Naruto Alone
The winds do howl with great disdain
for in this day, great fear and panic reign
with great screams and fiendish delight
at this Witching Hour, doth come Halloween Night.
Beware the full moon, and witch's cackle.
Arganaut, with this chapter, shall now tackle
the great mystery of Konoha's Hallow's Eve
on which Naruto, shall receive no reprieve...
The Wave Arc will come to those in time.
But before that, a little fun, that's no crime
Part of the continuity, well, not really, no.
But that doesn't mean it can't be fun you know.
So sit back, relax and watch the shadows' wills
As you read this pleasant chapter of fun and thrills
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Halloween Chapter
Halloween... an odd holiday celebrated, for the most part, within the ninja villages. The why as to this is rooted back into the old days of ninja history, in the days before the villages, in the days before the idea of the clans, hell, in the days before jutsu, professional ninja were the great masters of disguise. Without transformation jutsus, ninja could not instantly or greatly disguise their looks, so when they would need to hide themselves in plain sight whey would have to be able to make costumes, to properly paint make-up, to change your voice, change the way you walked, change the way you spoke.
Indeed, the art of disguise at one time was so finely tuned, that a ninja could easily switch between twelve different personalities and thirteen different costumes within the course of a day: none of them their true appearance or self. Of course, time slowly wore on, and eventually the art of disguise was passed over for the simplicity of the transformation jutsu. After all, why bother going through all the trouble and money of so thoroughly disguising yourself when, in an instance, you could take the appearance you needed at the cost of only a sliver of chakra.
For decades upon decades, the transformation jutsu remained the ninja's most pertinent method of disguise, with the old ways slowly but surely fading away into the dust bin of history. Until, that is, it was revived by the 2nd Raikage. The 2nd Raikage, being the rather jovial and good-willed old man that he was, wished to honor the skill that had helped ninja put in place for the supremacy that modern ninja then enjoyed. So, with merely the snap of his fingers, the 2nd Raikage had put into place in the Cloud Village the holiday of Halloween, named for, as the 2ndRaikage put it, what the disguises truly were on the inside: hollow. The... spelling error that turned 'Holloween' to 'Halloween' stuck, and the misspelled holiday was celebrated, for the longest time, only in Cloud.
However, as time would pass, and ninja from different villages would go to Cloud for diplomatic missions and Chunin Exams, the news of the holiday would spread, and soon enough it would be celebrated in all of the ninja villages, including, quite obviously, the main focus of this Halloween night: Konoha.
----------- Konoha ----------
As the sunset on Konoha, Halloween decorations began going up in greater numbers. Families began putting out several finished Jack o' Lanterns with small candles inside of them to light them up, others put up portrayals of demons and various other dark creatures to give their homes a more dark and horrifying appearance. Of course some people stood wearily outside of their homes, having been hit hard enough over the course of the years by pranks from trouble making children to now warrant standing guard over their homes.
You'd think that this sort of holiday would prove to be a favorite of a long-time troublemaker in Konoha. One who's reputation for mischief, thievery and cunning would echo in every corridor in every home... and indeed, you'd be proven right. In previous times, Halloween was Naruto's jackpot day: the shops all had themselves open to the various children, and with so many kids running around in costumes, both real and transformed, Naruto could just use a transformation jutsu, run up to stores, get food, clothes, weapons, or whatever else he may have needed, and then split.
Indeed, Halloween proved to be quite the fruitful day for young Naruto. However, upon gaining a career as a ninja, and finding that anything he could need to buy could be easily purchased with the money he would earn, the need for stealing food and clothes on Halloween was gone, which quickly brought about a rather puzzling dilemma: what to do on Halloween?
This was the question Naruto continuously pondered throughout that day's training. The blond knew today was Halloween, he knew his normal patterns that he took to... but, with those effectively unneeded now he had no plans, and no ideas.
"Alright kids, that will be all for today." Naruto was quickly snapped out of his thoughts when Kakashi suddenly called for the end of training. "Since tonight is Halloween, you all have the distinct pleasure of being allowed to skip missions so you can prepare for the festivities." Kakashi said, scratching the side of his head as his students ceased their training. "I, on the other hand, am going to go ahead and lock up my house..." The Jounin said as his Genin raised their eyebrows.
"Why?" Sakura asked as Kakashi suddenly froze, his eye narrowing as his skin paled
"Last year I accidentally put the Icha Icha Paradise book I was reading into a kid's bag, and that kid's mother has gotten me banned from Halloween activities for a long time..." The silver-haired Jounin said, his students sweat dropping, Kakashi merely shuddering "You accidentally put soft-core porn in some kid's bag one time and that woman tears you a new one..." Kakashi muttered under his breath. "But, that's hardly something for you to worry about, tonight is your all's night to have fun... so do so..." The silver-haired Jounin said as he walked off, the Jounin obviously somewhat downtrodden.
The three Genin blinked in a somewhat confused manner, before Sakura quickly ran off, the pink-haired kunoichi disappearing in the blink of an eye after Kakashi gave them the okay to leave. Sasuke merely sighed, the boy looking rather gloomy... well, more gloomy than usual, as he began walking off as well. Naruto, still rather unsure about how to celebrate the holiday, and more than interested in figuring out how, ran up to Sasuke, deciding to ask his broody teammate.
"Hey, teme." Naruto started off, the Uchiha snapping his head at his blond teammate, obviously irritated.
"What?!" Sasuke snapped, the blond Genin taken aback for a moment, before recollecting himself.
"Jeez, what the hell crawled up your ass and died?" Naruto asked rather bluntly, Sasuke sighing as he looked all around.
"Well... not that its your business dobe-" Sasuke himself tossed an insult at Naruto, causing the Street Fox's eyebrow to twitch. "-but Halloween isn't exactly as good day for me..." Sasuke said as, upon seeing that the coast was clear, he began walking quite quickly. Naruto, blinking in confusion, followed his broody teammate.
"Huh, what do you mean, I heard it was supposed to be a good day for everyone?" Naruto asked as Sasuke laughed in a rather sardonic manner, pulling nervously at his collar. .
"Well, anyone who doesn't ha-" Sasuke's words were cut short by a sudden scream, a scream that chilled Sasuke's blood and made Naruto's muscles tense. They both knew the scream all too well... it was the scream of...
"SASUKE-KUN!" The Sasuke Uchiha Fan Club.
"Fan girls, gotta run!" The object of the Fan Club's adoration said as he sprinted off, the fan girls tailing him quite closely, each shouting at the Uchiha.
"Sasuke-kun, come to our party!"
"Sasuke-kun, let's go out together!"
"Sasuke-kun, put on this costume!"
"For the last time no, dammit! How many years have to go by before you all take a hint?!" The Uchiha shouted back at his fan club, whom merely kept running after him. Naruto, dumbfounded as he was, could only find the inspiration to move once Sakura ran by, the pink-haired girl shouting at the group to slow down while she caught up. The blond ninja, upon seeing the sight, immediately scratched off asking her about Halloween.
"Well... their Halloween kind of sucks..." Naruto said idly as he jammed his hands in his pockets, walking off with a bit of a mystified look on his face. "Well... guess I'll have to wait till tonight to see how everyone else celebrates..." The blond said with a mutter, stalking off into his old hideout to wait till nightfall.
---------- Later that Night ----------
By the time Naruto emerged from his hideout, Halloween in Konoha was in full swing, and the Street Fox of Konoha was immediately swept into the raging waters of the spirit of the holiday. Everywhere Naruto looked there were people in costumes, the extremely young nor the extremely old ducking out of the holiday. As Naruto looked around he saw people dressed as oni, birds, in Hokage outfits, in ninja get-ups, as various demons, as different animals of both bright and dark colors.
If simply smelling the air could introduce sugar directly into one's system, then with each breath Naruto would've been slowly sending himself into a diabetic coma. The smell of treats and sweets filled the atmosphere, overwhelming Naruto's senses as they had done every year. As Naruto began to drool, he did not pay attention to the two hairy figures running his way until the large of the two busted right into him. As Naruto fell onto his rear, the blond swiftly sent an indignant look to the person he had just run into.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Naruto screamed, only to receive a similar shout.
"I was, why don't you stop gawking and start walking!" The hairy character shouted, the little hairy thing next to him barking lightly. Suddenly, there was a moment of lucidity amongst the group as Naruto recognized the two hairy beings.
"Kiba, Akamaru?" Naruto asked in a rather amazed tone, his fellow Genin covered in gray and brown hairs, while Akamaru seemed to be dyed a similar color. Upon properly hearing Naruto's voice, Kiba and Akamaru immediately smirked.
"Hey hey, Naruto, you weren't the person I was expecting to bump into" Kiba, said as he slowly stood up, Naruto immediately following him up.
"Yeah... wasn't expecting to see you either... especially with all the hair..." Naruto said slowly, the Inuzuka looking at himself and laughing.
"Well, why wouldn't I be hairy, I'm out tonight as a wolf, Akamaru too." The 'wolf-boy' said with a triumphant grin, Akamaru doing his best to imitate a wolf howl. "Anyway, where's your costume man? Can't be out and about on Halloween without a costume." Kiba said as he crossed his arms, Naruto sweat dropping as he shrugged.
"Well, I can't really do much about it right now, don't have the money on me to buy a costume..." The Uzumaki stated, as Kiba laughed.
"Who cares, just transform yourself up a little costume. After all, I'm transformed, no one'll care if you just go ahead and 'poof' yourself up a costume." Kiba explained to the new Halloween goer, Naruto merely nodding.
"Well... if you say so." Naruto said, forming the ram seal. "Transform!" The young blond shouted as he was enveloped in a plume of smoke, said smoke clearing after a few second, eliciting a whistle from Kiba.
"Heh, ain't much, but it certainly suits you." Kiba said, looking onto a Naruto who had basically transformed a small scarf over his head, a rather heavy coat to cover his torso, and a seemingly full burlap sack, taking on the appearance of an old fashioned robber.
"Kind of does, doesn't it?" The thief chuckled out with a smirk, looking over his simple attire as Kiba shrugged.
"Anyway, what are ya up to?" Kiba asked curiously, Naruto pulling himself away from admiring his costume to look at the Inuzuka.
"Well... nothing really, this is really my first time celebrating Halloween, so I don't have much ideas on how to..." Naruto began, noticing Kiba smirking quite wildly. "... What's with the smir-AH!" Naruto began, the blond's question interrupted as Kiba suddenly pulled him along, the dog boy smirking as he looked back at Naruto.
"Go no further blondy, I'll show ya how to celebrate Halloween the only way I know how!" Kiba shouted with a wink down to Akamaru, the small dog as excited as his master, barking emphatically as he ran beside the two Genin. Eventually, Kiba, Naruto and Akamaru came upon a small house several blocks down the street, Kiba smirking as Naruto just stared at the small home.
"You're lucky you ran into us Naruto, Akamaru and I always come by this house every Halloween for a bit of fun." Kiba said with a slow laugh, before Naruto could inquire as to what kind of fun Kiba meant, the Inuzuka pulled out a few carton of eggs. Kiba tossed one of these cartons over to Naruto, and another one to Akamaru, the Uzumaki looking at his carton with a bit of a confused look.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with these?" The blond asked, Kiba merely laughing to himself as he opened his carton.
"You really are new to this aren't ya?" Kiba said as he pulled out an egg. "Ya throw the damn things!" The trouble making dog boy shouted as he began throwing the eggs at the house, Naruto's eyes widening a bit as he watched his fellow Genin throw the eggs. Naruto then looked down at Akamaru, who managed toss the eggs over at the house by putting his nose under an egg, tossing it up into the air, jumping up, and then hitting it towards the house with his tail.
Naruto looked down at his carton of eggs, shrugging as he pulled out one egg, and then tossed it at the house. Naruto's eyes winced as the egg splattered on the door of the house... before Naruto laughed.
"Hey, this is pretty fun!" Naruto exclaimed as he picked out and threw another egg, and then another, Kiba laughing as Naruto joined in on the fun.
"That's the spirit!" Kiba said in a jovial manner, as the trio continued to pelt the house with eggs. After a few minutes, the door swung open, an old man with a walker slowly coming out from the house.
"You damn kids! Every year!" The old man shouted, Kiba laughing as he stuck his tongue out at the old man.
"Run!" Kiba screamed as the three immediately began running off, Naruto and Kiba laughing while Akamaru merely barked happily.
"Man, that was awesome!" Naruto shouted as the three got ready to make a turn, Kiba nodding as he howled with laughter.
"Just wait till the next house, they just keep getting better and better." Kiba said as Naruto nodded, the three pranksters turning a corner... only for them to run right on top of sticky paper. Kiba to end up flat on his face, Akamaru stuck in place, and Naruto with his feet stuck, just barely avoiding Kiba's face-down position. "What the hell?" Kiba strained to say as he tried to pull his face off of the paper, only to end up right up against it again.
"Ummm... is this part of the fun?" Naruto asked as he tried to pull his feet off of sticky paper, Akamaru barking nervously as he tried to pull his paws off of the paper.
"Ha, I caught you little bastards! Just wait till I get over there!" The three heard the old man shout, the three captured pranksters sweat dropping as they pulled even harder and harder.
"Damn that old man!" Kiba shouted as he tried to pull any part of himself off of the sticky paper, only ending up hurting himself, same for Akamaru. Naruto, on the other hand, managed to pull himself right out of his shoes, managing to use the shoes as a jumping point to avoid the rest of the sticky paper. Before Naruto could even begin to celebrate, the sound of the old man's walker hitting the ground became ever nearer, Naruto sweat dropping as he looked back at Kiba and Akamaru.
"Well, what're ya waiting for, get out of here!" Kiba shouted from his stuck position, Naruto nodding as he immediately ran off, Kiba continuing to try and pull himself off of the sticky paper as the old man came around the corner, smirking wistfully as he pulled out his own carton of eggs.
"Hehehehehehehehehe....." The old man cackled as Akamaru and Kiba sweat dropped, the Genin muttering a curse under his breath as he and his dog were mercilessly pelted with eggs.
Naruto, in the meantime, just kept right on running and wasn't stopping, taking deep breaths as he didn't look back to see if the old man was still trying to follow him.
"Well... Kiba's Halloween is a bust!" Naruto shouted as he continued running for several minutes, the thief-costumed blond stopping soon after he was convinced he was safe. Naruto took a few deep breaths as he tried to steady himself, before suddenly hearing a loud groan coming from his right.
"Troublesome... you're dressing up for it too?" Naruto heard as he blinked, the blond turning to see Shikamaru and Chouji sitting on a bench to his right, neither of the two dressed up in any sort of costume, though Chouji did seem to be quite actively munching down on a lot of candy.
"Yo Shikamaru, Chouji." Naruto said with a small wave, blinking as he looked at the two of them. "Why wouldn't I be dressed up? That's kind of the point of the holiday isn't it?" Naruto asked, Shikamaru sighing as the bored Nara shook his head.
"It is, but that's the point... Halloween is just troublesome, all the energy put into costumes just to get a few pieces of candy... troublesome." Shikamaru said as he scratched the back of his head, Chouji just laughing to himself as he waved to Naruto.
"Ah, don't mind him, he's just upset with the holiday cause last year some guy in a scarecrow outfit gave him porn instead of candy." The chubby boy said with a bit laugh, Shikamaru's head snapping towards Chouji as the Nara gave him a bit of an annoyed look.
"Chouji, I said to never mention that again!" Shikamaru shouted at his long time friend, the Akimichi merely popping in some more candy as he laughed. Naruto, in the meantime, sweat dropped, it didn't take a genius to know that Kakashi's story and Shikamaru's story lined up. The young blond could barely hold in his laughter, the idea of Shikamaru's mom banning Kakashi from Halloween being hilariously ludicrous... Naruto, of course, having never met the Nara mother. After a small back and forth between Shikamaru and Chouji, the disgruntled Nara turned back towards Naruto.
"Whatever, point is that now I don't exactly have holiday spirit..." Shikamaru said in a blunt matter, Chouji shrugging as he kept eating his candy. Naruto, having gotten his fill of mirth over the situation, decided to get a move on, the lazy Nara obviously having no plans, and Chouji seemed content to just hang with his friend for Halloween. Not exactly Naruto's idea of an exciting holiday.
"Alright, well, you two... don't get emotionally scarred again." Naruto said as he burst out laughing, Shikamaru merely growling at the young blond, Chouji waving his goodbye to the rushed blond, whom walked off as soon as the two responded. After getting a small distance away from the two, Naruto began scratching his head, the blond stuck on what to do next for the holiday.
"No offense to Shikamaru or Chouji, but I'd rather not just sit around and do nothin'." The Street Fox commented, putting his hands into his pockets. "Kiba's... well, it was fun for a while, but then we nearly got caught, which sucked..." Naruto said aloud as he prepared to round a corner. "Still, I'm wonder what else there could be to this holiday..." Naruto wondered as he walked right around the corner.
Unfortunately for Naruto, it seemed that his trouble with corners today just wasn't going to end. After having walked onto the new street, Naruto came face to face with a giant, walking mass of bugs, the ominous gathering of tiny insects buzzing in their collective, with shallow pits to make at least the appearance of eyes and a mouth on the mass evident. Naruto's reaction was a bit slow, at first the blond merely stared at the giant mesh of insects, his skin paling considerably as the gruesome monster in front of his just buzzed.
Of course, this state of frozen panic wasn't meant to last, as Naruto let loose a blood curdling scream, jumping buzz half a dozen yards from the mass of bugs, his arms covering his head, as if trying to keep the blond from screaming it off.
"DON'T EAT ME PLEASE! I DON'T TASTE GOOD!" The blond screamed loudly, the mass of bugs just standing there, tilting its head to the side. Before Naruto could go about making an even bigger fool of himself, the mass of bugs suddenly spoke, the voice somewhat distorted.
"You know, its not polite to scream at people." The bug mass said in a droning voice, Naruto blinking as he slowly turned his head towards the collective of bugs, his eyes staring at the monster, recognizing the voice.
"Sh-Sh-Shino?" Naruto asked in an unbelieving manner, the bug mass merely nodding as the insects began to pull away from the head area, Shino's face making an appearance amidst the bugs, his face somewhat marred by bug bites. Naruto, upon seeing Shino's face, immediately let loose a great sigh of relief. "Holy shit... Shino, what the fuck are you doing?! You nearly scared me to death!" Naruto's relief quickly gave way to anger and embarrassment at his fear, Shino merely shrugging, the glasses he normally wore still on.
"I suppose this means you've never been out and about on Halloween, we're actually a rather common sight." Shino began explaining, Naruto giving Shino a questioning look upon hearing the word 'we're'. "My family does this every Halloween as a part of a control building exercise." Shino said, pointing at the bug bites on his skin. "The kikaichu insects remain inside of us Aburame so that they can more directly feed off of our chakra supplies without damaging our bodies. Every Halloween its been Aburame tradition to carry the insects on the skin of your body. The exercise is to keep enough control over them to keep them from going at your skin for its chakra... if you don't, well... there's always the hospital." Shino said as Naruto sweat dropped.
"Jeez... you guys even take fun seriously." The still scared blond said with a shake of his head, Shino shrugging his shoulders. "Why do you all walk around for everyone to see you then?"
"Simple: reactions like yours are very much welcome every now and then." Shino said in a bit of a sardonic manner, Naruto's left eye merely twitching as he huffed. The reaction earned another shrug from the young Aburame, who's face quickly became distorted by a mass of insects again. "Well... Happy Halloween, Uzumaki." Shino's distorted voice came through the mass of insects, Shino once again beginning to walk around as Naruto just walked away from the bug-user, still a little more than pissed that he was so easily frightened.
Of course, Naruto's rather pissed off attitude distracted him from where he was going, causing the blond to walk right into the woods. After a few more minutes of ranting to himself, Naruto finally noticed his predicament, staring blankly at the empty woods while swallowing a lump in his throat. Now, normally the hunting blond wouldn't be so worried, after all, he was sure he had been in all of sections of the woods surrounding Konoha at least once. Problem was that Naruto, this time, had paid no attention to where he was walking, effectively having just plopped right into the middle of the woods with no way of knowing what he had done to get there in the first place.
Naruto, for a few moments, merely looked around, before long noticing a little light out deeper into the woods. Though suspicious, Naruto couldn't turn down light at the end of a dark forest. The blond slowly made his way towards the light, as he approached he began to make out the shape of a whole lot of other people gathered around the camp fire. As he got even closer, he began to hear murmurs and whispers, as well as gasps and the occasional yell.
"... and that's how it went..." Naruto fully made out, along with a small round of clapping. The Street Fox's eyebrows raised as he made his way through the thick woods into a small clearing, in the middle of the clearing the light, a campfire, shined bright. The light illuminated the figures, Naruto's eyes widening as he saw several, young Hyuga eyes looking over at him.
"Ah, Naruto-san, wasn't expecting to see you all the way out here this Halloween..." A voice from the crowd said, Naruto looking around to see Neji and Hinata sitting beside each other, the young girl blushing as she looked over at Naruto.
"Hey, Neji, Hinata!" Naruto shouted, waving over... as he noticed the looks he was getting from all the young Hyuga. "... What're so many of you doing out here?" Naruto asked as Neji sighed, pointing over to an empty spot on the grass that Naruto could sit on.
"Its a small tradition amongst the younger members of the clan. We all leave the compound and come to an excluded area to tell tall tales of horror... its a nice way to get away from older members of the clan, whom are... well, they don't exactly view this holiday as much of a holiday." Neji explained as he crossed his arms, Naruto blinking as he took a seat. "This was we're not likely to be spotted in town, and we get to have our own bit of fun." Neji explained as Naruto smirked.
"Sounds pretty sneaky of you all, I like it." Naruto said with a small laugh, Neji returning Naruto's laugh with a smirk.
"Indeed, it is very sneaky." Neji said with a bit of a laugh. "In fact, its quite nice of you to join us... it was my turn to tell a story." The usually stoic Hyuga said as he stood up, Hinata's face visibly paling as she pressed her fingers together.
"Ne-Ne-Neji's stories are... normally quite frightening..." Hinata said aloud, as if to warn Naruto, whom merely waved it off.
"Eh, I walked into a giant bug guy earlier, how bad can this be?" Naruto said as Hinata, and the rest of the Hyuga young gathered there, blinked, Neji coughing into his fist to gather everyone's attention.
"Naruto, like I said, I'm the one telling the tale here." Neji said, cracking his neck a bit as everyone settled in for Neji's tale. "As we all know, the current way the Hyuga handle the issue of the Byakugan is to brand the Branch Members, and then use them as cannon fodder... the Byakugan eyes, working at least, never leave the clan." Neji opened up, Naruto confused by this, having never heard about it, but continued listening nonetheless.
"But, this was different a long time ago... before us, before our parents, before the Hyuga clan came to Konoha... before there was even a Konoha." Neji continued, trying to build up his story. "Back then, the eyes of a dead Hyuga were ripped from their skull and destroyed... back then the weaker Hyuga were picked out and had their eyes removed for good measure... back then, the clan was much more brutal in keeping the secrets of its power..." A small resounding sound of lumps in throats being swallowed was heard.
"This practice was ended one bloody night, much like tonight... on that night, a Hyuga by the name of Higurashi, was just scouting out territory belonging to a hostile clan, trying to make sure his relatives would not be caught off guard in the case of an attack. Higurashi, his Byakugan quite weak, could not see far enough to know that three ninja were slowly approaching him... slowly creeping up on the poor little Hyuga..." Neji slowly tilted forward, a nasty grin appearing on his face as the campfire flickered.
"As Higurashi called that the way was clear, the three ninja leaped upon Higurashi and began tearing into him, much like a wolf tearing into the side of a deer, the poor man was just blind-sided by the sudden attack. The ninja were merciless, they slit his throat, they stabbed him in the heart... they cut straight through his stomach, his insides spilling out onto the cold, cold ground..." Neji said in a low growl, the young Hyuga gasping as Naruto's knees began knocking.
"The rest of the clan hurriedly rushed to try to save Higurashi, managing to chase off the three ninja before they could take his eyes... but, it was all for not. Higurashi died long before his family could save him. The loss was felt... but a duty needed to be done. So the members of the clan began pulling at Higurashi's eyes, and pulled hard... only to find that the eyes weren't coming out. The Hyuga gathered were concerned, so they pulled hard, and harder still. Yet those eyes would not tear themselves from Higurashi's head. Finally, the strongest Hyuga there came up to Higurashi's corpse, and with gave Higurashi's eyes a mighty pull... in the process... tearing of Higurashi's head from his body......" Neji slowly whispered out the last part, the collective faces of those gather paling as they listened.
"The wound to his neck must have weakened the hold his neck had to his body, the Hyuga gathered reason, as then, only after the head was removed from the body, did the eyes' nerved suddenly tear, Higurashi's head rolling on the ground, eyeless, lifeless. The clan, having done this more than once, merely shrugged off the strange event, and continued on, leaving Higurashi's body there to be scavenged..." Neji slowly smirked as he looked up.
"The three ninja returned to the scene, trying to see what they could find, what they could get... and it is said that the three ninja found nothing but a pool of blood where Higurashi's corpse had been." The story-teller said slowly, a collective gasp uttered from the young Hyuga. "Several times since then has a man many Hyuga claim to have been Higurashi been spotted... they say he comes to them, his internal organs barely hanging out of a stitched stomach, his chest constantly squirting blood, as his undead heart beats it out of the stab wound... his head hanging from his belt, the eyeless sockets, despite being unable to see you... still seemingly looking into your soul..."
"They say the head can talk... but it only ever utters four words... 'I want my eyes....'" Neji whispered out the words, everyone there slowly leaning in to hear what Neji was saying. "They say that Higurashi commits the same atrocity to Hyuga he catches that was committed to him: he tears their eyes out of their sockets, desperately trying to find a pair that matches his... hoping beyond hope that he can regain his sight... you know... they say that he followed the clan here to Konoha... they say he's been seen in these very woods..." Neji slowly but surely said, everyone slowly sweating as they listened to Neji's tale.
"And they say... if you listen closely... in the wind's howl... you can hear Higurashi... slowly stumbling, wandering around... muttering-"
"I WANT MY EYES! " A bestial roar came from the bushes as the undead figure Neji described leaped out from them, the roar coming from the hanging head of Higurashi as a loud scream echoed from the Hyuga... and an even louder one from Naruto.
"HOLY SHIT ITS A ZOMBIE!" Naruto screamed as the blond's 'flight or fight' reaction kicked in, the former thief immediately busting his rear end trying to get the hell out of there as he right out of the clearing and back into the woods. The younger Hyuga remained behind, still screaming as Higurashi shambled towards them... before beginning to laugh. The laughter of the zombie was quickly picked up by Neji, the story teller laughing and laughing and laughing along with the zombie, as Higurashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Replacing Higurashi was Neji's two teammates, Tenten and Lee, the latter of which was on his hands and knees, busting a gut, while the former was just laughing as loud as she could.
"Hey, you tricked us!" One of the young Hyuga suddenly shouted, Neji whipping a tear from his eye as he shrugged.
"What can I say, it is Halloween." Neji said, as he looked over at his cousin... Hinata passed out on the ground, the poor girl having feinted from the sudden shock. "Though, maybe it was too good of a trick." Neji commented as he looked up to where Naruto ran off.
"Worth it." Both his teammates said through their laughter, the group calming down as the fear and panic subsided.
Though, it never subsided for Naruto, as the poor blond ran all the way through the woods till he came out of the other side, near Konoha. He ran and he ran and he ran until he got all the way back to his hideout. The blond quickly dived in, and prepared as many traps as possible, not risking Higurashi's blindness mistaking him for a Hyuga.
Of course, Naruto would later learn from Neji and the others that it was all a trick, that it was just an elaborate scare, and that Naruto, by walking into the Hyuga's group, just got caught up in it.
Naruto wasn't exactly thrilled by the fact that he had been scared, nearly to death, and then was forced to stay up all night as he awaited the arrival of a mad, eye-stealing zombie. Still, in the end, Naruto saw the fun in it... and though he didn't get any candy, and actually spent most of the holiday either scared or just chatting, the blond would have to admit that it was a nice time...
Though, the blond was intent on actually scaring other people the next time Halloween rolled along... pray for the citizens of Konoha next time Halloween rolls around....
R&R