To Be Spirited Away

by Metronome I Hear

When Naruto came home one day to find a strange man with yellow eyes eating Naruto's ramen in his living room, Naruto didn't think it would be anything but trouble. He was right, of course, but it was also the best thing that could have happened to him. Because Nura Rihan spirits Naruto away, and Naruto learns what it means to be human.

12. Working Conditions

"This is horrible…"

Rihan stared stoically out at the scene before the two of them, even as Naruto wore a face of horror.

People were working. They were carrying heavy rocks and shoveling dirt. They barely wore anything and were covered in dust and scratches. Most of them looked half exhausted. And watching them were people in some kind of uniform, the whole lot of them looking stern and some of them cruel.

The men who stopped working were whipped by the guards, abused until they were shaking messes upon the floor. The others were forced to continue onwards, ignoring their fallen friends.

"It is," Rihan agreed with a tired sounding sigh, "But Naruto, what you have to understand is that this is a part of being human too."

Naruto looked up at Rihan, a panicked look on his face, "This? Part of being human? How can they be human when they are so cruel?! It's worse than the village! Its horrible!"

Rihan shook his head, "It is horrible. And there are worse things out there that are happening than this. There are very bad people in the world, and many of them are human. Some of them enjoy being cruel. Some of them have a hatred that burns in their hearts that causes them to act this way. Some of them do this because of greed. Some of them just want to watch the world burn. But it's still human. Humanity is not a pretty thing, Naruto. Never have I ever led you to believe that. It can be wonderful at times, it can create beauty of the likes that Yokai might never be able to match, but humanity can also be like this."

Rihan turned to meet Naruto's gaze, "That's part of what it means to be human, Naruto. Neither black nor white, only ever grey."

AN: So... It's been a while. How have you been? I've been struggling with updating this. Finding inspiration for this is like pulling teeth. I do have a young drabbles that I wrote up today (like two or three?) and I have a couple prompts lined up, so things should get better soon. Still, I'd like you to know that I'm accepting prompts for this story to help it along. If you have any requests for scenes then feel free to let me know.