Chapter 28 Slip away
When Naruto returned home, it was already dawn.
He felt as if there was a huge stone in his stomach, but he was not worried about being discovered because he had cleaned up all traces, wiped off fingerprints, and put the keys back where they belonged.
This feeling of heaviness lingered, like a bottomless black hole that made him feel dizzy.
His mind was in a mess.
He's crazy, really crazy.
He had never been so far away from the village.
But he had no where to go and he was scared, scared as never before.
Students who failed to even pass the ninja school exam were not allowed to leave the village alone, and Naruto had already failed twice.
But Iruka's words still echoed in his mind. The trust he never thought of gave him hope that perhaps things were not as bad as he thought.
"I believe this is your Will of Fire."
The pain in his stomach began to spread and move up the sides of his tongue, but the pain had eased a lot.
When he changed the bandage, he found that most of the gauze had been corroded, leaving only the last layer tightly attached to the skin, covered with gray powder.
He tested the seal again and found the door was still open.
Fear rose up his throat like bile, and he plunged into the sealed space.
He opened his eyes and was knee-deep in mud, but this time it was not boiling mud, but a cold, sticky substance, as thick as mud or tar.
It smelled foul, like a mixture of sulfur and rotting corpses, but the air no longer burned his throat as it had before.
The space was darker than ever before, and the only light seemed to come from the nine-tailed demon fox itself.
It emanated from the center of the Nine-Tails, a warm reddish-gold glow that radiated outward along the fox's limbs and tail.
It beat steadily and slowly, in groups of two, like a heartbeat.
The nine-tailed fox remained motionless, its body curled up stiffly behind the fence.
The light became fainter as it went further out, and finally disappeared at the ends of its tail and claws.
In stark contrast, Naruto could clearly see purple veins running beneath the fox's red fur, signs of corruption becoming more and more apparent.
He struggled forward, reached out his hand, and stroked the nine-tailed fox's fur, gently sliding his fingers along the hair on its nose.
Tears welled up in his eyes as a few strands of thick crimson hair - now a dark red - slipped from his hands.
"Jiulama?" He pleaded in a low voice, "Wake up, you stupid fox, wake up quickly."
But it was of no use, the nine-tailed fox was still unconscious, breathing weakly and laboredly.
Naruto can only face all this alone.
He buried his face in the fur of the nine-tailed fox and let the tears flow down his cheeks.
"I beg you……"
But no matter how he cried or begged, the nine-tailed fox's eyes remained closed.
Naruto didn't know why he did this, crying never solved any problems and never gained sympathy from others.
So, when his tears dried, he sat down quietly, allowing the rotting chakra around him to erode his body.
He placed his hands on the nine-tailed fox's fur, desperation slowly replaced by a different emotion.
He tried to recall all his memories of the Kyuubi, searching every corner of his mind.
A warm nose pressed against his back, stopping him from falling.
The huge tail wrapped around him, giving him comfort and protection, telling him stories of ancient battles, powerful creatures and family that he had never heard before.
From indifference to enthusiasm, a pair of red eyes full of spirit.
Patient teaching and clumsy affection.
Determination rose up Naruto's spine, his jaw clenched, his eyes gleaming with determination like diamonds, he knew what he had to do.
He has more important things to do.
……
He was woken by the sound of rain outside the window.
He struggled to sit up, stretched his stiff body, and began to check his backpack.
A cool breeze blew through his hair and he swung his old backpack over his shoulder and took a deep breath, letting the fresh air fill his lungs. He always loved the smell after the rain.
He left a note on the table for Iruka-sensei.
He didn't want to lie to his teacher, but he hoped he could get back before Iruka-sensei found out.
hope.
Outside, the drizzle moistened the earth, flowers, plants and trees.
As the sun sets, the clouds in the sky are dyed red and purple, as if warning people of the coming storm.
The rain is light now, but it will soon turn into a heavy downpour.
From the wind and the smell of the air and the changes in his surroundings, Naruto knew that a huge storm was approaching.
He could feel the electric charge in the air accumulating. The sense of oppression was getting stronger and stronger, and the originally noisy forest became unusually quiet.
He was heading towards the center of the storm.
He didn't know if he could do it, not even sure if he could succeed under normal circumstances, let alone now that he had to deal with a sudden storm.
But he was running out of time and out of options.
……
The heavy rain covered his tracks, and he successfully avoided the patrol. The forest outside Konoha Village was dark and complex, but Naruto's eyes were sharp enough to see through the darkness.
He made a concentration seal and began to move through the trees, jumping from branch to branch. He could feel the tension in the air growing stronger and stronger, the sense of oppression growing stronger, and the storm was about to come.
Before long, the rain changed from a drizzle to a downpour. Every raindrop felt like a needle piercing his skin and the leaves were torn off by the rain.
The branches slapped against his body, the trunks became slippery and dangerous, and he lost his sense of direction almost immediately, but he knew instinctively which way was east.
So, he had to make his own way.
He called upon the power of the Nine-Tails, directing it towards his own chakra.
The power of the tailed beasts was both intoxicating and dangerous, but chakra was chakra, and as long as he could fully fuse the Nine-Tails' chakra with his own, he would be able to suppress the corrosive power.
This power allowed him to keep going, and it also cleared some of the impurities from Kyuubi's blood, slowing its decay.
He hoped so.
Time began to blur.
