Dull and long were the two words Naruto would always use to describe the days when he wasn't around Sayuri. Without her, the world felt devoid of life and color. It was as if she was the only one who could paint his life with colors of happiness and excitement.

"Man, I'm so bored!"

Unfortunately for Naruto, today was one of those days. It was Sayuri's birthday and he had been instructed to stay away from her by none other than her father. "Just 'cause they're planning a surprise party doesn't mean I'd ruin it. " A small pout emerged on his dry lips as he began to murmur to himself. "I can keep a secret, you know." The pout got even bigger when he remembered how badly he was embarrassed in front of the entire clan by his brother.

"Idiot nii-san. Always teasing me in front of everyone." His eyes drifted away from the patch of green grass and began to stare at the blue sky above. " I always feel like he wants me to say something stupid in front of Fugaku-san," Naruto shook his head immediately in denial. That couldn't be the case. His brother would never do that. "Or would he?" A fragment of suspicion sprouted within his mind. "Nah…."

But before the thought could sprout further, Naruto crushed its roots. "Nii-san is a nice guy. I'm sure he's just trying to have fun." Though still sounding a little bit unsure, Naruto was convinced that his brother, while an idiot, would never do that to him.

With his thoughts concluded, the monotonous silence returned as Naruto turned to stare at the sky above.

The skies were awfully blue today, he idly noted. It was rather unusual given the time of year. They were supposed to be murky and filled with clouds. "But today, the sky is clear somehow." His eyes then shifted towards the sun, which was looking like a glowing ball of yellow. "The sun is shining brightly too. What is happening today? Wasn't it supposed to be raining right now?" Naruto blinked in confusion. He couldn't help but vocalize his confusion. As far as he remembered, Shisui had forbidden him from going out as it was supposed to be raining. However, at present, while staring at the clear sky, Naruto couldn't help but wonder what had led to this change.

"I wonder if it's that 'silence before the storm,' nii-san always talks about?" He giggled to himself at that silly joke. There existed no such thing as that. Because if there was a storm brewing somewhere close to their vicinity, then there was no way they wouldn't get the news about it through some medium. Storms were supposed to be deadly and loud, and Naruto didn't think there was anything in their world that could suppress those sounds.

"This silence is taking a toll on my mental state. I need to go somewhere to refresh myself before it gets even worse."

As if to ease his worries and guide him to his destination, his stomach growled loudly, indicating that it needed replenishment. "Ramen…" An immediate answer to his stomach's woes left his mouth as he began to drool over the prospect of eating countless bowls of ramen with no one being there to stop him.

Usually, either his brother or Sayuri would always be there to chastise him for eating that godly food carelessly. But now that they both were busy with Sayuri's birthday, Naruto had the perfect opportunity to eat his beloved food just like the way he used to do in the past.

"Ramen, here I come!"

-Later that Night-

"Naruto, are you going to finish your ramen or not?" Ayame asked the boy who was sitting across the table, eyeing her as if she had just asked him to commit the most heinous of felonies. Well now that she thought about it, in a way she exactly did that but still, that didn't give him an excuse to glare at her like that. "We are already late for Sayuri's birthday." Now that worked wonders. In a movement too fast for her to follow, Naruto stood up from his chair and flashed in front of her, holding the ramen bowl as gently as he could.

"Here…" The amount of sadness conveyed through his voice nearly changed Ayame's mind but the girl quickly composed herself and took the bowl away from his hand.

"Good." Brown tresses fluttered in the air as Ayame abruptly turned around and began to walk towards the sink. "Anyway, did you buy a gift for her this time?" A small smirk made its way to her lips as she heard Naruto gasp in surprise and slump down in his seat. "You forgot this time, didn't you?" It was more than clear that he did but she still decided to tease him.

"Well…" Naruto opened his mouth to say something but closed it soon when he couldn't come up with something smart to retort.

"Don't worry, I don't think she'll mind. For her, you being there alongside her will be enough I guess. "

Although he fully agreed with what he had just heard, a part of Naruto's heart still didn't like the fact that he forgot to buy something for his best friend. Best friends were supposed to buy gifts for each other and yet here he was, slurping down ramen like an idiot with no care in the world. "I should have bought something for her. Even a little present would have been enough." His lips scrunched into a scowl as he began to imagine the scene that would unfold after her birthday. "Everyone will have a gift for her except me. Aghh… I-"

Now done with the dishes, Ayame interrupted Naruto as she sat down beside him. "It's fine, Naruto. As I said, I don't think she'll mind. For her, you are already like the most precious gift she could ever receive. So, calm down and just think about the ways you could evade confronting Fugaku-san."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "I totally forgot about him. He'll be there too and will be looking for me so that he could lecture me about Uchiha traditions… No…"

"Hahaha…"

"Hey don't laugh. It's not my fault that man looks so scary."

"Haha-"

'Tap!'

The smiles vanished from their faces in an instant when sounds of suppressed footsteps entered their ears.

"Ayame-" Naruto started but Ayame immediately silenced him by placing a hand over his mouth. "Aggh!" He tried to scream at her but the girl didn't budge and kept her hand placed right over his mouth. He was about to scream once more but was silenced yet again, this time by the sound of footsteps.

'Tap!'

They were getting closer, he could sense it.

"Remain silent Naruto. Something is wrong with the chakra that's approaching us. It's not familiar and is trying its best to stay hidden."

The realization finally dawned on him. It was an intruder, someone who probably had no good intentions to be here. How could he be so sure about it? Well, Ayame had great control over her chakra sensing ability and if she didn't know the owner of the chakra then it only meant two things. One―it was of a person from a different village, probably a civilian. However, civilians don't have enough chakra and they don't know how to hide it.' Then the only option left was that it was a ninja who was intentionally trying to suppress their chakra.

'Tap.'

Everything went silent in an instant.

-Hokage Office-

After a very long time, Hiruzen, the Hokage of Konoha, was finally at peace. He was happy, no―, he was beyond happy. His eyes which usually exhibited nothing but pain and authority were for once shimmering with happiness and serenity.

Wherever he looked, he saw peace and a bright future for this war-ridden world. "It's finally happening…" His dry wrinkled lips curved upwards and formed a radiant smile, one that could light up the whole sky with happiness if it wanted to. "I can finally see true peace, Homura… Koharu." He looked to his left and closed his eyes to hide his tears from his former teammates.

"I still can't believe it, Hiruzen."

Koharu's shaky and uncertain voice once again reminded Hiruzen how absurd the whole situation was coming across to others, even to himself. "But it's true, Koharu." His smile stretched a little more as he recalled the promise Raikage had made to him about the future of their villages.

Promise.

It was a rather shocking promise, one that had blindsided Hiruzen into silence for a good amount of time when it was uttered from the mouth of that man. That man, the Raikage, wasn't someone who believed in concepts of peace and pacifism. To the world, he was a mindless brute who desires nothing but the destruction of his enemies. So when he came to his village and proposed the idea of a treaty between their nations, Hiruzen was rather shocked by it.

Why?

Because a treaty between their villages was something his teacher Tobirama had dubbed impossible when he was alive. According to him, Kumo was a nation filled with skeptical anomalies who loved war and for them, peace was a concept that they could never live with. It made no sense to them.

'But now it does, sensei… now it does.'

Kumo was finally beginning to see the merits of a peaceful world and Hiruzen was all in support of it. For him, bringing peace to his world had been his utmost priority and if it meant that he had to put his faith in the Raikage then so be it.

"They are lying."

Just like that, the whole atmosphere of the room changed and took an abrupt dark turn.

"What do you mean Danzō?" Hiruzen was fast to show his objection to that stupid statement of his friend.

Danzō's lone brown eye opened and gazed at the wrinkled face of his old friend, disappointment and hatred glowing inside it. "They are deceiving us with their sweet hollow words, Hiruzen. Raikage's words, his promises mean nothing. They are all false." His expression trembled a little in rage when his friend scoffed at him. "I'm not fooling around, Hiruzen. I could sense lies within those false prophetic words of his."

"Danzō-"

Danzō stopped Homura before he could intervene in their conversation. "These promises of peace and security are always false. They are made just so that they can be torn apart before the war and inevitable betrayal." His hand which was holding his famous cane tightened its grip around the wood when Hiruzen began to glare at him.

"Shut up, Danzō. With a pessimistic attitude like this, you can never strive for peace."

"Hmm…"

Sensing that his friend was not going to close his mouth merely with that, Hiruzen decided to do what he always does to render him silent.

'Crack…'

A shroud of powerful blue chakra flared around the frail body of the Hokage but before he could enhance the strength of it, a malevolent and sinister wave of energy washed over them and froze him to his place.

"K-Kyūbi…"

"Boom!"

Red scattered all over the skies.

-Later that Night -

In his life, occurrences that left Shisui truly helpless were exceptionally rare. Aside from the death of his parents and his friend, there had been no event in his life that had managed to hurt him to the level where he would find himself crying. But it looked like history was repeating itself today, and it was doing it in the worst possible way out there.

"We need to extract that monster out of that child, Fugaku. It's necessary for the safety of the village now."

His heart, which had been relishing the joy and happiness around him till now, shattered into million pieces as he heard Hiruzen utter those words.

They were despicable, saddening, and even gut-wrenching but the thing that made them so horrifying to hear was that fact that they were inevitable as they had come out of their Hokage's mouth.

"But Hokage-sama-"

"I'll not hear a single word this time Fugaku."

Shisui swallowed a sob as he looked at the man who was glaring daggers towards their clan head.

"Do you even understand the severity of this situation?"

His eyes which were glazed with tears began to spin ominously in sadness.

"He killed 3 people today, Fugaku. 3 people, in which two were very important for our village."

Red shimmered within his eyes for a second as they morphed into the infamous Mangekyō sharingan.

"This boy is a murderer in the eyes of people around the world now, Fugaku."

The pattern inside his eyes began to swirl as he prepared to do something that no one could even imagine doing in their wildest dream. 'I'm going to erase everything… I'll change reality.' But before he could do that, a hand took hold of his wrist and nudged it gently.

Looking to his side, his eyes immediately went back to their original form when they saw a sad and destroyed Itachi standing beside him. From the marks on his face, Shisui could easily tell that the boy had been crying, and that fact broke the remaining will that was left inside him.

"I-Itachi..."

"D-did you hear what Hokage just s-said, Shisui?"

"Y-yes…"

"These people will kill Naruto. I can sense lies in their voices."

Shisui bit back another sob as soon as Itachi's words entered his ears. His friend was right, these people, these soulless people were going to kill his little brother. No matter what they say, their deceptive words were not going to fool him this time. "I-I know, Itachi but-"

"Hiruzen, I don't think these Uchihas will ever let us extract Kyūbi from that boy."

A terrifying yet familiar voice entered Shisui's ears and froze him to his place. 'He's here!' The Uchiha boy gasped in shock.

The monster.

"Danzo, remain silent. It's a matter of the village's safety and I'm sure Fugaku will comply with us this time. Is that not so, Fugaku?"

Wet onyx eyes of Shisui shifted towards his clan head who was sitting silently on the other side of the table with a deep frown plastered on his usually stoic face. 'Please show some spine, Fugaku-sama…' He mentally urged the man.

"No."

A suffocating silence surrounded the whole room as soon as Fugaku uttered those words.

-Naruto's room-

His brother was right.

A storm was brewing in the corner. He could clearly see it now. Surrounded by the clouds doused in the shades of red and black, it was a storm that was raining blood on the soil of his home.

'N-Naruto…'

A helpless gasp escaped his mouth as those soul-shattering shattering words echoed in his mind for the thousandth time.

'You want revenge, child. I can see everything so don't try to hide your feelings from me. I'll help you with it.'

He killed her.

In the attempt to save her from one monster, he killed her by becoming one himself. It was all his fault. He was the one who gave control to that monster and in return that monster ravaged everything that came into its path.

'Don't be sad, Naruto. I-It wasn't your…'

Those dead brown eyes of his sister were etched into his mind now. He could never forget them. From now on, they would always be there in his mind to remind him how miserably he failed to keep his promises.

'I was supposed to protect them from all harm out there.' His thoughts swirled into an endless abyss as he recalled all those uncorroborated promises that he had made to Ayame and Hinata in the past years. Those promises were false, he was no hero. Instead, he was a monster who killed them without showing a sliver of mercy.

'Hinata-sama thinks very highly of you, Naruto-san. So please promise me that you'll never break her heart and leave her alone.'

Neji.

Naruto's wet blue eyes widened in grief as he began to imagine what must be going inside the mind of that boy. Hinata was everything for him. She was his sister, his friend, and most importantly a ray of light in his dark world. But now, she would never be there for him to cheer him up. He took her away from that boy.

'I think I can trust you, Naruto-san. You are very much like me when it comes to protecting the people who we hold close to our hearts. It's interesting, isn't it?'

What was he going to say to that boy? There was nothing left to say now. All that Neji had was gone and now the only thing he could give him was more pain and sadness in the form of an apology.

"But no apology is going to bring her and Ayame-nee back. They are gone now." He whispered as he kept staring at the darkness that was lingering in his room like a hungry predator, waiting to pounce on him at any given moment.

'Creak!'

Naruto recoiled back into the darkness behind him when the door of his room slowly began to open with that customary horrifying sound.

"Naruto…"

His eyes immediately drifted towards the ground in shame when he realized that the owner of the voice was none other than his sweet aunt Mikoto.

"Naruto, I know you are there."

Shoulders that had been carrying the weight of his actions as best they could for the longest time finally gave up under the gentleness of Mikoto's motherly words. Her words were too powerful for them and with them losing the battle there was nothing that could have stopped what was about to come next. "M-Mikoto san…" Eyes trembling with fear and pain, Naruto began to cry profusely in the corner of his room, all while trying his best to not show his tear-covered face to the lady in front. "I k-killed-"

"You didn't kill anyone, dear. It was not you." In a blink of an eye, Mikoto was in front of him, her own face covered in tears and pain. "That monster was the one who killed Ayame and Hinata-chan. You didn't do anything." Raising her hand a little she began to stroke his hair gently.

"B-but that-"

Wiping the tears that were left on her face with her other hand, Mikoto smiled at the boy in hopes of getting a smile in return from him. Sadly, she got none. "Shh… As I said, you did nothing wrong Naruto. It wasn't your fault and don't you dare think otherwise, understand?" She tried to feign rudeness in her voice but even that failed to get a reaction out of him. 'Naruto…' She wailed internally. Seeing him like that was hurting her and the fact that she could do nothing about it only made the matter worse for her.

She was supposed to be like a mother to him and as a mother, it was her responsibility to make him feel safe during situations like these. Unfortunately for her, she was failing miserably at that.

"But everyone is say-saying that I-I did that."

Her eyes turned red for a moment when she heard that. "Who is saying that?" She asked Naruto, her voice as cold as ice. If someone was troubling him by accusing him of something he had little to no control over then it was her duty to get rid of that annoyance. It was the least she could do for him.

"That man with one eye and the people around him. H-he was yelling at me for b-being useless."

Mikoto immediately understood whom Naruto was talking about. 'Danzō.' Her face withered at the thought of him. That man was a menace she knew very well. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do, if that man set his eye on you then there was hardly anything you could do about it. "Did he do anything to you?" She asked the little boy immediately after and sighed in relief when he shook his head in negative.

"I don't want to leave Sayuri and Shisui nii alone, Mikoto-san. I don't want to leave any of you. You all are the closest thing to a family I have ever had."

His words broke something inside her at that moment. Maybe it was the fact that Naruto for the first time since they had met each other finally showed his gentle side to her or maybe it was the amount of grief his voice carried in it. Whatever it was, it made her feel helpless and sad at the same time. "Stupid Naruto." She gently flicked his nose and let out a fake giggle of hope from the brine of sadness that was spiraling inside her. "What made you think you are going away from us? No one is going anywhere. We all are going to remain together." Her words and confidence were weak, betrayed by the uncertainty in her voice.

No matter what she said to the boy, ultimately, the final decision was still going to be carried out by the Hokage. He was the final decision-maker in their village and whatever he was going to accept as the absolute solution at the end was going to and had to be accepted by everyone and that included Uchihas too.

"Really?"

Mikoto was brought out of her thoughts by a hopeful query by Naruto. "Umm…" She looked at him and bit back a sob when she saw the amount of hope he had on his face at that time, even going as far as to smile at her. "Y-yes." Her lips quivered a little when the look on his face faltered for a second, indicating that he knew she was lying.

"Then it's going to be fine, I guess."

-xXx-

"Will it hurt, Mikoto?" A sweet and smiling redhead asked the woman who was sitting beside her.

"No, it won't, Kushina."

Kushina blinked for a second before she turned her gaze towards her friend again. "But I have heard that it hurts a lot, sometimes so much that you would rather prefer dying than going through it." Her voice wavered a little as fear took over her.

"You are worrying about nothing, Kushina. As I said nothing is going to happen. It will sting a little and that's it." Mikoto's words came out very weak and her friend was quick to pick up on that.

"Hehe… you are such a bad liar, Mikoto. You can't even fake a serious look, you know."

Mikoto huffed at her friend and looked away from her to hide the embarrassment that was lingering on her face. "What made you think I was lying, Kushina? When I said it won't hurt, I was being serious. But hey, if you want to make fun of me then go on, I won't mind."

"My my, don't get mad, Mikoto-chan. I was joking, you know. Anyway, it won't hurt right?"

"No."

A serene silence fell over the two as they both kept staring at each other.

An uncomfortable Mikoto, who knew that Kushina knew she was lying, was about to break the silence but was halted by Kushina who abruptly smiled at her.

"I see… then it's going to be fine, I guess."

-xXx-

Tap.

A small drop of tear fell down her cheeks as memories of the past began to haunt her mind again.

"Naruto."

Her eyes widened in fear when the voice of her husband entered her ears.

"Y-yes Fugaku-san?"

Her heart shivered inside her chest.

"Hokage sama is requesting your presence."

More tears began to fall from her face.

"O-ok."

As the sound of Naruto's tiny feet began to diminish in the darkness, the fear and sadness inside Mikoto's mind started to grow up to unimaginable levels.

'Creak…'

Slowly by slowly, darkness began to claim the whole room.

"Thank you for talking to me, Mikoto-san. It meant a lot to me."

His voice tore her heart into uncountable pieces.

"When I return, I'll make sure to serve you the best ramen I can prepare."

'Thud!'

With that, darkness finally claimed her vision.

-END-

A.N: Leave a review if you liked the chapter. They are a good source of motivation.

Thank you. Have a nice day.

Remain safe.