Disclaimer: Naruto Belongs to Kishimoto
Author's Notes: An idea of a friend of mine's got stuck in my head and I decided to run away with it, since he seems to have done the same with one of my ideas.
His, had Naruto being inspired to learn genjutsu by a display from Kurenai.
Mine... well, guess.
-o-o-o-
The chill touch of the wind, curled over his skin as the child could feel the touch of the night sky brushing over his body as the full moon cast it's silvery light down from it's perch in the starry heavens. He crouched low, letting his form grip to the dark shadows cast the by swaying canopy of countless leaves overhead holding back the moon overhead. Catching it's reflection, brilliant blue eyes took a chance, staring up into the heavens above as small fingers reached upwards as if trying to grasp the moon from the sky.
"Have you come all this way, simply to grasp, pointlessly for the heavens?" The voice was cool, almost a monotone as it flitted like a ghost around him, each word, seeming to come from a different direction around him.
He froze then, his eyes widening, his hand flinching back, before there was another flash as moonlight caught again upon his eyes. "'S not pointless!"
"Do you ever catch it?" There was a flash of crimson, he caught sight of on the edge of his eyes before suddenly seeming to fade into darkness as the world suddenly seemed to grow darker around the haunting voice that echoed around him.
"I will." His voice was young, as eyes barely more than half a decade in age lifted up, staring into the heavens with an edge of determination in it.
"Will you now?" There was a hint of humor mocking back at him as a figure slowly stepped into view, like a wraith of living shadow save for it's blood red eyes.
"Y-y-yes, I-I will!" Fear gripped his voice then as the figure seemed to loom over him, standing like a creature born of of mortal nightmares as cold, bloody eyes stared down into his own blue orbs.
"And what will you do..." The voice rose again, as a hand lifted up, shadows crossing the sky before catching that silvery circle in thumb and finger, and plucking it into hand. "If I take it first, hmm?"
Eyes grew in size as the young boy watched the creature pluck the moon so absently from the sky, before fear and defiance found root and the voice leapt free from his throat. "NO!"
Suddenly he was launching himself forward, casting himself at the figure, throwing himself with a blind desperation as his fingers raised towards the shining silver sphere. Darkness rose, back to meet him, before suddenly exploding into a cawing murder of ravens that tore through the air around him. For an instant, he could see the pure, overwhelming brilliance of the moon, falling towards his hand, then, in an instant, the world seemed to stretch back out, and suddenly, it was as if there was an eternity between him and the object of his desires.
"Foolish little child, did you think it would be so easy?" There was a hint of cool mocking in that voice, as it echoed around him, as suddenly the boy was aware of the the looming ravens, clinging to the tree branches all around them as they stared at him with unblinking crimson eyes. "That you could simply reach up, and take it?"
"Give it back!" There was a panic in those eyes, as he whirled around, and the wold seemed to spin into a growing mix of black feathers, red eyes, and shining silver stars.
"Give it back? How can I do that?" The voice was mocking again, echoing, pouring through the air with a steady, probing pressure. "It was never yours to begin with."
"No!" It shone again, briefly in the air above him, before suddenly those ravens again took flights and the murder swarmed across it, burying it beyond his sight. "NO!"
"And you think that saying it, will make it so? Hmm?" There was a note of condescending almost amusement in that voice as it hissed as if from a thousand voices amidst the cawing cries of the ravens. "Who are you, boy, to think you have the chance to reach into the heavens and take it's great prize from it?"
"I'm me!" There was a note of steel in that boy's voice, even as he trembled, feeling the way the fear ground down into his very soul as the unblinking sea of crimson raven eyes staring back at him from where they covered the moon suddenly seemed to melt and flow into two pools. "I'm Naruto! REMEMBER IT!"
And from those pools, a four dots of inky darkness took shape in each. One in the center, and the others lazily spinning around it as they took the shape of black magatamas while they spun around the center. Eyes, he would slowly realize. Bloody red eyes marked with three tomoe each as they watched him with a cool indifference.
"Why? Why should I remember the name of a child, frozen in fear as he selfishly reaches for something forever beyond his reach?"
"I don't care what you say! I'll show you! I'll show everyone! I'll show them that nothing is out of my reach!" There was fear in the voice, burning into the very core of the boy's being, but still, there was defiance in it, a touch of iron, waiting to be shaped and forged. "I won't let anyone stop me, not even a creepy tengu like you!"
There was another pause, as the boy could swear he saw those crimson eyes blink back at him, before suddenly the world around him bled away into an inky darkness, by a sea of crimson eyes. "Do you think that I'll be... impressed by empty promises?"
"They aren't empty!" Naruto glared now, feeling a bubbling rush of sensation, starting to grow inside of him, even as he suddenly flinched back as the darkness bled into the form of a figure, looming over his huddled form. His eyes forcibly averted, his words fell in a quiet murmur into the air. "I-I-I don't... don't break m-my promises!"
"Oh? Then you should be careful about giving them out, little boy..." The voice whispered now, before a chuckle rippled around him, echoing through the air as the vague, shadow form seemed to cock its head to the side. "Would you like to know... a secret, hmm?"
"I.. I... I w-want y-you to... to give m-me back the... the m-moon!" The boy answered back, struggling back against the suddenly oppressive, wave of promised violence that ground down into his legs, trying to drive him to his knees.
"And I told you... you can't give back what was never yours to begin with." The figure reprimanded again, before again, the voice was whispering down into his ear. "Now... do you want... to know a secret?"
"W-what kind... What kind of secret?" There was suspicion in those eyes as he watched the world seem to slowly fade back, leaving a figure, standing only so much taller than himself, half smiling down at him.
"That kind." The figure, the boy, Naruto realized now, lifted his finger and pointed up overhead, where again the moon shone so brilliantly overhead as his still crimson eyes swirled.
"B-bu-but! I-.. You-!" Naruto's eyes stared, wide eyed up at the boy, who managed a slight smirk back down at him.
"Mmm... did I?" And suddenly, the boy exploded into another murder of ravens, and again, Naruto was left alone, under the moonlight.
When Naruto returned home that night, he found, perched on his windowsill, a single scroll, with a raven's feather lain atop it.