VII.
Soft rain fell upon the large emerald ligularia leaf that had taken a mid-day nap Naruto under. From the extraordinarily long vines and leaf flesh did the accumulated rain-drops drip onto Naruto's restful slumber, gradually soaking his new clothes which consisted of a plain shirt and pant variety that most Konoha civilians wore. It was dyed a beaten beige and muddy brown; his clothes were clearly from two separate sets and did not match, but these set of garments fit their purpose well as the alternative clothing had been 3 sizes too large for the Ninja. It was uncommon to keep human clothing in Mount Myoboku, rarely did a human come to these lands but once or twice every few decades. Upon arriving to Mount Myoboku, the elder toad-sage took it upon himself to throw out and burn all of Naruto's belongings save for Naruto's Hitai-ate, or also regarded as forehead protector. Quite comedically to Shima, she overheard the old toad grumbling his distaste for the orange color choices Naruto so commonly dressed in.
The great sage Shima had been so kind to send out a convoy of toads to scour the mountain and find clothes for the boy. Fortunately enough, Naruto only had to wait two days in his under garments for the toads to finally produce something that was relatively close to his size – the mismatched pair of clothes that once belonged to Jiraiya during his early training years. Naruto initially kept to himself upon arriving but after wandering out in nothing but his drawers, he was met by a group of elder toads laughing at his semi-nude body. Naruto quickly returned to Fukasaku's compound; his face red with embarrassment. Naruto then spent the next day hiding indoors, making sure not to leave the compound until he had sufficient attire. Much to his bemusement, the toads took their sweet time – Naruto felt that perhaps they were dilly-dallying as they only came back with clothing after the old-sage grew frustrated and scolded them.
Naruto had spent these last few weeks hiding in secret in Mount Myoboku, having left Konoha so abruptly – immediately after the ramen dinner with the now Hokage, Kakashi. Naruto was now the most sought-after person in all of the Land of Fire. Konoha faced a massive influx of tourists as these tourists flooded the village streets and shops all for a chance to see the mythical hero, Naruto Uzumaki. This influx had begun straining the village security as these crowds were beginning difficult to manage and even civilian celebrities were attempting to bribe officials to allow entry into the village. Even politicians as high as the Daimyo had requested audience with Naruto. This burden of significant unwanted attention, in addition to his current mental state had become too much for the boy and Kakashi recognized that things could not continue as they were – allowing Naruto an extended leave from the village contingent on Naruto keeping a direct line of communication with the village leader. Shortly thereafter, the lord Hokage himself relayed to the public, much to their disapproval, that Naruto was sent away on a top-secret mission and the timeline of his return was unknown. Unfortunately, this shocking news made Naruto even more sought-after as he was now considered missing according to the rubbish Konoha tabloids sending the civilian population in a craze. The shinobi population of the village had their own opinions on the matter, often bombarding the Hokage's office with requests to aide Naruto's mission or seek an audience with him. Those close to Naruto knew differently, those present during the funeral mass were very adamant in understanding why Naruto left. Particularly a pink-haired shinobi and one with ink-covered hands. Alas, this was something Kakashi would be left to deal with as Naruto was now sleeping soundly far away from any human who might recognize him.
CROOOOOOAAAAAK
A gust of wind suddenly and violently swayed the ligularia leaf upward, dumping a large pool of water that had accumulated from the rain directly onto Naruto's sleeping body and face - waking him immediately in a fit of panic. The croaking grew louder as several nearby toads watched in amusement as the now awake Naruto scrambled on his makeshift bed of dried leaves, now damp and ruined from the rain and wind.
Naruto immediately took note of the sound and looked bitterly toward the laughing toads and stuck his tongue out to them, instantly realizing that they were the local toad children that often followed him on his days spent away from working for toad-elder Fukasaku.
These children had taken significant interest in Naruto upon his arrival six weeks ago. They initially were very hesitant to interact with a human, being that it was the first time they ever came across one and especially due to it being the famous mythical human sage that trained under the great elder Fukasaku. Most young toads were told horror stories, often exaggerated, of humans and how some of them ate toads. These stories primarily came from parents or other village elders to prevent the young from wandering to Konoha through the water portal that some of the more rambunctious toads had done before. Quite notably, toads were hesitant of humans – especially those who did not work as summons. It was common for a civilian toad to live their entire life in Mount Myoboku without ever seeing a human. While the active ninja-summon toads took up less than 5% of all toads in Mount Myoboku, they were directly responsible for all electoral and legislative decisions. Mount Myoboku's isolation from the outside world brought a very inflated perspectives on humans and other beings, considering that only a handful of humans had ever gone to Mount Myoboku it was expected that toads were wary of humans, including the Sage Naruto.
Alas, these young toads did not share the same sentiment as their parents and elders, they let the curiosities take control and disregarded the warnings to follow the newly arrived human. Initially, the toads had shrank in fear of Naruto during the first week of his arrival, often hiding under lily pads as he walked by or hiding on the leaf flesh of the Ligularia plants. It wasn't until the second week, where they witnessed a green-faced Naruto barf out Lady Shima's famous onigiri filled with live larvae, did they gain the confidence to follow him closely. As Naruto's memory serves, they were the loudest toads laughing as he went on to repeatedly empty his stomach in front of the whole neighborhood of toads that Fukasaku's compound resided in. Following that day, most toads eased their hesitancy of the human, while the children gained naive confidence from the so-called incident and began approaching Naruto. Coming closer and closer until present where they had grown comfortable enough to play pranks on him – such as manipulating the wind to dump a large pool of water on Naruto. They loved to trouble Naruto on his days off, they were told of his Sage-hood but being as young as they were – they did not understand what sage-hood meant nor did they understand the power of shinobi, so they naively played pranks on the human without a thought of concern. They innocently enough perceived him as just as a scrawny one-armed man that puked up a good dinner and not as the savior of the great ninja war who many considered as the strongest shinobi in the ninja world. They quickly leapt away as Naruto acknowledged their presence and began walking towards them, innocently laughing in loud croaks as they made their way back home.
Naruto grumbled for a bit as he marched through the tall grass and boulders surrounding the large valley, he slept in. The rain had begun to pick up as Naruto made his way back to his new place of residence, Naruto was still not accustomed to the tropical weather of Mount Myoboku. Having the comfort of near perfect weather all day and night, Naruto had grown lax and begun sleeping anywhere and everywhere, but with the rain season approaching Naruto was now met with a constant state of being wet – something he did not like.
As he walked, he clumsily took off his now soaking wet shirt and used his one arm to try to squeeze and wring out any excess water that was still soaked into the cotton fibers of the shirt. After a few squeezes, he began to hit the shirt on the dull ends of the boulders surrounding the valley he was sleeping in which created a loud sound. Thwack, thwack, thwack.
He made sure to be careful in hitting those rocks, the sharp jaggedness of some of these rocks would instantly rip up his only shirt. After a few good hits the shirt was not dripping anymore and he moved to put the beige top back on. He was getting accustomed to being handicapped now that his right arm was gone. Several weeks previous, the old lady Tsunade was reverse summoned to Mount Myoboku, a special invitation that was allowed by the Great Toad Sage Gamamaru himself, to perform a physical exam before attaching a newly developed prosthetic arm for Naruto. Naruto did not understand exactly how the arm worked, something involving Hashirama's cells being a healing factor and how his cells were genetically capable of receiving the treatment.
It was all so confusing for him; all Naruto understood was that the old lady used her medical skills to create a fully functional arm for him. The only issue was that it required Naruto to have his chakra open for it to bind to the arm to allow the tissue to attach to his body and become one with him. This was an issue as Naruto's chakra was sealed by Gamamaru upon on his arrival and was still presently sealed. This seal prevented Naruto from being able to attach and utilize the arm, leaving the arm to be just a simple prosthetic that Shima kept stored away in her room until needed.
Sealing his chakra away was the only answer for Naruto's night terrors, having the chakra stored away allowed him body to rest properly and recover from the abuse from the war. The consequence of war left his chakra in a deeply unsettled state which reacted violently with stress – stress levels that heightened during the boy's sleep. The anxiety and restlessness he faced was a survival mechanism that his chakra developed to keep him alive during such prolonged conflict. Often going days without sleep and repeated chakra drainage led his body to adapt to wartime survival which now was slowly destroying him. The overproduction of chakra due to the repeated abuse and lack of it's release was leading to his coils being damaged. Essentially, his system was fundamentally damaged due to the repeated physical stress placed on it; most ninja would have chakra poisoning from the overuse Naruto put his body through. Thankfully, being a Jinchuriki gave his body natural immunities to chakra poisoning due to the years of exposure to Kyuubi's harmful chakra and his healing factor that repaired the toxins in his chakra coils. However, with Kurama now in deep hibernation and the seal no longer in place due to Naruto's partnership with Kurama – Naruto's chakra could potentially kill him. After absorbing his father's half of Kurama, Kurama's chakra was now whole and Naruto no longer had free access to Kurama's chakra. With the fox sleeping, not being able to properly access the chakra and utilize his healing factor, and a bent-out coil system… Naruto was not healthy. The only reason Naruto was not dead was due to the healing abilities granted by the Sage of Six Paths, but that power seemed to have faded some. Perhaps it was gone or maybe Naruto lost his ability to access it. The short answer was to seal away Naruto's chakra, allowing him to sleep properly as his body naturally recovered.
A loud drum of thunder echoed loudly through the mountains of the valley surrounding Naruto's resting place. Heavy rain would soon follow, Naruto thought as he picked up the pace back to Fukasaku's home. Picking up a running pace, Naruto ran past a pool of water formed by the rain where he saw his reflection for a brief moment – not stopping in stride but enough to see his reflection for the first time in weeks.
Now being able to sleep without dreams, Naruto's appearance dramatically improved comparative to how he looked in Kakashi's office. It mattered little to Naruto of his appearance but to others it came as a shock. His once thick golden locks now stained a pale silver, soon to overtake his whole head as his hair had whitened due to the severe stress. The dark circles around his eyes faded after a few weeks of consistent sleep but the wrinkles around his eyes and forehead were here to stay, giving him the appearance of someone far older than 17. He had not gained the weight he lost during the war so his face maintained a hollow and gaunt look, with his once azure blue eyes being a cold pale blue, devoid of innocence and warmth.
'I look different' Naruto thought for a brief moment as he proceeded to make his way out of the valley and into the toad village. He did not care much for appearances after what he had been through. His perspective on many things changed, there were moments of time where he was still the old Naruto – carefree and immature but only for the length of a short breath.
'I wonder if I'll go white haired like the Pervy-Sage' Naruto thought in a strange form of amusement. He felt comfort knowing the clothes he wore once belonged to Jiraiya, spending time with the toads these last few weeks made Naruto's heart ache once more for his old mentor. This ache lasted all but for a moment as his heart quickly tightened with fear. Naruto came to realize that everything came at a price, even having a moment alone did not come free.
Approaching the toad village required Naruto to enter the stone toad cove that housed all the previous sage students who had failed the sage-ification process. Countless of toad statues filled this hall and were taken care of in great reverence for their efforts and hopes of becoming a sage. Civilian toads feared this cave and never wandered from the village, aside from the rowdy few children who followed Naruto occasionally, this cove was meant for only the elders.
Naruto made an effort to distance him from others whenever he had a moment to himself, being alone to his thoughts allowed Naruto to breath a bit better than in the company of others. Which is why he chose to ignore the warnings of the elders and would often enter the cove. This decision always came with a cost.
Naruto made sure to keep his eyes locked forward through the cove. He made his way through the dimly lit cave as quickly as he could, he did his best to look at the statues as they played tricks on the mind. There was a Genjutsu that was placed millennials ago to prevent others from wandering into the secret village; a form of additional protection for the village. This Genjutsu was quite cruel, the extent of its abilities was still unknown to even Fukasaku and Shima.
Naruto kept his fast pace, he knew if he stopped, he would hear the gurgling again… That sound never left his mind for too long. A haunting sound that still made him shiver and freeze, that made his eyes swell up, and the hairs on his neck stand upright. The grotesque and desperate sounds of a man trying to breathe without a mouth, without teeth or a jaw. With just a tongue and those haunting eyes staring at him for help, the loose dangling tongue gasping and striking for a bit of air. Naruto felt fear just at the thought of stopping, he made this mistake once before. His pace increased to a full-blown sprint as he charged his way out of the cove. The cost of being alone was this run because he understood that if he stopped, he would be in that dark room again, with the rocking chair and the flooded wall and floors, that he would see what he did not want to see. He knew if he turned to look at the statues, he would be confronted with him. That he would be watching from behind the statues, ready to pop out and confront you with red kaleidoscope eyes begging you for help as the light faded from them and you would be powerless to help. This cave was the cost of Naruto's failures, and it was the cost of his selfishness. Naruto knew if he ran as fast as he could with his eyes forward, he would be out soon. He knew he was being a coward. He knew what was in this cave. He knew if he just kept running, he wouldn't have to face him. He knew the truth.
Sasuke lived in this cave and he was too scared to face him.
Author's Notes:
Hey! I'm a degenerate who didn't upload for 3 years! Sorry about that... Haha, I have no plans to abandon this story. I want this story to be a minimum of 25 chapters for me to fully tell my story. This is how I wish Naruto truly ended so I won't stop until I feel like I did my job in telling a good story! I hope people read this chapter and enjoy it! I haven't written this much since college, and I might have lost touch with how the feel of the story was a few years ago but I will do my best to keep the story consistent. I hope you enjoyed it!