B L U E »Naruto« ON HIATUS

Onze

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n ō k o n

After an hour of our cries, my mother and brother fell victim to their exhaustion and slept cradled in each other's arms.

I stood silently with dry eyes and marched robotically out the house. I nodded my head at my neighbor, their buzz cut white hair contrasting drastically against their milk chocolate skin and golden eyes. "Good evening Leader Nōkon," he said, bowing his head respectfully.

I faltered in my step. "Good evening Gōrudo," I tell him in a strong voice. My fingers trembled as I walked away, I could feel his gaze stab into my stiff back. I bit my tongue to keep me grounded and walked faster to the Black Room.
The Black Room is where we keep our dead, a type of funeral home.

It was on the outskirts of our large compound and hidden away by trees. I took a deep breath before knocking on the dark mahogany door. It opened immediately and I was greeted with Chairo's panicked brown eyes. "Come, you must hurry!" He whispered rapidly and motioned me inside. I stepped in and focused on his rushing figure, following him with a quick pace of my own. The room around me was dark but soon he opened a door and a pure white light blinded me.

I stepped into the white room and was met with the scent of death. My dark eyes were drawn immediately to the two bodies in the center. I ran forward and was next to them in a flash. I shut down internally to prevent weakness, yet my hands still shook as I stared at my father's corpse. He was ghastly pale, his skin lacking the tanned bronze it once was. I scanned his cleaned body and stared at the wounds littering him. There were deep lacerations across his bare chest and burn marks on his arms.

I clenched my jaw as I saw his hands. He was missing a pinky on both and the remaining fingers were without nails.

"He was tortured."

I felt a hot flash of red violet* flow through me and tensed my muscles.

Chairo pointed a gangly finger at my uncle and I followed her gaze.

I felt the my breath get knocked out of me as I saw his crumbling form. He was missing an arm and his head was shaved, several cuts on his scalp. His eyes were gouged out and a side of his cheek was gone, revealing the toothless, tongueless, fleshy inside of his mouth. Yet the worse thing was how his feet had turned a charred black color and fell to dust. It was slowly spreading up and I could only assume that once he turned to nothing but dust, the same would happen to my father.

I clenched my jaw tightly and nodded curtly to Chairo and Akai, who had walked in silently and looked at me in pity, as I stalked out of that terrible building. I kept walking, ignoring the bows from my fellow clan members. I walked out the gates and stormed through the village, making my way towards the training grounds.

I felt something within me writhe and felt my stitches get hot and painful. I took shuddering breath and finally arrived at my destination.

I neared a dummy and threw a punch at it.
Immediately there was a loud crack and the dummy was flying through the sky, completely coated in chakra. I look down at my bleeding fist and see the blue aura surrounding it. My knees buckled and I fell on them, all my energy leaving me.

I was too tired to cry, too tired to feel angry or sad. I decided to recap my day.

1. Return from mission.
2. Told I was no longer part of team seven.
3. Joined team four.
4. Tiring team exercises and almost died.
5. Found out my father and uncle were dead.
6. Became the new unofficial clan leader, ceremony would be held after father's burial.
7. Cried with family.
8. Went to see bodies.
9. Found out my uncle and father were tortured.
10. Hate.

I glared at the ground. I felt the seed of hate being planted in me, felt the black red green* spread as I felt the need for vengeance, to make whoever hurt my family pay.

"Nōkon, what are you doing down there? Get up!"

Three pairs of shoes appeared in front of me and I cranked my neck to look at them. "Come on Nōkon, you can't spend the rest of your time wallowing  in your sorrows," Tadashi said. I blinked up at him. "Use this chance to become stronger! You'll be the clan leader now!" Shiko exclaimed with a bright grin. Yoshi stretches her hand out to me and winked, "Don't let your hate go to waste, use it to become a sharper weapon."

I bit back a snide remark and took her hand. Tadashi stood back and watched us with a fond smile; I haven't even known these people for a full day and they're already going out of their way to treat me like family. I stored the black red green away in a small box, along with all the other colors I've ever felt and had repressed.

We spent the next couple of weeks training vigorously. I had become the Tamashiiro Clan Leader and wore the traditional war paint that was required.

It was dark blue, like my name, and was like a raccoon's mask surrounding my eyes in a thick layer and covering the sides of my temples.

I remember the ceremony clear as day, there was a giant dark blue bonfire and multi-colored powder was thrown. Music and joyous laughter rang through out the compound, we even had a small crowd of witnesses from the village gather around in awe. I remember having to be completely covered in white powder to symbolize purity, and then having the dark blue paint smeared across my face. Senkō and my mother threw their paint on me. I felt the cold thick liquid splash on my skin and clothes and felt how the color seeped into my skin. Senkō's light red was bursting with love and excitement, yet I could still feel his immense sadness at the fact that our father was no longer here. My mother's dark purple, which matched her name, Komurasaki, perfectly, was practically bubbling with grief. And yet I could still sense the love that she held for her children.

I felt the emotions of my family, felt all their feelings being poured into me. And then everyone else followed and I started to weep.

I had felt everyone become one with me as their paint soaked me. I was submerged in a world of colorful emotions. I felt everyone's anger, everyone's sadness, everyone's happiness. And yet, when my own paint was poured over me, to envelop everyone and bring them all under my protection, I felt nothing but hate and sorrow.

I had everyone's emotions but mine were-

"Nōkon!"

I jolted and looked up at Yoshi. "Hurry up, we're going to be late to the exams!" She whined and tugged at my hand, her warm hand contrasting drastically against my icy one. "Shiko's already there, so we gotta hurry up so we don't make her mad," Yoshi continued as I followed sluggishly behind her. "I am coming already, you do not have to drag me," I state while yanking my hand out of hers. She paused and looked at me with shock in her eyes, "er, well okay, but you have to walk faster."

I rolled my eyes, just barely seeing the dark color surrounding them. "I'm scared that we're gonna lose," my team mate admitted. I snorted, "We are the most powerful team of genin in Konoha, we surpass even Might Guy's team and Team Seven in both intelligence and strength. There is little to worry about."

The shorter girl stared at me as we entered the waiting room, all eyes immediately turning towards us. "You really think that?"

I stare ahead with cold eyes and lift my chin, "I was merely stating the facts."

» uh hi? Long time no see hahahahahaimsororry. I apologize for not updating sooner lmao, but school's been a bitch lately.

Anyways, a lot happened in the short span of a single chapter. Like w o w.

Also, Nōkon's personality is way colder and more calculated in that last 4 paragraphs. I'm gonna explain more of what happened in the next chapters (which will hopefully be up soon) and get into detail of what all happened that wasn't mentioned. Not a lot of colors in this chapter either oops

Red violet = extreme anger
Black red green = hate

-Joh