Iruka generally didn't pay much attention to Naruto in class. While he did take care to try and get the boy's attention whenever it wandered, and he took his duty to make sure all his students learned from him seriously, getting Naruto to sit still, focus, and learn was like herding cats. He did his best, but he had other students too. Ones with the will to learn. So when Naruto appeared at the beginning of the day and tried to get his attention, he had put him off with the promise to look later. He'd entirely forgotten about it by the end of the day.
"Eh, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, and Iruka turned back in surprise. Naruto had...stayed after class? Then he caught sight of the paper rolled up in one hand, an increasingly impatient looking Naruto holding it out while he shifted from foot to foot in ill-concealed anticipation. Ah, that was right.
"You wanted me to look at this, didn't you?" Iruka asked as he took it, unrolling the paper carefully. He doubted Naruto would have done something to it, but the situation was undeniably strange. Better safe than sorry. The content of the paper quickly became apparent, and Iruka's brow furrowed, scratching at the scar over his nose with one finger as he pondered it.
"What is it, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, almost eagerly.
"Uh…" Iruka looked down at the paper. There was the swirl, and a sort-of fuzzy circle around it. Then the eight spokes coming out in little squiggles. "It's the sun?" he hazarded, rather unsure. "With the Uzushiogakure symbol?" Although to be honest most people just knew it as 'the thing on the flak jackets' nowadays. He looked up from the paper just in time to see Naruto's cheeks flush a faint shade of red. "Is that it?"
"Why are you asking me?" Naruto yelled, and Iruka winced as he realised he'd misconstrued just what the boy wanted. "I'm asking you!"
"Alright, alright," Iruka soothed, giving it another look. He supposed that if you squinted it could be some kind of sea-
"Naruto," he said slowly, a block of ice dropping in his gut. "Where did this come from?"
"Oh, um…" Naruto laughed nervously, not quite looking at him anymore. He must have seen the reaction. "Just...around."
"Where, Naruto?" Iruka repeated, a little more insistently. The boy raised his hands defensively, waving them back and forth to try and placate him.
"Just a dream!" he yelped, cowering. Iruka made a suspicious noise, but settled back. If it was a seal, and it came to him in a dream?
"Hey, Naruto," he said suddenly. "Mind if I hold on to this?" He rolled the paper up and gave it a little wave. "I'll do a bit of research and see if I can find out."
"Aha…" Naruto sighed in relief. "Yeah, that's okay Iruka-sensei." He headed towards the door, turning back and waving. "See you tomorrow!" Then he was gone, the faintly receding sound of his running footsteps following him. Iruka didn't even scold him for running in the corridors, a terrible fear pressing down on him. Was this the seal? Was something happening to it? The teacher looked at the paper in his hand. Either way, Naruto was acting strangely. He should tell the Hokage.
"Sorry, Naruto," he murmured. "I hope this isn't what I think it is." He opened the window to the classroom and hopped onto the ledge, then leapt out. He'd better hurry.
~Knight of the Sun~
Naruto sighed as he closed the door to the apartment, leaning back against it with his eyes closed. Maybe it had been stupid to hope that Iruka-sensei would know what it was right away. He'd acted all weird, though, so maybe he had an idea? Naruto laid a hand on his belly as he thought about it. He couldn't tell Iruka-sensei what happened, or he'd think he was crazy!
As he got up and towards the bedroom, he snagged a carton of milk from the table and drank it down. It wasn't ramen, but he just wasn't very hungry. His belly was doing all kind of strange things, flopping and tingling, and he didn't think it had anything to do with the soul catcher there. He was worried...he was worried that he'd never get a good night sleep again. He was worried…
Naruto sighed, wiping his mouth clean and discarding the empty carton. He was worried about Roland-sensei, too. He didn't want to go back, but was it weird that he wanted to? Lots of things could be happening when he wasn't there. There might be attacks. Roland-sensei was a pretty amazing knight, and he could do all those miracles, but Naruto had been helping a lot too, and that dark place was really, really dangerous.
Chewing a little on his lower lip, Naruto eyed his bed. It wouldn't be easy to get to sleep early, but...maybe he should check? If everything was okay, he could probably go back to sleep again there, right? He sat down on the bed and rolled onto his side, sighing heavily as a deep lethargy seemed to settle over him like a heavy blanket. Oh, he could go to sleep whenever he wanted? That was pretty cool...and the sunlight felt nice…
He let out one last breath, then drifted away.
~Knight of the Sun~
He opened his eyes to the warm glow of a bonfire, and sat up from where he had been lying down. The warmth that he'd been feeling only a moment before was gone, replaced by the chill of the darkness that suffused the air in the dark, dead forest.
Roland wasn't there. Naruto jolted up onto his feet, but the knight was definitely nowhere in the sheltered hut. The iron barred gate they had closed to provide a small protection against wandering hollows was ajar, and Naruto felt a thrill of fear. Had they come in and attacked? Roland-sensei said that they didn't like the bonfires, that they wouldn't come unless you tried to run from a fight.
The gate swung open with a low clunk under the gentle pressure of Naruto's hand, and he felt his pulse quicken as he spotted his dagger and sword stabbed into the earth just outside. Did this mean the knight thought Naruto would come when he was gone? Was it a message? He didn't hesitate to snatch them up either way, and briefly wondered why his crude leather belt stayed but his weapons didn't. Maybe they were too big?
"Roland-sensei?" he called, peering into the darkness. "Are you here?" Then he fell silent, listening for a response. Hollows were kind of lazy, Naruto had found. You had to get their attention in a big way to get them to actually come to you, but you could make a lot of noise without that happening. He still didn't want to yell too much, though.
Then he heard something. It was faint, like a light twang, from a long way away. Then a...crash? Then another? It was hard to make out, especially over the light winds that occasionally picked up through the crevices and cracks that made the landscape so difficult. So he kept listening, worry building. About a minute later, he heard something new. Something closer. Something...by the bonfire?
He whirled around to find Roland stepping out from the hut the bonfire was sat in, using a hand to hold the side of the doorframe as he exited. Naruto stared, and then realisation crashed over him. "You died?" the boy said angrily, more than a little accusingly. "What did you do?"
"Looked ahead," the knight said shortly, favouring his side. "Preparing." The man straightened up in his armor, firming his shoulders. Naruto's eyes strayed to an ugly dent in the plate of the upper arm, an inverted cone. It was nearly invisible, the edges of the cloak sliding over it. But it was there.
"You said dying made it worse!" Naruto yelled, knuckles tightening around the hilt of his sword. He wanted to hit something! Then a sudden wash of cold that had nothing to do with the forbidding atmosphere of their surroundings hit him, like he'd dropped feet first into cold water. "How long have you been doing this?" Naruto whispered, staring in horror. Had he been going on ahead whenever he wasn't there? Getting hurt? Killed?
"Naruto," Roland said tiredly. He packed so much into that word, and Naruto felt his throat close up. It hadn't been just this once.
"Well you can't do it anymore," Naruto said thickly. "You're not allowed, okay?"
The knight was silent.
"Okay?" Naruto shouted, slashing his arm across. The knight heaved a sigh.
"Alright," he said heavily. "No more."
"Okay," Naruto agreed, relief only lifting some of the weight off of his shoulders. "You can't go and die anymore. I won't let you." He swallowed. "I'm going to stick with you. So get used to it, -ttebayo! I'm not going to give up!"
Roland laughed, and Naruto flinched at the sound. It had the same sort of huffing amusement the knight had, but there was an underlying rasp that went right down to the bones. "Alright," the knight repeated.
"Alright," Naruto said firmly, gripping his sword tightly. "This place isn't good for...anyone. Let's get out of here." The boy looked around briefly, shivering. This place...it made him feel afraid. Not because he was afraid of something but just...afraid. He clenched the hilt of his new sword so tightly the leather creaked in protest. This place was getting into his head. "Come on, Roland-sensei," he said, eyes burning with determination. "We're gonna get out of this place!"
~Knight of the Sun~
"We can't wake him up, Hokage-sama," the boar-masked ANBU said, rising from his crouch by the bed. "He doesn't seem to be under a genjutsu."
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked down on the sleeping boy, expression tight. This was worse than he had feared. The Shinigami's seal was writ across Naruto's belly, black lines stark against bare skin, and nothing from shaking him to dispelling genjutsu seemed to wake him up. Unless Naruto was molding chakra, it should be invisible. It wasn't. "Get him to the hospital," he ordered, voice brooking no disagreement. "Post a guard. Nobody enters that room. Nobody."
The boar ANBU nodded. Even if he were to take his orders to the strictest letter, the Hokage's emphasis left no doubt on how far they were permitted to go if anybody tried. Gently lifting the boy in both his arms, the operative left through the open window and vanished in shunshin. The Hokage cast an eye around the apartment for a moment, seeing if anything was out of place. "Crow," he said suddenly. In a heartbeat, one of his ANBU melted out from under a concealment genjutsu and was on one knee. "Assemble a fast team. Bring me Jiraiya of the Sannin." The Hokage looked down briefly, tone arctic. "Don't take no for an answer. Don't let him stall. Bring him. Now."
