Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth
Chapter 9
Proposal
By Nexusofpain
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.
Naruto sat in his small apartment staring at the wall, he wasn't sure how long he had been there, and didn't really feel like caring about it. Some people had come to check on him, mostly Iruka-sensei, though both Yugao and Shikamaru had made appearances as well. After the incident in the forest, Naruto and Shikamaru had been taken to see the Hokage.
The questions he had asked had been rather straight forward, had the man mentioned anything about why he attacked, did he say which village he belonged to, and other such things. Naruto had told them about the man's being from a village known as the village of hidden knowledge. Naruto hadn't expected it to put the old man on edge the way it did.
The man's name was unknown, and the headband he had been wearing had disappeared mysteriously before the Anbu arrived. The only thing that mattered to Naruto though was the simple fact that his first and only friend was now gone. "I couldn't save him." Naruto muttered this to himself, not caring much about his surroundings,
The lights in his bedroom were turned off, and an untouched meal sat on the table next to his bed. The meal itself was courtasy of Yugao, Naruto could possibly know the passage of time just by counting the number of meals he hadn't touched. A knock at the door announced the arrival of another visitor, someone answered it, though Naruto was unsure who.
The door to his bedroom opened slowly allowing the entrance of the tall white haired man. "Uzumaki." Ryouta spoke in his loud commanding voice, though the prideful tone that used to exist behind his words was gone replaced by a monotonous sound, that was devoid of any emotion. "Miru's burial will take place tomorrow."
Naruto's eyes shifted just slightly at the mention of his friend's name, otherwise there was no indication that he even realized someone was in the room tomorrow. "I believe my son would be happy if you came." Ryouta could see he would get no words from the boy and so, bowing his head ever so slightly he left closing the door behind him.
Naruto could hear Ryouta further conversing with another person, that he was sure was Yugao. Though he didn't move to check, he was relatively sure that the woman was still sleeping on his old worn down couch. Shifting just a little, Naruto eyed the clock, the flashing numbers read one forty seven.
He made no sounds, he didn't truly care much about the time, though he had thought it to be much later. 'Miru gave his life to save us.' Those were the words Shikamaru had said when he had visited two days ago. 'Sitting here in the dark isn't going to help anything.' Iruka had told him this the day before, and deep down he knew that sitting in depression wasn't going to accomplish anything. "It sure as hell isn't going to bring Miru back."
"Maybe not but there might be a way." Naruto jumped slightly at the gruff voice that permeated his mind. "Who's there?" He said aloud, these being the only words he'd spoken in four days he could feel his voice box creak. "Just a... friend." They way this person spoke made Naruto think he was anything but that. "Show your self." The room seemed to be getting darker, almost like the light was being sucked away.
"I'm afraid that's not possible." Naruto was starting to panic as the last bit of light in the room faded, leaving Naruto in a blind state. "What do you mean?" Naruto shifted in his bed though no matter how hard he tried he could see nothing in the still darkness. "Haven't figured it out yet boy." The voice snarled, a deep heavy growl following it's words. The growl was very animalistic, something that made a thought jump to the forefront of young Naruto's mind.
"The fox?" The deep voice chuckled in a way that just sounded wrong to Naruto's ears. "Well your half right any way." Naruto gulped a bit, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. "How?" The fox's laughing increased in volume, making Naruto more and more uncomfortable. "Your friend gave you quite the powerful gift." At the mention of Miru, Naruto looked down at the palm of his hand, and though he couldn't see anything through the darkness, he could feel the small puncture wound that had yet to heal.
"Get out of my head!" Naruto exclaimed before remembering that there were other's inside his apartment. "That is also possible, though only if your willing to listen." Naruto grit his teeth placing his hands over his ears in a futile attempt to block out the foxes words. "That won't work, I'm inside of you, a part of you, you can't block me out." Naruto laid down placing a pillow over his head. "Your not a part of me! Your just a murderer, you killed so many people why would I listen to anything you have to say."
"Foolish child, I'm no murderer, only humans can murder humans all I did was squash a few annoying insects." Naruto focused on his breathing trying to push the voice out of his mind, something that was even harder than reading the thoughts of his classmates. "That's a neat trick boy, but it won't work on me, your nowhere near strong enough to overpower my thoughts, so you should just do as I say, and maybe someday you'll have your little friend back, it would be the least you could do, after all if you had just been a little stronger, a little faster, maybe he wouldn't have died at all."
"No! There was nothing I could do, he bled to death, he was stabbed it didn't matter." Naruto was more trying to convince himself than the fox. "Really, a child with the Ketsuekisousa, bleeding to death, how strange." Naruto had never heard the word before and couldn't help but to ask. "What's that?" For a moment the only sound Naruto heard was that of the foxes deep breathing. "A genetic ability, that you human's call Kekkei Genkai, that allows the user to completely control their own blood."
"Kekkei Genkai?" Naruto had heard that somewhere before, thinking for a minute, he suddenly remembered the conversation that Miru had with Iruka. "I remember Miru seemed really interested in it." The darkness was almost strangling, and Naruto was beginning to find it hard to breath. "Of course the boy was interested in his own power, only a fool would not wish to understand their own gifts." Naruto got a visual of a large red muzzle grinning ominously, cutting through the pitch black room for only a second.
"Now then child, are you willing to listen to my proposal." Naruto thought it was unfair, that the creature would ask such a thing knowing that he didn't really have a choice. "I... yes." Naruto said in a dejected sort of way. "Good, now then, I can bring your friend back to this world." Naruto couldn't help the hope that bubbled up in his chest, though deep down he kept telling himself not to trust this thing that was speaking into his mind, this creature that saw human beings as nothing more than insects whose life didn't matter.
"First you will need to become stronger, which if I'm not mistaken, was a part of your goal anyway." Naruto nodded though he wasn't sure if the fox could see it or not. "Yeah, I'm gonna be Hokage." The fox laughed in it's eerily deep voice. "I would expect nothing less, after all if I must be trapped in the body of an insect, being in the body of the insects leader is what I would prefer." Again the fox spoke as if human life was nothing, something that was greatly bothering young Naruto by now. 'We're not bugs!"
Again that same laugh. "Your right, insects are much higher life forms than your pathetic species, you treat all that is around you with so little of the respect it deserves, and yet demand to be respected more than any others." Naruto wasn't sure what the fox was talking about, but it still made him angry, even not knowing half the words the fox spoke didn't stop Naruto from realizing that he was looking down on the human race in general.
"What do you want!?" Naruto finally yelled getting fed up with the foxes attitude. "Like I said first you must get stronger, after that I'll tell you the next step." Naruto could feel the dark presence reside back into the deepest reaches of his mind, and though he couldn't be sure that the demon could truly bring his friend back to life, he now at least had something to work towards. So with a new determination behind his blue eyes, and the light returning to his empty room Naruto took a deep breath, removing himself from his bed for the first time in what felt like days.
Walking through his door, he ignored the stare that Yugao was sending his way, not so much as acknowledging her existence as he walked through his front door out into the first bit of daylight he had seen in days. His legs guided him where he was going with little to no direction from their owner, and before he truly realized what he was doing, he found himself at the training ground that him and Miru had been going to until just a few days ago.
Naruto wasn't sure where to begin. "But I won't let that stop me!" Naruto exclaimed into the cool fall air, a strange wind blowing as he said it, rustling the leaves around him. He began the same way he had everyday before this, running his small body ragged with physical exercise. "It's not enough." Naruto said quietly as he lay on the ground almost two hours later. "No matter how much I do this, I won't get any better at fighting." A sudden thought struck him, and he made a decision, one he knew that Iruka probably wouldn't approve of.
"Even so, I won't give up." There was only one person that knew how to do what he wanted, and luckily Naruto would be seeing him in class the next day. "I'm sure he still has some." With a plan in mind Naruto started to get up off the ground another thought flashing through his mind, a kind of promise he had made. 'If I ever do die, would you take care of this place for me?' Naruto looked over towards the forest the wind blowing once again filling the air with the sound of leaves, Naruto's hair blowing a bit as well.
"I promised." With those words Naruto began walking again, and while he knew that he didn't have water or anything, he decided that checking on it would be good enough for today. The walk didn't bother him as much as it used to, maybe because he had a purpose in mind, he couldn't be sure. He stopped at the sound of muffled crying, peaking through the thick brush that surrounded the clearing, he spotted a familiar figure sitting in the dirt just in front of Miru's garden.
"Mitsuko." Naruto whispered the woman's name, her head jerked a bit as the words left his lips. Naruto covered his mouth, he hadn't thought she would hear him, and the last thing he wanted to do is bother her. "Naruto-chan." He sighed as she said his name aloud, Miru had mentioned that his mother had been a ninja before as well. Slowly he walked out of the brush and into the clearing so that Mitsuko could see him.
"I see, so Miru showed this place to you, didn't he." While it seemed like she was asking a question, Naruto could tell she wasn't. "Did he tell you that I helped him grow all these plants?" Mitsuko hadn't stood, still sitting on the ground staring ahead blankly. "Yeah, he did." Naruto was starting to get a little freaked out at how Mitsuko wouldn't so much as look at him. "We spent weeks, clearing this field, and finding the right seeds to grow."
Naruto could hear Mitsuko's voice crack, and it was beginning to get to him. "I... uh." Naruto just wasn't sure what to say, after all, he had been ignoring everyone for the last four days himself. Only a promise from a giant demon fox managed to drive him from his room. "What was the point?" Mitsuko asked, turning towards Naruto for the first time. He could see that she had been crying for awhile, red streaks had stained her face, and even now more tears flowed.
"I.. don't know." Naruto whispered, the only thing he could say. "Don't say that!" Naruto jumped at her suddenly screaming at him. "There's a reason! There has to be a reason!" The woman was going hysterical, Naruto wanted to run away, but couldn't bring himself to do it. "You know, Miru never was good at making friends, you were his first." Her voice returned to it's soft tone just as suddenly. "That's why even though I was surprised when you walked into our house, I ignored it."
Naruto felt the nervousness rise in his gut. "What do you mean?" He asked afraid of the answer. "I'm not like my husband, I always did enjoy talking and being social, unlike Ryouta who would rather keep to himself, just like Miru." Slowly Mitsuko rose to her feet. "I don't know what you're talking about." Naruto said in his confused voice. "I knew all about you, the demon child, the village's dirty little secret."
Mitsuko walked slowly towards him, Naruto reflexively taking a step backwards in response. "Of course those were just rumors, every village has rumors, and even if they were true it didn't matter, as long as my little boy had a friend that's all that mattered." Naruto tripped as he walked backwards Mitsuko quickly catching up, till she was standing right above him. "And then when you told us what you wanted to do with your life, I knew that there was no way you were some evil demon."
Mitsuko bent down so she was eye level with the small blonde child. "You're going to get so strong that no one ever has to die, right?" Naruto wasn't sure what to think as the woman wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him into an embrace. "I just wish my son wouldn't have had to die either." Naruto could feel the woman's tears soaking through his shirt, and had to force back the tears from his own eyes.
He couldn't be sure how long the two of them sat there, but by the time the woman's tears had dried up the sun was beginning to set. Mitsuko let out a long breath and stood to her feet again. "I'm sorry, Naruto-chan, it looks as though your shirt will need to be washed." Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "It's fine I needed to do laundry anyway." Naruto said with an awkward laugh. Mitsuko gave him a smile that he was sure was fake.
The two stood staring at each other in an uncomfortable silence, Naruto had decided that he would in fact go to the funeral the next day. "I.. uh should probably get home." Naruto was trying to find a reason to leave, not that he didn't like Mitsuko, just that he was afraid of saying something that would make her cry again. "I need to be getting home as well." Mitsuko said using the sleeve of her long shirt to dry her eyes.
After a low bow, the same that way that he remembered her doing when he would visit their house, the two went their separate ways. Naruto going back the way he came and Mitsuko traveling in the opposite direction, Naruto found himself wondering where she was going, but thought she probably just knew a faster way back to the village. Nauto himself barely made it out of the thick foliage before darkness had consumed his surroundings.
Naruto walked the dimly lit streets, trying to decide if he should go and get the training equipment that he had in mind or wait until after Miru's funeral the next day. "Hey Naruto!" Naruto turned at the sound of someone calling his name, only to see an older girl making her way towards him slowly in a wheelchair. "Ayame." Naruto said back in acknowledgment, waiting for the ninja turned ramen girl to catch up to him.
"What are you doing out so late?" She questioned as she finally caught up with him, Naruto wasn't sure why she was interested in what he was doing, after all they had only spoken a couple of times. "I'm on my way home, I was training." She looked a little surprised at his answer, though the surprise was hidden quickly by a smile. "Really, by yourself?" Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I don't have anyone to train with, at least not anymore." Naruto whispered the last part, though Ayame's face fell a bit and Naruto began to think that she had heard him.
"Do you want to walk together?" Once again Naruto was surprised, but couldn't think of a reason to turn the girl down. "I guess, which way are you going." Naruto asked just to make sure they were heading in the same direction. "I'm going... that way." Ayame said pointing in the same direction that Naruto was already heading. "Really I thought you lived the opposite way." Naruto said, remembering a conversation he had once had with Teuchi.
"Oh.. I'm not going home." Naruto stared at the girl for a moment. "Then were are you going?" Naruto didn't want to seem like he was invading the girls privacy, but figured if they were walking together then she wouldn't mind revealing a little information. "I'm making a delivery." She said motioning to a ramen carrier that had been strapped onto the back of her wheelchair. "Really, I didn't know that you guys delivered." Secretly Naruto wished he had, there had been multiple times that he was to lazy to walk all the way to the ramen stand and had settled for instant. "We just started recently." Ayame said beginning to use her arms to propel the wheelchair forward.
Naruto followed close behind the girl, he would be lying if he said he wasn't a little nervous, Ayame wasn't exactly ugly after all, and he had never spent time alone with a girl before, not one close to his age anyway. "So Naruto... Didn't you say you wanted to be Hokage?" Naruto thought to himself, sure he had said those words many times but he couldn't remember having ever told her his dreams before. "Yeah I do." Naruto cursed his own nervousness, as he could barely force out any other words, his brain felt like it was shutting down.
"I wanted to be a medic shinobi myself." Naruto couldn't help but stiffen up at the girls words. "Really?" He feigned interest but on the inside he couldn't shake a terrible feeling of deja-vu. "Yeah it was always my dream to help people, I guess we're similar in that way, huh." Naruto nodded stiffly. "Yeah I guess." Naruto's voice cracked a bit, but if Ayame noticed she didn't say anything. He wasn't sure what this feeling was, it was like a jabbing in the back of his head trying to tell him something bad was about to happen.
"Hey are you alright?" Naruto jerked at the girls question, his thought's being pushed aside for a second. "Ye... yeah, I'm alright." Ayame didn't seem entirely convinced, but before she could press him further a sudden scream pierced the cool night air. Without any hesitation Naruto turned on his heel and took off in the direction he thought the scream had come from. When he couldn't immediately spot anything out of the ordinary, he began to panic. "I can't let anyone else get hurt, Miru saved me so I could help people." The way he was muttering to himself, might have made him seem unstable to any random passersby.
"Naruto what's wrong?" Naruto could barely hear the girls voice over the pounding of his own blood. "Something's happening." Naruto whispered under his breath, trying to calm his rapid pulse, a sudden surge of strength filled his body unlike anything he had ever felt before. Immediately afterwords he was left gasping for breath on his knees. "Naruto!" Ayame was getting very worried at this point, sure she hadn't been a ninja that long, but even she could feel the intensely strong chakra that had radiated from the boy just a moment before.
Naruto heard another scream, causing him to jerk his head up again the sudden bout of exhaustion quickly forgotten. "Can't you hear that?" Naruto asked spinning around wildly trying to pinpoint the exact location of sound. "I don't hear anything." Ayame whispered becoming frightened, a thought suddenly occurred to Naruto, and concentrating as hard as his brain would allow, he reached out using his thoughts. "Please someone." Naruto shot off like a rocket towards where he could feel the person's, a woman if he was right, thoughts.
Ayame unsure what else to do took off after him, moving her arms as fast as she was able, pumping chakra in order for her wheelchair to move faster. "Naruto!" She called after him, but it was like he was to consumed with what he was doing to be able to hear her. Naruto had never felt so fast before, and somewhere in the back of his head he wondered what was going on. "Please someone, help me." The woman's thoughts were hard to trace, but Naruto wasn't about to give up, pumping his legs as hard as he could, he zoomed through Konoha's back alleys.
He could feel the woman's thoughts getting stronger, which Naruto took to mean he was getting closer, so using it like a kind of radar, he continued his search. Another scream pierced the air this one sounding much closer, and directly to Naruto's right. Turning at the next junction Naruto made a bee line for the woman. While he wasn't sure how his strange power worked, it was like he could feel all the fear and pain the woman was experiencing, but instead of diverting the child from his goal it spurned him onwards.
The first thing to enter his field of vision was a young woman, maybe in her early twenties, tears flowing freely from her eyes. The fear that was etched across her face, made Naruto all the more angry, her disheveled long black hair, frayed out in every direction. She held her arms across her modest chest in an attempt to cover her bare skin, the shirt she had been wearing torn and thrown to the side. As Naruto charged forward the woman's eyes darted towards him.
Naruto was well aware of the woman's identity being one of the workers at a grocery he would occasionally visit, and be turned away from. The woman's gaze turned even more fearful while looking at into Naruto's eyes. Naruto could feel the fear she held for him just as strongly as the fear she held for her attacker who Naruto had yet to lay eyes on. "Who's there!" Naruto shouted into the dark crevices of the alley, his voice deeper and more animalistic than what he was use to.
A flash was all the warning he got, just a small glimpse, but it was all that he needed. Dodging quickly to the left he managed to avoid the tall slender man's sneak attack. Naruto was unsure how he knew that the attack was coming, just that he had already seen it happen, albeit very briefly in his mind. "You a ninja kid?" The man's voice held a greasy tone that was very fitting for his appearance. "You must be to see me comin like that." The man's laugh was a nasally sound that immediately hurt Naruto's ears, causing the beginnings of a headache to form.
"Who are you!" Naruto growled out, flexing the muscles in his hands, he felt as though he could do anything right now. "Just a passing traveler is all." The man said with a low bow, Naruto knew he was lying, while he wasn't able to clearly read the man's thoughts he could tell that much. Glaring at the man Naruto asked the only thing that came to mind. "Are you an enemy of Konoha?"
End.
A/N: I'm starting to get the hang of this I think, almost every bit of this story has been spur of the moment so far, but I finally have more of a plot in mind. I know that a lot of you probably think that this story is starting really slow, I just kept writing whatever came to mind and before I knew it I've already started writing chapter ten. Anyway please read and review, If I want to become a better writer I need to know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong, and as always next chapter will be up on Sunday.
PS. Thank you to the people who have left reviews so far, it really does mean a lot, and helps keep me inspired to write, also if you have a question about my story feel free to ask and I'll answer to the best of my abilities.
