Calm Before the Hurricane
Summary: Naruto is not at all what he seems. He is intelligent and knows what's going on around him, furthermore he possesses a power never before seen in the ninja world. On his quest to become the Hokage he encounters many troubles but faces them like the stubborn blond he is....
Listening to... Twice by Little Dragon, Comatose by Skillet, Riverside by Agnes Obel, Monster by Skillet, Raised by Wolves by Falling in Reverse.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything made by any of the artists I listen to or Naruto...if I would I would be able to keep my sanity...just kidding...?
Chapter 1-Gathering Clouds
I approached the cage, fearful, yet curious. The gigantic bars loomed over me, reaching impossibly to the high ceiling. The bars were at least thrice my width, the interior shadowy and foreboding. I stared inside, something flickered. I slipped through the bars, my malnourished body allowed me to creep in without a sound. Around me the pipes that lined the walls dripped, making puddles on the already damp floor. I looked in front of me and saw nothingness.
A warm blanket of heat emanated from a hidden source in the cage. The dark did not scare me as much as it used to, my dark cupboard, unconsciousness, the haunting forest I wasn't scared of anymore. I reached out in front of me, expecting to hit something only to sweep my arms into the nothingness of the dark room. I kept walking, arms sweeping in front of me trying to find the source of the heat.
The heat, it wasn't stifling, it was warm and comfortable, like the rays of the sun on a fine day. It must have been what a hug felt like, my arms faltered in their sweeping. My thoughts reminding me of what I never had. When all the other children had their parents and friends, he had no one and nothing, all alone. But now was not the time to feel melancholy, now was the time to find out what was hidden within the abyss.
With my recovered determination I resumed my sweeping, I closed my eyes there was no point to keep them open if I couldn't see anything anyway. My ears sensitive to sound pricked up at the sound of a low grumbling, I froze listening to the sound I soon realised that the grumble was a purr. It was an animal of some sort, but what sort of animal would need a giant cage and lives in the dark? I thought to myself. So I did the only thing I could think of.
"Hello? Is anything there?" I asked into the darkness.
Then after a short pause the purring turned into a low growl. The heat that once wrapped like a blanket started to feel suffocating and the atmosphere began to make the hair at the back of my neck stand. All my instincts were telling me to run to safety and not see this monster. Something large shifted in front of me, it sounded like a broom being swept over the ground.
But being the stubborn kid I was I stayed my ground and decided to meet the monster, anyway what was the worst it could do? I asked myself. Then I thought to myself, what was so large and dangerous that it would need a darkened, thick barred cell? But at the back of my mind something told me to stay, an instinct, it was nagging me despite my blatant fear.
I slowly cracked my eyes open. Though it was still dark, a strange orange mist surrounded me, twirling in wisps like smoke from a fire. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light soon seeing shapes. Something stood in the shadows, the light shadowing the large form that towered above me. I looked up, and was met with two blood ruby eyes.
The white’s around its eyes were bloodshot, almost as if it didn’t get enough sleep. It's iris showed power, blood, hate and anger. A murderous aura surrounded me, the orange mist fluttered about touching me, giving me goose bumps. In all actual fact I had already felt this before, but at a much lower intensity. The familiarity made me falter my gaze from the great beast.
The instant my eyes broke the visual contact the once low growl grew in volume. Shaking my head in an attempt to erase the memories, I locked eyes again with the beast. Its eyes now held curiosity, only a sliver, but enough for me to see. My eyes danced across the creature’s face. Long ears sat on its head like a rabbit’s. Its face was blanketed with rust coloured fur.
Its black nose sniffed me, and its jagged canines flashed even under the dim lighting. The light flickered behind the fur matted creature, a tail quickly flashed before me before disappearing behind the mountainous beast. I realised what the animal was and only one word flashed in my mind. Fox.
The guttural growl hitched and resumed, repeating the pattern a few times. I soon realised that the fox was laughing. Most definitely it was not like any vulpine I had encountered on my ‘adventures’ to the forest.
“What are you?” The fox did not reply.
“I know you aren’t a normal fox, normal foxes don’t laugh.” The growling stopped as the vulpine eyes lit in amusement.
“Clever, clever little mouse, what else can you figure out?” I was shocked; truly this was not a normal fox.
It’s tail flickered behind it again, as they caught my attention. Nine tails in total whipped behind the mountainous fox. Something clicked in my head, giant fox, nine tails, attacked Konoha, DEMON. “You’re the Kyuubi.”
“Well done little one not bad for a human your age. Now come closer why don’t you?” I stepped closer towards the fox then stopped in mid-stride.
Why should I trust a fox? The animistic representation of slyness and trickery.
“No.” the creature pounced. “Get back here you field mouse, so that I may be able to tear you limb from limb and escape my prison!” I turned around and ran as fast as I could nearly tripping over my feet until I reached outside of the cage.
I turned my head and looked back, the fox’s clawed hand reached out and grabbed the air. “Next time little mouse, you won’t be so lucky.”
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I sat up, only to be met by a swinging force. It seems as if the villagers had strung me up in a tree, again. I seriously started to wonder if they had any imagination at all, the fifth time in a tree for a month. My head throbbed, be it from the blood rushing to my head or my strange dream, I didn't know. So, that had been the monster in my body. The thing that caused me so much grief from the villager's ignorance.
I frowned, why were the villagers so ignorant? Well it wasn't just the villagers, it was most of the shinobi as well. What a great job they did in keeping me safe. Talking about safe, I looked at my feet that were bound by ninja wire. It was going to take a hell lot of effort to get out of it. Somewhere nearby I heard a soft thud and instantly knew who it was.
"Itachi-nii a little help would be nice." I looked around and surely enough the weasel masked ANBU was crouching in the tree opposite me. The ANBU jumped down.
"Your skills keep on improving otouto, not bad. " he said as he cut the ninja wire with his katana. I fell to the ground, landing with a thud. I rubbed my head and looked up to the older teen.
"But not enough." The black haired ANBU held his hand out which I grabbed as he pulled me up. Once I was on my feet I brushed off my tattered jumpsuit.
"True, but for a child with no proper training and at the age of five it is quite a feat." He crouched down to my level and began to check me for any injuries. His mask obscuring my view of his face did not hide the fact that he had his Sharingan activated. The Uchiha nodded and approved that there were no injuries.
"You know there will never be any injuries anyway nii-san they're always healed by the time you find me. " He stood up and in the process carried me as well.
"I know that, but it is better to be safe than sorry." He jumped up into the tree and began to race to the village.
"You shouldn't bother sending me back to the orphanage Itachi-san they kicked me out last night." The ANBU stopped, standing on a branch he looked down at me. I could tell that he was trying to keep his emotions in check. But unfortunatly I spotted it behind the mask. His eyes were narrowed behind the weasel mask with his Sharingan blazing. An aura of killing intent began to emanate from him.
"Itachi-san." The weasel masked ANBU blinked, lifting the killing intent that was slowly suffocating me.
"Gomen, I blanked." I raised an eyebrow.
"A top ANBU blanking after such a simple statement? Itachi-san you can do better than that." A small low chukle escaped from behind the mask.
"Yes, I guess you're right otouto." He then began to race through the trees again toward the village. A strange daunting feeling building up in me.