sat in the booth of a restaurant; Kakashi, Hinata, and Sakura sitting opposite him. They stared silently at the blond as he devoured another bite of food like a starved man. It was admittedly cramped with all three of them sitting on one side of the booth, but, from what they had seen of him, this was a vastly different Naruto than who they had known.
Naruto suddenly stopped shoveling food into his mouth and raised his eyes to stare back at them and, once again, that cold feeling slithered up their spines. They stared at him, he stared back. They stared at him and compared this person before they to the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed boy they had known. The difference was too enormous for them to even comprehend. Was it even possible that this was Naruto Uzumaki?
"Why does everyone keep staring at my face, there's nothing on it!" Naruto said. The team of three shook themselves out of their thoughts and memories. "Sorry about that," Kakashi apologized, "You just remind us of someone we used to know." A golden-haired eyebrow went up when Sakura continued, "It's true, the resemblance is uncanny between the two of you."
Naruto hmm'ed, "And just who do I look so much like, huh?" 'These guys can't lie worth a shit.' The two hadn't bothered to plan this far ahead into the lie, the old Naruto would've taken their word for it.
"Never mind that, what was that back there with those Kumo ninja?" Hinata asked. "Hmm, whad'ya mean?" Naruto asked, resuming his consumption of all things edible. "You know what I mean," Hinata said, "You were knocked through a wall, and then that wall collapsed on top of you, and yet you don't have a single scratch on you anywhere."
Naruto shrugged and waved down a waitress, giving her his empty plate and asking for asking for another course. He turned back to the trio as she wandered off before answering her question, "I just heal fast." That was it, plain and simple.
The three shinobi stared disbelievingly at him before Sakura spoke out, "That can't be poss-"
"Look," Naruto interrupted, "we can go back and forth all day on how awesome you apparently think I am. Which I don't mind at all, by the way." He turned and nodded out a quiet thank you to the waitress as she put a new plate of spicy-looking food in front of him before continuing. "But I've got things to do, places to be, you know the deal."
"You can't!" both kunoichi yelled at him from where they sat, almost knocking him out of his seat.
"Now, now, let's not get all upset," Kakashi mediatated, "Now, how about you just finish the lunch we're buying you and once you're done you won't need to say another word." The blond mulled this over for a moment before picking up his fork and taking a bite of his fresh plate.
Olive branch accepted, Kakashi relaxed back into his seat and the two ninja girls quieted down. "Okay then," Kakashi spoke up, "Maybe we can start by asking who you are?"
"Oh, that's easy," Naruto remarked, swallowing a bite. No one said anything for several minutes. "Well?" Kakashi pushed.
"Well what?" Naruto asked.
Sakura slammed her head into the table, Hinata facepalmed so hard that that her nose might've broken, and Kakashi sweatdropped and pinched the bridge of his nose. After three years they had forgotten how infuriating their blond companion could be. "What's your name?"
"How the hell should I know?" the blond snorted before eating the last bite of food on his plate.
The three ninja just sat there stupidly. He didn't know his own name? How could he not remember something like that? Was it amnesia? They were about to bombard him with a barrage of new questions when they saw that he was already leaving the restaurant. They gave chase, slapping some money on the table before rushing out the door.
Outside they looked everywhere for him, finding the blond already turning the corner at the far end of the street. Their speed put the three shinobi at the turn within mere seconds and they found him already several blocks away, turning into an apartment building.
At this point Hinata took the lead and they followed her as she tracked the ex-ninja through the building, catching up with him on the fourth floor. They turned and saw him standing at the end of the hallway, opening the door in front of him. The Hyuuga girl lunged like a cat at her prey and tackled him to the ground as the rest of the team stood on either side of them.
"You know, usually girls wait till we're inside before they jump me," Naruto said blandly.
Naruto was pinned to the ground, sat on by Hinata as she breathed heavily from the adrenaline rush of hunting down her prey. His arms were free, but the way she had him pinned meant that those were about the only things he could still move. Veins bulging around her eyes, she stared him him down like a bird-of-prey would a particularly tasty morsel. Partially bent forward, her hair hiding their faces almost completely, her hands on his chest, they looked like a couple who'd just been caught doing something illicit.
The kunoichi only now seemed to understand how this situation looked and leapt off of him, cheeks red with embarassment.
"Hey, I didn't say I was against it," the man with no shame said, "It was actually kind of kinky."
Hinata babbled incoherently while Sakura proceeded to stomp the blond into the ground. While this went on, Kakashi took a little peek into the apartment that Naruto had been going into. It was a decent enough looking place, though it did look like it hadn't been used in a while. He turned back to the people in the hallway to see Naruto halfway through the floor and Sakura panting for breath after the brutal punishment, Hinata still babbling several feet off.
"Yep, just as I thought," Naruto coughed, "You're definitely a virgin."
"Wha-what does that have to do with anything?!"
"Only a virgin has that much of a problem with stuff like that," Naruto grinned as he hoisted himself out of the floor. He looked no worse for wear than before he was beaten, covered in a fine layer of dust. He brushed himself off and looked at them like he had swallowed something sour, "Going to enter my humble abode or are we gonna do this out here?"
The group walked into Naruto's apartment and looked around. The place was quite a bit larger than his first one, though it looked to have even less inside of it than the last. Naruto leapt onto a large red couch in the living room, sighing in contentment as he stretched out and relaxed. He crooked one eye open at them, still standing in place, before waving it off. "Make yourselves at home."
The three took seats around the room and lapsed into silence. It pressed on and on, them staring at him while he lay there, unmoving, looking like he was asleep. No one made a sound for several long moments before he spoke.
"So which one of you bozos thought it was a great idea to come looking for me, huh?" The blond asked, eyes still gently closed. "Looking for a fight, like those other ninja guys?" One blue eye cracked open and stared at them all.
There it was again, that same chill in their bodies. One that relished in freezing them from the inside out, even when the weather was still warm.
"We didn't come here to fight," Kakashi replied, "We came here to talk."
"You talk too much," Naruto snorted before closing his eye again.
"You said didn't know your own name back in the restaurant," the blond heard one of the girls speak, "Just what can you remember?"
Naruto tilted his head back let out a long breath through his nostrils. Eyes still closed, he raised one hand high, his final three fingers held up.
"Three?" The other girl asked.
"Three years," Naruto clarified. "That's how far back I can remember anything."
The group of Naruto's oldest friends and comrades simply couldn't comprehend what he had just said, it didn't seem possible. It certainly wasn't fair. To reunite with a loved one long thought dead, but to be completely forgotten by said loved one?
"How is that even possible," Hinata stood up, "How could you just lose your memory?"
"Hinata, sit down," Kakashi ordered.
"No." She stood and paced back and forth. "We come all this way to see someone who should be dead and he can't even remember his own name."
"Which is exactly why we should bring him home," Kakashi counterred, stopping her. "Even if we can't bring his memories back, at least he'll be home again."
"Don't I get a say in this?" The lethargic blond amnesiac asked.
"Don't you want your memories back?" Sakura asked.
"Or to be home with all of your friends?" Hinata added.
"Haven't you ever wondered what your life was like? Who you were?" Kakashi asked. "This is your chance. The answer to every question you've ever had about your old life. The chance of getting your memories back again. Don't you want to at least try?"
The blond lay there stretched out on the couch, hair shadowing his face as his jaw set. He stretched his arms out and put his hands under his head, "Yeah, I think I'll pass."
The explosion of yells and protests from the two girls was expected, even Kakashi looked surprised. When someone lost their memories, they would tend to want them back again.
"How could you not want your memories back" one of them accused.
"Listen..." Naruto said.
"No," the other said, "you know what. You're coming with us whether you like it or not!"
"Listen!" Naruto said forcefully as he sat up.
No one made a sound as they listened. For what, they didn't know. Kakashi's eyes shot open as he grabbed Hinata and Sakura, "Look out!" He dove to the floor and Naruto hopped to his feet before the whole room exploded with force.
No sound was heard, nothing was felt, as everything shook around them. They dimly saw through the deaf haze that a massive hole had been taken out of the wall of the apartment, letting them see the city. The damage was far worse inside the apartment. The couch was split in two, a massive boulder imbedded into the wall behind it, flames licking away. The floor was torn apart and followed the path of destruction until it reached the red-hot piece of stone. Naruto was nowhere to be seen.
The little flames soon began to spread and catch themselves on anything that could burn and smoke began to fill the room. Several people jumped through the hole and walked around the room. When they spotted the three disoriented ninja, they were tied up and carried off as the fire spread.
Within moments, the entire building was ablaze and beginning to crumble.
Inside the burning building
Fire covered everything, burning across every surface and filling the apartment with smoke. The boulder was the hottest part of the entire affair, its entire surface glowing a deep red. As it sat there, the rock began to shift and tremble before it exploded and demolished what was left of the room.
Slowly, where the boulder had crashed to a stop, a person stood up.
Horribly scarred, this person looked perfectly at home in the inferno as his wounds healed. Muscle and sinew knitted together, bone crawled together and fused, and burns changed into healthy skin. Fire swirled around him, wounding him as fast as he could heal and he felt his skin sizzle as the two forces collided.
Naruto waited, like always, for his injuries to heal, a snarl on his blackened face. Charcoal skin cracks sealed and bonded together as the blond strode to the edge of the hole in his home, burning eyes gazed after the people who thought they could finish him with a simple boulder. 'That's it, now I'm mad.
The entire building began to fall, with him still inside, and collapsed into a roaring furnace of rubble. The people around the burning structure fled to a safe distance and watched the huge firestorm continue to burn and slowly, effortlessly, a figure walked walked out of that hell.
Smoke poured from burning patches of skin that quickly turned to a healthier tone. Flames burned at the edges of of his clothing and hair as he went passed the gathered crowd. He stopped and stared at himself through a reflection in the glass window of someone else's home. Ash-gray, bloodshot eyes turned white and blue once more as he watched himself heal. Once done, he was on the move again.
The three Leaf shinobi began to wake up in the middle of a clearing to the sounds of laughter, opening their eyes to see themselves in a large clearing, filled with at least a hundred ninja. Judging from their headbands and attire, these were missing-nin, and they seemed to be celebrating something as the sun began to set.
"Hey, boss," one ninja near them shouted out, "these guys are waking up."
A tall man turned and saw that they were awake before walking over. "So they are. I trust you slept well?"
"Where is our friend," Sakura asked.
"Dead," the leader said simply, "my men made sure of that. And they captured you at the scene, which means you must be his allies."
"Why did you attack us!" Hinata hissed.
"Because that boy was a nuisance to us," the missing-nin said, "ruined our groups' base in the Land of Water. So we killed him."
"You bastard!" the girl yelled.
Once he finished laughing, another missing-nin walked up behind him and directed his attention towards the edge of the clearing, where another rogue shinobi was running terrified towards the group. "Who is that?" the leader demanded.
"That's Raishin, sir," his subordinate answered, "one of our patrols."
The scared ninja ran until he reached his commanding officer before falling to his knees, huffing and puffing.
"What is it," the leader demanded, "where is the rest your patrol?"
"I-it was horrible," the shinobi muttered, facing the ground, "he wasn't human."
"Who wasn't human? Speak!," the leader's other lackey ordered.
Now the man looked up at his comrades, tears and snot and blood dripping down his face. "The guy we were here to kill today, he wasn't dead!" The pathetic man crawled forward and grabbed his superior's clothes, "We tried to kill him ourselves, but nothing worked. No matter what we did he just kept coming. He's coming right now!"
The leader of the group ignored the two bickering bandits and stared at something else more attention-grabbing. Smoke. A forest fire, something even shinobi did well to avoid. Voices alerted everyone that the fire wasn't just one place, they were completely surrounded by it. Soon all but the clearing was consumed in flame.
"What's going on here?!" the leader exclaimed. This was no forest fire!
He turned to the sound of screaming and saw a huge explosion take out half of his men by what looked like a flaming tentacle. The concussive wave washed over everyone there and into the wall of fire. The moment it was over the fire roared with renewed strength and shot towards the heavens, smoke and flame blocking out the sky itself with its titanic power.
The remaining shinobi fought to their feet against the enormous heat of the firestorm around them and looked to the center of the explosion. All ninja, both the Leaf-team and the missing ninja watched dumbfounded as the smoke slowly twisted and twirled around a blond man that was familiar to them all, sitting on top of a massive boulder many times his size.
Blue eyes turned to regard the still floored ninja, smoke dancing around him and flames reflected in his gaze. Lips slowly parted and articulately spoke each word that emerged, "It'll take a lot more than a boulder to kill me."
The stricken group, our loyal Leaf-ninja included, slowly climbed to their feet and stared at him.
The golden-haired young man slid down from the blackened piece of stone and leaned against it, staring back at them.
"How is he still alive," the leader tried to grasp as his lieutenant charged the attacker.
"Die you bastard!" he roared a blade covered in wind following a path straight towards Naruto's head.
The blond craned his head to one side and completely dodged the wild swing, the slash carving a chunk out of the huge rock behind him. Naruto took advantage of this, grabbing the rock by the convenient handgrip he'd been given before swinging it up and over his shoulder.
Astounded by this feat of raw strength that no human-being possessed, none of the ninja moved or gave warning quick enough for the boy to bring it down on the bandit. He then kicked the rock and send it rolling towards the leader of the rogue shinobi and the Leaf ninja, both barely managing to escape its path as it rolled into the infernal wall behind them.
Naruto raised one hand out in front of himself and taunted them forward, "Come on, one of you might get lucky."
Slowly, one by one, the desperate ninja began to attack the blond and clashed against him, hoping to overwhelm him with numbers.
Naruto dodged their blows like he wasn't even trying, an occasional glancing blow being scored and healing just as fast as he raced through them. He smashed a knee into one face before twisting through the air and slamming his heel into another one's skull. He landed and caught a sword blow with one hand, countering with a fist to the ninja's windpipe.
Now the remaining shinobi were wising-up and beginning to attack him from a distance. He felt endless scores of jutsu peel back, flay, scratch, and crushing his body. Standing there as his flesh crawled over his unyielding form and they exhausted themselves trying to kill what couldn't be killed. He picked off the last few as they lay still, spent from their use of every jutsu they knew in every way they knew of to stop him. Their plans were fruitless.
He put his hands in the charred remains of his pant-pockets and walked to Kakashi, Hinata, and Sakura. The flames burned around them as no one spoke. "Wanna get something to eat?" Naruto asked.
Far away, on the opposite side of the forest fire, observed the group of Kumo ninja. The one wearing glasses opened his eyes and turned to his captain, who wore heavy bandages. "They're all dead, he killed them all." The rest of the group were unsettled by this as their leader stood silent.
"Come on," he spoke, "we're reporting back to the Raikage."
Cut, print, that's a rap. Respond to it, read it again, get inspired to write your own. Hope you enjoyed reading. If you didn't, tough noogies!