The land of fire is a frivolous place. The fireflies hunkering near the bushy undergrowth of the plains near Grass, the tiny, damp ponds near Mist, or the drier, wilder grasslands that span up to Sand showed the varieties the land of fire could steep into.
Barely a few moons ago, as one could count- if they were willing, that is, a wave of pure, corrosive malice swept across the land.
(The undergrowth wilted into a shaking brown.
The ponds dried and rippled into the ground to hide.
The grasslands grew in response to such malice- moremoremore, let us thrive-)
Each and every animal, be it the owls, nor the quiet whispering of the field rats, startled and cried. This echoed throughout the lands in a single, desperate plea of a dying mother.
And with that plea came a demand, with that came an order, then tumbling down to rest in a prayer, before turning into a granted wish.
Something clicks into place after three years of being stuck. It's the move of a chain link, the hissing of a steam engine and the clack of a few joints.
A single, disloged piece falls right back into where it should have been, and the world breathes a sigh after such a scream-
Uzumaki Naruto cries out his first breath, and so he grows the few whiskers he'll ever have.
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He's five when they kick him out.
He's crying, tears dripping down his face into a tiny pearl that drops off his chin into a loud 'thwack' on the stone stairs.
What should he do now? He's so alone. He can barely grab his chopsticks from the table, never having a chair to sit on, like the rest do.
He has to get everything himself- and before, before some of them would help him, on their 'sunny' days. He doesn't have anywhere to go. He doesn't.
Where should he go now?
Uzumaki Naruto wanders. Away from the bustling village.
He walks underneath the pitter-patter of the late rain, clambering over fallen logs and ducking with the swaying low-hanging branches, and out.
A silver shadow leaps down on the ground, baying and prowling-
Something curls in the back of his mind, stirring for the first time in weeks. Naruto slides to a stop, in front of a pond.
Its one of the ponds that hadn't dried up after the dry season. A still mirror, deep enough to not show the muck it lies on, shallow enough to still be reflecting anything with the wisp of moonlight.
He sits down, kneels, letting mud stain his big shirt that's almost a dress.
(Too big, only his, never anything else- trash only for the demondemondemon-)
Naruto. His name, one he painstakingly cried through each and every kanji of- just to know why he was called that- Reverbarate. Home. Family. Clan. He doesn't have three of the four, so he'll lean into the remaining one, and let it take him over, drown him in the second whirl of his name in the pools and dips of ground.
He opens his eyes, and lets his right hand brush over the whiskers that reside on that side of his face.
Oh. Naruto tips down just a bit. It wasn't noticeable before.
Underneath the dull shine, his right eye's just that bit of purple. Lilac, lavender, heather, all names from the blonde haired girl who always played exactly ten steps away from him at the park.
He tips forwards. Just a bit closer. If he looks just that bit more, whiskers curl and curdle into just that bit of fold and crease.
It's as if he has a second scar, along with the one right above his heart.
(It's the only one he has- somedays he wonders why he doesn't scar, when he gets cut by the knife he's tossed. Doesn't really make sense. But it does, because he's thedemon-)
Naruto touches his eye with his right- it's the soft breeze of a wind, the ebbing of the waves, wholy natural.
The periwinkle eye cries.
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He shivers awake. The quiet, there-and-not-there boulders finally, finally give space. They tumble, move, roll down, plopping away from his sore, sore soul.
Next thing he knows- he's falling, down and down past the boulders, perhaps beyond. He's tumbling like a football kicked too far, rolling down a hill with no end in sight.
He falls for almost an eternity. He barely registers the bright-flare-burn of something- then he's screaming as his heart stutters and then crying as it restarts.
He faints.
Then he wakes.
Uchiha Obito stares at his- something, vessel, body, whatever was spouted by Baka-Kakashi during their Team Minato days about plants and whatnot-
He gasps, but not a sound escapes from his lips. Are these even his lips? Did he become a ghost- like Kakashi said he would have-
Not fair! He was so close, so close and so close to being-
A whirlwind slams into him with as much force as a hurricane. No. It was a hurricane, it was on fire. Chakra- Katon.
Exactly like his. Then he clamped down on his not-there tongue because-
(Kakashi- Rin not returning- Three tails- Guiltguiltguiltguiltguilt- sorry- Obito- Minato-sensei- Yondaime-sama- Hokage- Uzumaki Kushina Jinchuu- danger danger danger- KYUUBI- NarutoNarutoNarutoNaruto- Last one left-)
Oh.
This- This was-
He felt his tears come up, drip off the lower eyelid of the eye that he had left back in life, and sees his sensei's son.
Naruto, because what else would he be but Kushina-nee's maelstrom? -Wipes away the tear and watches it fall from fingernail to water.
Oh. Nononononono-
Where was Kakashi? Where was anyone? The Third? Mikoto-san? Anyone- anyone to take care of Naruto? No one?
No. This couldn't be. Why was Naruto alone?
This. This wasn't fair.
Why- This shouldn't have happened again. His oba-chan's tiring gaze, the clan's isolation, the glances of the villagers...
No. This wasn't fair. Not to him, and most certainly not to sensei's child. How no one recognized Naruto as Minato-sensei's child was stupid. Idiotic. Moronic, even.
This wasn't fair-
Naruto started to waver, clearly tired as Obito proceeded onto cement his role in this-
This won't do, Uchiha Obito decides.
And as Naruto shuts his eyes, the silver shadow flits by, careful and tender, carrying a tiny blond child back to Konohagakure.
YOU ARE READING
Half N' Half
FanfictionSomeone was too late to the scene. SOMEONE WAS TOO LATE TO THE SCENE. OMIGOD. No one is on time. Seriously. ---------------------------------- Uzumaki Naruto is half-impaled by the Kyuubi.
