Chapter 24

Make sure you have read the previous chapter or you will be missing some extremely important information that leads up to this chapter.

Naruto looked at the road before him, as he walked, eyes focused and alert, body ready to move at the slightest action. The group remained deathly silent as they walked.

There is no point living in this world. I hate this world. This world without the mask. People will fear me without it. With it, they only fear the ANBU. Not me. Those who don't avoid me now will do so at the prompting of those around them.

I should have known it was inevitable. That someone would tell Ashi to stay away from me. She was a nice person too. But it wouldn't be to last. It would end. Almost all good things come to an end. Only those with the masks will be unfailingly kind and understanding. Because there, we are brothers and sisters within the masks.

The masks hide our differences. They hide our faces, so only our minds are exposed to one another. So that only our character is judged. We are not judged by our faces. ANBU is the best home for me, because it is the only place where people will be waiting for me is. Nowhere else.

The masks protects me. It proves that I am not a monster. It proves I am not a monster to my fellow masks, because first they see who I am, and know who I am from there. It is only after that, that they find out what is inside me, and they can know that I am not it.

Why can't the people of the village understand the difference between a sword, a sheath, and the master. It is well understood in ANBU. The sword is the weapon capable of great destruction. The sheath holds the blade at bay, preventing the blade from harming others. The master is who chooses to call upon the sword, in complete control of it. The nine-tails is the sword, the seal is the sheath, and I am the master.

I will request the Third to allow me back into ANBU. There is no point anymore, living in this world. This world will reject me. The masks will accept me. I fight not to protect the people of the village, but those of the masks.

It hurts to think f it, what Ashi's face will look like now. Her fear of me. He stares. Her whispers. I will never be free from the pain. The pain of living without the mask. The mask is not a burden, the lack of the mask is the burden.

Perhaps Ashi would accept who I am. She is a nice person. She might not listen. Doubtful. It seems that she had known the old lady for years. Curse the old lady. I hate her. She ruined a chance, a chance to have a friend who wasn't a mask. I should have known it would end up like this. It is inevitable after all.

Why can't these genin focus. Why can't they just focus on the mission. They are so annoying.

The shadows are the best place for me. There is no way to prove myself to the village. After all, what possible event could happen that it would change the minds of the village? There is none. There is no chance for redemption in the eyes of the village. There is no hope. All there is, is the shadows. The shadows care not for history. They only show who one is.

I want to talk to someone. I want to talk to Crow, or to Cat. I want to hear their words. They would know what to do. They would know what to do. They could tell me the best way to handle this. They would know what to do. They know everything. They understand so much. They would know what to do.

Curse their stares. Now they stare at me to.

I just want this to end. I don't want to be here. I can't be here. This is not the place for me. I want to be in the shadows. I want to be hidden among the masks. The place where no one holds your past against you. The place where all can be accepted.

It is the masks where my pain is burned away. It is the place where I can feel joy. It is the only place where I can feel safe, for the world outside the masks is not safe. This world only wishes to cheat me, to beat me, and eat me. Without a masks, it will defeat me.

I am almost home. I can almost see Crow or Cat again. I am afraid of seeing Ashi. I am afraid of her whispers. I am afraid if he stare.

The gates come upon me. The gates of the Leaf village. Most of the village is likely aware of my return to their world. I wish to return to mine.

I have given my report. Nothing to note of on the mission. I return to home. Crow and Cat are not there. Fox is not here. Boar is not here. Monkey is not here. Tiger is not here. The masks that I would talk to for such things are not here.

I walk through the village. Their eyes follow my form. They know I am in their world again. They know I am present again. I wish I wasn't.

I sense a presence. A familiar one. One that I am scared of. Ashi. I best avoid her. She walks on her way. I do not wish to see her. Her eyes. Ginmaru is with her. He has smelt me. He calls to his master.

She is running to where I am. I run. I run. I try to hide. She follows my path. She is coming to spit down on me. I run. She still runs too. I hide. She is not deterred.

I continue to run. Finally she can run no longer. She walks. I walk.

Why must she torture me so? Why must she seek me out only to tear me down? Why? Why? Why?

She still walks. Why does she continue to walk?

She crawls. Why must she do such? Why does she hate me so? Why is she so desperate to spit upon me? Why is she so desperate to hurt me? Why is she so desperate to hurt me?

She continues to crawl. She crawls through the grass of the field we are currently in. I continue to move away. She continues to crawl. Her pace continues to slow. Her arms barely can pull her though the dirt of the forest. She stops crawling.

Finally she is no longer seeking me out to hurt me.

She is no longer trying to place her fearful stare on me.

She is no longer moving. Why is she not returning. She has given up hasn't she? Why is she not moving? I approach, I approach carefully. I am miles away. I approach ever slowly. It is night by the time I make it to her.

She is not conscious. Ginmaru too, is to unconscious. Why would they go so far to hurt me? I draw closer to her from the distance I was. Her face is in the ground. I come nearer to her, my bones are shaking.

It would not be well for her to stay as she is. I am so afraid of her. She has chakra exhaustion. She seems to have had two soldier pills. Her body is in an unhealthy state. Why would she go so far to hurt me?

I will bring her to the hospital, I cannot leave her like this.

I pick up her fragile body, as well as that of Ginmaru's. Slowly, I begin the trek back to the village. It is a hundred miles away. She will need medical treatment. I run. The village is still ninety miles away. Two soldier pills with someone of her weight category is dangerous. I sprint. The village is still seventy miles away. Her systems are starting to fail. I sprint faster, expending my large reserves of chakra. The village is still forty miles away. The village Her systems are failing. I realize I am running faster than I have ever before. I do not have enough chakra. I pull chakra from the nine-tails. Not enough to create an aura around myself that could hurt her, but enough to fill my system. I run even faster. The world is almost a blur to me. The village is still ten miles away.

I am so evil. For all those that are wondering why I have done what I have done...THE POWER OF PLOT COMPELS ME, THE POWER OF PLOT COMPELS ME!

If you get the reference, that would the awesome. Make sure to review.

Also, I noticed some people missed chapter 21. It had a lot less views than the chapter after. I had a double update, so you may have experienced some confusion when you read chapter 22. So just make sure you didn't miss that chapter.