Mistake - A Naruto Fan-Fiction

Training shouldn"t be hard.

It shouldn"t be, yet both my best friend and I stood in the middle of a clearing, attempting to control our shadows just to catch as many leaves as we could only by using our, well, shadows – which means once a leaf gets caught, it"s staying mid-air until we release them.

But, once this pays off, we"re gonna be fvcking amazing controlling these things – just like how we did in chakra control… and that s.h.i.t was hard to maintain.

I"m also looking forward to master controlling shadows – I have a particular technique in mind I want to create if possible. h.e.l.l, it sounds cool too – Shadow Step. I want to basically be like Shisui, but by just using the Nara techniques, not your normal Body Flicker.

I haven"t really shared the idea before because they might think that the idea is total c.r.a.p, but either way, I"m gonna make it work – no matter what. That idea is too good to pa.s.s up.

As I wander into a trance, a tugging feeling snapped me out of it. I blinked and noticed that I was finally able to catch more than five leaves, whilst Shika is still bound with three. I want to show it to Shikaku-san, but he"s talking to someone and I can"t just b.u.t.t in.

I narrowed my eyes at the person – "Isn"t that Inoichi? Inoichi Yamanaka?"

What is he doing here? I understand that he"s friends with Shikaku-san, but why does he have a worried look on his face? I caught him glance at me and Shika with the exact expression… but why?

My four year old brain couldn"t understand, but my old mind"s trying to process it.

"Shikamaru, Orion." Shikaku-san"s stern voice made me lose my hold with the leaves. "Training"s done for now. Orion, make sure you get home as soon as you leave the house, understand?"

"I will…" I bowed and took a glance at Shikamaru, who"s just as confused as I was.

After a short chit-chat with him about what on earth that was, I finally headed home, prior to Shikaku-san"s request. It seems like there was something going on outside the compound, and it looked to be urgent – more urgent than when the k.u.mo-b.a.s.t.a.r.ds made a move to kidnap a Hyūga heiress, Hinata.

__________

I was lost in thought while walking alone in the streets, placing my thumb and index finger on my chin. What would be more urgent than the Hyūga Affair? It shouldn"t be worse, right?

Call that a habit or something, but I just can"t help and be lost in my own mind. When that"s happening, I really don"t know what"s happening around, until someone shouts at me loud enough, or something happens – like when someone b.u.mps into me, like right now.

I bounced back and managed to regain balance. I rubbed my arm and slowly looked up to someone I just b.u.mped into, meeting his cold glare through his mask that shouts danger.

I was frozen in spot and stayed silent as the broad man tilted his head to the side. This angle made it easy to look at the man – brown, unkempt, frizzy hair that is tied in a ponytail rested on his head, and his face is covered by a blank, white mask that only revealed his eyes. He wore something that resembled something that a Nara would wear.

And his eyes… I made contact with them again. It"s giving off a cold vibe… something that"s inhumane – lackl.u.s.tre and… deadly. His eyes are literally screaming danger.

"I-I"m sorry…" I immediately bowed down before running past him, not looking back as I hear his footsteps follow closely behind.

"What the fvck is my absolute luck?!" I thought, taking the ninja route atop the roofs. "I"m doing the complete opposite of what Shikaku-san had told me to do! I"m bringing trouble for myself! What the actual fvck?!"

"And what"s this other feeling I have that"s tugging in my chest and making my legs tremble? Is that what we call fear? Am I someone to be called a coward? A scaredy-cat?"

No! I refuse to be that kind of person. I"m not going to be scared!

Filled with determination, I did a quick hand sign and managed to command my shadow to pull a crate from the side to block the man"s way, which I successfully did – but it sure took a lot of my chakra.

I don"t know how I did it, but I just did – no need to get distracted with that.

I kept running and went down on the roads, moving from street to street and creating false trails leading to other streets with the help of my shadow.

But all of that effort was futile – the mysterious man found me anyways.

Not only that, he also managed to catch up to me, grabbing me by my shoulders and pushing me behind, and making me knock my back against a hard wall.

I felt dizzy for a moment.

The rusty taste of blood came to my mouth alongside a stinging feeling on my lower lip. I bit my own lip, didn"t I? The red liquid flowed down to my chin and soon, dripped on the floor. Well, it"s better than a head injury, at least.

Heaving a shaky sigh and turning to the nearest way, a dark alley, which, to remind you, is a horror movie cliché that shouldn"t be done – ever, I immediately regretted my action. What did I expect in an empty, unfamiliar alley, anyways? A portal to a whole new world to save my a.s.s? A knight wearing a black mask to save me? Nah – a fvcking dead a.s.s end.

I wiped the blood off of my chin, but it still continued to flow. Cold sweat started to run down my forehead as the trembling feeling reached my thighs.

My heart literally sank as soon as I halted in front of a brick wall. It"s a bad idea to cross over the wall that separates the compound and the forest since I haven"t been given access to it yet, and that will make me a prey to those seemingly friendly deer"s.

Those motherfvckers are deadly – and the phrase "Appearances can be deceiving," applies to them pretty darn well… but, they will also attack the guy who"s right behind me.

"Fvck it."

Gathering enough chakra under my feet (which took almost everything), I prepared to jump as high as I could, and when I did, my heart almost stopped – someone s.n.a.t.c.hed me away just before I crossed over the wall! That was my only hope and he caught me already – oh, look, an ANBU – a black-masked ANBU.

What are the chances?

I stopped resisting, knowing that I"m in somewhat good hands, I think. The ANBU then hit a point or something on my pursuer"s neck, which made him faint, before dragging him behind while I was in his other arm.

Honestly, I was so exhausted that I rested my chin on the crook of his neck. I"m not even complaining – my feet hurts, my legs are trembling from all of the running and over-exerting chakra from the jump, I"m just exhausted. This four years old body can"t take much, I guess.

Given that I have an enhanced sense of smell, thanks to my Hatake blood, his scent is slowly imprinting on me, especially when we"re that close to each other. His scent is absolutely comforting, and somehow fatherly. It"s giving away his friendly vibes, and I feel like I can get close to him if I try.

Other than that, I"m limited.

Breathing got harder over time. Exhaustion and fear doesn"t mix well, it seems. Now, my lungs feel like they"re burning for overworking, and my chest is just being the jerk it is – tightening every breath I heave.

Lifting my dominant hand, I clutched my chest, which seemed to have alerted the ANBU as well, seeing that he"s starting to use a technique that made it seem everything look like a complete blur. Before I knew it, we"re already in front of a place that"s so familiar that I can"t even miss even with my darkening vision – my own home.

Then, everything went blank.

__________

My surroundings felt somewhat empty, and is making me feel lightheaded. It seems like I can move freely, yet at the same time, I can"t. Coldness swarmed over my body as the white light surrounded my vision. Everything started glitching, like a buggy game, before revealing a completely blank, white canvas.

I feel like I"m just part of the air, hovering around endlessly in the big, white s.p.a.ce. Then, a black blur started to appear in front of me, which soon could be discerned as a round "thing", and could be recognised as a movie reel like those from the cinemas.

I wanted to speak out my thoughts, but I somehow couldn"t. Silence lingered until it was interrupted by a loud, high frequency sound wave. It was deafening, and I feel like my non-existent ears could bleed at any second.

Why does everything feel familiar? Like, this all happened before?

I hovered closely to the reel, tilting my non-existent head to the side. But before I even got close, I snapped my eyes open.

"Ori!" I heard kasan call my name.

It seems like I was just dreaming.

I was still dazed to respond, and only got to look up to her and to the people surrounding us. I recognised the room as mine, in our house so, it seems like the ANBU took me here.

Kasan then pulled me close, rubbing my back and caressing my silver hair. While she"s hugging me tight, I saw tou-san sitting at the far end of the bed with his hand over my left one. Shikaku-san"s here, too.

What do you know? Uncle Kakashi"s here too, right next to the ANBU who saved me by the last second… and at the moment, I have a good angle to finally look at him.

He was short for someone to be in the ANBU rank so, he"s probably still in his teens. He has curly and unkempt dark blue hair. A silver tantō also rested on his back. His black mask resembles a bird… a crow, to be exact, making me blink.

Now, why does it feel like that is just giving away something simple? Crow? Karasu, in j.a.panese?

"Ori…" Kasan snapped me out of my trance.

"Huh…?" I blinked, still a bit drowsy.

How long was I out, even? It only felt like minutes, but judging by their faces, it"s not just "minutes".

"Oh, my dear child…" Kasan"s sweet voice was filled with worry, worry that even my last mother couldn"t muster, before hugging me again. "You must"ve been so scared… I"m sorry, kasan wasn"t there for you…" Her hug became tighter, as though she"s not letting me go any sooner.

I couldn"t help but hug back. She"s just that sweet… as sweet as someone who already lost something.

"I-It"s okay, kasan… the niisan over there helped me…" I averted my gaze towards the said black masked man who bowed his head as a greeting. I smiled at him, and he tilted his head, probably raising a brow.

Kasan finally let go, hiding her teary eyes under her hands. "Still… I thought I was going to lose you…" She sniffed, "… again."

"Again?" That word echoed in my mind. What happened? I don"t have a single memory of a near-death situation aside from my actual death before I got to this world. Well, if that means I have a lost memory, I can"t do s.h.i.t about it. I just have to deal with it and move the fvck on.

Wait, me having to deal with chest pains and overworking lungs… is that what they meant by almost losing me? But this is the first time I ever felt this—

Actually…

[I want to scream, but something was stopping me. I feel like something is squeezing my lungs, and I"m just standing here in a black void. Faint light keep flashing at the end of my dark surroundings, and I kept chasing after it, well, my feet do. I don"t honestly know what I"m doing.

Oh, and I can"t breathe.

I want to scream as the pain in my chest area increases, and I finally was able to let out a loud cry after I reached the bright light.]

That faint memory explains a lot.

Wait… fvck – of course I have a weak heart in this world. My luck is THAT amazing. Aside from a limiting body, I also have a GREAT heart. This is just plainly INCREDIBLE.

"Ori-kun…" Shikaku-san"s voice reached my ears, making me look at him, "I… It"s my fault. I shouldn"t have let you go home alone when I knew that there"s something wrong. We"re lucky that Karasu was there before you got over the gates, or it would"ve been harder for you to escape that white masked man in the forest." He looked away and gestured at the ANBU.

Of course his name would be Karasu. Of course. I really didn"t expect that at all.

"But, you also did a great job." Shikaku-san walked over to ruffle my hair, "You managed to lead the man into a pinch… It seems like all of your training paid off." He smiled, softening his expression. His eyes are telling me that he wanted to say more, but decided not to so, I tilted my head in curiosity.

I, too, wanted to know what he got in mind, but I guess that could wait for later. It seems like nothing important, for now, anyways.

He then stepped aside, giving way to… Kakashi? I"m still not used to seeing him this all "uncle"-ish. It"s honestly making gooseb.u.mps appear on the backside of my neck. Sure, he"s been nice, and has been showering me gifts whenever he can, but I don"t really understand why.

He"s generous, I admit. He showed different parts of him that wasn"t shown in the anime or manga. He looks at me like he"s wanting to make me feel complete… like he doesn"t want me to feel what he felt when his team died right after the other.

It"s like… he"s doing this to make, other than me, someone happy. For kasan, I suppose? He is as close to my kasan as he"s close to me. He truly loves the two of us.

The silver-haired young man sat on the edge of my bed. His masked face hid his smile, but his eyes sure did show "em. He ruffled my hair while soft snickers escaped his lips.

"What"s with people ruffling my hair?"

"You did a great job back there, Ori-kun." I shivered at the nickname.

Seriously – I hate the "-kun". Ori is good as is… Ori-kun is… blergh. But, I guess it"s also my fault too. I don"t really tell anyone how or what I feel about something. I just keep it to myself so, I"m selfish in my own way.

"Not anyone could"ve handled that like the way you did." Kakashi chuckled before averting his gaze from me to kasan. "Orion"s gonna grow up strong, I can tell you that." He smiled at her, "Just like you, Kaiyneechan."

Okay, hold-up.

That"s the first time I heard Kakashi address kasan with "neechan".

Siblings, maybe? But kasan said she"s the only child, and Kakashi was introduced as the only child of Sak.u.mo in the manga. So, the only other thing is… acknowledged siblings, I suppose? I mean, that is possible, right? Non-blood siblings acting like they"re real ones.

How sweet – so sweet that ants are already preparing to nestle around them.

"Oh, please, Kashi-kun…" Kasan smiled, patting his shoulder with her right hand before shaking her head.

It seems like I"m missing something here.

I shook my head and inwardly shrugged, reaching for the gla.s.s water prepared on the side of my bed. I don"t really need to meddle with something that will eventually unfold themselves.

""You know that I"ve let go of the past.""

""You"re right, sis.""

I spat all of the water I just drank, drenching my own self in water. "What the fvck?!"

"O-Ori-kun?" Kasan immediately started rubbing my back with her right hand, "W-What"s the matter? Are you okay?"

"I"m… fine…" I wiped my face with the back of my hand, "… thank you."

"That was fvcking English just now!" I"m taking this surprisingly well, actually… them speaking English, that is. "Why didn"t I know of this sooner?!"

I smiled at her, despite of having a freaking out brain. "I"m… just exhausted… I think."

A lot of things happened today… and my brain is just… melting. I really need to sleep this through. I need to rest my disheveled mind.

__________

I woke up the next day and came to know about the white-masked man, thanks to Shikaku-san for filling me in.

Turns out that the white-masked man came from the compound (obviously could be identified from his clothing), and works as a farmer in the fields just on the outskirts of the forest. After breaking his mask, the man told them, probably with the help of Inoichi-san, that he doesn"t remember attacking me nor why he got in the Kaisekihan building of the Intelligence Force in the first place.

He claims to be innocent.

For now, they"ve let them free under the watch of the Konoha Military Police Force (which does still exist since this is well before the Uchiha ma.s.sacre) to let him do his wanted work.

Of course, they"re also protecting him from kasan… because who on earth knows what she"d do. h.e.l.l, she broke the one-way window when Shikaku-san and Inoichi-san started interrogating the farmer with Ibiki-san"s help. Who knows what she"d do next if they let her near him.

I also got a whiff of information from my uncle, Kakashi, about more white-masked men scattered across the whole Hidden Village, which definitely makes me sort of happy.

I"m just glad that it"s not just from the Nara"s – there"s even reports of white-masked men from the Hyūga"s, Yamanaka"s, and from the civilian families, who also seemed to have forgotten what they did when they were wearing the masks.

I sighed, staring at the served breakfast on the table while thinking back about the turn of events.

First, a weird b.u.mp-and-run from a white-masked Nara farmer, which made me completely hold my training until I get better – or if things gets worse, until the case of "White-Masks" is solved.

Second, kasan and the others actually use English as their "ninja language" to keep information away from civilians and young children, which would"ve included me – but they don"t know that I was an Englishman. Not yet, anyways.

Lastly, s.h.i.t just got real – I was invited as a "witness" for the "White-Masks Case" by Shikaku-san himself. I do not know what he"s planning, or what he"s trying to do, but I have a hunch that I"m not gonna be a "witness" here.

Oh, why do these masked men decided to appear and ruin the whole plot of Naruto?

"What"s wrong, Orion?" I heard tou-san. "Did I burn the eggs?" He stood up and inspected my plate.

"No, no…" I shook my head, giving him a smile, "I was just lost in thoughts…"

"About the things that happened, I suppose?" He raised a brow before sitting back on his seat.

"Uh-huh…" I nodded, leaning back on the chair.

"Well, worry not!" He beamed. "Those bad things will not happen again." He sure is rea.s.suring.

I paused, looking at him and returning a smile, "I guess…"