At first, it was just a hum; the kind one might annoyingly swat away, absolutely sure a fat fly was buzzing far to close to the ear.
Mere weeks later and for quite some time, the sound morphed into distant chatter; hazy, like the final incoherent echoes of conversation. It had made, then, potential graduate student, Uzumaki Naruto constantly swivel his head like a whip, dead intent on locating this elusive chatter. He heard it everywhere; in the middle of class, walking through the markets, training in the woods, relaxing in his apartment, and his frustration grew every time he couldn't locate its source. Presently, however, as he drags his feet away from Konoha's hospital, the last thing on his mind was some annoying chattering sound he couldn't identify.
The day was bright and the pure white clouds were large and puffy against the baby blue of the sky. Certainly, a joyous day for many in the nation of Fire, unless you were Naruto and Umino Iruka. The thoughtful and caring chūnin-sensei had selflessly saved his life from the traitor, Mizuki, just days before, using his body to stop a large shuriken that was meant for him. For his troubles, Naruto's favorite academy sensei is now paralyzed from the chest down.
Walking that long sorrowful path toward nothing and no one, the only voice in Naruto's head was the list of injuries the nurse was adamant the young genin had caused that night by needlessly moving Iruka-sensei in a panicked rush to get the injured chūnin-sensei to the hospital.
"Because of your carelessness," the nurse yelled, "his spine, spinal nerve roots, intercostal nerves, ribs, and lungs were extraneously damaged. Because of you, he'll never have a career as an active Konoha shinobi again! He'll be lucky if he can ever walk again. Now, get out! He doesn't want to see you!"
Truthfully, Naruto didn't understand most of what she said. It all sounded terrible, but the part that struck him the most, the thing he blames himself so utterly over, is being the reason Iruka-Sensei can never be a shinobi again.
Before he knew the extent of his sensei's injuries, Naruto was supremely confident the scarred sensei would be fine in a couple of days. Naruto himself recalls being stabbed before and he was always fine in a day or two. He had been so excited to visit the chūnin to show off his brand new hitai-ate, to regale him with how they passed Kakashi-sensei's bell test, only to be yelled that Iruka-sensei doesn't want to see him. The difference in walks to and from the hospital is like a moonless night and a pleasant day.
'Why wouldn't he be fine? He was supposed to be,' Naruto can't help but think. 'That shouldn't happen to good people.'
Lamenting over the grievous injury of his single mentor—his fourth special person after Ji-chan, Teuchi-jiji, and Ayame-nee—he unknowingly found himself on the best spot overlooking all of Konoha. Admiring the robust village, now cognizant of why the majority hate him and the thing inside him, it only fueled his need to make things right again, to desperately fight this horrible feeling in his chest from festering. Jiji had taught him long ago that nothing changes if you stay unhappy about it.
"Smiling is contagious because happiness is contagious," Naruto recites, recalling Hokage-jiji explain to him after another crowd had hurt him. "When we are happy, people can feel that energy, and it can make them happy in return. That is why I think the best weapon against hatred and loneliness is love and friendship." The old man would smile happily at a frightened five-year-old Naruto, and Naruto, though sad and confused, couldn't help a small smile spread his lips. From that point on, Naruto grew to understand the old man's words with every passing day, and tried to fight the village's animosity with his best smiles and goodwill.
'If I became the best shinobi in the village, and then the best Hokage of all time, I just know Iruka-sensei would be happy,' Naruto mentally declares as if combating the guilt within with his sheer determination. He may not be the smartest shinobi in class, but even he knows the steps to take Jiji's white hat; work harder than anyone and protect your village. 'I couldn't stop Mizuki-teme from hurting Iruka-sensei, but I won't let anything bad happen to sensei again! I know it!'
'Na.. rut..o.'
Naruto whipped around, hopping on his feet, looking for whoever called his name. It was faint, wispy really, but he's certain he heard it. "Hello!" he cautiously calls. "Who's there?"
There's no response. After a few seconds of silence, Naruto straightens up from his guarded stance. Confident it must've been his imagination, he hops off of the Yondaime's stone visage to train; To make Iruka-sensei proud. Team seven's first meeting as an official Konoha squad isn't until next week, and with clenched fists, he's determinedt o be the best one in it.
'It won't be for nothing Iruka-sensei! Just you watch,' he mentally pumps himself up as he dashes to his favorite training ground: Training Ground 28.
It's a small thing compared to the better newer training grounds, or the older revered ones nearer to the center of town, but it's less likely to have any shinobi already training in it. Using rotting, weathered targets hanging from various branches of several trees for his shuriken and kunai practice, he concentrates on attempting six simultaneous shuriken throws. He's gotten fairly good at throwing two shiruken per hand with decent accuracy, but three per hand is frustrating him to get right. As he's just about to release the spinning missiles, he hears it again.
'Naru..to,'
It's louder, seizing his muscles for a split second and breaking his concentration, scattering his precious few throwing stars everywhere but on target.
"Uah, wh-wh-wh-who's there!" Naruto yells out, searching desperately around, in shadows, in the canopy above or bushes below, extending his senses for any sound that's not of nature. "Whoever it is better come out now or I swear I'll make you eat dirt!" he adamantly yells with a pointed finger. No one comes out. It was silent, unnerving, and he was still and rigid for a solid five minutes. He nearly relaxes his guard when he heard it again.
'Can...ou hear... e?'
Naruto begins to wonder if he's going crazy because it was starting to sound more like this unrecognizable male voice was in his head rather than somewhere around him where unrecognizable voices ought to be.
"W-w-wh-who," Naruto stammers, asking aloud but dreading a response... very much so dreading it.
'I can... ear you bet..er,' the voice said, and Naruto runs. Like a bolt out of a bow, he sprints full out with no real direction in mind other than away. 'How's… that,' the voice asks. 'That better?'
'I'm going crazy, I'm going crazy, I'm going crazy...' Naruto mentally repeats, casually noticing the voice feels even clear despite sprinting away from it. Feeling nothing but adrenaline in his legs, he runs flat out, making the trees look like a blurry paste around him.
'You're no... going crazy,' the young but deep voice states, interjecting his reply in Naruto's thoughts.
Suddenly, Naruto ends his panicked sprint with a bit of a slide, ninja sandals ripping earth until he comes to a stop, shouting, "wait a' minute!" Looking around the forest again, he asks, "is this a prank? That you Konohamaru? ...Sasuke-teme? ...Kakashi-sensei? Whoever it is, you better believe I won't rest until I get you back ten times worse!"
'It's not... prank,' the voice says. 'Though that'd be... pretty awesome prank.'
"AAHH," Naruto groans in startling surprise, bringing up his fingers nails to be nervously gnawed on by his teeth. "This is genjutsu! Some kinda crazy illusion... trying to- to make me do something stupid, like steal women's panties or eat vegetables. I won't do it!"
'This isn't genjutsu, Naruto,' the voice says with a chuckle. 'Kami, it feels so weird calling you that.'
"Why would that be weird, you weirdo. It's my name! How do you even know my name!?" Naruto tosses back strongly, walking around bushes and behind trees, doing his best to locate a physical person nearby who's responsible for this jutsu, and yet he finds no one.
'I know it's your name,' the voice says, still seemingly sounding amused. 'Because it's also my name.'
But for a couple of skeptical blinks, his entire body freezes as his patience momentarily yields and reboots. "...this- this may be a wicked prank, but I'm still not falling for it!" Naruto yells. "I'm the one and only, future Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto! Now get out here so I can kick the crap out you!"
'Well, listen up, Uzumaki Naruto: the Next Hokage,' Naruto starts, lightly mocking the boy's use of his full name and aspiration. 'What I'm about to tell you is going to be hard to believe, but you and I share the same name because we're actually the same person. I'm the you from the future.'
Two more blinks at the unexpectedly ludicrous revelation and an exhale of admiration, and Naruto can't help but think with a small measure of respect, 'Uwwaaahh, even I wouldn't have thought of a prank like that.'
'Thanks, but since I'm you, technically you did, or will... No, I mean, this isn't a prank,' the voice mentally replies to Naruto's thought.