Reanimation

Chapter Seven

If it weren't for the sound of the rushing river, or the smell of burnt wood, or the stinging pain of freezing gusts of wind biting him cold, he would've convinced himself that he had succumbed to darkness once again. That it had all been a dream. That he was still dead, but now capable of dreaming.

That would have been a lot better.

But as the most trifling sound, or smell, or change in the wind, persisted to overwhelm his recovering senses, Naruto was constantly reminded that he really was back -- that his heart had been beating relentlessly for an entire day already. The pounding of his own heart felt heavier on his ears as seconds ticked by. It just kept growing stronger every time.

The cave was now void of light, as well as of chakra. The man who reanimated him, and who identified himself as Kansuke, promised to return as soon as he could, with a present he desired to surprise Naruto with. Naruto knew he would dread whatever it was.

The traitor of Konoha decided to let his guard down a bit, exposing his own chakra to Naruto, once he was sure the previously dead Hokage was incapable of threatening him yet. It was also, as Naruto had deduced it, partly because of his inability to suppress his own chakra for a long time. It just took so much effort to do so.

Naruto could not remember, or he might not have bothered to know... Were the reanimated capable of sleeping? Surely now he couldn't, and he wished he could. He wanted to close his eyes and dwell in the darkness of his own mind forever. No matter how badly he wanted to see Konoha again he knew he was nothing but a threat to his own village.

The place he protected throughout his life was now better off without him.

As Naruto's senses grew acclimatized to his surroundings, he sensed three different chakra signatures approaching at an alarming speed, one belonging to Kansuke. He closed his eyes as they entered, one of them setting the fire without saying a word. Naruto remained unfazed.

It wasn't until he saw the piece of clothing hurled to the floor that he remembered how real resentment felt like. He didn't even need a tailed beast inside of him to feel such uncontrollable rage burning at the pit of his stomach.

Someone had touched his son.

"What did you to him?!" Naruto felt himself struggle against his restraints, while at the back of his mind suppressing his sudden desire to kill. He had never felt that way before. Not even when he fought during the war.

When someone lays a hand on your child it was just so hard to hold back.

Kansuke's eyes wandered from Naruto to the ripped coat sprawled between them -- the Uzumaki emblem barely recognizable and heavily stained with blood. Boruto's blood.

"A bait -- like I told you. I didn't do it though," Kansuke said casually, his expression seemingly untroubled. He gestured toward the two masked shinobis standing by the mouth of the cave, "They did."

Anbu. Naruto gritted his teeth. To think that the threat had originated from the very heart of Konoha. That the very people entrusted to protect it was plotting something behind its back.

But wasn't that exactly how the foundations of trust and unity in Konoha were once destroyed and betrayed -- when its own citizens decided to fight against each other instead of for each other?

Didn't something similar happen before which caused almost an entire clan's eradication?

The plague of hatred. Where hate was allowed to exist even once, hate will find a way to thrive and consume.

Although Naruto didn't want to admit it, he knew -- as long as there were people who didn't want to forgive, Konoha would never be at peace. Sasuke had already proven himself as much as he could, what else did these people want?