Chapter 29 – Preview

Author’s note: Longer preview of Chapter 29, including the bit from the preview of Chapter 28 that didn’t make it in that chapter. My goal is to get a chapter a month post. So expect the rest in a few days!

Chapter 29 – The Stolen Child, Part 2

The days and weeks before the full moon were some of the longest in his young life. But eventually they all trickled away. The night of the full moon Naruto sat in the shadow of the tree, scanning the courtyard for any sign. His stomach still ached, but this time it was from excitement.

The yard was bright blue with moonlight. No one ever came out for him, and save for a single black bird that alighted in the tree for a moment, he never saw another living thing. He sat for hours in the darkness. Plenty long enough for doubt to creep in.

What if this ninja lied? What if he didn’t come? What if he forgot about him too, just like all the rest?

His nervousness took a sharp edge. And the longer he sat, hoping and worrying, the worse it got. After what felt like hours more, trapped in the hell of not knowing, a thin breeze ruffled his bangs.

Naruto cocked his head, thinking he’d heard a rustle of movement, but it was just the wind moving through the leaves above him.

Dejected, he plunked his elbows on his knees and dropped his chin down into his hands. Maybe it was all just a big, horrible joke—

The wind pushed down through the tree again, kicking up a swirl of leaves. Then suddenly, right in front of his eyes, a dark shape materialized in the spaces between leaves, growing more solid with each step. Naruto blinked rapidly, sure he was seeing things. But the dark outlines of leaves continued to fold and melt into the figure until there were no leaves left. Only a black-clad man walked soundlessly across the courtyard. The pale moonlight shone at his back and cast his front in shadow. And not a breath of air rippled around him.

Frozen in panic, Naruto gripped the edge of the table so hard his knuckles went white. A man…appeared out of thin air and…and…was coming straight towards him! He was about to tear himself from the table and dash back to the orphanage when the terrifying apparition spoke.

“Naruto…. Are you ready to leave?” The voice was flat, but it was Itachi’s.

Relief flooded the boy’s features. “Yes,” he gulped. “Yes.”

“Good.”

Itachi stopped right in front of of the table. Naruto couldn’t help but notice that he looked distracted. And exhausted. Itachi glanced around at their surroundings for a moment, and Naruto secretly looked him up and down. Shadows pooled under his eyes, even in the dim light. Something clung to his clothes and skin, smudging like dirt. He looked like he’d been in a fight. His chest heaved a unnaturally from exertion. Itachi turned suddenly and a shaft of moonlight glinted off a slick wetness on his fatigues. It was splattered across him like—

Itachi cleared his throat. Caught, Naruto sheepishly raised his gaze back up to Itachi’s pale face.

“Ready?” he snapped. Any pleasantries from their first meeting had been discarded.

A sudden fear trilled up Naruto’s spine. Was this man any safer than all the rest? After all, he could be lying too—

“He-Hey, you still want to become a shinobi right?” Itachi said with forced lightness. “Because if you do, we have to leave now.”

Still uncertain, Naruto didn’t move. Itachi frowned in irritation. “If you stay, you know what they will do to you….”

Naruto hugged his arms and shook his head. “No, I don’t know…. Wh-what will they do to me?”

Suddenly, Itachi was right in front of him, leaning into his face. Naruto never saw him move, but he was just there, closing in on him.

“They will crack you open,” he ground out, “pull out that demon and throw you away!”

Naruto forgot how to breath. He stared back at Itachi, wide-eyed with horror and finally managed to croak out “O-oh….”

It must have been enough. Itachi took a step back. His smooth tone returned. “So if you want to live, become a great shinobi, like I said, then we have to leave.” He darted another look around. “Right now,” he said sharply. “We are running out of time.”

Naruto’s face was still pale, but his mouth slowly slipped into a resolute line. The way Itachi put it, there wasn’t really a choice. But it didn’t matter. He wanted to be a shinobi. More than anything.

He took a deep breath. “Yeah…. Yeah…I wanna go.” He scrambled to his feet. “What do I need to—”

Itachi’s hand clamped around Naruto’s small arm, and Naruto was jerked off the table and straight into the air. Itachi leapt from limb to limb, climbing to the top of the tree, then shot out into the air, arcing toward the roof of a neighboring building.

It was bad enough that Naruto’s stomach dropped to his toes when the took off. But when Itachi let go for a fraction of a second to hook his arm around the boy’s rib cage, Naruto thought he was going to crash back down to the empty courtyard below.

After that, they moved at a terrifying speeds.

Itachi took such fast, high leaps that the village was only a blur around Naruto. They bounced off one dark roof. Then another and another. Wind whipped his face and roared in his ears, and he was beginning to feel queasy.

At one point, Naruto tried to touch down, desperate to feel something other than hurtling through the air, but Itachi jerked him back up.

“No. Don’t touch the ground. They could trace your scent.”

And they pushed off again. Naruto’s stomach dropped from the force. He crushed his eyes shut and tried to keep from vomiting. As they pitched silently over the dark village, the boy’s limbs rose and fell like a rag doll.

Naruto didn’t know when they leapt the wall, but eventually the air around them changed. It felt full and moist. Cracking his eyes open he saw the enveloping arms of a tree. They touched down on a branch and leapt off again. The cool air washed over him.

Naruto looked back just in time to see the lights of the village dissolve behind the leaves. Around them now was nothing but sleeping forest.

He breathed deeply. They’d done it. They were free. He didn’t close his eyes again.

They traveled at the same clip until well after the the blue glow of a new day lit the horizon. Itachi said nothing about their destination, and Naruto was simply happy to watch the unveiling landscape. It was wider and more beautiful than he could have ever imagined. He felt like his eyes weren’t big enough to take it all in.

Naruto hoisted himself up on Itachi’s arm to better watch the sun dawn, brilliant and new, over the soft crowns of trees. He relished the startled lilt of birdsong and the fresh leafy scent as Itachi’s footfall shook the branches for a moment. The wind that threatened to tear him from Itachi’s side as they fled the village now seemed to be his friend. It fluttered his clothes and tousled his hair as if it moved with them. Eyes shining, cheeks pink, Naruto couldn’t remember ever being happier.

Sometime around midday Itachi’s pace finally slowed. They descended down through the trees until they came upon a rocky outcrop. Itachi hopped carefully down the boulders to a dark, hidden opening. Naruto marveled at how Itachi had seen this spot from above the treetops until he caught sight of a pile of supplies.

“Oh,” he said quietly. Of course. A shinobi would have planned ahead.

Once inside, Itachi finally let the boy’s feet touch the ground again. Naruto’s first steps were wobbly. He moved slowly, legs tingling as they regained their feeling.

Without a word, Itachi moved to a pack, pulled out a blanket and a scroll, and tossed an orange back to Naruto. Surprised, Naruto nearly missed catching it. Itachi jotted something in the scroll, rerolled it and flipped his fingers into a quick hand seal. The scroll disappeared in a puff of smoke. Absolutely shocked, Naruto dropped the orange on his foot.

But Itachi never looked up to see the boy’s surprise. Instead he laid down, back to the cavernous room, and pulled the blanket over him. In moments he had fallen into what Naruto thought was a deep, soundless sleep.

Naruto watched the steady rise and fall of the blankets, wondering what he should do. He didn’t feel tired, although he knew he probably should be. He wanted to see more, make sure it wasn’t a dream. He was afraid if he fell asleep he’d wake up in the orphanage again. He didn’t think he could handle that after this adventure.

Naruto scooped up the orange and turned toward the entrance of the cave. The thought of being in a brand new place sent his inquisitive mind into overdrive. Where were they? Were they still in the Fire country or were they really somewhere else? What kind of animals were here? He decided he’d peel his fruit and have a look around. Memorize everything. Curious and excited, Naruto started toward the opening.

“Don’t leave,” Itachi’s voice commanded from the blankets, clear and firm. Startled, Naruto jerked to a stop. “It’s not safe.”

Itachi turned slowly under the covers to face him. Shadows pooled under his eyes, making him look years older.

“Don’t go out of the cave. Don’t even get near the opening. I have several jutsus placed around to conceal—” he cleared his throat, “to protect you from Konoha. If you break through them, there is no guarantee I can keep you safe.”

Naruto nodded seriously. Satisfied, Itachi turned away again, moving slowly as if everything ached. In a moment, the blankets were rising and falling steadily.

Naruto looked longingly at the glow of the opening for a moment, then shrugged, pulled out another blanket and laid back to peel his orange. But halfway through the first segment, Naruto eyes drooped shut. He nodded off, orange still clutched in his hand.

Everything after that was a blur of sleeping and eating. In the half-light of the cave, Naruto didn’t know whether they’d been there hours or days.

Itachi was quiet but polite. Different from what Naruto expected a shinobi to be like. He thought they would be boisterous and grinning, larger-than-life, glad to share tales of the missions.

But Itachi was different. He was methodical and precise, like packing up his blanket when not in use or hiding the orange peels so as not to leave a trace. And he was courteous, always treating Naruto with quiet respect, asking his preferences and taking into account his needs.

The supplies didn’t have much in the way of fresh food, but Itachi made sure he was well fed.

“You should be taller,” he observed after one meal. “They didn’t feed you well at the orphanage?”

Naruto shrugged. He always thought he got the same as everyone else, but maybe he didn’t and just didn’t know it. He did know that he was never allowed seconds. That memory still stung, when the cook called him greedy and sent back to the table with an empty bowl. She smiled and fawned over the other boys though, always giving them a little extra. But never to him.

Naruto looked away. He guessed there was so much he didn’t see.

Itachi said nothing but heaped more food into his bowl. “Always make sure you eat enough.” Naruto nodded gratefully and tucked into the second helping.

Time slipped by in this way, until Itachi began to look more like the shinobi who approached him in the orphanage yard, and less like a pale shadow of himself.

Their supplies were growing thin, and as Naruto ate one day he calculated they probably wouldn’t have enough for another full meal.

But Itachi didn’t seem concerned at all. He ate his meal and even gave Naruto an extra share, cutting more into the dwindling supplies.

Naruto decided if Itachi didn’t worry, then neither would he. And he tucked into his dinner.

When he finished, he set his bowl aside and leaned back against the wall. His little belly pooched out, round and full. He was just thinking he might take another nap when Itachi stood swiftly.

“I’m feeling well enough now…. I think it’s time.”

Naruto peered up through over-long yellow bangs.

“T-Time for what?” His eyes brimmed with concern.

“We need to move soon. And you are too big of a target looking like the Yond— uh, looking like yourself. You need a disguise.”

Itachi squatted down and looked over Naruto’s features with a critical eye. It was unsettling.

“Your hair, your eyes…. Skin maybe,” he said softly, almost to himself. His observation pinpointed on his cheeks, Naruto’s secret shame. The boy looked at the ground. “Those lines definitely.”

Naruto closed his eyes.

“You don’t like them?”

Naruto shook his head miserably.

 

“Well, what if we got rid of them?”

Big blue eyes snapped open. “You mean….” Naruto gasped breathlessly. “They can come off?”

Itachi held Naruto’s chin and thumbed over the lines, closely inspecting them. It was the same as the other shinobi, but there was a courtesy in Itachi’s manners.

He shook his head slowly. Naruto’s heart sank.

Itachi let go of his face. “They are marks from the Kyuubi. They cannot be removed.”

“Oh.”

Naruto cut his eyes away.

“Naruto…. Do you know what the Kyuubi is?”

Naruto shrugged half-heartedly. But when Itachi only stared at him in disbelief, he finally shook his head.

“It is the monster that’s locked inside you. It’s a fox. And these lines,” Itachi looked back to his cheeks for a moment, “are what mark you as his jinchurikki.” Naruto gave him a blank look. “The Kyuubi’s container.”

Itachi chose his next words carefully.

“As you’ve already figured out, Konoha put the demon inside you to make you a powerful weapon when you grew up.” Naruto’s face was quickly loosing color. “You were to be used when they needed you and locked up when they didn’t.”

Naruto slid a hand over his belly, twisting his shirt, wishing he didn’t remember the ache in his gut and the blurry feeling when he was angry. He wished that Itachi’s words weren’t true.

“From what I understand, the kyuubi is partitioned from your chakra, like in a cell? Maybe behind bars?” Naruto was stricken. Itachi took it as a confirmation. “And the seal would be at your navel. Do you ever feel anything there?”

Chin wobbling, Naruto looked at the floor. He nodded once. So it was true. It was all true. 

“It was to be stored inside you, it’s power available for you to use. But if you ever disobeyed them, they would tear it out and give it to someone else. And that would certainly kill you. Not that they cared….”

He glanced at Naruto, gauging just how deep his words had sunk. He needed to cement the boy’s hatred, right from the start.

“This is what Konoha does,” Itachi ground out. “They throw away the ones who are no longer useful, and crush anyone who gets in their way. And if they have to seal a demon inside of a baby to do it, then they will. Without any thought to what you might have wanted to do with your life.”

He paused and watched the boy. Big tears rolled down his cheeks. Itachi thought this was probably good enough. Now to open another door…

“I think what Konoha’s done is wrong,” Itachi rejoined bracingly. “I don’t think you should be left to rot in an orphanage, while they keep the truth from you. Treating you like trash.”

The boy sniffled. His mouth crumpled in an angry frown.

“I think you should be trained to use your powers, which are unlike anyone else’s, and be free to do what you want with your life.” Itachi watched him for a moment before adding, softly, “And I know you’ve always wanted to be a shinobi….”

 

Naruto wiped his tears and nodded.

 

“Konoha did that to you,” Itachi continued, pointing at Naruto’s cheeks. “Then they threw you away.”

 

Naruto looked up, blue eyes blazing with determination. The tracks of his tears were drying quickly.

 

“Your only worth to them is as a vessel. But I think you are worth more than that,” Itachi said smoothly.

Naruto nodded firmly.

“So Uzumaki Naruto, your shinobi training starts now. After last night, Konoha is probably already in pursuit… tracking both of us.” A strange expression flickered across Itachi’s face, but quickly vanished. “And we need to keep moving. But your looks are rather…distinctive.”

Embarrassed, Naruto rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

“You’ll need a disguise.”

“Really? Like different clothes or—”

“No, something permanent.” Itachi frowned at his cheeks. “Especially for those lines.”

Naruto beamed with excitement.

“The extent of what I can do depends on your chakra levels, but I’m hoping that since the Kyuubi’s chakra is infused with your own, it will be high enough to sustain a transformation jutsu….”

Itachi took Naruto’s hand, wrapping his long, pale fingers around the boy’s wrist.

Naruto watched with fascination. There was a warm, tugging sensation beneath his grasp. The feeling got stronger.

“What are you—”

“Are you always this warm?”

“Uh…yeah?”

Itachi frowned, then moved his fingers, grasping a little higher up on his forearm. He frowned again.

“Let me see your other arm.” He tried a few different places, but the result was the same.

Naruto was becoming concerned, but Itachi suddenly released him with a great exhale of breath. “Well that makes everything easier.”

“W-What does?”

Itachi rose suddenly to retrieve a scroll from his bag. He clutched it tightly until the middle glowed and a seal appeared. Satisfied, he strode back to the center of the room.

“Applying your transformation justu. You have an astonishing reserve of chakra. More than I ever expected,” he said, shaking his head at the discovery.

Flicking back the seal, Itachi unfurled the scroll between them and squatted down to study it, brows furrowed. Naruto excitedly scanned the document as well, eyes traveling up and down the rows. It was jam-packed with writing and symbols, but more interesting, it was an official shinobi scroll. He couldn’t get enough of it.

Naruto was just leaning out, tipping his head upside down, when Itachi’s voice broke the silence.

“If you have to go to the bathroom, do it now,” he said without looking up. Naruto shook his head anyway. “This is going to take a while. But when you wake up, you should be perfectly disguised.”

Itachi scrawled out some lines on the floor, encircling it with one unbroken line, plopped Naruto in the middle and began a complex set of hand signs. Naruto gaped like a fish at the sheer speed of Itachi’s hands. It was just a blur of fingers and palms.

When Itachi stopped and moved to another spot on the circle, Naruto closed his mouth and glanced down over his appearance.

Nope, no change yet. 

Itachi brought up his hands, and Naruto wiggled with excitement. He was determined to stay awake and witness the magical transformation. And he was really going to focus on those hands this time…see just how fast they were going…and maybe he’d give it a try, once he…once he….

Naruto passed clean out halfway through the second set of hand-signs.

Itachi snorted and left him sprawled in the center of the web while he finished applying the jutsu.

Between handseals he swiped his sleeve over his forehead. The jutsu was an exhausting one. The boy would certainly be asleep for hours. And when he woke up, he was sure to be starving. They’d have to move out immediately. He hoped nothing went wrong.

Sure enough, hours later the boy sat up with a clutching his stomach and head. But even from across the room, Itachi could see that the jutsu worked.

“I’m soooo hungryyy….” Naruto said groggily. He rubbed the ache at his temple, distantly aware that his hair felt more coarse than usual. And why was he sleeping in the middle of the floor?

Standing up took a near monumental effort: Muscles he didn’t even know he had ached and burned. But fully righted, feet planted firmly on the floor, he felt the pains just melt away under a soothing, almost numbing, warmth. He tightened his fists, testing out the muscles in his forearms. No, they felt alright. The pain was gone. Strange….

Itachi watched Naruto’s slow progress but did not move. He was curious to see if the kyuubi would heal its vessel. A transformation jutsu of that magnitude would put most grown men down for a week or more. But here was Naruto, getting up on his own from the middle of a blackened jutsu circle, stretching as if he’d just finished training spar.

Itachi hooded his eyes. It was breathtaking to think of how much power was contained in that single boy….

Naruto’s stomach growled loudly. He clamped a hand over his gut and looked around, eyes finally alighting on Itachi.

“I’m starving,” he grimaced. “Is there anything left to eat?”

“No,” Itachi said, getting up slowly. Even administering the jutsu took a toll, but he’d be feeling better soon enough. “Come on, let’s go outside.”

Naruto shrugged and followed Itachi through the hazy blue light at the entrance. Stepping out into the sunshine, he was so glad to feel the sun on his skin, breathe in the fresh air. He felt good. Energized. He lifted a hand to shield the light, and was surprised to see Itachi scanning his face intently.

“It’s good…. Great, actually. You look like a completely different kid. Now all you need is a new name.”

Naruto patted his face, then pulled down a lock of his hair, realization dawning now as to why it felt so strange. Yep, it was thicker, coarser and…and…brown?

“The lines are completely gone, too.”

“Really!?”

“See for yourself.” Itachi pointed to a thin spring trickling beside the rocky outcrop.

Naruto bounded to it and knelt down. He bobbed his head over the the little puddles, excitedly trying to see all of his face at once.

Brown freckles dusted his nose and cheeks. It was as if the marks on his cheeks had just been shifted and scattered. He wiped at the new freckles but they wouldn’t come off.

His yellow hair and blue eyes were gone, replace by muddy brown. But he didn’t care. He stared at the reflection as if he’d never seen himself. A slow smile crept up his face.

He looked like an average kid. He looked like anyone else. He didn’t look like the demon child. And he never would again.

Naruto turned back, ready to burst with joy. But Itachi had already moved on to his next task.

He hitched up a rucksack at his shoulder. “We need to move,” he said soberly. “And we need to get supplies.”

With that, they set off. While they traveled, Itachi outlined some things Naruto could expect to see and how he should behave to keep his identity concealed. And Naruto did his best to listen while taking in the gorgeous, bewildering scenery around him. It was just a forest, but to the boy who had grown up with nothing but the walls of un unkind orphanage, it looked like a paradise. He had a hard time concentrating.

Itachi held up a hand and Naruto stopped suddenly. They were on the outskirts of a small village. Itachi pointed them toward the back of a small store, then quickly relayed the plan. He was going to slip in and pilfer food from the back. Naruto was to creep up beside the building, hide near the storefront and be ready to tip over a crate or make some other loud noise if the shop owner walked toward the back.

Naruto looked down the long, dark side of the building. Little worry lines creased his forehead.

“Is something wrong?” Itachi said it as courteously as if he’d just handed him the wrong dinner.

“N-No, nothing’s wrong. It’s just that…that…. Is this wrong?” Naruto looked up, face tight with concern. Itachi tipped his head for him to continue. “I mean, he’s not an enemy…is he? He’s just a guy selling food. We shouldn’t just take it…. I mean, shinobis shouldn’t do that, right? They only fight the bad guys. Like on missions and stuff….” His voice thinned out.

Naruto looked back at the building. He realized he didn’t know what shinobis did at all. Itachi was only the second one he’d met. Maybe he’d gotten it all wrong—

“Naruto,” Itachi said patiently. “Shinobis do whatever it takes to complete their mission. My mission is to keep you safe from Konoha. And to do that, we need to eat.”

Naruto frowned a little less. He understood, but still wasn’t convinced. Itachi beckoned him to walk a few paces more, then pointed to the open back door of the building. From there, Naruto could see the full crates of produce that sat ready to be moved to the front. They looked like they’d just arrived.

“Now see all that stock?” Naruto nodded. “Well all of the rest of the stores are smaller, emptier. But this one, it’s full. And he makes enough money to keep it full. If we take something from him, he’ll never know. But if we got our supplies from that one,” Itachi pointed to a rickety stand up the lane, with a thin offering of produce, “that man would know immediately.”

“Ah,” Naruto said, understanding dawning on him. However, there was still a hitch. “But it’s still stea—”

“No, we’re on a mission, remember. And on a mission, a shinobi must get supplies from wherever he can, whenever he can. It’s the choice we have to make to keep you safe.”

Naruto sighed a little bit. He was resigned to it, but not convinced. Itachi narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t forget, Konoha is already on our trail. We need to eat and we need to move. Taking a sack of supplies from someone who will never know is not stealing. It’s survival. And it doesn’t matter how you do it, you just have to survive.” Itachi’s tone slipped from patient to deadly serious. “And the longer we stand here talking, the smaller your chances of survival are getting.”

Naruto gulped once. “Right. I’ll just, uh, just head up there to the front of the store. Like you said.”

Itachi nodded and left for the back of the store, never making a sound as he walked. Naruto watched him for a moment, then crept up the long side of the building to a cart angled at the edge of the storefront. He quietly crouched down under it, tucking himself into the shadow of a wheel.

He watched feet come and go, listened to the chatter. He needed to figure out who was the storekeeper. Inching closer, he peered up through the wheel, trying to see clothes, faces, anything that would give a clue. But from his spot he could only see up to their chest. No higher.

The big man in the front of the store looked like he could be the owner, but Naruto wasn’t sure….

“Oi! Good morning! And what can I offer your little man today!”

Bingo. The shopkeeper. Naruto blew out a low breath in relief.

There was some mumbled conversation, then another man stepped into his view, carrying an infant. Naruto could see round arms and legs, and a patch of black hair.

The shopkeeper stepped closer, admiring the baby and asking questions. Naruto only caught fragments of it.

“No, not what his ma wants, but I prefer Katsuro,” the father said, jostling the plump little legs.

The storekeeper made some approving sound. “That’s a good, strong name—”

The father hoisted the baby just out of Naruto’s sightline. “Because you’ll be my ‘victorious son’ won’t you?” he cooed. “Won’t you?” The baby let out a hungry bawl.

“Oh-ho! A hungry boy! Well, I’ve got just the thing….” The shopkeeper threw back an arm to his store.

Just then, a pebble bounced of Naruto’s shoe. Turning quickly, he saw Itachi motioning from the end of the long building. He had a full sack in his hand.

Naruto scrambled out of his hiding spot and dashed down the dirt path beside the building. Itachi frowned at his echoing footsteps.

“We’ll have to work on that. Come on, let’s go.”

From there they traveled swiftly, never staying two nights in the same place. They moved through dry days and wet, sometimes eating, sometimes not. When they were close enough to a town, they tried to gather as many supplies as they could carry.

The plan, carried out successfully at the first store, became routine. Naruto went to the front while Itachi gathered what they needed. And he no longer felt a twinge of guilt about it. They needed supplies, these men had more than enough. Naruto was doing what he had to do to survive. That was all that mattered.

And through their travels in those first weeks, in those silent stretches when Itachi’s black heels would blur in front of him, endlessly pounding over the anonymous terrain, Naruto thought about that baby.

He wondered if the father had his way. Or if the baby went by another name now. Naruto realized it was the only other name he could remember, outside of his own and Itachi’s. He realized bitterly that he never knew anyone’s name at the orphanage.

He had been repeating the name in his head for a few days when Itachi asked him again about the final detail of his disguise one night.

“My name?” Naruto cleared his throat and set his bowl down beside their tiny campfire. “I, uh, have been thinking…thinking about the name…Katsuro.”

“Ah,” Itachi said quietly, peering at him over the orange flames. Naruto couldn’t tell if he approved or not…. “Well, I think it suits you,” he said decidedly. “You will be Konoha’s ‘victorious son,’ after all. Just not how they expected.” Itachi smirked to himself and continued eating his meal.

Naruto looked down, immeasurably pleased.

“Katsuro…. Katsuro….” he repeated softly, digging his toes into the black dirt beside the fire circle. He enjoyed the sound in his ears, the warmth of the fire, and the feeling that in the darkness, he had done it. He’d thrown off the last shackle from Konoha. He was finally free.