Lest you fade here all alone

Chapter 1: A ghost in Konoha

Naruto was perched on the edge of the two storey building's roof, half-hidden in the shadow of its chimney. One of his legs was dangling in the air while the other was folded with his arm resting against its knee. His cheek sat in his palm as he observed the district in front, his usually bright azure eyes now lackluster and distant.

After a moment, Naruto's folded leg slipped down and he heaved a deep sigh, leaning backward on both his arms. A frown found its way onto his brow and the blue eyes briefly flashed red as the anger rose like a tidal wave inside him.

He was too late! All the years of research, all those sleepless nights, all the preparations, all the power that he poured to make this happen, and he arrived too late!

Well, not exactly too late, but he would have preferred much earlier. Much, much earlier. As in, in time to save his parents.

Naruto let his arms slid to the sides, sprawling on the roof with a huff. He supposed he would just have to work with what he had. Could have been worse. He should be thankful that he had something to work with at all.

Uchihas were still alive. But he could feel the negativeness, the darkness, the evil festering like an infected wound, oozing blood and pus. It was too advanced already, there was no easy way to stop it now.

He scrunched his face. He wondered what would happen if he allowed the clan to have their coup. Nothing good, that was for sure. People would die. Innocent people that had no place to die in the petty squabbles between stuck-up ninja clans.

The blond abruptly sat up. Then equally abruptly jumped down from the roof, landing smoothly in a crouch on the ground and eliciting a scared yelp from a rotund woman who was unfortunate enough to walk past at that exact moment.

"My apologies," Naruto apologized with a small polite smile as he stood and dusted himself off.

The woman was now gaping at him, her mouth opening and closing as if she wanted to say something but was too shocked to squeeze a word out.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that before catching a sight of himself at the reflection of the nearby window. "Oh." He chuckled. "Right, right." He whipped his hand up and folded fingers into a half sign.

A puff of smoke and gone was a young man with brilliant azure eyes, sunshine colored hair that framed his somewhat round face, gone was his black jacket, beige pants, and short-sleeved orange haori, decorated by black flames on the edges. He was still young, but his hair was now brown and the eyes were grey while clothes changed into simple civilian attire. Nothing stood out of this man, just another unremarkable face in the crowd.

"Have a nice day," Naruto said, grinning. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and nonchalantly walked away, leaving the speechless woman behind.

There was no time or need to mope around. He was no Uchiha. He was an Uzumaki! The member from the most kickass ninja clan in history! He was also a Namikaze! The son of the most kickass ninja in history!

Naruto abruptly stopped when an idea popped into his head. A grin spread across his face. Well, that was certainly an interesting idea and absolutely worth considering. As much as he loved Konoha, he was not staying here. Even if he wanted, after what he'd probably end up doing, there would be no place for him in this village.

With a start, he realized that this thought didn't sadden or unsettle him as much as he assumed it would. Huh.

Someone bumped into his legs from behind and his arm shot out to stop that someone from falling on the ground. He turned then and looked down.

A pair of charcoal black eyes stared back at him under the mess of the black hair. Naruto could almost envision the onyx bleeding into the red with only three drops of it left to spin around the pupils.