The Dragon Queen // (Under Revision)

The Many Faces Of Naruto Uzumaki

Tsuyoi pushed him away again. But not out of anger. She just needed a break. Some time to think.

She needed to focus, she needed to be strong, she needed, she needed, she needed. 

She needed her parents. 

She needed her friends. 

She needed her home. 

She needed that little house she and her father used to live in, with its lavender walls and its apple tree in the backyard. 

She needed her old tekkan, with its grape soda-stained hilt. She needed her mother, her candles and her singing. 

She needed so much, or had needed so much, but those words still haunted her. The Old Chizu's raspy words. Nobody cares about what you want. No one cares about what you need. 

But Naruto was proving those words wrong.

And she didn't know what to do about it. What to do with it.

She walked on, leading the group of people behind her. Adrenaline still throbbed at her fingertips from the bokushin attack. The second attack she'd ever had since being Chosen. Why were bokushin so attracted to her, anyway? It wasn't until she'd met Naruto since the attacks started happening. Bokushin are attracted to fear. Tsuyoi's mind started whirling.

As well as physical prowess, Chizu had trained Tsuyoi to have an over-observant and, consequently, a superior mind. Ironically, every detail was quickly stored and processed, but after the conclusion was made she forgot the details. She had only started to remember things after she met Naruto. As a result, her pseudo-observations weren't as refined. She could have usually put the whole raccoon thing together in an instant before she had met him. Now Naruto had noticed before she had. She'd reacted to the bokushin fast, but her mind felt fuzzy and sluggish. She clenched her fist tighter, thinking hard.

Bokushin are attracted to fear. That was always the assumption and that's what was taught when she was young. But something was nagging at her.

But what if it's broader than that?

She recalled the incident she'd told the others about at dinner after the first attack. The boy who'd been killed when she was in the Mother's Home. At her command, flashing images and sounds filled her mind. Kids yelling, running across hollow ground. Tall faceless ladies in flowing robes, guiding the children through the forest. 

Focus...

Tall trees, even taller than the ladies, infinitely taller, kissed the sky above them. 

Then the atmosphere changed. A dark, familiar presence filled her bones. The feeling swamped her so heavily, it almost broke her concentration. She felt her brow furrow.

 His name was...Odomindatte. Everyone had called him Odo. He'd walked beside her, and she recalled feeling rather large around him. He had always been thin of frame and face and supremely uppity, as his father was the Lead Justice of the Council. She could barely remembered the edges of his face. Then it started to get fuzzy. She ground her teeth in frustration.

Hey, just relax a little. I know you can do it. Natsukashii said gently.

You sound like Naruto, Tsuyoi replied quizzically.

Well, he kinda told me to help you, Kashii said sheepishly.

Figures, Tsuyoi sighed. Still, she unballed her fists and breathed in deep. Odo. Odo. Odo...the sinister feeling in the forest...Odo...Odo...Odo...

Then it hit her.

Yes! Odo was the boy who was rude and selfish and had a crush on Tsukidate and she rejected him and then on our woodland excursion the bokushin got him---!

Tsuyoi blinked. "Bokushin are attracted to negativity. "

A hand suddenly slid into hers. She instinctively lashed with the other hand and aimed for the perpetrator's face, but her fist was caught by another hand. She strained against it, eyes skirting up the arm and full into the face of Naruto. "Oh! Oops, sorry, Hayride." She lowered her arm, but the other hand Naruto held he didn't let go off. They kept walking, slowly their pace.

Naruto grinned. "No hard feelings, Konoha." His smile faded, replaced with a sad glint in his eye. "I'm...sorry for not telling you about Sasuke. He's my friend...that I had to save a while ago. I should have told you more."

Tsuyoi blinked. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

"It's a long story...I'll tell you all the details sometime." Now he looked flustered. "Actually, I feel kinda guilty."

"Guilty how?"

"I haven't thought about Sasuke...or my home at all...since that one day. I feel like it's slipping, or something. I don't know how why it feels so weird...if that's bad or not." He lifted his head, and the moon reflected in his eyes. His face looks peaceful, and a little sad. "It feels like it never existed...my life before I met you."

Tsuyoi was puzzled. It only took it second for the truth to hit her. "Naruto...Oh my goodness..." She stopped walking, instead grasping his hand like it was the only thing keeping her from drowning.

"What? Tsuyoi, what is it?" Naruto's wide eyes bore into hers, innocent and questioning.

"Naruto...you're forgetting things...like me." Tsuyoi said shakily.

Naruto blinked. "What?" The light in his eyes shifted slightly. He looked confused. 

"Naruto, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! You...You know what? When we get to Muranomachi, you are going home. All of you!" She spun around, wrenching her hand out of his reach. "You all have to go home! All of you, you hear me?" She was freaking out. 

No no no--I'm always hurting people...

Everyone stopped, wide-eyed. 

"We get to go home? That's great news! I hate it here!" Sai exclaimed shamelessly.

"Sai!" Sakura punched him in the arm. He yelled and stepped out of her immediate range.

"Wait, Tsuyoi!" Naruto grabbed her wrist. "I'm not going anywhere. I won't abandon you, do you understand me?" His eyes sparked angrily. He was concerned and slightly annoyed. We've been through this before.

"But I'm tearing you apart! I can't do that to you, Naruto! You are too important to me!"

"But I'm telling you that you're too important to me to let you stay the way you are! You remind me of Sasuke and you remind me of home! I'm not abandoning you for anything! Do you understand?" Then his eyes softened a little. The moon caught the right eye, and it shone.

Tsuyoi stared, eyes stinging with tears. "You...Really?" She said, grabbing for words.

Another undescribable look crossed his face. It was filled with pain and hope and longing...and anger. There was a fierce, radical, protective anger in his eyes. It struck her. 

He wants to protect me. 

"Now come on. Let's get you home, okay?"

Tears flooded her against her will.

"Can you guys stop being so sappy?" Tsuyoi blinked; it was one of Naruto's clones. Everyone laughed at them.

"This thing is heavy!" Another said.

Tsuyoi laughed and wiped her tears away. "Yeah. Let's go home."

She took Naruto hands and let him in again.

She wondered how many other faces his eyes could make.