Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Onyx Rain ❯ Bronze Village ( Chapter 14 )

The dense, smothering forest had given way to one of a different kind - hundreds of bronzed buildings that towered over each other as they stretched their hands above the trees and towards the sky. These attempts were made futile by a sheer cliff wall that cut off one end of the city, pushing itself above everything and declaring the faces of the four hokage to all within viewing range. From a bird's eye view, the streets were sepia rivers of brickwork, stone, and dust that interwove and spanned all directions for the entire length of the village. A single, wide dirt road ambled towards the evergreen color that surrounded the contrasting colors of the town and lost itself in the dense foliage. Konohagakure was, indeed, a sight to see from above.

Naruto wasn't above Konoha, though. Instead, he was striding down one of the many streets of the town in an unusually confident way. His eyes were focused and he appeared to have perfect control over his body, something unusual in the noisy boy. That was another strange thing: the apparent lack of noise. Usually, he was vying for everyone's attention, but today he appeared to be different. He appeared to have a purpose in mind. Most of the townsfolk would never notice this, as they preferred not to acknowledge his existence, but it had caught the eye of one who knew him well: Iruka. He had been following the boy for only five minutes, but he knew something was wrong. Naruto hadn't even said hello to him as he had passed by earlier, and that only happened when he was deeply perturbed. This had warranted some concerned following from Iruka.

Actually, Iruka wasn't even sure why he was hiding. It might have been Naruto's odd behavior, but there was still no need, right? Iruka sighed. It would be better to confront Naruto. He immediately quickened his pace to match that of the blond genin ahead of him, and tapped his shoulder.

Naruto turned and looked up at Iruka, but there was no flare of recognition. No wide grin. Naruto's eyes were narrowed orbs of sapphire stone. This immediately put Iruka on guard, even as he took a step back in surprise. He briefly pondered as to whether it was actually Naruto. The hair, clothes, and face markings were correct, but. . .

Time to determine if it was him, then.

"Hey, Naruto, d'you want some ramen?"

Cold blue eyes met with open black, and clashed.

"No, thank you," said the voice in a very un-Naruto tone. It was a bleak monotone, hardly emotional at all.

It was Iruka's turn for his eyes to narrow as the blond boy turned away and began to walk again. Iruka snapped out a hand and stopped him in mid-step, spinning him around to face the older chuunin.

"Who are you?" Iruka demanded in a biting tone, his voice chilling considerably. There was no way this could be Naruto! Iruka was suddenly awash with more worry for the safety of his former student. Had someone hurt him and stolen his form?

It was at that moment that the Henge no Jutsu chose to fail, revealing a very stoic-looking Gaara.

Gaara mentally cursed and fled immediately, making for the rooftops. He hadn't been planning on meeting anyone Naruto actually knew. He had only chosen Naruto's form because it was likely to be ignored by most of the village. It was just his luck. . .

He didn't even have his sand anymore. His gourd was now being used for the express purpose of transporting water, and therefore he had nothing to carry the sand in. Sloshing sounds from behind his head served as a reminder of this. He would have a hard time attacking and defending without his sand.

The only problem was that the chuunin he had encountered would doubtlessly raise the alarm by alerting the Hokage, who would then send in all available ninjas. Gaara didn't have the time or patience to explain to them what he was trying to do: they would never believe him anyway.

He would just have to run, then.

Gaara increased his pace to maximum speed as he made the final dash in his own self-imposed race towards the Hokage monument that towered over even the most formidable buildings in the village. There was no turning back now.