There's no need for words.
They always send mixed messages.
The silence pulls your emotion out.
That's how you say everything.
-
Naruto couldn't sleep. He was sitting on his dad's head, looking out upon his home. He bought a bottle of soda from a 24 hour shop.
Clink, clink clink, clink, clink...
He tapped his fingers on the glass, trying to soothe himself somehow. Maybe the melody would bring back some sort of happy memory. Maybe a lullaby he heard from somebody's parents. He closed his eyes and stared into a woman's eyes.
They were purple.
He knew this was his mother, the hair gave it away. The image flashed of both of his parents impaled on a sharp claw. He winced. How much death had he seen? When would he get over it? He can't do anything about it now, it's in the past.
But for some reason he gets this nagging feeling. A feeling that he never will be able to do anything to stop new and painful memories in the future. He took a sip and thought back...
One year ago Naruto experienced the pain created by other people. To its most gruesome extreme.
~
The boy known as fox descends the steps of the hideout.
He slipped past during a guard change, only to find a surprising lack of security on the inside. The boy reverted from his fly status and dealt with the guards on the inside.
He was here to utilize the fūinnome on a specific, very difficult to reach target. He was also there to destroy any experiment Orochimaru was working on.
His target was the last remaining member of the Kaguya clan. He was to view the subject as quickly as possible. In the brief period before his body would begin to mold the kekkei genkai, Naruto was to hiraishin to a nearby cave where he would be brought back to the village.
If he encountered Orochimaru, he was to immediately disengage to the rendezvous location.
~
Naruto never liked using his own bones as weapons. It was not only gross, but it reminded him of what ensued in that lair.
'I don't blame you. Seems rather inelegant.'
'I think maybe you shouldn't talk right now.'
Nuibari opened her mouth to snap back. As she was about to speak, she caught Kurama's eye. She was paralysed from the intensity she felt from the fox, and simply nodded as Naruto took another sip.
~
After disposing of the bodies in his Kamui, Naruto continued to make his way down the stairs. He knew Orochimaru wasn't here, and even if he was, Danzō and him "retained" their alliance. Naruto believed that the man was onto them. That Danzō was just suddenly not interested in human experimenting anymore. He needed to remain vigilant.
The boy searched every room, each containing some sort of experiment. Tanks and tubes, all filled with human subjects. He had been instructed to destroy any trace of an experiment in the lair, and release subjects when possible. Whenever he tried to release any subject from a tube, they would flop down dead.
The people were shouting at him, begging him to let them go.
"Please, help us, mister."
"Break us free."
"We need help!"
He was so conflicted. He knew they were suffering. Was killing them the best choice?
When Danzō sent Naruto to stone these two birds at once, he failed to consider the effects of destroying human subjects on a young child.
The faces of those children haunt him. They were his age at the time. He looked in shock and horror at every single one of them.
After exploring every hallway, Naruto exited out into the main area. In front of him was a waist high stone wall overlooking a large pit. There was a sort of ramp that spiraled all the way to the bottom.
The walls were covered in cages, each one containing at most four people, some containing corpses. He was guessing that Orochimaru didn't have custodians on the payroll. Piles and piles of... in every cell, there were just piles of... Naruto gagged at the sight and smell.
The worst part about all of this, it wasn't the piles of shit, the fact that they were being held in cages, or the fact that most cages had one or more corpses inside. It was that none of those people wanted to be freed. They kept shouting about wanting to please Orochimaru, become his servant.
Naruto made the impossible choice that day. A choice that keeps him from sleeping.
He shambled to the last cage. He grabbed onto a bar and doubled over, taking off his mask to vomit. He wiped his mouth and stood back up.
"Are you here to kill me?" A boy, around Itachi's age spoke.
"No. But I don't even know what would be better. I don't even fucking know anymore."
"I doubt you could even-"
"Just shut up dude," Naruto bent one of the bars with his grip, "I'm seriously not doing this right now."
~
"Mind if I get a sip?" A familiar voice called, sucking Naruto back into the real world. He held the bottle out to Shisui who sat down next to him. "What are you thinking about?" Naruto gave a pained squint towards the village and shook his head.
Naruto never really divulged his past. He didn't have to for Shisui to know that the boy was deeply troubled.
All the more shocking and impressive that he was so compassionate.
Shisui knew Naruto enough to know the gist of what he meant. Naruto was younger than him, but age doesn't really mean anything in this world. Naruto and Shisui, for all intents and purposes, had seen the horrors of this world. You don't have to know what happened to someone to understand how they were feeling.
It's said that two great shinobi can read each other's thoughts through an exchange of fists. Two great friends, however, don't need to exchange fists to know what the other was thinking.
"You know something Naruto?" Shisui asked rhetorically. Naruto looked at him for a response, "You made me a better person. And I'm not the only one," he paused and took a sip, "I had seen stuff that destroyed my heart and mind. I killed my own uncles and friends, almost everything I loved was ripped from my hands. I met you at a critical time where I had a choice. There were two paths I could have followed, one of anger and depression, or one of compassion and reverence."
"I'm not one for flattery," This time it was a different voice. It came from behind him. Itachi, "But if it were not for you the people we once were would be dead. Sasuke wouldn't have an older brother," Naruto hung his head at the thought. What would Sasuke be without Itachi?
"I only wish you could feel how we do when we're around you," the third Hokage was now standing behind him, arms behind his back, smoking from his pipe.
"You are the will of fire, my boy." Danzō placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. The five sat in silence. There was no need to talk right now. They all stared out at their home, the village they would protect at all cost.
Naruto chuckled, "I just wish you guys meant all that. After all, I never really did anything to help you."
Shisui clenched his hand around the bottle. He started to speak, but was cut off by Itachi: "I choose to let my actions speak for me. So do you," Naruto squinted at Itachi, "Besides, we aren't exactly ones to sugarcoat thinks."
More silence. Shisui took another sip.
Naruto didn't have the same effect on himself that he did on other people. To himself he was just a normal shinobi.
He didn't need to have this "effect" on himself, there were other people who provided the effect to him.
He was surrounded by his friends. Friends who became brothers, one even became a father. As soon as he began to think of all of the pain he had felt, he started to think of all of the happy memories he made. Playing in the creek, practicing shuriken-jutsu with Itachi, barging into Danzō's office in sexy jutsu, and so many more.
It was different from the times he was alone at night with his mind. Usually when he tried to wipe negative memories with positive ones, he would still end up dwelling on past negatives. Tonight was different. Instead of the bad taste that lingered when he reminisced, he felt a sort of happiness.
He was content.
He stood up slowly, slicing his hand with a kunai. He held his fist out over all of Konoha
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I will protect each and everyone of you." Naruto shouted to the village.
"My name is Itachi Uchiha, and I too will protect all of you." Naruto looked over to see Itachi doing the same as himself. The look in Itachi's eyes was completely new for Naruto.
To an average onlooker, Itachi looked like his stoic, stern, natural self. Naruto's trained eye spotted a slight difference in his expression. He couldn't quite place a finger on the exact emotion, however. Determination? Focus? Passion? Hunger? Although Naruto was a self-proclaimed "facial expression expert", he had no idea.
Shisui followed Itachi and Naruto. They stood there, holding out their fists towards the village, Danzō and Hiruzen smiling to each other.
"One of them'll be Hokage one day," Danzō remarked.
"I think I have a pretty good idea which one," they both chuckled.
Usually, on a day like this, Naruto would just lay in bed all day. Tonight, he never even noticed the full moon peering down at him.
He wasn't afraid.