Disclaimer: 'Naruto' and 'Naruto Shippuden' is the works of Masashi Kishimoto.
Sell Out
'My friend; you would not tell with such high zest,
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old lie; dulce et decorum est
pro-patria mori.'
-Wilfred Owen.
Part I: Chapter I
"The third was a docile leader. He ruled with a gentle fist, always willing to reform instead of punish and we all witnessed the kindness in his heart. His biggest concern was peace…"
...
Konoha Defense strip
Fight to the death.
He is winning.
He can't breathe, excruciating pain in shoulder and ankle like a slit-
"Now!"
Curse seal throbbing painfully-
"Move!"
But he is winning.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!"
Eyes widen.
Creature on all fours.
Not human…
Stunned.
Katana falls to the floor.
"We've got to-!"
Impaled by kunai.
"Shit!"
Comrade dead.
"Orochimaru-Sama for life!"
Runs forward.
Snarl.
Also dead.
It's some kind of monster…
Eyes flash red.
It's chakra, that's not normal chakra!
Monster moves with inhuman speed.
"RASENGAN!"
...
"And it got him murdered."
...
8 years earlier
Reflection.
The boy was his dark reflection. Sunshine blonde replaced with midnight black, sun kissed skin contrasting to pale like the moon. Both were as far away from each other as the stars, the black space in-between supposedly corrupting them in stigma.
War.
"I haven't seen you before…"
Today this defence strip promises more than bloodshed.
"That's because I don't live here."
He spoke cuttingly for an eight year old. It makes the other boy wonder what makes him so sure of himself.
"I don't live out here either."
His reply was lost to the light breeze that whipped the long wild grass of the clearing, nucleotide droplets seeping to the earth in eternal embrace. Blood continued to pulse, escaping through trauma to the skin.
"How come you're bleeding?"
His dark reflection moved forward, equal in age, height and a rounded childish face. The same tainted eyes because despite the fact they were standing together they were always very much alone.
…He didn't want to be alone.
"I... they... I run away here," he whispered head bowed revealing a shock of dirty blonde hair. Palms and knees filthy lacerated because he crawled to get away.
Cried and crawled.
"I'm a monster… a demon."
He was disgusting. They had always called him the disgrace of the village; the black heart, a plague on their beating lives. A fat tear plopped to the unhallowed ground. It's why the chased him.
"You're not a monster," was said a matter of fact.
He looked up instantly at the contradiction. It was out of this world. "I know monsters," was pushed "Trust me, you're nothing like one."
Blue eyes survey curiously. The boy across from him is stamped with Orochimaru but he still clings to the kind words, trying to makes sense of them. He comes to the conclusion the Otogakure uniform is very different from the Kohonagakure one.
They make them to fit children.
Civilian and soldier.
Leaf's most hated citizen and a Sound golden boy.
"Why… why aren't you trying to…?"
Hurt
Dismember
Kill
Destroy
"Why… aren't you fighting me?" pointing to the leaf symbol on his shirt because that was supposed to mean something, the same way he had stopped crying meant something.
Little frown.
"…You're not who I want to kill."
Silence at the oddity.
"Then who… who do you want to kill?"
"The North, The South, The East and The West," is said tiny fist shaking, dark fringe hiding his face. "They are monsters believe me."
Onyx eyes lift. "You are not. If people hurt you they are the monsters."
Blink. It is the nicest thing said… ever. His heart… his black monstrous heart…
It was beating for the very first time.
A bloody hand is reached out hesitant.
"Will you be my friend?"
The Sound boy has the most unnaturally vacant face.
"My only friend?"
"…"
Hand is extended awkwardly as finger tips brush before palms grip slippery.
In a clearing outside of Kohona, beyond obligatory duty and detached from inbred hatred-
Two boys looked past the uniform.
And saw the reflection.
...
"Orochimaru assassinated the Third. He wanted to strike fear into our hearts and weaken our resolve. People of Konoha he just strengthened it!"
...
Konoha Defense strip
He can taste iron and every muscle in his body is slacking agony. His slow mind formulates a maybe from memory, the chaos from the battlefield deteriorating. This spot is awful familiar…
The monster is gone in a flash and it's over… its all over…
He loses the fight with gravity, body slumping to the floor. The last thing he sees; a flicker of the stars.
I'm dying.
It is curious and it is cold.
But mostly it is still lonely.
...
"Emotions bring hatred and hatred brings war. But Orochimaru's vile treachery I can not detach myself from."
...
The world is spinning out of control in the dim silence of amnesia. He swallowed pushing back golden hair from now cerulean eyes as they darted frantically around the carnage.
Bodies everywhere. Everywhere. Burned into the back of his eyelids, on the soles of his boots, festered under his fingernails-
"Naruto we're moving out."
Naruto simply stared, mouth dry.
Everywhere...
"He's doing his remorse crap again, just leave him."
Naruto hears soldiers walking away as he remains stationary.
"It always blows over, then he's back to bouncing off the walls again."
"We're in a war. He needs to grow up."
"Demon fox."
Snide.
It was an insult and it stings but Naruto was used to being stung. Used to his demon power being induced but never remembering.
Why... Why do I lose control more and more?
He took a shaky step forward with a squelch. No doubt brains blew out... the innards.
That is when he saw him, arms out stretched with blood seeping through his torn white shirt and a gaping hole in his lower stomach. A ripple coursed through Naruto and his face fell in disruption.
He recognised that body. The boy looks even paler. Lips darkened with his own blood and hair clinging to his forehead with sweat.
Death… is slow… patient… waiting an age like bone. It is cut to ribbons, a fatal plummet in the cavity between his chest in a steady heaving.
It is the moment that everything changes.
...
"And sworn brothers in arms, my comrades, we fight the fight! Side by side, shoulder to shoulder! We fight as citizens of our fair Konoha! We fight as equals! Under my decree, as your fifth, Hokage Danzo-"
...
The Village Hidden in the Leaves.
The fading moonlight struck the window sill and a girl no older than sixteen tilted her tired head, her fair skin glowing and making her hair a more marvelous shade than usual in illumination. A picture of serenity she wondered why she always needed to check if the stars were out before she slept after a shift at the hospital.
CRASH.
The girl shot to her feet in a panic as her door burst open. Her eyes widened staring at her best friend clad in Leaf uniform.
"Naruto?"
Then she dared to look to the body flung over his shoulders, trailing crimson blood on her rug. Ice ran through her veins and she began to shake.
"Help me," Naruto grunted. He himself was covered head to foot.
But it wasn't his blood.
He gave a sway because in a moment that was supposed to change everything nothing had really changed at all, not his memory or knowledge that this dying boy was his friend, his first friend.
And that meant everything.
"Oh god."
She moved forward instantly placing a trembling hand on the body.
Sound uniform.
Naruto yelped as there was a sickening thud.
"Sakura!"
...
"I declare that the third ninja war is upon us!"