Naruto let out a yawn, interrupting the rhythm of the story. 'Aw, this is boring. What's so scary about this anyway?' Naruto asked dully.
Sasuke frowned, annoyed at the blonde-haired boy. 'You think you can tell a better story? Tell one, but after I finish mine.' He challenged. 'Anyway, something stood out, like I said. And that was the fact that on his clothes, written in blood was the words… 'Naruto is Stupid.''
'What? That's the dumbest thing anybody would write! Are you sure they didn't write 'Sasuke eats hats'?' Naruto exclaimed angrily.
'What's so scary about me eating hats? Who in their right mind would think I eat hats anyway?' Sasuke replied coolly.
There was silence as the cold breeze brushed past the three's cheeks, giving a tingle of a chill.
'Obviously, everybody would agree on that statement. Naruto truly is stupid!' Sakura sighed whilst folding her arms to escape the icy atmosphere. 'Sasuke-kun, that was a great story.'
Sasuke didn't smile. He just closed his eyes and kept his head down, with his arms tightly folded. 'Naruto, your turn.'
Naruto jumped at those words and a huge grin appeared on his boyish face. He immediately bounced from the spot and stood pointing at Sasuke. 'My story will be ten times scarier than yours! Ten times the scream! Ten times the fright! And ten times louder!' Naruto yelled. His volume had increased with each word. He laughed and sat back down. He then nodded and began the story. 'Long ago, there was a boy Oturan and he was the greatest, the best. Everybody made fun of him, but only because they were jealous, yeah! And then…'
'Hey! Naruto! Oturan is Naruto backwards! You're only talking about yourself!' Sakura stated with vehemence.
'Fine, fine. I'll start again.' Naruto frowned. 'It was a dark and lonely night. There was nothing to watch on TV either… What a boring night it was, and yet still so scary…' Naruto began to make scary noises. 'A fox sat in the middle of the living room. He whimpered and looked around. There were no lights on, and yet he could still see shadows walking around against the usually dull white walls. But in this light, everything seemed an inky black. The fox was alone. Or so he thought, anyway. What was even scarier was that the fox's house was in the middle of nowhere, perched right at the edge of a cliff.'
'Why is his house at the edge of a cliff?' Sasuke asked.
'Hey! Leave questions till the end!' Naruto yelled. 'Anyway, the fox was alone. The house shook. It lost balance… and then… and then… it fell down the deepest of abysses and fell and fell. The fox was scared and so he did the only thing he could do… he went… he went… and ate a bowl of ramen!'
'Idiot.' Sasuke muttered.
'That bowl of ramen was the last he ate… because whilst the house was falling, the fox jumped out and ran free, but did not have enough money to buy any essentials like ramen. Because of this, in his new school, he was called Ramen to rub it in. That was his new nickname… ramen.' Naruto whimpered.
Sakura and Sasuke found themselves staring at Naruto with bewilderment.
'I can tell you a better story.' A muffled voice whispered in the darkness.
'Eh? What was that?' Sakura yelped.
'I don't know.' Sasuke uttered, drawing a kunai. 'Stay on your guard.'
'I won't let you take the action!' Naruto argued, standing up. He pointed into a random spot in the inky black. 'You don't scare me! Come out and face me!'
'Such silly, ignorant children. So loud, so proud, yet so weak.'
'Come and face me!'
'Well, let me tell you a story first.'
Naruto stood, his eyes trying to search in the deep entanglement of the woods, finding nothing but darkness hidden throughout. He looked at the other two, Sakura shaking with fear and Sasuke, alert and awake, looking from side to side for dangers. 'Show yourself!' Naruto barked into the air. 'Face us! We're enough to beat you!'
'There was a story about three little children.'
'Shut up!' Naruto yelled, holding up a kunai. He wished he could see through this darkness, but he couldn't.
'They were lost, alone in the woods with nothing to do. Everywhere they looked, there was darkness. What they didn't know was that there was an old curse on the exact area you stand on…' The voice continued.
The three suddenly jumped up and moved away from the spot.
'We're not scared!' Sakura drew a kunai.
The three made a formation, back to back and in a triangle.
'Yes, a curse. And the curse was that whoever stayed here at this time of night would die the next day. For this was the burial site of a man who was shunned from his family. He was told to run away, told to go away, told to stay away. He was upset, that he made this curse in this area, his last night before he died. And you all… are standing… on the earth above his body.'
Sakura squirmed and recoiled slightly. She could hear her heartbeat quicken and the beads of sweat slide and slip down her cheeks. Her green eyes looked only into darkness, and above all, she could almost hear that voice repeating those words. Die the next day… die… next day…
'Sakura, keep on your guard.' Sasuke muttered.
Sakura nodded reluctantly, and lifted her kunai once more.
'Ha! What a joke! Why would a guy leave a curse? Why did he die?' Naruto shouted.
'Because he made the curse, but didn't realise that he would also be affected. I thought you would've understood that.'
Naruto growled.
'But it is thought that they would see the face of his ghost before… leaving. So… I shall now appear… to you… I am… I am…'
Sakura couldn't keep her grip on her weapon because of the sweat.
