Chapter XIV

Forgotten Legends

I wake up with a start, swallowing a deep breath of air.

I hurriedly sit down in my bed, bringing a hand to my dying heart; my chest is hammered with a sharp pain that fades excruciatingly slowly. I breathe as I've never breathed before. I am all shaking, probably as pale as a ghost. I am soaked and I am sweating. I feel dizzy and for a second, black stars dance before my eyes.

When my vision stabilizes, I analyze the place in which I am. I am in my hospital bed and stuffed under the white sheets that are moistened with my bodily fluids. I am in the room assigned to me and which, little by little, is warmed by the first rays of the day. The window is partially open, allowing a gentle breeze to enter, shake the curtains and fill the place with the many scents of summer. Silence and loneliness are broken by the song of birds.

Much calmer, I search for answers to this nightmarish dream.

I was drowning and I experienced death. I opened my eyes when everything had vanished; I was convinced that I had fallen into a last sleep, sure and certain that I was living my last moments. I felt my lungs on fire fill with water, including the pain leaving them immediately. My heart is still beating, I am alive. Yet this is too real to be a lucid dream, but too unreal to be reality.

Also, if it was a genjutsu, when was I a victim of it? Naruto? Impossible. His knowledge in the matter is lamentable and catastrophic, even absent; he's already struggling to free himself from a simple spell, he'd be unable to cast one, especially one as complex as this.

A horrible headache twists my temples, forcing me to put my hands on them; to this, an odious tinnitus stuns me and makes me deaf for the time of a breath. During this fleeting crisis, memories come to mind. Last night, I'm one hundred percent convinced that I went to bed after leaving Naruto's jail. There's also that icy chill and unpleasant tingling sensation. I don't forget this disturbing fatigue of a great intensity that I was enslaved to. I couldn't even inform Lady Tsunade about Naruto's injuries, although I did mention it to Shikamaru. I almost lost consciousness on the way to my bed and once under the covers, I immediately fell asleep.

The crisis over, I breathe in and out slowly and calmly. I reflect and think; my thoughts race like a panicking crowd during an apocalypse. This dream … whatever it was… It's the cause of this mortal fatigue and this violent awakening. While unlikely, if I include the possibility that Naruto did indeed put me under genjutsu, what I experienced almost makes sense … well, in part. I don't know why he made me experience a drowning that will haunt me for nights to come…

What if it was Naruto who spoke to me in his own way? If so, what did he mean by that? This insistence on his own name… I deduce that he doesn't remember at all who he is, even his first name. He'd try to understand why I call him Naruto? At first glance, he's convinced that he doesn't have a name, that I am the one who baptized him thus. What does that mean? Is his amnesia that severe?

In all of this, what happened next troubles me and again, that is a euphemism. That strange scene in which I was paralyzed and unable to move, the teenager who seemed to be absorbing my chakra…

Like a clap of thunder, a fragment of my distant past strikes me with brutality.

I must have been almost five years old when my father was still around. He told me stories of all kinds while sleep gradually took me with it. Some told of legendary ninja exploits or other implausible tales. At that age, I was unimpressed by these adventures that aroused wonder in ordinary children. I was constantly asking him to stop bullshitting me.

One such tale involved seemingly humanoid creatures feeding on chakra. Since no one had ever seen them, their existence served to spice up stories to scare young ninjas to become. In the night, these beings wandered in search of prey and haunted dreams, giving way only to nocturnal paralysis and incessant nightmares.

This memory is too far, too far to remember more than that. I work my brain, I think until I give myself a headache … in vain.

Then, this macabre possibility crosses my mind.

What if these stories had some truth in them?

What if these creatures exist or did exist?

If so, that doesn't explain why Naruto would be one of them; it doesn't make sense. I refuse to believe it. And then, is it even possible? It's just a theory. These are just wacky, far-fetched tales. However, I question myself, I doubt… This possibility bothers me, just like this "dream," but above all…

'What if?'

Enslaved to this mental frenzy that prevents me from thinking about anything else, I get up to leave, even though Godaime hasn't allowed me to. I am still a little weak, of course, but I cannot let things drag on and progress with excruciating slowness. Naruto needs help, as soon as possible. I will investigate in my own way and to do this, the library is a first lead.

- XxX -

I sneaked out of the hospital. I expect to get slapped on the wrists and I don't care. If I can find answers to this whole situation, I am ready to listen to the Hokage's sermons in silence. Since there's no fire at the lake, I walk nonchalantly to my destination; I have all day… Mah, as long as they don't come and pick me up and drag me back by the scruff of my neck.

Once there, I don't know where to start. The place is vast, huge if I take into account the unclassified archives. Having to start somewhere, I inspect the bookshelves on my left. With a sharp eye, I scrutinize the titles and themes, while skimming the cover of each book likely to interest me. From fiction to biographies, to art and medicine manuals, nothing escapes me. In doing so, I don't see the time pass by.

My key words are night, chakra, genjutsu, legends, tales, dreams, mythological creatures of all kinds and everything related to the fire release; to that, those of symbols and tattoos fit into my list. I grab and take with me each book containing these themes after a brief reading of their back cover. Arms overloaded, I waste no time in choosing a quiet, secluded spot to drop off my findings before continuing my search.

After a good thirty books, I sit down at my table and start reading. Great reader that I am, knowing how to read the pages quickly while zigzagging like a wild dance, it only requires a little time and effort. Of course, I don't dwell on the insignificant details.

Unsurprisingly, I scan hundreds of irrelevant pages talking about everything and nothing. Some things look like what I'm looking for, but other than frivolous brief mentions, one to two lines, there's nothing. However, I'm not wasting my time. I will eventually find something; I have a good feeling for once. Apart from short breaks to drink or go to the bathroom, I remain faithful to my job. In the meantime, hunger forgot me once again.

After about ten books, I come across those of imaginary and legendary tales. Luck finally smiles on me when I fall on the story my father told me, although it's very different from his.

This is the story of a ten-year-old shinobi plagued by nightmares and nocturnal paralysis. Every night, a demon visits him and in helplessness, the boy can only dive his paralyzed eyes into the glowing ones of the icy breath being. Speechless and petrified from head to toe, he watches the creature sink its fangs into his flesh, draining him of all his strength. He tries somehow to inform the members of his clan, but no one believes him. The short and simple story gives without any explanation how he gets rid of it. Using a pagan and bogus ritual, he curses an enemy to make him the new victim of this entity born from darkness.

However, one detail catches my eye, the name given to this supernatural creature.

Chakra Devourer.

Without further ado, I jump to the next book, those on the chakra. Most consist of ninjutsu, the chakra network or chakra natures. About to move on, I reread a few lines. There are mentions of abilities capable of absorbing other people's chakra, such as Sasuke Uchiha's opponent during the elimination match of the chūnin selection exams.

Rumours imply that these jutsus were invented based on those of legendary creatures known as chakra devourers, although there is no proof of this.

My heart is racing, pounding in my throat. I continue my research. I find other texts that involve these creatures.

These humanoid creatures were called "chakra devourer" for their ability which—as the name suggests—allowed them to devour the chakra of their victims. To this, many agreed that these demons possessed an immense reserve of chakra, to believe that they were inexhaustible.

Others reported that they had a great aptitude for the elementary art or an extraordinary talent for genjutsu. They were masters in dōjutsu, and their eyes outclassed those of Sharingan or Ketsuryūgan. Since no one had ever seen any chakra devourer, a mere legend lost in the ages, they used their existence to sow fear and paranoia in their opponents.

Unfortunately, everything I read afterwards resumes or repeats in different ways these words which sum it all up. One thing keeps coming back, the fact that their existence was spawned by word of mouth or that no one has ever seen them. Apart from a crude description of "demon," nothing allows me to make any comparison with my student.

However, if Naruto is begging for chakra while ignoring any other form of food, if he did indeed use genjutsu on me, and, of course, his sudden, innate talent for the fire release, it's possible. However, this answer brings another: how would he have become one of these ghosts of the past? The experiments done on him would have led to this? But above all, for what purposes?

I feel as if I'm gluing the puzzle pieces together. This credibility makes my theory plausible and pushes me to believe in it more and more.

"I've finally found you!" a familiar voice rattles behind me.

Glancing over my shoulder, I recognize Shikamaru. His jaded expression only further accentuates his face eternally tired of all that constitutes life. Only now am I peeking outside. A pink mixed with shades of yellow blends with the darkening blue sky; twilight is already here, meaning that Naruto has been awake for a little while.

"Do you know that Godaime is furious? We've been looking for you for hours…"

"I see. Sorry."

Shikamaru stares at the table. Curiosity takes hold of him; what I am doing intrigue him, that is understood. He takes one of the books to observe it more closely.

"A manual on genjutsu?" he asks, skimming over the other volumes scattered in front of me. "What are you looking for?"

"I maybe figured out what's going on with Naruto."

"Wha— You're serious?!" he wonders, his eyes wide like marbles.

A silence.

These are just hypotheses, theories, sure, but this is the closest thing to a likely answer regarding Naruto.

"I can't confirm that for sure, but it might be possible," I say, standing up. "It's time for me to pay a visit to Lord Hokage to share my theories with her."