Chapter 13: Reality
~~~
Naruto looked up, gazing at the night sky. It has been quite some time since has join ROOT — almost a year or so. Naruto was still 6 while almost his entire class was 7. It was petty, but that was the only thing he felt inferior by; age. Fuck!
Naruto looked back down from the night sky. His eyes now gazing at the mask he now had to wear. Naruto was amused looking at the mask he now had to wear.
Ironic that it resembles a fox quite well. It indeed did. But it must, since the mask he wears is a fox mask. Naruto picked up his fox mask and slipped it right onto his face. ROOT had no real attire that they actually had to wear.
Disorganized. Naruto thought, walking towards the middle of the ROOT Anbu HQ. He walked past the local and common entrance that was usually taken to get inside the base.
But Naruto was at the lowest floor, gracefully moving right along the path to where Danzo was residing at. Naruto kept on seeing other ROOT members walk by him.
They were trained to have no emotion, no failures. As Naruto was walking, he saw a dark and large corridor that was going to lead towards a new room that he was quite familiar with.
Naruto entered the room that had Danzo standing still. Danzo turned around as met eyes with Naruto himself. Naruto bowed down slightly to show respect.
"Konoha is attempting to create a high-tech television," said Danzo, stating a recent fact that had recently been the talk of the entire village itself. The highly intelligent people are trying to create a sturdy television that was the most state of the art item since Icha-Icha.
"You called for me, Danzo-sama," stated Naruto, wondering what the reason might be on why he was summoned to this exact place at this hour of day. Danzo observed Naruto at an ungodly degree.
"Straight forward as usual. I have a mission for you, Naruto." He nodded, internally tensing at the word 'mission'. What kind of mission could it possibly be? Naruto had not been sent on many missions. The reason was quite simple: He wasn't strong enough carry out them. Naruto guessed that was a fair excuse.
But there was a real reason why.
He's trying to keep a close eye on me. Naruto thought. Danzo wanted to keep track of Naruto's abilities as closely as closely. While Danzo want Naruto to improve when it came to achieving Danzo's goals, he doesn't want Naruto to advance too quickly to the point where Naruto could potentially retaliate.
"I need you to examine the perimeter of the village — the perimeter at the gates of Konoha. The guards protecting the tree are too weak protect Konoha. I need someone competent like you to be on the job for the night." Naruto nodded, bowing down slightly before walking out of the room in pure silence.
Soon enough, the entire village of Konoha will be wrapped around my finger. Thought Danzo, standing still once more for the other ROOT members.
~~~
This was an odd request. Naruto thought. It was an odd mission, even for him. All the other ROOT members are usually tasked to do something very gruesome. But this, this was truly odd.
This was something only a simple chunin would get from time to time. So it would only make sense for Naruto to be suspicious of such thing. He finally made it to the post that he was supposed to be at.
Naruto sat on a tree, waiting for any possible enemies that could appear out of thin air. He continued to linger on his thoughts once more. God, Naruto is some convoluted person.
Is there a possible hidden reason? Most definitely. There must be a hidden motive of some kind behind this mission. Naruto kept on thinking and thinking. Or am I just overthinking this mission as a whole? No, I'm not. There's no way I am. Naruto mused, eyes glittering from all the moonlight flashing up his eyes.
Danzo is a sly and cunning old man, there is always a reason why Danzo sends us ROOT members off on these missions — to protect the tree of Konoha. But this was beside the point that Naruto was trying to get across.
But this type of mission seems a bit. . . underwhelming. Yes, that's the right word to put it. Naruto thought, slowly piecing the broken and shattered pieces of the glass. A lot of the missions that ROOT members are sent to are usually inside or outside of the village. Which, goes for every mission. Though Naruto was still confused on Danzo's intentions on this mission as a whole.
It makes sense that I am on this mission since I'm not powerful enough like all the other ROOT members, but this is still quite odd. I've ever been tasked to do something on the outer-part of the village walls — only inside the walls of Konoha. Naruto pondered, soon hanging off of a tree as he observed his surroundings.
He stopped for a moment to look around closer, but found none and continued to think with his head.
Is there a reason why I am on the outer-part of Konoha? Yes, there must be something about that too. I am on the opposite side of the village and that means I am away from the main attractions that revolve around Konoha. This also means that this part of the village is the most quietest. He piecing things together rather quickly now.
And since this part of the village is most quietest then that means this part of the village will be more unlikely to be attacked by someone of opposing villages. The counterpart is more likely to be attacked and not this. Naruto thought, slowly realizing the purpose of this mission. But he was still not fully there yet.
And since I'm protecting this part of the village then that means whatever is happening on the other side of the village right now is out of my control/reach. Naruto mused, narrowing his eyes at this thought.
Then why am I assigned this part of the village? Are there also people inside ROOT that were tasked to observe the outside perimeter? No, that can't be it. There was none that left with or before me. Then that must mean. . . Naruto still had his eyes narrowed and then widened his eyes beyond belief.
The real purpose of this mission was not for me to watch over this part of the village, but to draw me out of the village so I wouldn't get involved in the affairs of the other side of Konoha. Shit. Naruto thought angrily. He can't move out of this spot though, Danzo would know. He has eyes and ears in a lot of places in Konoha.
He won't be able to make it to the other side of Konoha either. At his top speed, it would at least take around 30 minutes to an hour of jumping from building to building to even get to the destination.
I don't even know where the place is. Damn it. Naruto slightly gritted his teeth, knowing Danzo had outsmarted him this time. He stopped gritting his teeth soon after.
You may have outsmarted me this time, Danzo. But if you want to battle and play a game that involves our wits and intelligence, I won't back down. I'll show you who the real manipulative bastard truly is.
~~~
Naruto had been up all night, watching over his part of the village. And as expected, there were no people that tried infiltrating, or attacking Konoha.
Naruto jumped away from the tree that he was sitting on and landed onto the ground below. He walked maneuvered his way around the walls of Konoha. His eyes behind the fox mask darted around, looking around as he hid in the shadows.
Naruto soon arrived on top of his apartment complex, hidden in plain sight. He snuck inside of his part and took off is mask. The sun was just starting to rise and people were soon getting out of their houses.
Naruto got into his normal attire without his mask on. He dressed up like any normal kid would do. And like any other kid, he jumped out of his window and right on the streets of Konoha.
He landed on the ground and started walking to the direction of the academy. Naruto saw the sun shine on his face, making him have to squint to be able to see. He made his way towards the academy at a quick rate.
As he entered through the class, the room was silent and. . . gloomy? Wow, looks like they're finally serious on becoming a shinobi. Except. . . they weren't? Naruto walked towards his seat, looking around to observe everyone's actions.
Am I the only one out of the loop? Naruto thought. He suddenly noticed something missing and it was actually quite a large thing missing in the classroom.
Satsuki wasn't here.
Shit.
~~~
It was the next day and everyone was still gloomy, except for Naruto, of course. But after yesterday, Naruto has finally found out why everyone was so gloomy and why Satsuki was here.
Satsuki died alongside the Uchiha Massacre. Jkjkjkjkjkjk.
So Satsuki is hospitalized due to the trauma she has gotten from seeing all the dead bodies. Or was it something else? Probably Itachi's doing. Hm, he did seem quite odd for all the times I had seen him and heard about him. Ditched his own sister for Anbu duties. Hmm. Thought Naruto. So this was the thing Danzo was trying to keep him out of.
Flattered, but you're not as sly as you think, Danzo. Naruto though, keeping his stoic face plastered all throughout. As the day moved on, he noticed a lot of more things.
They're not taking anything seriously.
There was proof of this. During the spar, he had fought Yu once more. And you know what Yu did? Nothing! He was knocked down in mere seconds. A lot of the other kids did the same and gave up on their spars.
But why were they acting like they were grieving when they weren't even at the center of the massacre?
~~~
It was the second day and Satsuki had finally shown up to class. Iruka had told them this yesterday, and the whole class thought up to give her gifts for her grieving.
"Here, Satsuki-chan." Yu gave her his gift that she set aside. Satsuki didn't want them at all — she wasn't a broken toy that had to be fixed by gifts sent by people.
Naruto kept hearing her.
Satsuki this, Satsuki that, this that, Satsuki, Satsuki, Satsuki-chan, chan, chan, chan, this that, Satsuki, sorry Satsuki, Satsuki, Satsuki, Satsuki Satsuki Satsuki Satsuki Satsuki Satsuki Satsuki Satsuki Satsuki Satsuki Satsuki Satsuki. Just shut up.
It annoyed him to a very shitty degree. And as time went on, it seemed like everyone had a gift for Satsuki. Did he have a gift for Satsuki? No. God, they were going to bitch about this.
"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto." He heard his name multiple and numerous times at a time. He looked up and saw Sakura looking at him. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" Naruto asked, internally groaning at what was about to come.
"Your present? You know, everyone has given her one." Naruto looked at her unamused. He nodded, acting like he actually had a gift that he would actually give her. There were many murmurs around the room wondering on what he might give her.
Naruto walking right in front of Satsuki's desk, his hands in his pockets. He looked right into her eyes. They were full of sadness, anger and. . . hate. Naruto scoffed.
"Grow up and get stronger." Many widened their eyes at Naruto's words.
"Hey! Asshole! What the hell is your problem!" Yu yelled, obviously angered at Naruto. He diverted his eyes towards him, giving him a menacing glare. "You all said to give her a gift. This is my gift," stated Naruto, eyeing them all with my sharp eyes.
"That's not a gift, Naruto!" Sakura yelled, angered at what Naruto was saying. Naruto ignored everyone and looked at Satsuki. "Like what I said, grow up and get stronger. It's a simple as that." Satsuki gritted her teeth. Oh, how she hated Naruto.
"The hell is your problem?" Asked Satsuki, gritting her teeth at Naruto. Without skipping a beat, "Everyone in this class is my problem." They felt the temperature of the class lower in degrees.
"Do you know how hellish it has been being suffocated by these insufferable people who act like they understand you and what you've been through that night? I hated it; I still do." Naruto gave everyone a sharp glare in return.
"They act like they understand your pain when in reality they don't. You're not a broken toy who has to be fixed by other people — you have to fix yourself with only the help of yourself. People will only hinder you from fixing yourself with their words." Satsuki gave him a sharp glare.
"You don't understand my pain either. You don't get the right to tell me that." Satsuki growled at him, angry at what Naruto was talking about. Naruto stayed the same.
"When was this topic about me? I'll be totally honest, I could care less about the Uchiha Massacre. Nobody in this room except you had a direct and deep connection with them. The only real connection they had were the fanboy's fantasy of meeting your family." Shit, that had to hurt real deeply.
"Don't talk about the Uchiha like that." Satsuki stood up from her seat, her eyes giving Naruto a fierce glare. God, Naruto just made his life even harder than before.
"The last time I checked, I can't talk to dead people." Satsuki widened her eyes. "Naruto! Stand down!" Iruka yelled, making his way towards him. "The old man is probably hearing me say this right now and is probably ready to put me down for my stupid antics. But I have to talk sense into your brain." Naruto glared at Satsuki.
"People die all the time, the Uchiha Clan dying is just as insignificant as all the other deaths that wash over this damn world." Satsuki clenched her fist.
"The Uchiha's deaths were important! They are the most powerful clan in this damn nation and this damn village." Satsuki was ready to tear Naruto's head off of his body. Naruto scoffed.
"And what about all the other people dying everyday? Are they not significant at all? Or are they just so little because the Uchiha Clan was so important that they overshadowed their deaths? If one death is significant then another should be as significant than that one. If one death is insignificant, then all the other deaths in this world should be considered insignificant." Naruto felt a tug from Iruka.
"Remember these words because my grandfather said them," said Naruto, looking dead at Satsuki's eyes.
"When a person learns to love, they must bear the risk of hatred. Do you know who that applies to? Everyone in this world. But it applies to the Uchiha most importantly — they treasure love more than any other clan in this world. This love is dangerous and can lead to the most intoxicating emotion: Hate or hatred. You know what that means?" Naruto asked stoically as he was being pulled away by Iruka.
"The Cycle of Hatred is upon you, Satsuki. But there is a word or phrase that someone used to say that depicts this curse for the Uchiha." As Naruto left the room he said,
"The Curse of Hatred."
The room went dead silent. Oh, yeah, Naruto definitely was crazy now.
~~~
AN(Shaxoss):
DONE! Umm. . . this shall conclude the chapter. Umm. . . yeah. . . that went well for Naruto. Fuck. Naruto is slowly cracking, but he'll save himself right right?
The ending of the chapter was not how I thought it would end. But hey, guess things don't go my way all the time ig. This will be the last time you see this kind of Naruto. But hey, Naruto needed to knock some sense into Satsuki. Though the words he used were. . . questionable.