I want to leave to see you again
You don’t know what’s valuable to your core until that main jewel is gone like a broken melody, slowly becoming out of tune, and what’s a song that’s out of tune? A horrible one. No one wants something like that. Absolutely no one. I didn’t want that. I didn’t choose to lose that jewel or melody I kept close but―
I did.
And before I take you to the present, where I’m currently in steel handcuffs being taken to Hōzuki Castle; let me take you back to when this all started.
And yes, if you guessed it, it started with the one and only, Mr. Popular; Sasuke Uchiha. My rival, friend, former comrade, and quite frankly, my crush. But we don’t talk about that, haha.
Anyway, Sasuke and I met years ago, before we went to ninja school. His mom and my mom were close friends so they met a lot, causing us to naturally meet too. My mom loves to tell the story about how dad and she met long ago, back when she was made fun of about her red hair. Mikoto Uchiha, Sasuke’s mom, told us her love story too, not holding back the details at all.
What’s this have to do with the present? Hold on, I’m getting there, geez. Be patient, will ya’? I want to get through the boring stuff first before I get to the good part.
As I was saying, they met and talked a lot, and sometimes Sasuke and I, if we’re able to escape our parents, will adventure into Konoha to look at everything to buildings, trees, the villagers ― anything we could lay our curious eyes on. We didn’t understand the concept of fear then, not even the fragility of bonds, but we witnessed it throughout our childhood enough to know it’s not something to mess with.
Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke’s brother, told us ― more like warned us ― not to adventure outside of the village. Saying that there’s a rumor about ninjas that are dangerous and it would worry our parents if we got caught in their grasp.
We promised ― somewhat ― to not go near the gate. But as kids with no understanding of fear, we did as any kid would’ve done and snuck out of bed (we were having a sleepover that day, don’t judge us) to peek outside of the gate.
It was going to be a little, itty bitty peek. We weren’t going to go near the gate, not at all, but since we couldn’t exactly see anything from far away. We crept closer while keeping the dark clothing on us over our heads to blend in with the dark night. We stalked as close as we could to the gate until a millimeter of our foot passed the line and the bushes started to rustle ― it sounded as if a strong wind was blowing against it ― and we instinctively, after looking around for the source of the sound for a few seconds, stepped back fully into the village.
That day, we looked at each other and understand the concept of fear. And not only fear; what it meant to stick together in the midst of a situation that could split us up.
Then the day came to attend ninja school and who knew Sasuke was going to be so, so… popular. No, popular is an understatement. He was praised, loved, admired ― seen as superior by the girls. They squealed their adoration for him and repeated how much they loved him and wanted him to see them as their friend or girlfriend. I didn’t care ― no, I did. I did care. But my pride didn’t let me admit that was jealous of Sasuke’s sudden rank in the class ― and sat on the swing, watching Sasuke become the village’s most loved boy. The “best” Uchiha.
I didn’t complain. I congratulated him truthfully, but, knowing Sasuke’s personality, he didn’t want me to congratulate him. He said that there was nothing to congratulate except the fact his clan was seen as strong and not weak.
He sat on the steps with me that night, talking about things he liked and disliked about the school ― although we attended it for a while, maybe a few weeks ― and admitted he wanted to show how much stronger he was compared to me.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked. “Aren’t I strong already? I can climb trees, fight other kids, and―”
“Big brother said that he can save the village all on his own, so I want to be just like him. A strong shinobi.”
“Then…” I jabbed my thumb at my chest, smiling. “I’ll be strong too! I’ll be the best shinobi there ever was!”
“You’re so weak compared to me. I beat you at school, remember?”
“I was just―” I crossed my arms over my chest, sighing in defeat. “―I wasn’t warmed up, okay? I’ll beat you next time, dattebayo.”
“Yeah, yeah, you just can’t admit you’re just a sore loser.”
“Sasuke.” Itachi plopped next to Sasuke and ruffled his, already, disheveled hair. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“But I was just being honest, Big brother…” Sasuke pouted.
Sasuke didn’t like being told that he was wrong as a kid. I remembered smiling in satisfaction seeing him admit his defeat every single time. Ah, the glory.
“And honesty is good, but being mean isn’t good. You need to watch what words you use toward your friend, alright? It could hurt his feelings.” Itachi looked at me and, I didn’t know how to describe it, but I felt as if he was… judging me. Most likely, peeling away the mask I wore to see the core I desperately tried to hide. My insecurity. My real colors. The part of me that I only showed to my mirror at home.
He looked as if he knew what I thought and who I wanted to be at that moment. And even though his eyes didn’t expose his true emotions, I knew deep down that he understood my burden as the son of the Yellow Flash.
So why did he wear that kind of expression on his face?
“Okay, I will.” Sasuke watched Itachi stand up once Fugaku Uchiha, their dad, summoned him with a stern tone, meaning the discussion was serious and nothing kids could listen to.
Itachi did a brief bow to me before disappearing to Fugaku’s room with a neutral expression. The moment the door slid shut, Sasuke looked at me and scoffed.
“Big brother sure does love to scold me.” He chuckled. “Hey, are you okay, Naruto? You didn’t boast about your dad during school this time. You usually went, ‘my father is the Yellow Flash and I’ll be just like him when I grow up, dattebayo!’ and you usually say it with a proud smile on your face. Did I hurt your ego?”
“My dad went on another three-day mission,” I muttered, sitting on the ground with a disappointed frown. “He told me that he’d be back but he always says that whenever the mission would take longer than the duration he told me it would take.” I placed my face in my hands, pouting. “I just want to spend time with him again.”
“Itachi goes on missions all of the time. I got used to it.” Sasuke said, standing to his feet. “Besides, you promised your dad that you’ll become genin so you can join him in the future. Why pout and whine when we can train and become stronger? That’s what matters, right? Passing our family and becoming better?”
“Maybe…”
“Hey! I got it!” Sasuke squatted in front of me, smiling. “Let’s go visit Shikamaru and the others. I bet they have something fun to do.”
“No thanks.”
Sasuke shrugged and stood up straight. He walked away while saying in a joking tone: “And I was just thinking of getting ramen afterward too.”
“RAMEN!” I jumped up, smiling. “WAIT! WAIT! HOLD ON!”
Not too long afterward, as you expected, the shinobi showed up at my mom’s doorstep around the evening one day with their heads lowered in shame. Their hands were clenched into tight fists, nearly turning white, as they choked out the words: “We’re sorry, Ms. Uzumaki.”
“What? What for?” She asked, looking as confused and fearful as I was in her arms. “Is there something wrong?”
“Your husband, Minato, he―” One of the men turned his head away as he tried to spill the rest of the words from his trembling lips. “―he’s dead.”
My mom blinked, blinked again, then again, before her eyes glossed over with tears and she held me closer to sob into my shoulder, muttering how untrue the news was.
My little body shuddered in her arms as sobs escaped my lips. I wailed for my dad over and over desperately, hoping he’d hear me from wherever he hid ― most possibly pulling a prank on me ― but as disappointing as it was, he never showed his face. He never returned home.
And when I returned to school the next day with dried tears on my cheeks and bags under my eyes, I unintentionally ignored Sasuke as I continued to mourn my father’s death at the back of the classroom.
Sasuke tried to talk to me but I couldn’t talk. I didn’t want to. But I grabbed the hem of his shirt and nonverbally asked him to stay without a word. He understood me and sat there without asking another question.
Years went by and the day of our exam came to graduate as genin. I decided to do a Shadow Clone Jutsu since it sounded like a more adequate jutsu to use after I heard about it from my dad years ago and decided to put my training to the test in front of Iruka.
I passed and despite the judging looks from my classmates, I wore my headband with everyone. Sasuke silently stood next to me as always and ignored the girls’ constant squeals and congratulations.
“Sasuke?” I thought as I stared at his face, wondering what was going through his mind.
I never said it out loud before, but I started to feel funny around Sasuke. Not the bad kind of funny, but the weird kind. Like the kind that makes you nervous or sweat. That kind of funny.
It was weird but I never bothered to overthink it since I didn’t know what it was, and didn’t bother to try to find an answer to it. I didn’t want to. Okay, maybe I did want to, but Sasuke and I spent enough time together to know what we should say and not say to the other. And this kind of feeling wasn’t the kind I could tell him. Not confidently, at least.
“Naruto,” Sasuke muttered underneath his breath, his eyes downcast at the ground. “Do you still see me as a friend?”
“Yeah, why?” I replied, maybe too quickly in my opinion.
“It’s nothing. I just wanted to know.” Sasuke sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets.
I wondered what was going through his head again but, as usual, I kept my mouth shut.
He looked upset, maybe even frustrated, but I didn’t speak. I didn’t bother asking the obvious question Sasuke was probably waiting for me to ask;
Are you okay?
When I arrived home that afternoon, I ate and went to bed, feeling upset that I didn’t ask Sasuke about how he felt. Why didn’t I do that? Was I that dense to his apparent thoughts?
Maybe.
But if Sasuke had something troubling him, he would’ve stayed over to prevent sleeping alone.
“AH!” The loud, horrific scream of a villager woke me later that night.
I jumped out of bed and opened my door to see my mom already standing there with a saddened look in her eyes.
“Don’t bother going outside, Naruto. I heard from local ninja that the Uchiha clan was slaughtered this evening by Sasuke.”
“What?” I was in denial. Sasuke wasn’t the person to do something like that. No, not him. Not the guy that vowed to overpower me one day in strength. “Mom, how―” My voice cracked. “―how do you know it was him?”
“Lord Hokage informed the shinobi.”
“But where is he?”
“No one knows. He disappeared without a trace. Not a speck of his DNA was left behind for anyone to track him. He might be a genin but it seems as if he did his homework on how to commit murder without getting caught.”
“I’m going to go look for him,” I said, walking past my mom.
“No, Naruto. You can’t. You have to stay in the house until morning. There’s a search and―”
“Mom, he’s my friend.” I clenched my fist. “I can’t allow him to tackle this kind of burden on his own.”
“You can’t go out there, Naruto. It’s dangerous.”
“I’m sorry, mom, but―” I walked down the stairs to the front door, slipping into my outside shoes. “―I have to do this!”
I ran around Konoha until I found Sasuke sitting on the swing outside of the ninja school, sulking.
“Sasuke!” I called out, running to him. “Sasuke, what are you―”
“You heard, huh?” Sasuke said, swinging his legs back and forth, avoiding my gaze. “Are you angry at me?”
“Sasuke, no, I’m―” I didn’t how to feel, react, or comprehend the news still but I knew I needed to talk to Sasuke. I couldn’t let him be alone. “―I’m confused.”
“I guess I’ll tell you.” Sasuke stopped moving his legs and sighed. “My father summoned my brother, Itachi, to commence the plan to overtake Konoha so our clan could finally be seen as powerful, but Danzo didn’t want my father to become Hokage for the sake of his plan so he approached Itachi with a deal: Kill the clan and spare me or kill the clan and I suffer with them. But Itachi didn’t want to kill anyone and since I wanted to save my big brother from his pain, I offered Danzo another deal of my own. I could kill my father and end the clan’s plan to do the coup on Konoha, sparing Itachi in the process, or I could expose his plan to the five nations and end him.”
“So what happened next?”
“He told me that he was well-respected amongst the nations and that no one would believe a kid like me. He told me that he could conduct a lie and frame me for trying to kill my own clan if I tried to expose him, so that led to a deal I couldn’t refuse: Kill my clan and spare Itachi for the sake of my village.”
“Why spare Itachi? Why not kill him too?”
“He called Itachi an asset and told me we’re just mere pawns in his plan.”
I went silent for a moment then muttered a low, “Now what?”
“How should I know?” He shrugged. “I didn’t plan to kill my clan.”
“You could run and be a rogue ninja?”
“I never thought you’d be the one to encourage that kind of idea, Naruto. Out of all people I expected you to throw a tantrum to keep me within this village.”
“I just said whatever came to mind.”
“I mean―” Sasuke clenched the swing tighter, almost breaking the rope. “―I could, but that’ll just make my situation worse.”
“So are you ready to turn yourself in?”
“Itachi’s out there and I don’t want to leave him alone like that…”
“Sasuke, whatever you do, I’ll support you wholeheartedly. I don’t care what you choose.”
“Then…” Sasuke paused, thinking for a moment then said, “I want to run and protect Itachi for as long as I can.”
“Then do that.”
Sasuke ran from the village, and not too long after, I decided to run after him with no idea in mind but once I exited the village, I got ambushed by ninjas from the bushes.
And not only were they ninjas, but they were also former members of the Akatsuki. The ones after the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox. They kept muttering that I should give up and be still so they could steal the chakra out of me, but I didn’t know what they meant. Me? The Nine-Tailed Fox? I couldn’t
Well, it didn’t sound impossible. It would explain the seal on my stomach and the judgmental gazes. But who would seal the fox inside of me?
“Come on, Demon Fox.” One of the men said, trying to yank me away from the village but someone came and knocked them out, releasing me from their grasp.
“Are you alright, Naruto?” They asked. I looked at the person and nodded. Oh, it was Kakashi.
“Is this what was lurking outside of the village?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Kakashi sighed, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s embarrassing to admit but they were the hardest criminals to catch thus far. They managed to kidnap and kill hundreds of our ninjas without effort and when we tried to catch them, they got away, so we warned everyone to stay inside the village since it seemed they never tried to enter it.”
“They were after me, right?”
“Not just you, a lot of people. But you were their main objective.”
“Where will you send them?”
“To Hōzuki Castle,” Kakashi said, lifting the unconscious bodies over his shoulders. “They’ll be there for a while. They’ve been in the bingo book for a while.”
“Oh.”
“By the way,” Kakashi turned to look at me. “Why did you step out of the village?”
“I wanted to run after Sasuke.”
“Uh-huh, and how did you expect that to go as planned?”
“I didn’t but I hoped it would.”
“Naruto, please stay within the village for your safety. Unless you’re given permission to walk out of the village by the Hokage, do not leave Konoha, understand?”
“What will happen if I do?”
“You’ll be suspended from missions for at least a few days.”
“Oh.” I don’t want to go on missions without Sasuke anyway.
“Anyway,” Kakashi walked into Konoha again, “follow orders and don’t leave again.”
“Okay,” I said, following Kakashi inside of the village. What can I do to leave Konoha? What can I do to see Sasuke again? I know I told him to leave but… I miss him. I miss my friend. I miss spending time with him. So why can’t I leave for this kind of purpose? Why?
***
“Someone attacked the Raikage and stolen the box last night and it appears that person was you, Naruto.” Lord Hokage, Tsunade, said with a serious look in her eyes.
“Why would it be me? I stayed obediently within the village as required by you, right?” I said. My voice clipped and cold. Why bother me with something stupid as this? “If this is a prank, I’m not in the mood for one.”
“The Hidden Cloud lost three jonin and as well as other villages have lost shinobi.” She slid two wanted posters toward me. “This is what the attacker looked like and it matches you, Naruto.”
“I got proof that I was here within Konoha last night. Stop wasting my time with―”
“Silence!” Tsunade slammed her hand on the desk as she stood. “You’ll be sent to Hōzuki Castle immediately for this diplomatic crime. Be prepared for the punishment for this once you arrive.”
“I didn’t do anything,” I muttered, but not bothering to make much of an effort to save my skin. At least I’ll be out of Konoha.
“Take him away!” Tsunade ordered the ANBU Black Ops, before taking off my headband with a disappointed look in her eyes. “Your mother will be notified about this, I hope you know.”
“I know,” I said, not resisting as the ANBU began to guide me out of the room in steel handcuffs.
***
Alright, so we’re all caught up now. Great.
Mui, the head of the prison, quickly places the Fire Release: Heavenly Prison on me, sealing my chakra.
I soon collapse from the pain caused by the seal. I am later taken captive by Maroi ― a fairly tall, dark-skinned man with brown hair which he kept short on the top, ending in a long ponytail, and, as I stare at him long enough, I realize that the back of his head was shaved ― who is working for Mui.
I’m brought to a lab and Mui quickly realizes that the me that he has is a clone. While the real me is currently hiding, I used the chance to escape. But the pain from the seal made me pass out again, much to my dismay. After being caught, I’m taken into solitary confinement.
“How will leave this place?” I mumble, leaning my head against the cool wall.
“If you can defeat Mui, the seal will disappear.” A voice says outside of my cell.
I quirk an eyebrow at this but keep it in mind since I didn’t have any other plan in mind.
Once I’m released, I attack Mui, being wary of his strength and fighting style. But the seal causes me to collapse, but instead of being taken to solitary confinement, I wake up in someone’s arms behind a wall outside.
I look at my savior and gape at the sight of him. He looks… I mean… Wow... Just… Wow... Everything about him now is… Wow.
“Sasuke?” I slowly sit up, drinking in the new sight of him. “What are you―?”
“Long story short, I got caught years ago and now I’m here. Itachi is still out there and I’m still serving my time in here. But that’s not the important thing right now,” he looks at me. “Why are you in here? You’re the last person I expected to see in here.”
“I was framed for murder and theft.” I place my head on my head. “Nobody believed me, which I expected since nobody stood up for me except Sakura and Sai but Tsunade ignored them.”
Sasuke sighs, probably in disbelief then says, “well, you’ll be here a while, so get comfortable.”
“Meeting you again. I’m already comfortable.”