Chapter 6
One week ago
"So, sensei, what are you going to teach me first? How to shoot lightning? Teleportation? Seal-making? C'mon, tell me, tell me, tell me!" An enthusiastic young boy was sitting down on a tree stump in a clearing, barely keeping still, while an androgynous figure dressed in white stood in front of him.
"No, Naruto, I will be teaching you something very different indeed. I shall teach you…" The figure drew out the silence. "…how to make and play a musical instrument."
The boy on the stump was obviously not pleased with this answer. "Music? You're going to teach me music? How will that help me?" the boy practically shouted at the figure.
In reply, the figure handed the boy a leaf off the ground, and took out a violin. They began to play a haunting melody on it, and all was ordinary until the sound of a second violin joined it. Then, all hell started to break loose.
The wind began to swirl around the clearing, picking up leaves and other debris as it went, whipping it all into a tornado around the two.
Then, a third violin began to play, and rain began falling, though none of it hit the two, instead being sucked into the vortex.
A fourth, and fire sprang from the earth, turning it into a firestorm.
A fifth and final violin joined the chaos, and the fire all flew towards the boy.
Then, all was silent in the clearing again. Not a single thing outside of it was even so much as charred, nor was anything inside it save for the ring where it had all been traveling and the leaf in the boy's hand. Both were now ashes.
The boy's jaw dropped in astonishment. "I… I… I…"
'Wow, even his thoughts are stuttering. He must be rather impressed.' (AN: Remember, it's all telepathic at this point) Finally, though, Naruto managed to form a coherent thought.
"That was AWESOME! I think I might want to learn to do that!"
"Good. What instrument will you play?"
Naruto, after many long moments of careful consideration (meaning none at all), exclaimed, "The flute! I'll learn it, and I'll be awesome, and I'll be able to blow stuff up with music, and that's awesome, and that means I'm awesome, and—"
A quick slap to the face silenced Naruto before the figure continued. "Good. Now that we've decided on that, I'll get you some wood for it. While I'm gone, don't get eaten by the other inhabitants of this forest, okay?"
Xi's point of view
As I walked away from the clearing with Naruto in it, I whispered to one of the birds sitting outside of it. "Spread the word. Act like you're trying to kill him, but don't. Just keep him on his toes while I'm gone, and stop right before I arrive."
The bird nodded and flew off, before I continued on my way to get the wood for a flute, chuckling at the horrors that awaited Naruto in my absence.
Naruto's point of view
As soon as sensei had left the clearing, it seemed like the entire forest was trying to attack me. Huge birds were dive-bombing me, though due to my practice dodging rotten food and cooking utensils I could avoid them easily. The issue wasn't even the wolves, snakes, giant lizards, and other ground-based foes that were after me.
No, the problem was the trees.
The trees moved and blocked all escape routes with branches and roots, leaving me trapped in there with all the animals. The branches even moved to hit me, but since I couldn't see muscles tensing I couldn't predict where they would go. The trees ended up giving me the biggest beating out of all there was in the clearing, before sensei showed up.
Right before he showed up, the trees unblocked the pathways, and my attackers all dispersed into the forest. As soon as he saw me all bruised and beaten in the middle of the clearing, he broke out laughing.
"You look like somebody tried to eat you and ran away afterward! How did that happen in the five minutes I was gone? I would've heard that from where I was right over there."
He then gestured to another clearing no more than thirty feet away with a small cherry tree growing in the center, extremely out of place amidst the giants we stood amongst. Then, he spoke again, while extending a piece of perfectly straight cherry wood to me. "Here. You will make your flute out of this, and I will teach you how to use it afterward."
As the man walked back towards the house, I said to him, "So, how exactly do I make a flute?"
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure it out," was the nonchalant—and extremely unhelpful—reply. He disappeared into the forest again before I could throw something at him, so I sat; trying to figure out how to make the piece of wood I had into a flute.
Yeah, right.
Undisclosed location
Two yellow eyes opened in the darkness.
"So… He has returned to this troubled land… Ku ku ku… I'll enjoy this…"
Undisclosed location
A man glanced at a young boy next to him with a questioning look. The boy nodded, before holding out a violin to the man. The man nodded in return while taking the violin, and then turned to look out over the sea towards the sun.
'I'm glad to have you back, brother.'