Naruto was currently walking through the outskirts of Konaha, near all the nature and forest around him. Hardly anyone walked around these parts, so he was safe from the wrath of the village. Plus, it gave him time to think and take a break from training and life in general. With physical training, learning about jutsu theory, and the academy, his life felt very full right now and like he didn't have any breaks. It was nice to walk around like this. But, good things never last.
"Oi, get over here kid!" A voice called behind him. Naruto looked back to see a group of 20 older academy students, each carrying various weapons. "My mom said that you killed my brother, so I'm going to return that favor ten-fold!" One yelled. Others agreed, chiming in with deaths that they needed to "avenge." Naruto looked a bit worried, he couldn't fight all of them at once, and they were older so they might be faster. He could use the scorch jutsu.
Naruto then went through hand signs, making the group charge at him. On the last sign, his finger was slightly off center from shock of seeing them charge and he messed up the jutsu. "Scorch Release: Scorch Body!" Instead of a thin layer of steam enveloping his body, his body was being burnt by the steam. He fell on the ground in pain, screaming at his flesh being burnt. The group then repeatedly started to punch and kick Naruto, furthering his agony. Suddenly, he felt a metallic object puncture his skin, making him let out another cry of pain. Even the villagers' beatings didn't make up for all this pain. He felt the seal inside of him struggle, and then fear crept in.
He felt the fox struggling against the seal, trying to break it. He felt like his guts had a creature clawing at them over and over. He felt blasts of Ki emit from his body, briefly stunning attackers, and he felt his control loosen. The fox inside of him was too strong. He could see in his mind's eye that the fox was smiling devilishly as it pounded the bars. The ringing almost made him deaf. Suddenly, it was too much, and he let go.
Massive amounts of red chakra bursted from his body in spirals above his head, making visible air pressure around him. He slowly stood up, his movements shaky and odd. The chakra surrounded his body, squeezing all the sanity left in Naruto to the breaking point. His teeth began to elongate into fangs, his eyes turning a slitted red. His nails and whisker marks grew more feral. He let out a roar that knocked the bullies to their butts, staring in horror at the monster in front of them. Then, Naruto disappeared from sight.
One by one, the bullies were ripped apart in gruesome deaths. Some of them decapitated by the sharp claws, others torn from the inside out by his hands. Some of them even burned alive. Their screams didn't even reach far enough to be heard as absolute carnage took place in that small cat trail. The chakra faded from Naruto as his features returned to normal. The world suddenly faded back into view as his eyes went wide.
His whole body was caked in blood, following the street below him. And in front of him, were all the bullies brutally killed in horrific manners. Naruto puked his guts out at the sight, crying tears of guilt and shame. "W-What have I d-done? I-I have to go. They will kill me. I need to get out of here. Damn it, its my fault, now the whole village will hate me even more, I can't stay here." Naruto dashed toward the wall of Konaha and sped past the distracted gate guards, escaping into the forest. He kept running and running for hours, seeing no sign of civilization. All he sees is just forest.
Eventually, he finds a stream and begins to wash out all the blood on his body and clothes, but the blood claws open his memories, and he breaks down crying in the stream. His tears are drowned out by the rushing water colliding with rocks father down, but it doesn't help. He regrets everything. He hated the fox. He hated being a Jinchuriki. He hated life in general, he felt like he always got dealt a bad hand. The only person his age that would even look at him was Sasuke, but he was no friend by any means. The only person in his life that would care about his death would be the Hokage. He really was lonely.
Naruto slowly got up, tears still leaking from his eyes, as he continued onward. The forest comforted him slightly, the privacy and the calmness of the forest, where no one would hate him or judge him. In here, it was peaceful. Naruto kept walking, no destination in mind. This was the first time out of the village, and the world now just felt so much bigger. Maps and drawings can only put a small perspective on how vast the Land of Fire was, and there was so much more. Maybe he would get to see more stuff, but he didn't focus. Instead, he kept his eyes forward on the metaphorical path ahead.
Traveling through a forest for most would be difficult or even scary. The dark nights with strange noises littering the air combined with the threat of wolves and bears could scare anyone away. However, Naruto wasn't anybody. He'll admit, the forest didn't accept him with open arms in the form of a pack of wolves and poison ivy, but it wasn't as scary as people made it out to be. In fact, he had been walking for nearly two days now, sleeping at nightfall, and continuing onward. However, the farther he walked, the more the forest started to deteriorate and shrivel. The air felt more dry and hot, and he couldn't see any streams over here. Where he was now, bits and pieces of sand were scattered about, but this meant one thing. He was coming upon a desert.
Now, Naruto is on top of a hill, looking at the endless expanse of desert before him. It was barren and contained a whole lot of nothing. He read about the desert in the academy once, and how there were no resources and it was hard to live inside. He also read about desert scorpions, but he doubted he would encounter one. Overall, all common sense said not to enter the desert, but Naruto wasn't big on common sense. He did things his own way.
Naruto began to go inside the desert, crossing sand dunes and small hills alike. The fierce winds would blow scorching hot air into his face along with grains of sand, stinging a bit. However, he found that with his scorch body activated, he could burn the sand and wind before it hit him, so he could have one hour of rest before needing to move again. Sadly, he didn't have enough chakra to keep it active for longer, or rather enough chakra control.
Suddenly, the sand started to shift, but not from the wind. It almost felt like something was under him. Then, he jumped back suddenly as a 20 foot tall scorpion bursted from the ground, it's eyes locked on Naruto. Naruto paled slightly, the size of the creature was massive. And it's said they have deadly poison on their tail. He needed to avoid it.
Naruto jumped out of the way from an incoming claw swipe, it wasn't too fast. He could out speed the thing. Naruto jumped up as it's tail swung down to skewer him, and landed on top of the tail. He ran up, using chakra to make sure he didn't fall off the side of it.
Naruto jumped over a claw trying to swat him away and landed on it's head. He reached down, but he didn't feel any kunai on him. He didn't bother to get any. Shit. Naruto then felt a puncture on his back, curtesy of the massive tail. He jumped off the beast, and created a bit of distance. The creature stared at him, waiting for it's poison to kick in. Naruto felt his vision go a bit blurry, but it soon stabilized. He knew that the poison should have killed him by now, but only one reason came to mind. "Damn fox saved my life."
Naruto looked closely at the scorpion, analyzing it. He would need to get creative to beat it up. But, then he remembered standing on it. It's skin had little separations in it, like it was wearing plates of armor. If he could use his Scorch Body, maybe he could rip it's skin.
The scorpion looked confused that the poison hadn't made its prey drop dead yet, but he charged forward again. Naruto jumped up and spun himself so his body was parallel to the ground. He then went in between the claw of the scorpion, spinning back out and landing above its head. He did the hand seals and his body was enveloped in a thin steam. Naruto raised his hands and plunged them downward.
His hand's easily broke under the scorpions armor, making it squeal in pain. It's claws and tail flew around rapidly, trying to swat away Naruto. However, it was in too much distress to think cognitively. Naruto kept pushing down until the scorpion suddenly went limp and fell down. Naruto looked down and saw something resembling a brain, and he quickly took his hands out. He rubbed his hands on the scorpion to shake off all of it's internal juices and jumped off. He felt proud that he managed to kill a scorpion like this, it was pretty strong.
Nonetheless, Naruto took shelter underneath it's body and set up camp with his few things. Inside the forest, he managed to make a makeshift water bottle, but it was near empty. He also had some berries, but he only had a few. He needed to find a town soon. But he heard from the textbooks that there were a bunch of towns in the Land of Wind. It shouldn't be too hard. Naruto recollected himself on the previous days as his eyes shut so get some sleep.
The next day, Naruto looked in poor condition. His face was scratched and seared from the winds and sand, and he think he needed to drink some more water. His throat felt like sandpaper and his stomach could fit a whole cow right now. But, he kept going forward, refusing to die. He couldn't die in the middle of the desert, that death was way to lame for him. Then, he heard a voice in his head.
"Why don't you let me take control and I will get you to a town. Just loosen the seal a bit and I will save you from the desert." The voice was trying to sound sweat and comforting, but it was coming from one of the most demonic beings on the planet. "I'm not dumb, you damn fox. Why would I let the Kyubi control my body willingly for any amount of time. Go back to sleep." He heard a growling and clawing at the bars inside his mind. He felt the blood red eyes staring at him, even though neither could see each other. "You pathetic human! I will rip you to shreds! Once you open this seal I will kill you!" He felt the bars shudder as the Kyubi slammed himself against them, sending reverberations throughout his mind. Naruto focused and the banging stopped. He learned if he went calm, the bars would be stronger, so he could stop the incessant banging that plagued his sleeping.
The Kyubi had tried to play this card multiple times, including when he was trying to beat Sasuke in a spar one time. He always uses the excuse of his chakra being the only way out of a humiliating situation for "him" and that "he wants the best for his container." He knew that they were lies by the bloodthirsty response when he refused to lend the fox his body. He really hated that fox now, but he would tolerate him. If the Kyubi didn't bother him, he wouldn't bother the Kyubi. All he ever asked for was access to scorch release chakra, which he managed to get partial access too. At this point, though, he was already self sufficient and could mold the fire and wind chakra inside him to make it instead. He didn't need the fox anymore.
Then, he saw something new in the distance. It looked like a wagon with two figures in front of it. He put small amounts of chakra into his eyes to increase his sight and saw a wagon full of boxes and two men that looked like merchants. Perfect! Maybe they knew about a nearby town.
He ran forward, using his speed to close the distance, actually scaring the merchants. They let their guard drop as it was just a 10 year old kid. "Hey kid, what are you doing all the way out here? Where are you parents?" One of them asked. Naruto's smile didn't falter at the reminder, "I'm lost, can you tell me where a close town is? I don't want to starve to death out here." He said that last part with a half chuckle that let them know that he was a bit worried. One of the merchants handing him a piece of paper that looked akin to a map of the desert. He pointed to a spot in the open.
"We are right here now. If you go in the direction of the rising sun for about another two days you can make it to a town. We're sorry kid, but we are traveling through the thick of the desert and don't have enough rations to support three people."
"No worries, old man. Thank you for the directions!" Naruto waved as he traveled off, one of the merchants had a tick mark on his head at the jab at his age. His buddy laughed, "Even the kid knows you're getting old, just accept it and join me." The two's bickering was drowned out as Naruto left. He needed to make it to a town, and fast.
The next two days for Naruto were agonizing. He was sure he would be dead if not for the fox. He could see the bones individually through his clothes like a skeleton and parts of his skin began to rip painfully. His eyes were now constantly blurry and he would see mirages every once and awhile of things that didn't exist. And now, he wasn't sure if he would make it. He could sense when he would die at this point, but his willpower and the fox's intervention made it so he could move his legs and trudge forward. He slowly crossed over a sand dune, and seeing something that made his eyes water.
He saw a small town only a few hundred feet away, and he couldn't be more happy. His pace quickened slightly, reminding him of his poor situation. His legs felt like they would give out, but he couldn't let that happen. He was so close to safety, and he could make it. After another 10 minutes of hobbling, he reached the street to enter the city. Once he was near people, his legs gave out and he collapsed, drawing gasps from passerby's and people picking him up. His body couldn't do it any longer and he passed out, knowing he would live to see another day.
...
This is the end of the chapter. More info will be dropped next chapter about Konaha and it's situation, so don't worry. I will try to get these out consistently at least once every 4 days, but things happen. Hope you enjoy and leave some feedback. Have a good day.