Fate Wheel | Naruto

𝟖𝟏| Lachrymose

"I feel like a part of my soul has loved you since the beginning of everything.
Maybe we're from the same star."
— Emery Allen

───※ ·❆· ※───

THIRD PERSON

The sky was cold.

Obscured by a bevy of tantalising mist and heavy squalls.

Howls of wind echoed in the distance, its roar parallel to the cry of frustration and pain that absconded Naruto's mouth in uneven heartbeats.

Sakura stared at him in pure horror. The tendons in her muscles flexing and paralysed by the glacier of ice that froze her veins, revelling in the coldness that breached the boarders of the Leaf and turned the settlement into a Village of cold mist and anguish.

How did this happen? She didn't understand- comprehend what was happening other than her moving feet and the envoy of Anbu that surrounded the Hokage's son like he was a feral animal leached off its sedation— ready to prowl its claws into flesh and bone. Fury so alluring, yet, spine-chilling, that Sakura couldn't help but wonder how a beast consumed by such darkness could ever reside in her idiotic, loving and caring friend.

Was he deserving of such punishment?

Red and orange. Red and orange blindly bubbling like a brewing concoction in a pan, oil spitting and sizzling the skin, creating burns and a sea of mixed emotions— confusion, anger, sadness- more anger, it felt suffocating. As if a snake curled around her throat in a fixed hold, ready to consume her for dinner.

Why him? Why did it have to be this way?

Her green eyes were fixated on Naruto's woe-ridden features. Darkened lips and eyes with black ringlets. Discernible kanji marks engraved into his skin. The steam ebbing away from the severity of the heat that surrounded him. Eyes so bedevilled by the red of the blood moon that was present on the night of the Fire Festival paraded in his wild glare. Eyes that knew not of its prior humanity that chipped away his dreams, his morals, his kindness, his self-control and turned him into an unrecognisable demon. That was the curse of the nine-tailed Jinchuriki that once ravished their Village fourteen years ago and made an appearance in the Wave Lands.

She backtracked her thoughts. A curse it was not, a curse was sanctioned towards the arts of intertwining two energies and essences until it became one. The fox and the human both co-existed with each other, despite its many differences and lack of liaison. Meaning, there was the possibility of Naruto being able to escape from this pain by obviously regaining control.

Hope and determination filled her. It was good to have hope, however little or minuscule it could be, it was the only thing that could manoeuvre a healthy strive or goal. The other being revenge.

"Sakura." Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled. She wondered how he could even muster a smile at a time like this, with everything going on with her teammates. "Everything's going to be fine. The likeliness of Naruto losing control is low, but in such instances that he does lose control— protocols have been made to deal with it effectively. My good friend Tenzo and a team of Anbu are working to evacuate him from the Village in a way that limits property damage and any harm towards the civilians. They will bring him back."