Grey
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Disclaimer: Naruto and its related characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi.
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Chapter 1
I fell, hard, to the dusty ground and wheezed as a cloud of dust was stirred up by my fall. My lungs felt like they were on fire. My limbs were already numb, which was rather expected. After all, I was only four, and I had been training really hard for over a week, only stopping to rest when it was time to eat or sleep. Life as the son of the Raikage was hard. 'Tousan's expectations of me were sky-high, and with my enrolment with our village's Ninja Academy, I was forced to give up my play-time with my peers for a rigorous training regime. All this was for the sake of 'tousan's reputation as the all-supreme Raikage.
'Tousan glared at me out of the corner of his eye--a sign of his displeasure. I attempted to drag myself to my knees, but twice my efforts were in vain. Spent, I collapsed to the ground once again, sobbing and choking on the dust that had been stirred up.
Disappointed that I was too weak to even get to my feet, 'tousan walked towards me slowly, his face distorted with anger. He stopped right in front of me, and I continued kneeling in front of him, staring at his boots with an almost morbid fascination.
In a haze, I sensed one of his boots flying up towards my face. I tried to dodge with what little strength I could muster, but my reaction was too slow, my body already drained. I felt his leather shoe hit me squarely in the face, and then sensed myself flying through the air from the impact. It was a rather vague, dreamy feeling, for I was very close to losing consciousness.
The pain only kicked in when I landed several metres away on the ground, and I felt the distinctive coppery taste of blood in my mouth, which hung on my parched lips and lingered for a long while afterwards in my mouth. I trembled violently, biting my lips in a desperate effort to prevent myself from crying out loud from the pain that attacked me ruthlessly.
I lifted my head, only to see 'tousan looming angrily over me. Terrified at the possible consequences of his wrath, I made several more attempts to stand, but my knees defied me, and I fell to the ground, sobbing without restraint, my tears mixing with the pools of blood on the ground.
At this point in time, 'tousan came towards me, his face an unreadable mask. Afraid of what was to come, I cringed as he knelt before me, and staunchly avoided eye contact with him.
After a while, I looked almost expectantly up at him, after he had not administered the punishment deemed fit for the useless brat I was. Blood was still trickling down my nose, and my nose was blocked and dripping mucus. I could barely see 'tousan's expression through my tears, but I felt that he would be very disappointed with my mediocre performance.
Terrified, I began kowtowing to him, repeatedly mumbling apologies, praying for forgiveness, and swearing by the gods that I would try harder the next time.
I heard the wind whiz past my ear and shut my eyes in anticipation of the resounding slap that he had given me. Right then, I knew that my apologies had been ignored. 'Tousan said sternly, "Summon at least three ninken successfully by the end of tomorrow. If you fail, you will have no food until the end of the week."
Not knowing how to react to that, I knelt there speechless, and listened to his footsteps die away into the distance.
*****
Once he had gone, I rolled onto my side wearily and started sobbing uncontrollably. My heart felt heavy and I felt a great sense of helplessness as I knew that it was virtually impossible to be able to master the high-level ninjutsu within 24 hours.
Moreover, much as I enjoyed training to become a ninja, I also wanted some time to myself, so that I could have some time to myself or play.
I don't have friends, and it's not like I'm antisocial or anything. According to 'tousan's law, everyone was to stay away from me. When I cried about it in the past, he kept telling me that it was for my own good, and that I wouldn't miss out on anything by mixing with those commoners.
However, the forbidden fruit tastes best, so I once sneaked out of our house without my Jounin bodyguard and went for a walk in the village. Much to my disappointment, most of the people avoided me, and there was much finger-pointing at my back.
Hence, I would often be lying on the ground, worn out from training, picturing the people on the street all staring at me and avoiding me. A sudden rush of emotion would bring tears to my eyes, and they would roll down my grimy cheeks and onto the ground. And all this while, I would be dreaming of the day when I could run towards a group of children my age and join them in their games, letting my excited squeals mingle with theirs.
I knew that was just an empty dream, but I continued to keep my hopes high despite the knowledge that normalcy was impossible to achieve. I would always dream of the day when I could go wherever I wanted without being tailed by those irritating Jounin bodyguards. They kept nagging at me not to climb trees or play with fire, simply because their lives would be at stake if 'tousan found me injured while in their care.
True, 'tousan cared a lot for me, as I can see from his actions, but he just wasn't the sort to express his feelings in words. Moreover, he had a very nasty temper, and was known all over the village for his ruthlessness. Despite that, I still loved him, and I always looked forward to the times when we would have dinner together, laughing and joking about how bad 'kaasan's cooking was.
However, although 'tousan was relatively civil towards 'kaasan and I, he treated his underlings like dirt; there were several apparent cases of betrayal every month. 'Tousan ruled the village with an iron fist, but despite this, corruption was rampant and crime rates were high due to the widespread poverty that had stricken our village.
*****
I combined my mental and physical energies, and threw the scroll stained with my blood into the air. I then proceeded to perform several complex seals, and then caught the scroll between my thumbs and index fingers. "Ninpou summoning! Earth element, tracking fang no jutsu!"
The ground shook violently and several large cracks appeared on the surface of the barren, dusty ground. 'Tousan stood where he was, his senses on high alert. When the four ninken emerged from the ground under his feet, he struck at them but missed, and was pinned to the ground.
At this point, 'tousan called off the "match" and beamed proudly at me. I released the jutsu, and wobbled dangerously on my feet, watching dark patches dance before my eyes until I finally lost my balance and fell into a pair of strong arms that were there to catch me.
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A/n: This fanfiction was done for a school project with my friend, yume.
Credits: yume (storyboarding), kakashi (beta-reading) and Hannshuin (beta-reading)
Since this is supposed to be an illustrated fanfiction, there will be a site with the pictures accompanying the fic. I'll put up a link when the site's done.
Meanwhile, enjoy the fic ^^