Chapter 4: Shackles
~~~
Naruto snapped back into reality. He looking around at the destruction that he managed to do with their bodies. Shit. Naruto crashed down on the ground.
"What am I going to do?" Naruto asked himself, looking at his healed hands for a few seconds or so. After awhile, Naruto stood back up and went towards each of their unconscious bodies.
It suddenly started to rain.
Isn't it funny? The moment I tainted my hands, the world started to cry out its tears. Naruto lets himself get soaked by the tears of the world as he walked towards their unconscious bodies.
What's this? Naruto thought, catching sight of a piece paper that was inside of Toshi's holster. He squatted down to its level and picked it up. There were words written on the said paper.
Naruto scanned the words.
"Kill this boy." Naruto looked down and saw a picture of himself printed right on the piece of paper. He squeezed the damp and wet piece of paper — his eyes spinning wildly.
This handwriting. . . it's grandfather's. Naruto thought, ripping the piece of paper in shreds; his Sharingan was spinning wildly. He clenched his fists tightly and his hair overshadowed his azure eyes.
I see, grandfather. You think you can control me and my actions? I'm not like Obito — I don't get manipulated so easily. Thought Naruto, wiping off the water that threatened to enter his eyes.
Madara,you will never control me. I am the The Boy who Graced the Earth.
~~~
It has been another week or two since the incident happened. Yukari had been the one to ask the questions, even if Naruto didn't want the questions to begin with.
After that, they had never spoken of it ever again. Everything became normal once again. As of right now, Madara had given him another scroll for him to work on.
Tree-climbing exercise. Madara had said this would take me some time to accomplish; my chakra reserves are extremely high. Thought Naruto, looking up and down on the tree right in front of him.
He had also said to use a kunai to mark my progress. Naruto mused, holding a kunai tightly in his hand. Naruto had applied chakra to his feet and started to rush towards the tree. He jumped right onto it, but soon found himself thrusting one of his legs right through the tree.
Ow. . . Naruto thought, feeling the splinters hurt his leg. He slowly pulled his leg out of the tree. His eyes darted around his whole leg — there was a lot of splinters.
Naruto started to pluck them out, ignoring the pain that came along with it. Once Naruto was done with the plucking of the splinters, the Kyuubi did its work and healed his leg. He sighed had the Kyuubi alongside his heritage.
I was born gifted? No. No. No. I will never accept that. Naruto thought bitterly. Most people would be so happy to be have such fortune in life, but Naruto is not them. This is one of these instances where he was glad he had enormous chakra reserves.
If he were to be bale to do this exercise with relative ease, Naruto wouldn't know what to think. He tried doing the same thing by applying less chakra, then jumping right on the tree.
He slipped off.
~~~
It had been a month or two since he has done and completed the Tree-Climbing exercise. It had taken Naruto a few days before he finally managed to perfect it to the tee.
Madara had deemed him worthy of doing much more harder tasks. And here he is now — going to a small local village in the Fire Country to get supplies.
Supplies for the family and myself. I can pick and choose what I need? Naruto thought, conflicted on the vague words that Madara had put on the scroll. He scanned the scroll once more to see any hidden messages around it.
There was none.
Naruto continued with his journey to this no-name village that he was tasked to go to every now and then. He jumped through the trees that resided in the Fire Country. His eyes darted to the left and to the right every few seconds.
After quit some time, Naruto finally had made it the small village that was close to his home. He managed to swiftly make it inside the walls of the village with very little effort.
Naruto observed the people that he passed by. They were all ordinary people living ordinary lives. And they didn't even know the grandson of a relic was currently walking amongst them.
What would happen if they were to know? Hate me? Scorn me to death? Attack me? Or all of the above? Naruto thought, already knowing the answer to the question that he had just asked himself. Naruto saw a stall that was selling seeds.
Yukari wanted to plant beets. Naruto walked over to the stall that was being maneuvered by a lady in her mid-40s. He stood in front of the stall in utter silence. "Hello, what can I do for you, young boy?" She asked in a very kind tone. Naruto looked through the selection.
he had found what he needed from here.
"I need you to supply me with 2 beetroot seed packs; two tiny ones are enough." Informed Naruto, pointed at the small packs of beetroot on for sell. The lady smiled kindly at him before she got two packs of beetroot seeds.
"That will be around 220 ryo." Naruto nodded and took out the needed 220 ryo that he was expected to give to her. The lady took the ryo and gave the beetroot seed packs to him.
"Hope I see you around."
Naruto walked way from the stall as the lady waved him goodbye. He just ignored her as he moved onto the next thing on the list of things he had to do.
I'll get the things that I need first. Thought Naruto, advancing towards the Shinobi gear section. The stall owner was a man in his early-30s "Don't you think you're a bit too young too hold a weapon?" Naruto looked at him with his lifeless eyes.
"The weapons are for my father." Naruto lied straight through his white teeth. The man couldn't pin-point if Naruto was lying or if he was actually telling the truth. After a moment or two, the man gave in.
"How much do you need?" Asked the man, sighing as he looked at Naruto. "I need 15," said Naruto, pointed towards the kunai section of the stall in front of him. The stall owner got the needed 15 kunai.
"That'll be 1635 ryo in total." Naruto nodded silently and took out the ryo that the stall owner wanted. They exchanged each items towards one another. "Thanks for buying my gear." Naruto nodded and bowed slightly right after.
Naruto headed off towards the next stall.
They drained so much of my allowance. . ,
~~~
*THUMP*
*THUMP*
*THUMP*
It had been another month or two. It was now September. He was soon to turn 6-years old. Naruto sighed as he thought of turning the age of 6. He looked at the target boards and saw the kunai; they were dead center.
I'm turning 6 in about a month. If I was in a village that trained Shinobi, I would probably be enrolling by now. Thought Naruto, wiping off the slight sweat due to the continuous training that he usually does.
Knowing Madara, I probably won't be training at any village at all. What a pity. Naruto continued his training for the day. Over time, Madara had slowly reduced the amount of tasks that Naruto had to do and finally there was none left just a few days ago.
He told me that I must find my own routine and not follow the routine that he made for me. I guess he's correct in someways and incorrect in other ways. Naruto mused, hanging off a tree that was set right next to the target boards.
After a few moments of letting himself hang off of the tree branch, Naruto jumped to the next tree and maneuvered his way through that one with relative ease. He moved on to the next one, then the next, then the next.
A week or two ago, he started to learn how to Water-Walk. It was quite a difficult task to complete — even more than the Tree-Climbing exercise. But he managed to complete it in week or two.
Naruto jumped onto the trunk of the tree, then ran down towards the ground below that was full of plants and nature all around the place he inhabited.
Madara couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe it that he wanted to laugh so hard. He was going to die in about a month or two.
Who would've thought that I would die after I cheated death for so long. Madara gave out a hard and rough cough. The chakra he that he got from the Gedo Mazo was rapidly decreasing.
He couldn't go back or even summon the Gedo Mazo. For over 6 years, he has lived without him being attached to the Gedo Mazo. Do you know how?
Because he's Uchiha Madara!
Madara coughed vigorously. He would have lived just a tiny bit longer if he would have tried to not move so much. Madara already had his plans in action. Naruto already knew of the plan that Madara dreamed of creating.
I guess cheating death does have its consequences after all. Madara thought weakly. He was just a month away from dying, but he didn't even care the slightest.
But, he'll be back. He'll be brought back to life by the power of the Rinnegan!
~~~
Naruto laid on the ground, looking up at the sky that reigned above. His eyes were dull and lazy, quite like a Nara; but is just less lazy than them. Like. . . a lot less lazy than them.
Maybe I can act lazy to stop my constant growth? Nah. I would fail that challenge in just a few minutes. Thought Naruto, letting the wind sway his blond and black hair to all sorts of direction.
He suddenly heard a piercing scream from behind. "AHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto jumped up in response to the scream and looked around by turning his head towards all directions around him.
Naruto heard another piercing scream. "It's coming from the forest." He darted towards the familiar forest that he always used to train at for so many hours.
Maybe he could execute the plan now?
Naruto jumped from tree to tree, noticing that the screams were getting louder and louder every second that he jumped. "The screams are coming from the direction of the house." Naruto murmured to himself. He continued to jump.
Naruto jumped down and saw a trail of blood come out of the shoji door. He followed the trail inside and witnessed something so unexpected.
Uchiha Madara was dead.
"Naruto. Y-you have t-to help me bury him." The elderly lady cried out. Naruto nodded with indifference laced in his face. Naruto carried Madara all the way outside. "Clean the blood in the house, Naruto. We'll bury him together." Naruto didn't miss the change in tone that Yukari had.
Her voice. . . she's not stuttering her words due to grieving. Somethings weird here. Naruto thought, keeping that piece off information at the back of his head. Naruto walked back inside to scrub off the blood.
He had quite the hard time trying to scrub off the blood from staining the wooden floor permanently. But, once he was done, Naruto cleaned his hands. He walked outside to help Yukari bury Madara at the front of the house.
Her tears. . . did it evaporate? Or did the tears just randomly disappeared. Naruto looked at Yukari's face and saw that there were no tears on her face. Only a solemn expression was present.
He grew even more suspicious.
Naruto stood beside her, grabbing one of the shovels that she had provided. They started to dig, dig, dig, and dig. As they dug the dirt, Naruto questioned himself.
Why? Why did he not cry when Madara died? The answer was simple — maybe as simple as cutting butter with a knife. Naruto looked at Madara's dead body.
I never really cared about him. He was better off dead as a piece of relic, forgotten in time. They soon finished after 30 minutes to an 1 hour of digging the Earth.
"Clean up and get ready to say what you want to say." Naruto nodded as he went inside the empty household that they called: home. Naruto took a quick shower to take off the dirt that had accumulated.
As he dried up, Naruto saw the many things that were in the house that he held dear to hiim. The shogi board, his clothes, and the chess board were all the ground.
Naruto wore a new pair of clothes and went outside and Yukari just about done burying putting Madara in the little burial hole that they had created. Naruto saw Madara laying inside it.
Naruto stood right behind Yukari with his arms to his sides. He looked at Yukari as she started to slowly say the wanted words that came out of her mouth.
"Uchiha. . . Madara. He was. . . a man of many. . . things. He wasn't. . . the most liked. . . person in the world. But I. . . loved him." There were slight pauses in her tone. Naruto didn't buy it one bit.
""We will. . . continue to. . . live and make. . . his dream come true. . . the Infinite Tsukuyomi." Naruto slowly widened his eyes. So, this was what he was trying to do. Madara had told Naruto of his plans of making a dream world that was full of fake bullshit.
It started to rain. How convenient. "Your turn Naruto. . ." Yukari told Naruto, waiting for Naruto to say his speech. He sighed before his Sharingan came to life. 2-tomoes were on each of his eyes.
"Gladly," said Naruto, pulling out a kunai stabbing Yukari in the back. She widened her eyes as she knelt to the ground in pain. Her head snapped towards Naruto. "Why?" Her voice full of confusion with a mix of anger.
"You, Madara, Obito, and Zetsu — you all are my enemies now. If I kill you now, it will benefit me in the long run." Naruto told Yukari, his eyes burning with rage. "What about the Cycle of Hatred?! The Infinite Tsukuyomi?!" She silenced herself once his lifeless eyes met her own.
"The Cycle of Hatred — I'm still wondering how to deal with that. But, the Infinite Tsukuyomi? I don't care about a dream world. You want to dream eternally? You can just die." Naruto told her in a cold manner.
"You need me to survive! People will come after you!" She yelled desperately, trying to cling to her life and potentially save it with every means necessary.
"Survival? It doesn't matter; I already have a plan in action. Any King — no — Emperor has to plan or they will get killed. " Naruto pushed Yukari down to the burial hole with Madara.
"This place is only shackles that is holding me down from my freedom and my plans." Before Yukari could say anything else, a kunai was blasted through her head. She quickly became a lifeless dead corpse and fell right on top of Madara.
"Curse me. . . hate me. Because that's the Cycle of Hatred."
~~~
Note that Naruto turned 6.
He is now 6-years old after 4 chapters.