(That night)
...
It had been easier than usual to sneak out of the house, not that Naruto was complaining. Both Mito and Erza had been busy reading some scrolls that their mother had given to them, and they had been so invested in their scrolls that they didn't even notice him sneak passed. Ironic that the son they thought was incapable of being a shinobi could sneak passed his already in training sisters.
As soon as he was out of the door Naruto sprinted to the fence at the back of the training ground, aiming for one specific part of the fence behind a bush. By the time he reached it Naruto was panting his pallid skin flushed red from his brief attempt at sprinting, so much so that he had to lean on his knees for support.
It was times like this he really hated his body.
Quickly moving behind the bush so he was out of sight of the house, Naruto took a moment to get his breath back before glancing back to make sure no one had seen him. When he was sure no one had seen him Naruto turned his attention instead to the fence, pushing on the bottom of a particular plant and smirking when it moved.
Quickly squeezing through Naruto paused just long enough to make sure it closed behind him before running off into the forest that took up the space behind his family's home, the shadows between the trees soon covering him as he disappeared from sight.
For the next half hour Naruto slowly made his way further away from his home and deeper into the forest, only stopping when he found a small clearing and could no longer hear the sound of the village behind him.
Licking his dry lips Naruto sat himself down in the middle of the clearing on a rock with a flat surface, taking the scroll out and unrolling it as he did so.
Naruto was about to start reading when he heard a noise coming from one of the trees around the edge of the clearing, and faster than his weak body should have been able to, he pulled the kunai out of his pocket and threw it towards the place where sound was coming from with deadly aim. He had spent hours learning to throw that kunai while his parents were training his sisters, and it seemed to finally be paying off.
He watched as what looked like a hawk fell out of the tree, the kunai having hit it right in the centre of its chest. As he walked over to retrieve his blade Naruto also noted with dull curiosity that it's left wing had broken when it hit the ground, but didn't think any more about it as he wrenched his kunai out and wiped the blood off on the grass. Looking at the broken body of the hawk at his feet, Naruto couldn't hide his curiosity.
Having lived such a sheltered life, he had never actually seen a body before, it therefore took a great amount of effort for him to tear his attention away from the site before him.
Finally returning to his previous position on the rock, Naruto turning his attention back to the scroll and slowly started to form the hand seal it said was needed to focus his unlocked chakra.
Closing his eyes Naruto turned all his focus inwards, looking for the 'streams of chakra' as the scroll called them running through his body like water. He started by feeling around his stomach for the swirling pool of chakra, where all the small streams were supposed to run to and from. It was supposed to be the easiest part of his body to find because it was also the biggest, followed by the head and then the heart.
Slowing his breathing as he went deeper and deeper into himself, the world outside slowly started to fade away from his senses and Naruto found himself in a world of darkness. It was cold and dark, nothing around him and Naruto was starting to worry when it didn't change.
This was supposed to be where his chakra was stored, the scroll said it should have been a blue light flowing like water in the darkness.
Panic starting to set in, Naruto's mental image started to turn in every direction as his breathing picked up, looking around desperately for any sign of light until finally he stopped and just seemed to shrink into himself. His family was right, he was too weak to be a ninja. He couldn't even find his chakra, or worse yet he had so little it was invisible to him.
Naruto was ready to give up completely at that moment and was about to leave, when something in the dark suddenly grabbed his wrist. It felt like a hand, but it was hard as stone and as cold as ice. He could almost feel the bruise forming under its grip as it started trying to pull him even deeper into the darkness. Eyes widening in fear Naruto tried to pull away from whatever it was that was holding him, the darkness hiding it from him. But it was too strong, its grip unyielding as it pulled him down.
This was impossible, he was in his mind.
Nothing else should be in his mind!
Naruto wanted to scream, but when he opened his mouth no sound came out.
Finally the thing let go of his wrist, Naruto quickly hugging it to his body as he tried in vain to see what had been holding it. He turned in every direction, unsure of what was up or down at his moment as his eyes shot about looking for anymore movement in the darkness. However instead of movement, Naruto's eyes found something else. Something that made his heart skip a beat and tears form in the corners of his eyes.
Light.
Not blue like the scroll had said it would be, but a dark purple ball of light surrounded by what seemed like red lightning. It almost reminded Naruto of an egg, but as he got closer it got larger and larger. By the time he was only a few feet from it, the egg looked to be the size of the Hokage Tower.
As he slowly reached a hand towards the crackling red outline, Naruto noticed that his hand and arm were bleached of colour, like the negative of a picture.
All thoughts of whatever it had been that brought him here were gone from Naruto's mind, all his focus was on the light as his hand slowly inched towards it. He let out a slight gasp as his palm hit the light and it turned out to be solid, with the texture of ice cold glass.
Naruto pushed against it slightly and was surprised to find that while it still felt as solid as glass, it gave slightly under the pressure of his hand, almost like it was rubber.
Pushing a little more, Naruto soon found the limit and frowned before trying to use both hands. It gave a little more until there was an indent about as deep as his elbows, before it pushed back and Naruto was thrown away slightly.
He tried again, only to be pushed back again as a deep frown grew on his lips and he started pounding against the light with very little success.
"Your knife…use your kunai…"
Spinning around in fear, Naruto strained his eyes looking out into the darkness, trying to find what had spoken. The voice had sounded odd, like dry leaves in the wind and had sent a shiver down his spine. But no matter how hard he looked there was nothing, no movement just darkness stretching out as far as his eyes could see.
Slowly turning back to the egg, Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out the kunai. How he still had it when he was in his mind Naruto didn't know, but at the moment he really didn't care.
Licking his lips Naruto pushed the tip into the surface of the egg, feeling as it resisted slightly before cutting through. Smiling as he started using the kunai to cut a line through the light until it was almost as tall as him, before quickly putting the kunai back in his pocket.
Not giving himself time to over think what he was out to do, Naruto pushed himself through the hole he had just made in the egg and plunged headfirst into the light.
For a moment Naruto was overcome with a feeling off absolute peace, warmth flooded his body and for the first time it didn't make him uncomfortable. All the aches in his body he had grown used to for as long as he could remember were being soothed away, all pain and sadness gone…
…only to be replaced by new pain.
It hit like a hammer, slamming into his body and knocking the wind out of him. Burning, he was burning from the inside. He could feel as the fire burned its way through…something, like veins inside his body that he had never known about and didn't carry blood. His mouth opened in a silent scream as his fingers dug into his body trying to get the fire out.
Naruto was burning for a few seconds, before finally his mind could take no more and he simply blacked out.
...
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