A despondent azure gaze stared down at the flames of a pit that licked air, crackling and snapping. Filled with an unimaginable amount of pain, one could ever wonder how a gaze could hold such, but it was for the blonde young shinobi. Former… shinobi. He was no longer one, as the cross shaped slash across the image of a bird was a representative of that.
It fit the image just as the headband that the same best friend had tried to kill him in.
His eyes shut at the memory and thought of him, his body breaking out in tremors of pain, not coldness, because even despite only his signature orange jacket, and even then if he was entirely stripped, he would never shiver of the coldness, but rather, the pain that he held within, carving through him as he could recall the Chidori charged hand of crackling electricity, its owner's eyes blazing red with madness and hatred.
Even if it wasn't directed at him. It hurt.
He thought they were friends. Perhaps he only did, as he had thought? Maybe he didn't understand him at all? Maybe they didn't understand each other? He thought the missions they done would have granted them a camaraderie and friendship between each other, irreplaceable.
Whatever was the case, it hurt far worse than the technique the owner attempted to kill him with.
And when he returned home, he promised a teammate of his, his pink haired teammate, that he would not give up to bring him home. That he would try and try. She promised that she would stand alongside him and work with him.
But was it even worth trying when that same man didn't want to be brought back?
At times, he didn't even care.
The man, Orochimaru, would have claimed him. He understood that the man wanted revenge on his brother. He hated the many who tossed trash at him, who insulted and whispered behind his back, who threw him out of stores. He hated them. But there were good people. Like Iruka, like Teuchi, like Kakashi… But they were so few and far between. He wanted revenge. The taste of retribution and to retaliate, because there was no justice in that. But he burrowed it deep into his heart, because he wanted to be acknowledged, to be treated as a human being, instead of the monster that destroyed their home and lives.
That man wasn't his friend anymore. But at the same time, the blonde, Naruto Uzumaki, finally did understand why the Uchiha had left, and as a result, he still quite possibly hated him; he wasn't even sure, but now he understood how all of it was sickening, and the reason why the Uchiha had left.
When he had left with Pervy Sage, he wanted to train, he desired to bring the Uchiha back home, but as he went through nights sleeping, training, traveling, and repeating the process all over again, he wondered what the point of it was all of it when his home hated him, and his best friend had nearly killed him.
So he left his teacher instead, cutting whatever training short.
He now knew the irony of it all. He was also a traitor to his home the same way the Uchiha was. He didn't like him anymore but he wouldn't join him either. It was best that they went their separate ways. Sasuke for his revenge against his brother. He himself… he wasn't even sure anymore. At least one of them would find satisfaction and fulfill a part of their lives that they dedicated their dream to, just as they proclaimed within the day they had graduated.
The flames continued to lick within its pit. Replacing himself with a clone in his bed, he set out alone. He remembered what Kakashi had told him, the shinobi world was dangerous, bandits, pillagers, and darkness in this world alike. He didn't want to write a letter to his perverted teacher, white hair askew and snoring away. It only left him with more guilt at without saying goodbye but at the same time, the man represented the Leaf he could not stand; not the man himself, but rather the Leaf that held the title and everything that was so wrong with it.
He glanced up at the skies. Forming a cross sign handsign, the clones popped into existence once more, on the lookout while he slept. He would only sleep for an hour or so before he would move once more.
Also a Guardian Tales crossover that I'm likely going to be working on alongside Guardian Tales: Awakening.
Seriously wondering how there's no Naruto/Guardian Tales crossover yet. I'm alone reviving the dead GT fanfic community like a Frankenstein monster.
I've decided to make this one Naruto centric since most of the games blatant pop culture and jokes would drive Sasuke insane. Initially, I did plan to do Sasuke's Non Canon Naruto Chibi Sharingan Legend counterpart as a semi parody story but Naruto would fit better and Guardian Tales: Awakening will be slightly more humorous than this.