Naruto One-shots

pantheon

Summary: When Naruto sees a shinobi, he doesn't see a hero. No, he sees a god among men. He sees legends come to life, he sees power that no mortal could ever possess. And, like any sane human, he trembles before their might. One-shot. AU.

[It's a bit short but I decided to use a different writing style. You know, to experiment]

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He sees them sometimes. Yes, they fly through the trees with masks on their faces. Animals, usually, though he does see a few without any marks at all. That's not what's important, though. The most important part is their grace.

They glide through the treetops, not an imperfection on their bodies. Their hair flies behind them in the wind, their weapons strapped to their person. Deceptively human.

They radiate power, though. They radiate skill and precision. And, as Naruto's eyes flick over them, he understands perfectly what they are saying without words.

Do not intervene.

Naruto saw no need in losing the grace of the gods.

-

Sometimes, Naruto spots them in a playground. They look like children, talk like children, play like children, but they're not. Naruto used to be confused, but now he is not.

For example, a pair of boys. One is Naruto's age, another a few years older. Both have a red and white fan on their back. A symbol, Naruto knows, of not just their family, but their status. The one Naruto's age laughs brightly and chases the older one. The older one smiles softly and indulges his younger brother.

Naruto smells the blood on his hands though. He can sense the power, the skill, the promise of death if someone were to destroy his status quo. It wasn't just the older one, either. The younger one, while admittedly not as strong or refined, still gave off an aura of dominance. Each step was confident and every stick he holds to play with could kill the untrained and unaware in a second.

It's not very obvious, but once Naruto noticed, the seemingly bright scenes turned chilling.

Naruto doesn't like to go to the playground anymore.

-

He was required to go to the Academy. He was never told why, and he never asked. No need to question the will of the gods.

He stops going after the first day. That day, he stares into the eyes of the boy he saw at the playground, the younger one. He didn't see the boy anymore. No, he saw an ethereal being made of blue flames. It stared down at him with red, spinning eyes. No, it glared.

Not possible, something in him hissed. Dead!

Naruto stayed that day, doing his best not to look at the boy.

And then he never came back.

-

Naruto would visit a shrine on the edges of the Village. He went there at the end of every day, and he would always pray. He never knew for what, but he would.

One day, there was someone else there. Most of his face was covered and his hair seemed to defy gravity, but most of all, he oozed power. A god, definitely. A god among gods.

"What's a little kid like you doing here?"

"Praying."

"For what?"

I don't know, he was about to say, before pausing. "For my punishment to end."

"What are you being punished for?"

"I don't know. No one ever told me."

The god eyed Naruto. "Well then, how is it considered a punishment?"

"I know it is. Otherwise, it's just senseless torture."

"I'm not saying there is no reason, I'm saying that it's not a punishment."

"...I'm surrounded by power, and yet I stand here powerless."

A pause. "Trust me, people are nowhere near as powerful as they seem." And the man disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto was left standing there for a moment before he placed his arms together and bowed before the shrine. He wasn't praying, though. There was one thought in his head.

It seems that even gods can be wrong.

-fin-

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I feel like this is kind of incomplete so I may add a companion to this, but for now, this is it. 

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