Chapter 2: Truth
Naruto stood slack-jawed in the scroll storage room, trying and failing to fully take in everything he just read. The cloaked man leaning against the wall nearby let out another irritating chuckle.
Words formed on Naruto's lips, but he couldn't speak, no matter how hard he tried. He loosened his grip on the scroll and it fell to his feet. The old, faded paper tried to curl back to its rolled up position, but seemed to give up halfway. Some of the information was still visible to Naruto. He stared in disbelief at the words on the page. The secrets that no one in the village ever told him. Secrets that not even Old Man Third wanted him to know.
"At a loss for words?" his hooded partner teased. "I told you you'd get all of the answers you were looking for."
The boy gulped, rereading part of the page and shaking his head in disbelief. "I…I'm not…that thing…am I?"
"Well, not exactly," the man said with a flippant gesture. "It's more complicated than what's written there."
Naruto's already wide eyes grew wider still. "The Fourth Hokage's my…my…"
He let the sentence trail off. His fellow burglar was more than happy to add fuel to the fire.
"As I told you, Naruto, your parents were the woman whose name is written on that scroll, Kushina Uzumaki, and the man known as The Yellow Flash. You are the legacy of both the previous Nine Tails jinchuuriki and the previous Hokage."
"Minato Namikaze," Naruto said, testing the name out. "Why? Why would they all keep something this big from me? Why would my dad put that monster inside of me? And…and my mom's clan. There must be others, so why would everyone let me think I was all alone?"
"To protect the village's interests, of course. Even at a cost to you."
"No." Naruto sank to the floor, tears welling up in his eyes. "No. It's not true."
Even as he spoke the words, he knew they held no weight. This information was kept locked away and guarded by an Anbu squad for a reason. If what was inside the scroll wasn't true, there would be no reason to worry so much about someone finding and reading it. Not to mention that it explained everything Naruto never understood.
The stares. The insults. The isolation. Day in and day out, the villagers made him feel like something to be avoided and ignored. Sometimes he'd lie awake at night, wondering if maybe they were right. If he really was a freak. A nuisance. A monster.
Anger, sadness, confusion—all of the emotions he learned to stuff deep down inside himself where they couldn't hurt him, came bubbling to the surface. There really was more to the story, just like he always thought. An explanation for everyone treating him like he had a contagious disease. Something that everyone else knew but him.
It all made sense now. This was the reason.
In the back of his mind, Naruto noticed the person who brought him here conjuring another portal. He couldn't muster up the energy to react.
"We've dawdled long enough," Cloaked Guy said. "Come along, Naruto. We can talk more in my dimension."
Without looking up or acknowledging the invitation, he rose from his place on the floor. He lazily collected the scroll and moved with stilted steps toward his mysterious guide.
Later, in the cube dimension, Naruto couldn't stop his tears from flowing as he lay in a defeated heap. He didn't know which emotion to feel right now, but none of the ones battling inside of him were good. The masked man lounged at the edge of the cube Naruto sat on, swinging his legs without a care in the world.
They didn't talk for the first few minutes, which Naruto appreciated. He didn't want to have to think of something to say. His mind was all over the place right now. When he had no more tears to cry, the young Uzumaki joined the masked stranger on the edge of the cube. He trusted this guy to keep him from falling off and dying, although he still wasn't so sure he'd call him a friend.
Then again, it might not be the worst thing if Naruto slipped and disappeared into the emptiness below. It wasn't like he could go back to the village and act like everything was the same with all that he knew now. Nothing would ever be the same.
"So what now?" Naruto mumbled, his face buried in crossed arms. He observed the floating cubes all around them, trying to focus on anything other than the way he felt.
"That is entirely up to you, child."
"Me?"
"Yes," the cloaked stranger confirmed. "I'll take you back whenever you're ready. If you wish to go home and forget about all of this, I give you my word that I'll never disturb you again. In a few years, I'll be just a memory."
Naruto sighed. "I can't forget. They…they lied to me! They made me into this monster and then punished me for something I had no idea about. How could they?"
The man splayed his arms. "Your guess is as good as mine. Personally, I don't think I could stomach a village that boasts about the Will of Fire and protecting its citizens, all while deceiving me my entire life." His visible eye narrowed. "How about you?"
The blond boy grimaced and turned away. "Why would you help me?"
"Pardon?"
"Someone like me, who's hated by everyone…why would you show me the truth? What do you want with me?"
"I simply wanted this village's lies to be exposed. I wanted you to have full knowledge of the truth so you could choose your own path."
The man got up from the cube's edge and stood tall, removing his mask. A scaly scar covered one side of his face. Naruto stared up at him in awe.
"What's that mark?" the boy asked in a shaky voice. "Does it hurt?"
"No," the man replied with a sigh, "not anymore. You see, I used to be a Leaf shinobi, like you. I trusted these people, like you. But the image the Hokage feeds everyone of a perfect, proud Hidden Leaf Village is one big lie. You ought to get out while you can."
Chewing on these words, Naruto frowned. He had always wanted to become Hokage someday, but what he just found out made his stomach turn at the thought. Ruling a village that tricked him this way just seemed crazy. Besides, even if he did become Hokage, could he enjoy it now, knowing what he knew?
"The Leaf is still my home," Naruto said in a small voice. "Where else could I go?"
"That is simple. You could always come live with me."
"You?" The boy scrunched his nose up. "Sorry, but I don't wanna live in a creepy world of floating cubes, Mister."
The unmasked stranger let out an echoing laugh that rang in Naruto's ears. "Oh, no no. I don't live here!"
"Then where?"
"Somewhere far beyond the village gates. If you came with me, you could be free from all of this and live life on your own terms."
Sparkling blue eyes regarded the stranger with rapt curiosity. "Beyond the gates? I've never been two feet outside of the village. You want me to go super far away with you?"
"It's only an offer." The man produced a portal. "You best get going. Class in the morning, right?"
Naruto took slow steps toward the portal. He stopped, looking from the swirling portal to its creator and back again with uncertainty.
"If you want to leave with me," his guide said, "meet me tomorrow night at the usual time near the front gate."
Nodding, Naruto prepared himself to take the plunge, only to be interrupted again.
"Oh, and don't worry. Those Anbu guards won't remember a thing about tonight. I've taken care of it."
Taken care of it? The boy gulped, wondering if that meant the guy killed them or something. Naruto was about to leave when another thought struck him.
He stood with one foot planted an inch from the portal. A slight pull was already starting to draw him closer, so he turned back. "Wait, Mister. What's…what's your name?"
"Obito Uchiha. Goodbye for now."
Naruto waved and let himself be taken by the portal.
Back home, the night was still dark. Crickets chirped and fireflies danced in the sky. Smiling down at the scroll he grabbed on the way out of the recordkeeping building, Naruto stuffed it under his shirt and hurried to his apartment. He had a lot to think about tonight.
School the next day went about as usual, with one key change: Naruto pulled zero pranks and stayed quiet during class. He laid his head on his desk, thoughts swirling around in his head about all that he read the previous night. If the scroll weren't stowed away under his bed, he might have thought this was all a dream. Iruka-sensei kept stealing glances at him out of habit, ready to pounce and put a stop to any troublemaking in an instant. But Naruto wasn't focused on stuff like that right now. There were more important things to worry about.
Sasuke hadn't shown up today, which was unlike him. Naruto couldn't remember a time when Sasuke missed class ever since the night he lost his family. Since then, he seemed dedicated to coming to school and being a huge know-it-all every day. What was the big deal with him, anyway? Naruto once thought Sasuke was an outcast like him, but all of the girls in class couldn't stop obsessing over the guy. He scored high on tests, and the teachers always praised him. Still, for some reason, he was choosing his loneliness. Who would give up the chance to be acknowledged like that? The Uzumaki boy didn't understand one bit, so he chalked it all up to Sasuke being a stuck up jerk.
However, today he wasn't feeling jealous or irritated over Sasuke. Naruto had his own issues to deal with and a decision to make. Tonight was the night when that creepy masked guy told him to come to the front gate. Should he go? Should he tell Old Man Third? He didn't know what to do, and it was starting to give him a headache.
"Hey, Naruto!" a far away voice called out.
Trapped in a daze, he didn't reply. Only when something small tapped Naruto on the side of the head did he blink back to attention.
"Huh?" he said, looking around to see what all the fuss was about.
He stared down at the row of seats in front of him, realizing one of the other kids had hit him with a balled up piece of paper. She and her friends snickered out of view of the teacher. He ignored them, because it didn't really matter what happened right now. Class was low on his list of priorities.
"Naruto," Iruka-sensei said, "good of you to join us again. And who threw that?"
A smattering of giggles traveled across the rows of students. Iruka scanned the room, waiting for someone to fess up. When no one did, he assigned an extra word problem for the class to solve. He scrawled another rough sketch on the board and wrote a question underneath it, stating that the class could not have their next break until it was solved. Everyone groaned. Naruto paid just enough attention to seem interested and avoid another earful.
The students all forgot him in no time after Iruka-sensei moved on. Naruto didn't fight it by acting out like he normally would have. He let himself melt into the background. Less eyes on him was a good thing. He needed time to think. Today, invisibility was a superpower, not a curse.
The sun was low in the sky, signaling the onset of the evening. Naruto paid this detail little attention, though, busying himself with packing a backpack full of everything he might need. Toothpaste, toothbrush, instant ramen, changes of clothes, his pajamas, ramen, a couple of blankets, his sleeping bag and a pillow, ramen…
Seeing that there was nothing left to do, he decided to take a walk around the village, visit his favorite spots, and stop by Ichiraku for one final bowl of piping hot ramen. When the time to leave drew closer, he hurried back home, let himself in, and headed for the last object on his list.
Naruto slid across the floor and checked under his bed, snatching up the secret scroll. He stuffed it into a free compartment with a satisfied smile. His bag was chock full and looked almost ready to burst, but it held. The boy nodded to himself, full of pride, then looked around at his room one last time. Somehow, even with it stripped down like this, the thought of leaving the place he had called home for seven years—for good—brought tears to his eyes.
"Well," he breathed, "I'm off."
His quiet walk down the main street of the Hidden Leaf Village was nothing special. This was a path he'd taken dozens of times in the past. Still, his chest was tight and every step felt like he had cement blocks tied to his shoes. He willed himself forward, relieved to see that no one was outside to see him go. Holding a paintbrush in one hand, he looked over his shoulder every few seconds. Thanks to his quick thinking, if anyone did see him, they'd assume he was up to another graffiting prank.
Things could turn bad if someone followed. Naruto got the feeling that the masked guy had no problem killing people to help him escape. Even though Naruto was done sticking up for this village, and after today he was gonna kiss it goodbye, that didn't mean he was ready to get people killed for no reason. When was close enough to get a clear view of the front gate, Naruto ducked out of sight and peeked from behind a nearby building. The guards who were usually posted there were nowhere to be seen. Instead, he saw someone he never would have expected. A boy with spiky black hair, an emotionless stare, and a backpack slung across his shoulders stood at the village entrance.
Naruto almost couldn't speak. "Sasuke?"