The roaring heat of fire rushing towards him. The pain of a kunai slicing his skin. The crack of his fist against someone's jaw.
The chirping of birds. The black sparks of electricity. His voice straining to call that name - Sasuke.
A pair of red eyes, staring down at him. Some whispered words he couldn't understand. The fade to black as he fell unconscious.
He awoke with a start. His body ached, and he felt the desire to fall back asleep but he resisted. His eyes surveyed the land around him, finding nothing but trees. He realized he was moving, but his legs were not, and only then did he see he was riding on someone's back, a man with silver hair.
"What... What happened? Where am I?"
"We're on our way back to Konoha, Naruto. I'm... Sorry."
Naruto? Was that his name? And then his eyes widened in fear, as he realized he did not know his own name. Or how old he was. Or what his face looked like. His breath quickened as he realized he couldn't remember anything.
"Who are you?"
"What do you mean who am I? It's Kakashi... Are you alright Naruto?"
"I don't... I don't know" he whispered. "I can't... I can't remember. You. Or me. Or anything. What happened to me? Where are we? I'm scared."
Kakashi slowed his path through the trees. "It's alright, Naruto. Everything is going to be alright. You probably just have a concussion, we'll take you to Tsunade and she'll fix everything."
"Alright. Okay." He said, like he was trying to convince himself of Kakashi's words. "Who's Tsunade?"
"The Hokage. Does that mean anything to you?"
"Of course it does! The Hokage is the leader of Konoha."
"Right. So then do you remember Konoha?"
"Well Yeah. It's... Uh... Er... It's the village in the Land of Fire?"
"It's where you live, Naruto." Kakashi's brow furrowed. He was no doctor, but he knew concussions didn't normally cause severe memory loss.
"Oh..." he said, but wanted to ask so much more. Why did he hurt so much? Why couldn't he remember anything? Why did Kakashi apologize? But the urge to shut his eyes that he was resisting so heavily before grew stronger the more he stayed awake. He found himself slowly relaxing on Kakashi's back, the desire to sleep overtaking him.
Tsunade stared down at the blond boy, green chakra emanating from her hands over his head. She was acutely aware of Kakashi's silent stare from the corner of the room, and in her head she was begging for him to leave her alone. Not that she was mad at him, she just didn't know how to break the news. She sighed, and eventually the green chakra faded away.
"Kakashi… I don't know. There's no damage to his brain, and I can't find any signs of a genjutsu. Naruto's not the type of kid to remove the memories subconsciously. Whatever is going on here, I can't fix it."
She saw his hands ball up, could almost hear the sound of his fists clenching, before he released them with a sigh. "I understand. Thank you." He paused, looking down at the blond. "I'm sorry I couldn't get there sooner. I should have been there. If I was just a little faster, this-"
"Kakashi, stop. This isn't your fault. It's nobody's but Orochimaru's. For now, I want you to contact Kurenai, have her in my office in two hours. Maybe she'll know of some genjutsu I don't." She took a step closer to Kakashi and placed her hand on his shoulder. "He'll be alright. He's Naruto Uzumaki, and no Amnesia is ever gonna change that." she said with an [uncertain] smile.
"Of course Lady Tsunade. Thank you." He nodded, and with a body flicker he was gone.
Tsunade sighed and collapsed onto the chair in the corner of the hospital room. "Oh Naruto… nothing is ever easy with you."
Sasuke. He repeated the name in his head, over and over. It was familiar, a distant memory he was afraid to let go of. Sasuke. When he tried really hard, he could picture that black hair and those red spinning eyes.
Sasuke!
He jolted upright, like the name demanded he awaken. The bright white of the room threatened to burn his eyes, his head was pounding, his bones ached, and he felt the weight of casts on every limb. He began to massage his forehead to try and relieve the pain. There was a nightstand next to the bed he was laying on, a rolling chair in the opposite corner of the room, and a series of cabinets along the walls. Holding some kind of medical stuff, he assumed.
"Naruto. Kakashi said your name is Naruto. Naruto. Naruto." He began to repeat the name under his breath, as if he'd forget it if he stopped.
The repetitions stopped when he heard a voice. "He needs training for… doesn't stand a chance…" An old man with a loud, deep voice said from outside the door. Were they talking about him? Training for what? If he could have gotten out of bed, he would have gotten closer to listen better.
"I understand that but… recover and rehabilitate…" A woman said, sounding annoyed.
"...Come in time… three years at most…" He leaned forward as far as he could, hurting his ribs but getting slightly closer to the door. What is three years?
"And what about Sasuke?" she said, and his eyes widened. This was his chance to finally learn about that name, the red eyed boy. Pain be damned, he slowly got off the bed and hobbled his way to the door, placing his ear against it. His legs screamed at him to go back to the bed, but he was too busy listening to the pair outside to notice.
"I won't tell him. Right now, he's nothing but a distraction." He cursed. Of course they wouldn't tell him, that would make it too easy.
"Did you hear that?" He cursed again, this time rushing to the bed to pretend he wasn't listening before they had a chance to open the door. He barely had time to lie down before he saw a woman's head poke in, with dull yellow hair and a blue diamond on her forehead.
"Oh Naruto, you're awake!" She opened the door fully and walked in, taking a seat in the rolling chair next to his bed. Behind her was a tall man, dressed in red and green robes with long white hair. "Do you know who I am?"
He shook his head, and he saw her frown. He could guess she wanted him to recognize her.
"My name is Tsunade Senju, I am the Fifth and current Hokage." She gestured to the tall man "And this is Jiraiya, a powerful shinobi who's responsible for your training."
He waved. "How ya feelin' kid?" Jiraiya was loud, and he felt his head hurt a little more listening to the man.
"I'm… fine I guess. Everything hurts, but I think I could move if I had to." They didn't seem to realize he had already moved. Good.
"Good." He felt the bed displace as the massive man sat on the opposite end of it. "So, you don't remember anything?" He heard the man's hesitation, like he didn't want to know the answer.
He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on his memories, or lack thereof. He searched and searched and searched, but nothing came. Only that name, that damned name.
"No. Nothing." If they didn't want to tell him about Sasuke, he wouldn't let them know he knew.
Tsunade's frown deepened. "Nothing at all? What about Sakura Haruno?" He shook his head. "Hiruzen, the Third Hokage?" Nothing. "Iruka Umino, the Academy teacher?" His brows furrowed. The name almost sounded familiar but… no, he couldn't place it.
"This… is worse than I'd imagined. Standard Retrograde Amnesia might remove some memories, certain years or experiences, but total loss like this… It's unheard of. Something must have happened, this must be the cause of some jutsu. Do you know if Orochimaru might be able to pull something like this?" She never mentioned his name, but it was obvious she was talking to Jiraiya
"I've never heard of it, but it wouldn't surprise me. I hardly ever know what he's up to these days."
"Who's Orochimaru?"
"Right now, he's suspect number one for your amnesia. A really powerful ninja, and a criminal. He betrayed the Hidden Leaf Village in favor of power and twisted science experiments." He couldn't help but notice the bitterness in her voice.
"He's also the reason you got hurt in the first place. Kakashi barely got to you in time to save you." Jiraiya shifted on the bed, now directly facing him. "Naruto… I know you don't remember, but at the end of the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru tried to make off with a scroll full of secret, forbidden Jutsu. Most of our shinobi were busy fighting other shinobi from the sound and sand villages but you... you saw Orochimaru make off with the scroll. You pursued him, and managed to hold him off just long enough for Kakashi to intercept and retrieve you and the scroll."
He listened closely as Jiraiya spoke, waiting for some mention of Sasuke, but it never came. Jiraiya was lying, he had to be. He wanted to ask about Sasuke, but something in the back of his head told him not to. Jiraiya was lying already, he'd probably lie about Sasuke if he asked. It was better to find the answers on his own.
Instead, he asked about the Chunin Exams. What they were, and why it caused fighting between the villages. He asked about his training as a shinobi and what skills he had. He asked about the different wounds he had and how long they would take to recover. He asked about anything that could distract him from the emptiness inside his head.
Eventually he was able to understand the relationship between Jiraiya and Tsunade. The former was a loud, silly pervert and the latter was a serious doctor and respectable ninja. He couldn't understand why his training was left in the hands of the so-called "pervy sage." They said they'd talk with him again tomorrow, and Jiraiya promised him a spar as soon as he was out of this stuffy hospital room. They were about to close the door when Naruto called them back.
"Hey. Before you go… Can you get me a pen and paper? A journal if possible?"
"Why's that? Develop a sudden interest in writing like your mentor?" Jiraiya said with a chuckle.
"No. I just… Don't ever want to forget again. I can't forget what's in writing." He tried, and probably failed, to keep his voice from quavering.
He watched as Jiraiya paused, then pulled a small, brown, leather-bound book from the inside of his robes. "Here. I was hoping to write my next story in this but… I think you'd be a better writer for it"
He took the book with a smile. "Thank you."
Jiraiya nodded, and along with Tsunade, walked out of the room, leaving Naruto alone once more. He cracked the small book open, grabbed a pen, and got to work.
This is the Tale of Naruto Uzumaki.