It was dark. Things shifted just outside of his vision and Naruto could feel icy cold fear flow through his veins. He ran as fast as he could, panic swelling up from the depths of his mind and he couldn't breathe-
"Demon!" the voices shouted in unison, "Monster! Murderer! Betrayer!"
"No!" Naruto yelled back at them, tears gathering in his eyes, "I'm not! I'm not I'm not I'm not!"
There was a monstrous roar that echoed through Naruto, through his bones and reverberating through his very being. It shook him to the core far more than the faceless voices ever could and left him breathless.
He opened his eyes-when did I closed them?-and found himself standing above Konoha, looking down at all the tiny people running from his claws-but I don't have claws-and screaming when his tails smashed into buildings-tails? Why do I have tails?-letting rubble fall onto their falling forms. They mourned over their dead and gazed at him with hateful eyes.
He hated this.
"Naruto!"
Naruto sat straight up in bed, eyes wild and darting back and forth as he searched for the source of the voice. He only calmed down when he spotted the face of Rihan, barely visible in the early morning light. The man looked concerned and held both of his hands out towards Naruto, looking as if he wanted to touch Naruto but was afraid to startle him.
"Rihan?" Naruto mumbled, not quite believing he was awake. "Is that really you?"
Rihan finally closed the distance and pulled Naruto into a hug. "It's okay, Naruto. I'm here. It was just a dream."
Naruto nodded mutely and clung to Rihan's stripped green kimono, fingers curling in the fabric. He buried his head in Rihan's shoulder and relaxed when Rihan's arms tightened their grip around him. Slowly, but surely, the dream slipped away like smoke in the early morning wind.