"Oi Sayuri!" Screamed a gleeful Naruto as he ran through the wide sheet of white snow, trying to chase his best friend, Uchiha Sayuri, who was running in front of him.
"Hehe."
His smile widened as he heard her pleasant giggles. "Stop!" He shouted again, feigning a mask of annoyance to trick her but the girl kept running. It was amazing how even after being blind, she could run so carelessly but then again, there were hardly any obstacles for her in the snow.
"You can't catch me, Naruto. I'm faster than you!" Sayuri, who was enjoying every second of their little contest, stuck her tongue out at him and giggled as her small snow boots splashed small lumps of snow on the boy's face.
"Oi!"
She giggled when he screamed at her again, probably too tired to continue the game anymore. "What?" Moving to the side, she glanced over her shoulder and snickered when she heard his footsteps behind her. From the sound of them and his irregular breaths, she could tell he was trying his best to control his pace on the slippery sheet of ice but was failing miserably.
"I can't run on this snow anymore. I've just finished my training with Shisui-nii and I'm tired, Sayuri." Naruto groaned, irritation apparent in his voice. Yet, he still didn't stop running because he feared that if he did then he would lose sight of her. That fear alone was enough to keep him going.
"Channel some chakra to your feet, Naruto. Nii-san once told me that it helps in walking on slippery surfaces when you are tired."
Naruto didn't waste any time. In a blink, he closed his eyes and began to manifest the hidden energy within him. "Let me try." He whispered as he grabbed a handful of chakra from the large reservoir and channeled it to his feet. "Did it work?" Slowly, he opened his eyes and smiled widely when he noticed that he was having no trouble with the snow anymore. "Yatta!" Raising his fists in the air, he began to celebrate his success, something that didn't go unnoticed by the Uchiha girl who also joined him in his celebration and began to clap her hands in awe.
"See..." She whispered, gaining the attention of the boy. "I told you it would work. It's very similar to water walking that Shisui-nii had taught you a few years ago, Naruto. Now, let's continue our game!" Within seconds, she was back at running aimlessly through the snow.
"Wait for me!" Naruto didn't waste any time and began to run behind her.
"No!"
"Hmph!"
"Come on, Naruto. If you're going to get tired like this at the smallest of games, then how are you going to save me from bad people?"
That did the work and in a blink of an eye, Naruto was beside her, looking at her with a newfound determination in his eyes. "Hehe… don't worry Sayuri, as long as I'm here, no one can do anything to you."
"Not even the Hokage?"
Naruto pouted at the intentional jab. "Hmph… you always tease me like this! But yes, not even the Hokage won't be able to do anything to you. I'll become so powerful that everyone, including Hokage and every other Kage, will stay away from you. My fear will keep them at bay… Hahaha!" What he meant to let out was a peal of malevolent laughter but unfortunately, his voice was still too thin for that to happen. So instead, what came out of his mouth was a weak giggle that by the way it sounded, couldn't even scare a fly.
"Hehe…" And if Sayuri's laughs were anything to go by, then she wasn't scared of it either. "You are so cute, Naruto." She managed to utter between her laughs.
"Don't make fun of me, Sayuri. I'm not joking," His voice abruptly took a serious turn. "I'll destroy everything for you."
The sincerity in his voice silenced the girl and soon, a warm smile blossomed on her small face. "I know, Naruto. You don't have to tell me that." Her words gained her a smile from him, one that she couldn't see but sense easily due to the change in his chakra.
Unfortunately, their perfect moment was spoiled when something unexpected occurred to Naruto. "You're my best- Oww oww!" A sudden screech of pain left his mouth when his face collided with the steel pole that emerged out of nowhere in front of them, creating a sickening sound in the process.
"Naruto!"
A half-conscious Naruto raised his hand and stopped her before she could come any closer to him. "I-I'm fine." He tried to assure her and ease her worries, but his cracked voice and unintentional groaning told her everything she wanted to know.
"No, You are not, Naruto!" Before he could even move, Sayuri opened the little pouch on her jacket and drew out a healing salve, something that had become an essential commodity for her ever since she had begun to hang out with him. "Here," She reached out to his face with her free hand. "Guide me to the wound." And motioned him to guide her hand to the place where the injury had occurred.
Naruto knew he couldn't stop her anymore but still decided to try his luck for the last time. "It's nothing- owwww!" Everything he had in his mind vanished in a second when Sayuri pinched his swollen cheeks gently, earning a painful cry from him.
"You're bleeding, Naruto. I can feel it so, sit silently and let me do my work." Sayuri's heated tone caught him off guard. She had never used that tone in front of him so, when she did, Naruto couldn't help but be surprised.
A tinge of shame churned within him when he saw her scowl while her small fingers mended his wound. "You are so careless, Naruto." She murmured, increasing the shame within him even more. "I've told you so many times that you should always keep your eyes open but you never listen to me. Now see what happened. I sometimes-" Her complaints expired in her mouth when she felt his face shiver under her fingers. A little concerned, she glided her fingers near to the place below his eyes and frowned when she noticed traces of tears there. "Naruto..." Her voice turned gentle and eyes, which were previously sparkling with rage, became soft as she smiled at him.
"Hmm?"
"You can cry in front of me." She whispered, now wiping the tears off his face.
Naruto shook his head and bit back another sob. "No! Only weak people cry in front of others." His answer was enough for Sayuri to deduce what he was feeling at that moment. "How am I going to become strong if I keep crying in front of you over small injuries?" The argument he made only cemented her earlier assumptions.
"Crying doesn't make you weak, Naruto." She argued back in a soft tone. "My dad says that only the strongest of the shinobi have the courage to cry in front of their loved ones." A sliver of happiness bloomed inside her heart when he stopped shaking, indicating that he had stopped crying.
The last few remaining tears fell from his cheeks when the boy finally raised his head and looked into her eyes. "Really?" He asked her, no doubt awed by the fact that a man like Fugaku thought like that.
"Mhmm..." Sayuri nodded her head. "Also," She nudged his wound lightly once more, earning a painful moan from him. "Don't act tough and try to hide your wounds from me, Naruto. Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I'm not watching over you." Her softly spoken words rendered him silent for a second.
"I-I know, Sayuri."
The smile on her face got more prominent.
"Then don't hide your pain from me, Naruto. I promise I will always be there to mend it!"
- oOo -
A lone red eye was staring at the scene in front with trivial curiosity and sadness. The scenario was nostalgic, even more than what he had first presumed it would be. The conversation between the two children was surreal and managed to bring out infinite sad memories from the darkness of his heart.
"He is just like you." An unsettling voice echoed in his ears as his companion appeared beside him and let out a small chuckle of amusement.
"Yes," He didn't deny the claim and admitted it hesitantly. His companion was right. The boy was just like him. Alone, broken, and only held by a few people whom he cherished wholeheartedly. "He is very much like me." But that wasn't the only reason why he was following the boy everywhere. The foremost was residing inside his body, waiting to burst out at any given moment and show its power to everyone.
"And the girl is just like her."
The lone red eye burned with ominous fury as soon as his stupid partner spoke about her with his dirty mouth. "You think so?" He asked, his voice now taking a dangerous deep turn to intimidate the person.
In response, his associate giggled gleefully, exposing those awful-looking sharp fangs to him. "Of course. This girl Sayuri is like a ray of hope for Naruto in this dark and twisted world, just like she was yours."
The man didn't respond for a while as he was too busy watching the interaction between the two innocent children. The happiness on the boy's face was contagious, his smile even more. It was as if he was looking at his younger self, bright and full of life. Sadly, he wasn't like that anymore.
"I can only imagine the destruction he would inflict upon this world if something happens to her…"
The intriguing tone of his partner didn't go well with the man. "No, we will not do anything to her," He whispered as his shriveled hand pushed away some leaves from his sight. "Sayuri holds no importance to us. The one who we need is Naruto. He is our target."
Leaves rustled lightly as the atrocious-looking being inched a little closer to him and smiled. "I never said we would be the one to perform the deed. I was just wondering, you know? After all, anything can happen in this world."
"Hmmm," The man hummed, still not satisfied with the given argument. His associate was hiding something significant. He could tell that just by looking at his unpleasant face for a few seconds.
"Still, what do you think the boy would do if he loses her, let's say, in upcoming years?"
A strange but familiar feeling stirred at the bottom of his gut. "What would he do?" He recited the question and was about to answer it but stopped amidst as his mind began to recall the horrors of that night.
Blood, organs, and tears. He could remember everything vividly. After all, that night was the night that changed him and his life forever. "I don't know." In the end, he couldn't answer that question. Even if the boy was just like him, Naruto's mind was still more mature than his when he was his age. The boy was a born genius, and his stay with Uchiha had only helped him become smarter with age. If faced with a similar situation, he was sure Naruto would choose a different path.
"Hehe… Of course, you don't know."
"But why are you asking me these questions all of a sudden?"
"Ohh, it's nothing."
Yet again, the man wasn't pleased with the response he got from the vile creature. If he wasn't sure before, then he was confident now. The creature was hiding something from him. "Hmm," Still, he decided to remain silent for the sake of his own sanity.
Looking back at the children, he frowned when a strange feeling began to surge inside him.
"Uchiha Sayuri… Uzumaki Naruto."
- oOo -
"Look at Hinata-sama. Yet again, going out with that little branch family vermin to God knows where."
"Yeah, how can she even bear his presence? Especially when his father is rumored to be plotting a rebellion against us."
"Maybe he is scheming to kill her."
"Yeah, I think you are right. Hizashi won't let his son stroll with the daughter of the clan head unless it's benefiting him somehow."
Neji's face declined in sadness as his ears got filled with the heartwrenching comments of his clan members. They were unbearable but what made them even more horrible was the fact that instead of being directed towards him, they were being hurled towards his sister, Hinata. 'Why are they doing this to her?' A quick glance at Hinatawas enough for him to know that his sister wasn't cherishing the comments either.
"Are you ok, Hinata-sama?" He couldn't help but ask her as they continued to walk towards her favorite garden, located just behind the vicinity of the Hokage monument.
Lost in his thoughts, Neji didn't notice when Hinata peeked at him and began to smile. "Of course, Nii-sama." She answered, the smile on her lips wavering for a fraction of a second, a thing that didn't go unnoticed by her brother.
"You can take Ko-san with you if you want. I won't mind," The sadness in his tone even surprised him as it had been a long while since he had taken people's comments seriously, especially ones fired from the mouths of the people of Main Branch. "I can still hang out with my father." The sadness only increased as more insults began to reach his ears, filling him with an unimaginable amount of rage and sadness.
It was disheartening to see how low people of the main branch could go to humiliate him and his family. It was like the only reason they existed was to make his life more miserable and empty. At first, their insults used to be indirect, hurled mostly towards his family, but ever since he began to hang out with his sister Hinata, everything worsened. Now, they longer wanted to insult him. Instead, they wanted to punish him.
'Hinata-sama...'
The only main-branch member who accepted him for what he was and gave him hope when no one even dared to come close to him. The admiration she held for him was precious and gave him a reason to be better, and in return, what did he give her? Nothing but sadness and hate from her people. Just because of him, she couldn't make any friends either as no one wanted to be associated with someone who had ties with a branch-family scum. Yet, she never showed any signs of resentment towards him and always greeted him with that sweet smile on her face.
"Why would I want to leave you, Nii-sama?" Hinata's feeble voice brought Neji out of his thoughts. "You are my brother." A small innocent smile flickered on her lips and soothed his worries. "I don't care about these people's comments. They're not a part of my family. You are."
"But-"
"Don't try to argue with me now, brother." Hesitantly, she placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it just like her mother used to do with her when she was a child. "Remember, you once said that you would follow every command of mine, right?"
Neji lowered his head a little and nodded at her. "Y-yes."
"Then it's my order that you will not pay attention to anyone around us and will try your best to make new friends outside our clan."
The giggles that followed her declaration calmed him immediately, something that didn't go unnoticed by Hinata as she finally let go of his shoulder.
"Ok!"
The shame got replaced by joy and frown with a smile as Neji began to walk beside her again.
- oOo -
"What happened, Sayuri? Why are you so silent today?" A confused Naruto asked his friend as they strolled in the thick blanket of ice splashed on the forest located behind the Hokage monument.
"I don't know, Naruto."
She was lying, Naruto concluded without even looking at her. When it came to each other, both of them were terrible liars. "I see... Still, there must be some reason why you became so silent, you know? Earlier, you were so happy."
Sayuri stopped walking and looked down at the ground to hide her eyes from him. Although lightless, they were still very much filled with emotions, and Naruto was one of the few people who could read them effortlessly. "No… There are no hidden reasons this time, Naruto." She whispered, hoping that the boy would stop questioning her anymore but unfortunately, Naruto didn't.
"Hmph… Fine, don't tell me anything and keep your secrets to yourself, Sayuri." The discomfort in his tone was fake, but the sadness wasn't. He was sad, and he had all the reason to be so as his best friend was trying to hide something from him. "But remember, if you are going to keep secrets, then so will I-"
Sayuri's resolution didn't last long and finally fell before the might of Naruto's sadness. The boy knew her very well, actually too well for her own good. He knew what he had to do whenever he wanted to get the truth out of her mouth. "Ok fine." She murmured, her voice as low as a whisper. "I'm sad because Daisuke made fun of me again." Her answer earned her a soft growl of anger from Naruto, something she had already speculated would happen, and that's why she was trying to remain silent about it.
"That boy is still troubling you?"
She nodded her head slowly.
"Even after getting scolded by Itachi and Shisui-nii?"
"Yes."
Naruto growled yet again, this time with more anger. "What does he want from you? You haven't done anything to him, yet he still mocks you at every chance he gets." The anger was beginning to take the form of a storm inside him, fluctuating his chakra and mind. But before it could develop anymore, Sayuri stopped him by grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently.
"Stop, Naruto. There's no need to get so angry about it. I'm sure he won't do it again-"
"For what? A few weeks or a month?"
His words silenced her, and she couldn't do anything but look at him with a sorry look on her face. Naruto was right. Daisuke won't stop bullying her, not until she does something about it. "I'm weak, Naruto. I can't do anything against him." Unveiling her weakness always felt terrible, especially in front of Naruto. The thought that he might leave her if she constantly appears weak in front of him frightened her. It made her feel like a useless person in her own eyes.
'Flick!'
Sayuri stumbled on her feet as the index finger of Naruto made contact with the base of her tiny nose and flicked it gently.
"Stupid Sayuri. What made you feel like that?"
His voice became gentle, so much that for a second, she believed she was talking to her mother as she was the only one in her family who had such a kind and calming voice. "I-I…"
"Shh…" His finger traveled down to her lips and sealed them momentarily. "You are not weak, Sayuri. Not at all. In fact, you're the bravest person I have ever met." Usually by now, she would have called him out for lying so carelessly in front of her, but this time something was different. She couldn't discover any trace of lies in his voice. "Shisui-nii, Itachi-nii, and even your dad fail in comparison to you. Sure they know powerful jutsus and own the sharingan, but for me, those abilities are trivial in front of the strength that you possess, Sayuri."
"What do I possess?"
"Me. I'm your strength, Sayuri."
Now, that made her laugh a little.
"Hey! Why are you laughing? I'm serious."
His grumbling accompanied by the annoyed look that he had on his face was a sight to behold. "Hehe." More laughs continued to escape from her mouth.
Naruto was about to retort with something but stopped when a foreign voice entered his ears. From the sound of it, it seemed like it belonged to a person around their age, and he wasn't disappointed when he saw two individuals appear from the darkness of the bushes around them. "Hyūga." He immediately recognized them as their eyes were pretty similar to the Hyūga girl who his brother talks to a lot and mumbles about in his sleep.
It wasn't long before their eyes met, and as a result, the girl among the two stopped her stride.
"U-umm…"
Naruto tilted his head in confusion as he couldn't understand why she was behaving like that. After analyzing her face a little more, it finally clicked in his mind. 'I know her! She is the girl from that day.' He smiled to himself as a long-forgotten memory struck his mind. "Hinata." That was her name, and his assumption was proven right when the girl raised her head and smiled at him.
"Naruto, who is Hinata?"
His smile got bigger.
"Let me tell you a story, Sayuri."
- Hokage Office -
Hokage's office was a place that was held in high regard throughout the whole village of Konoha. The huge hall of smooth stones and beautifully crafted wood was something that had been the center of engagement concerning everything, from small civilian affairs to tough war-provoking decisions, through the past generations.
Currently, the place was occupied by the legendary Sandaime and his justly infamous friend Danzō, both of them staring at the crystal ball on the table with utmost awareness.
"It looks like Naruto has found some interesting people yet again. This time from the Hyūga clan." Hiruzen whispered as he continued to watch the interaction between the children curiously.
Danzō, who was sitting beside him, wasn't looking pleased with the development, not at all. "We are being fools once again, Hiruzen," The old man muttered, his voice filled with disdain and anger as he finally glanced at his friend. "Can't you see what is happening?" His question earned him a perplexed look from his friend.
"What are you trying to say, Danzo?"
In answer, the one-eyed man shook his head gently, no doubt discouraged with the response he got from his partner. Moments like these were the reason he hadn't and never would praise his teammate's reign as the Hokage. Even after committing so many heinous acts, his friend Hiruzne was still stuck in the chains of morals. Unlike him, who had already freed himself of everything, Hiruzen was still prone to moralistic guilt and lacked the will to make tough decisions for the betterment of their village. That's why he needed to be there for him so that he could help him.
"We are making a grave mistake by allowing our Jinchūriki to develop trivial emotions like love and kindness. He doesn't need them," He paused to see the reaction of his friend and was more than pleased to see he was listening to him. "They are useless for a weapon like him. The only aspects he should be taught about are the opinions that we want him to live with."
Hiruzen was taken aback by his friend's words. They were cold and shallow. "Don't call him a weapon, Danzo. I know we need the fox inside him, but that doesn't mean we can sabotage his whole life for that. Just like everyone else, he deserves a normal life. It's his right, and we can't take that away from him." He argued back, his wrinkled eyes staring at his friend with scrutiny and a little resentment. Though the idea of a weapon sounded great for their village and its safety, that didn't mean they could just ruin a child's whole life for that. They, especially him, had already ruined Naruto's life as much as they could by their actions, negligence being the major one in his case, and now Hiruzen didn't want to interfere in the child's life anymore.
"He has no rights, Hiruzen. Not anymore. The moment Yondaime sealed that beast inside him, he became a weapon for our village, and a weapon does and should not have any rights. It's only duty is to protect our village and its people in dire times."
Hiruzen was still not satisfied with the explanation. "But-"
"Hiruzen, there is a reason why the concept of Jinchūriki exists in our world. If they were meant to be ordinary people who should be allowed to live a normal life, then why would they be referred to as a human sacrifice?"
A complete silence claimed the room as Danzo began to explain himself to his friend.
"Jinchūriki is a sacrifice each village has to make in order to remain relevant and safe in our war-ridden world. As a Hokage, you must make that sacrifice," Raising his cane, Danzō positioned it on the chest of his friend. "Our jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto was already an orphan, which made him the perfect prospect for a weapon as he lacked those trivial emotions, but by allowing him to live with those scums, you placed the safety of our village in jeopardy."
Utter silence followed the words of the one-eyed man. Hiruzen, the professor who had never lost an argument, was at a loss for words. What his friend had just addressed was true, absolutely true. Jinchūriki, also known as Human Sacrifice, was conceived only for one single purpose and that was the village's safety. The word sacrifice meant that they would be abstained from living a normal life, something that their sacrifice would allow others to have.
Still, a part of him wasn't ready to acknowledge his friend's words. It still wanted the boy to live a normal life. "Right now, the villages are at peace with each other-"
"I think what you meant to say was, right now, the villages are at a lack of crucial reserves, so they are refraining from initiating another war."
Hiruzen nodded, making no effort to deny Danzō's statement. "Yes, and since the lack of reserves is keeping them at bay. For now, I don't think we need another weapon, especially one shaped out of a child."
A light grunt of annoyance was Danzō's response to the utterly stupid statement of his friend. "Don't act irrationally again, Hiruzen. How long do you think the villages will remain silent?"
"I don't know."
"Then how can you conclude that we don't need a weapon?" Fury flickered within Danzo's lone eye as he placed a hand on Hokage's desk. "Right now, our village is suffering from a severe lack of powerful shinobis. Except for you, Gai, and Kakashi, we don't have any exceptional shinobis left and that's why we need to take advantage of that child. Yondaime made a mistake by sealing the beast into his child when he already had a vessel ready for it, and now you are making the same mistake by allowing that child to live freely." Danzō's words came to an abrupt end when a powerful blue aura enveloped the thin form of his friend.
"Shut your mouth, Danzō. Don't tell me what to do and what to not. I know very well what I'm doing, so shut your damn mouth and leave."
It was not a warning, Danzō understood. It was an order, a decree which needed to be followed by him at all costs. Sure he could have argued back with more facts, but the current state of his friend wasn't something to trifle with. "You will regret your decision, Hiruzen. One day that boy will lose everything, and on that day, his emotions will destroy this village along with your beliefs. Uzumaki Naruto is not-"
The suffocating energy increased and so, did the tension between the two. "Leave." A single word left the dry mouth of Hokage.
"Insolent fool..."
- END -
I hope you liked the chapter.
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Thank you.
Stay safe.