Black Light (Naruto)

Chapter 19

Hello! I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's almost Halloween and I can't be more excited!!

Original: 01/04/2020

Edited: 10/29/2020

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When everybody was asleep, he'd walked towards his bedroom, quickly and quietly placing up some extra silencing seals that he'd made while the genin were settling down. He was exhausted, but somehow the booming thunder still echoed in his mind every few minutes, timing correctly with the lightning flashes outside of his window. 

He curled up in his blanket, leaning against the wall. His abandoned pillow was cast to the side, his eyes beginning to droop. And although his limbs were heavy and his eyes refused to open, he still made sure that he could move. 

"Just watch! I'll beat you, teme!"

The faded echoes of his once-happy self rang loudly in his mind, and he felt like he could hear Haku's response, feel the bark beneath his skin, the crunching of the grass as Sasuke had grabbed him. But when he opened his eyes, he was still inside of his new apartment in the timeline he'd been trapped inside of. 

He missed the days when he'd been a genin, when he was still rose-coloured and the world around him appeared to be happy despite the civillians and despite Mizuki. He missed when life had been as simple as doing a d-rank even if it was Tora, or just being able to roll over and not feel injured. 

In the war, the healing from Kurama had slowly filtered to a normal rate- only life-threatening injuries were healed relatively quickly. It was because Kurama's chakra was being used often, and although the fox could regenerate it quickly, Kurama was always stingy with his chakra. Or, rather, had been. 

Hikaru felt a small smile on his face, remembering the first time he'd seen the red hair and violet eyes. And although his whisker marks were gone and he was different, sometimes he still felt like Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage of Konohagakura and member of Team Seven. 

He knew it was over, and he would always mourn it, but maybe it would be okay for him to rest for a bit. Maybe it would be okay to rest a little bit and help this world. 

But then his dead teammates echoed in his mind, along with a never-forgotten promise. 

Hikaru slowly picked himself up, his crystal blue eyes glaring at the person that loomed in front of him. His breath was short, and he was exhuasted from the war that had been dragging on for more than three years- it had been since he was 17, Hikaru believed.

A kunai whizzed past him, and he could barely tilt his head, thunder booming loudly and echoing in his brain. Pain pierced and pulsated underneath his eye and slicing through his left year, warm liquid dripping down. Hikaru felt the breath leave his body, avoiding panic. He couldn't afford it.

He stood back up, hand landing on several kunai and tossing them back at Madara. The man stood there, unmoving, a maniacal grin plastered on his face. 

Thunder shook the window pane, and Hikaru flinched at the unexpected movement, his heartbeat picking up. His entire being tensed, waiting for another lightning flash outside of the window. The walls were begining to close in on him. 

He curled up tighter towards himself, another boom of thunder, more lightning that made the shadows of the room darker and darker, until shapes in the shadows appeared. 

The sound of rain, the smell of it that permeated the room, it was too much. It was taunting him for being weak and unable to move, paralyzed at the slightest hint of thunder.