Re: Akimichi - Volume 2: None Shall Block My Path Chapter 22 Intermission: This Is Me

-Naruto POV-

I’m not a stranger to the dark…

Even before I was able to understand anything, I was shunned. When I was just a little boy, I didn’t know how comfortable a bed can be, I didn’t know how does it feel to have your stomach full with warm foods, nor I know the joy of having someone that I can call a friend. As far as I can remember, there’s no ‘light’ that shone onto me.

Hideaway they say because we don’t want your broken parts.

Which part of me that actually broken? What sin did I commit that made me deserve to be beaten so badly? I… I just want to be loved, to be safe from harm, to be accepted for who I am. Is that really a sin?

I’ve learned to be ashamed of all my scars…

Yes, I hide them all… At least if I tucked away my face, no one will recognize me and hit me with rage on their eyes. They’re hurt, they’re itchy, they are there as proof that I do not deserve to be loved, My scars.

Runaway, they say. No one will love you as you are…

What else can I do? fight back? I am but a child, and if I do fight back, there will be more of them that will come and hit me harder than before. No, I don’t want that, it hurts…

But I won’t let them break me down to dust!

I… There’s something that I want to prove, I can’t be destroyed like this. I will prove to them that I’m not a demon just like they said. If I succ.u.mb to their abuse, then I’ll be a loser! And I don’t want to be a loser!

I know that there’s a place for me…

At least the old man, the Third Hokage, came from time to time to protect me. He gave me a small apartment for me to live in, this way I will have a place that I call home. I know! If I become a Hokage, peoples will respect me! They will have no choice but to admit that I am a great person! Yes, that’s it!

I am glorious!

I! WILL! BE! A! HOKAGE! No amount of obstacles will be able to hinder me! I will surmount the highest mountain between me and my dream! And I will swim the ocean if it’s separate me from reaching my destination! Diss me, Insult me all you want! I will care no longer.

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down

I’m gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out

What words?! Ha! Insult me all you want, I’ve gone through much worse. It’s so horrible that any words won’t be able to hurt me! I’ll drown you with my pranks instead! See that? Is that your shop? What will happen if I set fireworks inside? Hehe

I am brave! I am bruised!

I will not cower under the pressure, so what if the world looking down on me? Ha! watch when I stand at the top, I will see how you lick my feet to gain my favor.

I am who I’m meant to be, this is me!

Let the world deny, let the world reject! I will overcome everything by myself, for I am the one and only, Uzumaki Naruto! The future strongest Hokage!

—

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

Five more minutes…

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

Um?

What was that dream?

Back to sleep…

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

Yes yes…

[09.50]

Eh?

Crap! I’m late!

Sakura-chan would be so angry with me, today we supposed to buy some ninja tools and went to the Chunin exam site in the afternoon!

That being said, I reached for my jacket and immediately rushed out.

Yes, I didn’t wash my face.

Yes, I didn’t brush my teeth.

But, so what?

Gotta go fast!

She’s waiting!

—

-Third POV-

Not far from the gate of Konoha village, a pale man with a dark mark under his eyes was seen with two persons as his companions. On their forehead was a mark of a new hidden village, Otogakure, or known as the hidden sound village.

“Tenzo, I assume you know what to do, don’t you?”

“Yes, Orochimaru-sama!”

The pale man, Orochimaru was disguised himself as one of the exam participants. In front of him, a white-haired man suddenly appeared and kneeled toward him. He wore glasses, and different from the others, his headband bore the mark of Konoha.

“Orochimaru-sama, welcome!”

Orochimaru nodded his head slightly as a response, he then waved his hand before the white-haired man flickered away. Just then, they approached the gate of the village and gained an entry pass for them to keep while they were in Konoha as an identity card or some sort. Orochimaru gazed at Konoha with a weird gleam on his eyes, he stretched out his tongue and he licked his own lips slowly.

‘I can’t wait to get that boy’s body… Kukukuku…’

“Let’s took care of ‘that’ first…”

“As you wish, Orochimaru-sama!”