Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/6530845.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major_Character_Death, Underage
  Category:
      F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other
  Fandom:
      Naruto
  Relationship:
      Tsunade/Uzumaki_Naruto, Uzumaki_Naruto/Yamanaka_Ino, Uchiha_Itachi/
      Uzumaki_Naruto, Uchiha_Sasuke/Yamanaka_Ino
  Character:
      Uzumaki_Menma, Uzumaki_Naruto, Uchiha_Sasuke, Uchiha_Itachi, Tsunade_
      (Naruto), Yamanaka_Ino, Uzumaki_Kushina
  Additional Tags:
      Supernatural_Elements, Were-Creatures, Werewolves, Urban_Legends, Horror,
      Alternate_Universe_-_Horror, Alternate_Universe_-_Arranged_Marriage,
      Bisexual_Male_Character, Hentai, Yaoi, Nightmares, Psychological_Horror
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-04-11 Updated: 2016-12-18 Chapters: 8/? Words: 9767
****** Beyond the wall ******
by shadowweaver
Summary
     No one goes beyond the wall. The only thing that can be found out
     there is darkness--and what lurks in that darkness will be enough to
     keep you awake at night. Don't go beyond the wall. No one goes beyond
     the wall.
***** Chapter 1 *****
“Show me your skin, I wanna know who you really are.” He could kill me at any
moment. With the eyes of a beast and the hair of my best friend, I was sure I
had seen him in a dream. No--it was a nightmare. And he killed me.but that
wasn't the most alarming part of this whole thing. I could swear by my parents’
lives that this guy looked almost exactly like me--eye his voice was identical,
though Menma used his in a completely different manner. It was heavy and dark
like syrup and it drew you in. Problem is when you get close enough, he can
choose to snap.
So why hasn't he killed me yet?
I could only assume it's be pure luck that I'm still alive when my friend’s
corpse was rotting next to me. Menma killed Lee first because he sensed a trace
of a threat. He said I was too weak to lift a finger to.
“Let me see your skin.”
“Are you going to kill me?” Those were the only words I could get out.
“I'm getting to know you.” He closed in on me, locking his arms around my
waist. This whole thing made me so uncomfortable and I wanted to do something
to get away from him. Maybe turn around and run--I don’t think I could fight
him. I’m strong but I’m not superhuman.
“What does that mean?” I asked and I could feel my body start to vibrate once
his teeth pierced my skin. It was the most painful experience, both physically
and emotionally--but spiritually it was the most intense feeling I’ve ever
felt. My jaw dropped and one of my legs hooked around his waist.
He was drawing blood out of me and I’d stopped struggling.
I could see my memories flashing in my mind--memories of my first steps and my
first kiss and that time the Hyuga kids cornered me in third grade and beat me
up.
This was before the draft.
There was a rift that everyone went through when they were eleven. It was
because of the war between us and the creatures on the outside of the wall. No
one was really sure what lurked on the other side. The world beyond the walls
was littered with trees and so it was rare that one actually saw a beast. With
that said, every time someone has claimed to see one of these things, they
always claim it looks different or that it does different things. I’ve heard of
beasts with wings that span twelve feet tall, I’ve heard of nine foot black
dogs with red eyes that tear people around, thirteen feet tall people with no
faces--but I’ve only run into him.
Menma.
It’s hard to tell whether or not the people who made these claims were telling
the truth or not. Everyone who’s spoke up is dead. Some died in their sleep,
others got sick, and one even went insane.
His name was Yamato--I think he was Tenten’s older brother. He said he saw a
big wolf that walked like a man on the other side of the wall. A few guards
found him hiding in the trunk of a tree, covered in bites and scratches. About
a month later, he went insane and torn off Ino’s arm. Some people say he had
hair everywhere and a tail--he was almost like a wolf. My dad and Killer Bee
were the ones who killed him.
When Menma finally pulled back, my blood was rolling down his chin. He licked
his lips and glared down at me with dark eyes.
Fuck, is he going to kill me?
“Naruto Namikaze.” He knew my name--my real name. “Are you afraid of me,
Naruto? Do you think I’m going to kill you?”
I swallowed, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
“You don’t have to worry. I won’t kill you this time. But if I ever see you in
my forest against, you won’t be so lucky.”
What could I say to that?
“Remember my words, Naruto,” He said to me. “Don’t ever go beyond your walls
again, if you value your life.”
Then there was darkness.
***** Chapter 2 *****
“What did you see? What did you see, boy?!”
There were no answers. I woke up without a scratch rested against the gate when
Lord Hiruzen shook me awake. He was frantic--they all were. Even my friends
were looking at me with a sense of urgency and unease.
“How did you make it through the night?” Hiruzen asked me.
“Don't answer a single question, Naruto,” Itachi called out to me from behind
Hiruzen. He was on my side in this--but I couldn’t figure out what I was on
trial for. Was it because I was on the outside of the wall before now? I don’t
remember getting back home. I don’t remember anything past  him .
Menma.
His name was still fresh on my mind, but it was peculiar--I couldn’t remember
his face. I knew that he had dark hair and red eyes, I know he looked just like
me--but I couldn’t put that all together to get a clear image of him in my
mind. Was this his doing?
Don’t ever go beyond your walls again, if you value your life.
Was he threatening me at that point?
No, I’ve heard the stories of the monsters on the outside. He could have killed
me, but he didn’t. The only explanation was that he’d done something else to
me. Something that I wasn’t feeling right now.
“Move, move!” My dad shouted as he moved through the crowd of people and
dropped to his knees in front of me. He was in his pajamas at that point--
a pair of loose fitting boxers and his hair was damp. Strong hands clamped
around my wrists and he drew me in. “God, we thought you were with Sasuke.”
“Are you alright, Naruto?” Itachi asked.
He couldn’t hide his feelings as well as usual. If everyone wasn’t focused on
me in this moment, I would have given him a look to convey that.
“He needs to get home,” My dad said. As he helped me up, the whole crowd took a
collective step back, as if they expected me to turn into some sort of monster.
Was I, though?
“Come on, Naruto.” No one questioned my dad. He wasn’t the most powerful man in
the village, but he was one of the squad leaders that went out to find meat in
the trees. The beasts themselves were usually carnivores, but their main target
was human flesh. It was easier for a bear to survive out there than any of us.
There were four squads that went out every month to hunt--when I was a kid
there would be fifteen or twenty people in each squad, but only a handful of
people sign up every year.
There became a law that an individual had to serve in at least 3 squad ventures
a year after their twenty first birthday. There were always a few people who
joined squads to prove their toughness--usually kids who wanted to show that
they could handle themselves. They usually didn’t come back.
Once we got home, he draw my bath water for me. By the time i was sinking into
it, there was a knock at the door.
“How is he?” The visitor asked my dad. Itachi.
“My son is fine--you can leave,” My dad replied. He barely had patience when it
came to Itachi.
“May I see him?”
“You won’t go near him. You’re probably the reason this has happened.” He
didn’t trust him after word got around the village that Itachi had been pulling
me into corners to take advantage of me. Konohamaru was the one who caught us
in the compromising situation--Itachi’s pants around his ankles and all the kid
could probably see was me getting throatfucked.
Little did he know that I was the one who made the first move on Itachi. Itachi
was older than me by about a decade, that’s where most of my father’s issue
lied. That--and the fact that I’m engaged.
***** Chapter 3 *****
Tsunade was more uncomfortable with our arrangement that I was by a long shot.
She was older--older than Itachi, actually. When my dad used the difference in
my age and Itachi’s as an excuse, I didn’t dare bring up the fact that Tsunade
was literally twice my age--though she looked good for a thirty-two year old.
He was well aware of her age--he just wanted to be in control of who I was
with.
“How do you feel?” Tsunade asked me. I could sense the irritation in her voice-
-she viewed me as a dumb kid.
“Fine, I guess,” I muttered, sitting up in my bed. My body hurt, my head hurt,
and I was still confused about what happened a few days ago. I hadn’t seen
Itachi sense then. The only people my dad would allow inside of the house were
Tsunade, Gaara, and Ino--who was making a cake for me in the kitchen. “I’m just
sore.”
I was completely naked underneath the covers, but I’ve been engaged to this
woman my whole life. She’s seen every part of me and I’m pretty sure she
changed my diapers a few times when I was a kid. I reached down and grazed my
limp member as a groaned tiredly. It felt like someone had been touching me. I
wasn’t hard, but there was a familiar pulsing in my groin that I usually get
after coming down from masturbating.
“Nade, you didn't do anything to me while I was out, did you?”
“Don't call me that--and don't flatter yourself.” She narrowed her eyes at me.
I didn't blame her, we were both in an awkward situation. Arranged engagements
weren't common these days, the town had a strange way of doing things. My dad
made a deal with Tsunade's dad to combine the families for financial stability
and to give a display of the trust between the Senju and Namikaze clans.
Originally it was supposed to be the next born son of my grandfather who
Tsunade married. But he died before he could have any more kids--caught by
something in an  expedition outside of the wall. My dad promised me instead,
since my mother was pregnant with me at the time.
“Now tell me, what were you doing on the other side of the wall, Naruto?” She
asked me.
Everyone had been asking me that and I didn't give them an answer. However,
Tsunade could get most things out of me.
“I don't really remember,” I admitted truthfully. “I think it had something to
do with someone calling for me. One minute I was with Sasuke, the next minute
I'm face to face with--”
Wait, I couldn't tell them about Menma. If anyone found out I interacted with
anything out there, they'd kill me. Or worse--they'd toss me back out there.
“Face to face with what?” She arched one perfect eyebrow and drummed her nails
on her thigh like she always did when she wanted to coax something out of me.
“There was…” Shit, don't say it. “This thing--this guy…”
I couldn't say much more than that, but after about thirty seconds she
straightened up and nodded.
“I see.” Then she stood up. “Smart to keep something like that to yourself. But
your parents and I will take care of it from here.”
“Take care of it how? You don't even know what happened.”
“We don't need to. No one needs to know what happened. I'll be back.”
 
“We'll have to move the wedding day up,” my mother said. “After recent events,
we can't risk it.”
“Risk what?” I was a lot more tired than usual. I couldn't even offer much
protest when she said the words.
“Naruto, you're the last Namikaze,” dad told me. “We need to move the wedding
up so that you can get to passing on the name before something happens.”
“To me? What would happen to me?” Was this a threat?
“You've been exposed to one of those things, we're all in danger. I'm sure
you're fine, but this is so that--”
“So you want me to pump a baby into Tsunade as my dying act?”
Tsunade winced across the room and my skin burned from regret.
“Look, I don't want some snotty kid as a husband anyway,” Tsunade growled
bitterly. She turned to walk away and...I did something completely out of the
ordinary.
I watched her go. My eyes scanned every inch of her. And she looked delicious.
My mother set down a sandwich in front of me. Truth be told I was more
concerned with how Tsunade looked in those shorts. My hand ghosted over my
erection and I started kneading just barely underneath the table.
This was weird. I'd never felt this towards her before. I'd accepted a long
time ago that I was pretty much gay and that our marriage would be as
superficial as it gets.
But I wanted to rip into her in more ways than one.
“Naruto.” My mom sat a hand on my shoulder.
“Hm?”
“We hope you're not too upset with us--this was the only thing we could think
to do. The people in the village are already skeptical.”
“Look, I get it.” I rubbed my temples. Married at sixteen. It wasn't usual. The
deal was that they would wait for me to turn eighteen. “I'm not in the mood to
argue.”
My eyes passed over my dad and I wondered if he had more reasons for doing
this. Either way, I couldn't disobey him without risking the beating of a
lifetime.
Naruto.
My name shot through my mind matched with a voice that--couldn't have been my
own. It was too sinister to be me. But--Menma…
“Can I leave?” I tried to keep my irritation at bay.
“We'll have to discuss a date for it--but expect it to be some time soon.” My
dad turned his back on me and started speaking to my mother. “Can you start
making arrangements?”
I needed to get outta here.
“I'll be back in a little bit.” When I turned to leave, my dad asked me where I
was going. I would have lied to him, but I wasn't exactly sure where I was
going. “I'm going to see Sasuke.”
“I doubt that,” Ino said as she wandered into the kitchen. “Especially not
considering Sasuke's on his way over here.”
She had a prosthetic arm--it was actually made of metal and she got used to it
fairly quickly. She even learned how to punch the shit out of someone with it.
And she seemed to get off on making my life more difficult than it already was.
My folks took her in after Yamato died and she took the older sister act to a
new level.
“I heard the news--you’re gonna be a married man soon.” She smiled and I
wondered if she knew more. I wouldn’t put it past her to have been
eavesdropping the entire time.
“Move,” I sighed, pushing past her. “I’m going to get dressed.”
***** Chapter 4 *****
I can't remember getting here. I--don't even remember going back to sleep. The
day I had was an absolute blank. Where am I? I could barely see through the
fog. Strange, it's usually pretty dry during this time of year. Does this mean
that it'll rain soon? Or has it already rained? I can't really tell.
“ Naruto ,” a voice drifted into my ear and my eyes fluttered. It sounded...so
familiar. Almost dreamlike in that sense. It belonged to a girl. It was sultry
and deep. “ Aren't you far from home ?”
The fog was too thick to see anything. But this voice sounded like it was right
behind me. Above me. In front of me.
“Who's there?” I asked, my voice sounded more panicked than I thought.
“You shouldn't be out here.” She was laughing now. It was so dark that it
paralyzed me. With each passing second, her voice got more and more hoarse. It
started to sound more like a chilling cackle.
I narrowed my eyes as the fog cleared. I was in the other end of the village. I
was in a garden. And that's when I saw it.
There was no girl there at all--but a large black dog hunched over a body. That
was...Lee. Only he was barely recognizable, being ripped to shreds. His organs
had been torn out of him. This...this wasn’t right. Lee died when we were
beyond the wall. I saw the whole thing happen. But there was no mistake--this
was Rock Lee’s corpse in front of me.
A low growl escape the dog and it lifted it’s paws to walk towards me. The only
sound I could hear was my own heartbeat in my ears and I was positive it’d be
the last thing I ever heard. I couldn’t bring myself to move my own body.
Just like before.
“Naruto.” This voice was different. I recognized it clearly and it washed over
me like a wave of reassurance. The dog’s movements faltered, as if it too had
heard the voice. “I’ve got you, Naruto.”
Sasuke .
That voice radiated with me in some sort of way. He was here--I could feel him.
Strong arms wrapped around me from behind and I felt myself being pulled
backwards--away from the beast in front of me. And away from my friend’s body.
I let myself be dragged into one of the abandoned houses--that’s what told me
where we were. Still within the walls, in a district of the village that was
forgotten before I was even born.
As I was laid down on the wooden floor, I looked up expecting to meet dark
eyes. Light blue orbs stared back at me and my heart leapt in my chest.
“Ino?” I sat up. “Why are you--?”
“Tsunade’s looking for you,” she said to me. Her voice was hushed and her eyes
drifted up towards the door. When I followed her gaze, she spoke again. “You
don’t have to worry. It doesn’t look like it’ll come in here.”
“What is that thing?” That wasn’t my only question, but there were too many to
count.
“I was hoping you’d know.”
I looked around. “Where’s Sasuke?”
“Hm?”
“Sasuke--he was here. I heard his voice and--” I paused when I saw the shadow
of another person pass by the window outside. They paced by slowly and I found
myself holding my breath for a moment. Was that…?
“It’s not him, Naruto,” Ino whispered in my ear. “It’s not Sasuke.”
“How do you know?”
“This isn’t real,” she explained. “None of it--you’ve got to wake up and see
what’s really happening.”
“What are you talking about?”
She rested a hand on my forehead. “Naruto--wake up.”
***** Chapter 5 *****
“I remember it all.” She sat across from me at the table with her index finger
on her metal limb gliding along the rim of her mug. For metal scraping against
hardened clay, it made almost no sound. And she looked so calm about the whole
ordeal. After I wake up--at the crack of dawn, might I tell you--Ino was
standing over me in my bedroom. There was a dazed look in her eyes, but I could
tell immediately that she  knew .
Luckily no one was home. Seems that there was a village meeting that I just
happened to end up missing. Or maybe it was about me?
“How’s that possible?” I asked her. “If it was my dream, then--”
“It’s a thing that happens to me sometimes. Well, it happened to me once.” Her
eyes fell and I knew where her mind went. She only got that look when she was
about to approach a specific subject. “It happened with Yamato before he died.”
What did Yamato have to do with this?
“I don’t know what it is, but something about being beyond the wall definitely
changes something within you. Before Yamato left, this never happened. We lived
a normal life--we were happy.” Her lips turned up into a slow, pained smile.
“After he came back, I started to have these dreams and--there would always be
this monster. It was terrifying--fangs, claws, fur...it was some sort of beast.
But it was also him.”
“You mean like how he was when they found him?”
She nodded. “I had those dreams--nearly every night for a week leading up to
the full moon. They were always so vivid. I’d watch as he torn apart our home
in an attempt to keep himself under control. I watched his struggle with this
beast that was trying to take over his body--I could see him suffering. I could
see him losing. Eventually, that animal would win and--the dream would end with
him coming for me.”
“That’s crazy.”
“It’s happening again.” She looked me in the eye. “Naruto, what happened last
night was just like with Yamato.”
“And?” I rested my head in my hands. “You said it yourself that he was the one
doing all of the damage in the other dreams. In mine, it was that---that  thing
.”
“And what do you think that thing is?” She snapped. “You brought something back
with you, Naruto.”
“Hold on, don’t try to pin this on me. If this has happened before to you, what
makes you think it was me? Maybe I’m just another one of your victims in--” I
was cut off when she slapped me. With her flesh hand, of course. I squared my
jaw and looked at the floor for a moment. When I looked back up at her, her
eyes were brimmed with tears.
Fuck, I’d gone too far.
The assumption that what happened to me was her doing would also be casting
blame for what happened to Yamato. Even after all this time, it was still a
sensitive subject for her.
A moment of heavy silence passed through us.
“I’m...sorry.” I swallowed. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“That’s right. You shouldn’t have.”
“But you need to understand that this is terrifying. I don’t know what to do.”
She sighed. “Well, you’re not alone. I’ll help you any way I can. I know how
scary this is.” She paused for a moment, raising the mug of hot chocolate to
her face. “If you don’t mind me asking--how did you get outside?”
I understood the curiosity. Even if it was dangerous beyond the wall, that
didn’t stop people from trying to venture out there. Mostly hardheaded kids--
like Lee and me--who wanted to prove something to their peers.
It was Lee’s idea to go. We’d escaped through a hole in the wall about a mile
away from my home. There were usually ten or twelve guard at the entrance of
the gate and a few people scattered along the top of it, keeping a lookout on
both sides. It was originally just a mission to look for a rare plant that only
grew in the depths of the trees. We thought that if we brought it back and
showed everyone, we would have proven ourselves.
“He’d been following us,” I said. “I could feel it the whole time--all the way
up until he killed Lee.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know who he is.” I scratched my head. “Er--I know what he told me his
name was. I don’t know if it was his real name--Menma.”
“And this boy was just out there? Roaming around?”
“He wasn’t a boy.” I gritted my teeth. “He was--something else. He wasn’t human
at all. I watched him rip Lee apart--I watched him eat his organs and then--”
She leaned forward when I cut myself off. “And then what?”
My hand rose to where he’d bitten me. Seems that it had healed some time before
I woke back up in the village. Not even a scar or a blemish remained. I had
half a mind to just skip over that detail. If there was no evidence of it, it
never happened, right?
But this was Ino. I had to tell her.
“Something happened out there.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “Menma had the
chance to kill me. He’d killed Lee so quickly--I thought I was done for.”
“What happened to you?”
“He bit me.”
At that, Ino straightened up and I could read the expression on her face
clearly. Some mixture between concern and doubt.
“He bit you? Like--attacked you?”
“No.” I shook my head. “He just...bit me. It was the strangest feeling I’ve
ever had. I can’t explain it any other way. It hurt, but it...it…”
How do I finish that sentence?
“He left you alive. That must mean something.”
“Means he was full from Lee.”
“A dangerous animal kills regardless of appetite,” she said. “What you saw out
there wasn't human. Nothing beyond that wall is human.”
“But…” How could I tell her he looked just like me? Was that really worth
mentioning right now? Of course. I could trust Ino. Something about the way she
looked at me reassured me. “He had my face. Like--this guy looked like me.”
“And what do you think that means?”
“I don't know.”
“Do you want to find out?”
Part of me did. But there was a rational voice in my head that shouted for me
to fight to ignore it. What's done is done, right?
I nodded.
“Good. Then we'll look for answers. Tomorrow night, you'll show me where the
hole in the wall is.”
“Did you not just listen to me?!” I pounded my fist on the table. “It's
dangerous out there, Ino.”
“And if my hypothesis is correct, it's dangerous here. We'll need answers
sooner or later.”
“And you want to just go charging in head first?”
She reached across the table and gripped my hand with her metal one. “I'm not
scared, you fucking baby. I'll protect you, okay?”
I scoffed, shaking my head. “Bullshit.”
“Then at the very least, I'll die before you,” she shrugged. “You trust me?”
I swallowed and sighed before answering. “Yeah--I guess.”
***** Chapter 6 *****
“Why're you telling me all of this?” He folded his arms across his chest and
turned away from us. “It's not like I care.”
“Because you're going with us,” I said.
“Tch, I don't think so.” He visibly turned up his nose in disgust. He was so
irritating.
“Sasuke, you have to.”
“No he doesn't,” Ino interjected. “You just want him to go. We'll be better off
out there without him, Naruto.”
Which is a blatant lie, but for some reason Sasuke didn't contest it. He
breathed a faint sigh of what seemed like relief as he started walking away
from us. We were a team. Me, Sasuke and Ino. Obviously we didn't always get
along. Sasuke wanted to be alone and Ino wanted to take on the hard jobs by
herself.
“You know, you don't have to always take care of him,” Sasuke tossed back at
her. “He's a big boy.”
“Let's go, Naruto.” I felt Ino grasp my arm and tug me away. “We don't have
long.”
I reluctantly tore my eyes from Sasuke. “Wait…”
“What's the matter? Did I strike a nerve?” Sasuke turned back towards us.
“Shut up,” Ino growed.
“Are you afraid he isn't perceiving the same type of relationship that you
are?” He threw his head back and laughed suddenly, gripping his sides. “Why're
you still trying to help him when you'll obviously get nothing out of it?”
“Sasuke, drop it,” I said through gritted teeth. I hated when they got like
this. Sasuke knew how to push all of Ino's buttons and he just did it to get a
reaction out of her. “Fine, we'll just go on our own.”
“That's what I've been saying,” Ino muttered. “Let's go.”
We left Sasuke behind. I don't know what I was thinking, I usually try to keep
how I feel about him out of our interactions--especially with Ino around. We
were friends...if that's what you would actually call it. The team was as
unstable as most with the two of them always fighting. I knew the fight wasn't
about me. It was about their weird idea that there always had to be a third
wheel.
Ino wanted it to just be me and her--Sasuke wanted me out of the picture
completely. I don't know his motives--the two of them can't exist in the same
room for more than a few minutes without attempting to kill each other. I liked
to believe Sasuke liked me being around. He came to my house often enough.
You don't ask for someone unless you like them, right?
“Quit thinking about him,” Ino said as we crouched next to the patched up hole
in the wall. They'd fixed it as soon as I told them where it was. “He's a
jackass.”
“He's Sasuke.”
She smirked and shook her head. “I'll never understand why you stick up for him
like you do.”
“Same reason you stick up for me.”
She gave me a look that I couldn't interpret.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She looked away. “Let's go.”
She stepped forward first and gripped the covering of the hole with his flesh
hand. Gritting her teeth, I watched as she shifted her weight and slowly
started to tear the cover off.
Ino slipped through the gate and I followed close after her.
 
“So, was he your brother?” Ino had a different last name than Yamato and
Tenten, but as long as I'd known her, she lived with them all the way up until
the incident.
She sighed and gripped the low-hanging branch of a tree as we walked past. So
far, we were about half a mile away from the wall and there was no sign of any
life. “It’s complicated.”
I furrowed my eyebrows. “Try me.”
“My parents died when I was a kid--Yamato and Tenten’s parents were my
godparents, but…”
But they died, too. Yamato’s dad went out with a squad and didn’t come back.
When his mother found out, she nearly went insane--she disappeared a few nights
later. Rumors circulated that she went looking for him. Other people said she
just out in hopes of the same thing that took her husband finding her.
“I grew up with them, y’know?” She shrugged. “Things like this keep happening
and it sorta makes you think--”
“It’s not you,” I said. God, I felt stupid for even making that assumption the
other night after what she’d told me. “You’ve got nothing to do with it.”
“Tenten doesn’t talk to me anymore. I don’t know if it’s because she thinks I’m
to blame or if it’s just guilt.” When she stopped walking, I nearly collided
into her. She took a moment to look around before asking if anything looked
familiar to me.
“I was following you…” I mumbled.
“Do you remember where you saw this thing?” She asked me. “Any land markings or
anything?”
“Wait, we’re looking for Menma?” She didn’t say that. If I’d known that, I
would have turned this whole idea down. I wasn’t stupid when it came to
warning. Menma told me himself--if he caught me out here again, I was dead. Was
I dumb enough to go looking for death? I’d like to think not. “Let’s go home,
Ino.”
“Why? We’ve come this far.”
“And we’re still alive, meaning we’ve still got a chance to--” I heard a sound.
I swear, I heard a sound. My body tensed and I squared my jaw. Judging by Ino’s
movements--or lack thereof--she’d heard it too.
Something was coming up behind us.
I just had to come back out, did I?
If I strained my ears, I could just barely make out the heavy breathing but--
I couldn’t tell if it was man or beast. But would there really be a man walking
around alone out here so late? I swallowed and shut my eyes for a moment.
We can’t stay like this forever.
Ino was the first to turn around. I heard her gasp and that’s what made me
finally look.
He was...small. Slightly tired looking as well. This boy had to have been
around our age. The moonlight coming through the trees was almost like a
spotlight on him. He stared at us with a look of utter disconcern and briefly,
I thought he was--actually normal.
Briefly.
Till he opened his mouth.
His jaw lowered--it kept lowering, till his visibly disconnected from the rest
of his face. My heart skipped a beat as the roar shook the ground.
“Shit, Naruto, run!” Ino gripped my hand, the metal pinching my skin painfully,
and pulled me in the other direction.
She was so fucking strong when she was terrified. We hauled ass through the
trees, unaware of where we were going and unable to care. All that mattered was
getting the hell away from this kid--er--thing--or whatever he was. There was
no sound of running, branches snapping, or leaves crackling behind us, only the
low roar that seemed to creep up.
We kept running till we stumbled into a clearing. When I looked back, the wall
was nowhere in sight.
But neither was that kid.
All of the noise had ceased and any trace of him vanished in the shadows.
“Maybe we should have done this in the daytime,” My legs felt like jello. “It
was stupid to come out here at night without any weapons or--”
“Who said we didn’t have weapons?” She pulled two sheathed daggers from her
bag.
“You brought...knives?”
“They were Yamato’s,” She said. “I took them before I moved out. Tenten would
have just donated them.”
“Ino, these won't do anything out here.”
“Would you rather have nothing?”
“If it comes down to what I'd rather do, then I'd rather be home safe right
now. Did you really think I wanted to come back out here? Once was enough,” I
growled through clenched teeth and watched her wince at my words.
“I did it to help you,” she answered.
“With what? How can diving back into this hellhole help me? We aren't going to
find any answers out here, Ino.”
“That's what I tried to tell you.” The voice came from above and neither of us
had to look up to know who it was.
Sasuke was perched on a branch about fifteen feet up. And one branch above him
was Itachi, eyes locked on me with that shamed look that he only reserved for
scolding purposes.
Great.
“You followed us.” Ino sounded more irritated than anything. I could just
barely make out the vein in her forehead.
“It didn't take much,” Sasuke smirked.
“Your camouflage tactics need work.” Itachi jumped from the branch and landed
with an seemingly effortless grace. “Did you both skip that lecture in school?”
“We don't need you,” Ino’s eyes drifted in between the two of them. “If you
came to convince us to come home, you're wasting your time.”
“Stop trying to act tough for him.” Sasuke finally jumped down as well. “It's
not gonna work.”
“Screw off,” she narrowed her eyes.
“It's dangerous out here. Grown men have lost their lives in these trees. If we
stay, we'll be next.” Itachi looked at me. “Naruto, I don't know what you're
looking for, but you won't find it here.”
“I'd listen to him,” Sasuke said. Itachi had been over the wall twice, not
including this instance. The first time was with his family--the adults, that
is. It was his mom and a few cousins. Madara and Izuna, Itachi's uncles, were
eaten by a wandering giant. The second expedition was a seemingly more standard
one on the surface. My father organized it after he found out about us. He put
Itachi on a squad with a few of his buddies and sent them off. I don't know
what happened on that expedition, but I woke up in the middle of the night to
Itachi banging on my front door. The trip was supposed to take two days, but
they were only gone for a few hours. I hid from view that night and watched my
dad pay Itachi off--I'm guessing for something that happened during the
expedition.
He never told me what happened.
“If we turn around now, we'll be able to make it back before anyone notices. It
shouldn't take more than four hours.” There was something laced in Itachi’s
voice. Worry, maybe?
“Well, we can't go back that way,” Ino muttered. “That thing is probably still
back there.”
“So, we'll take the trees,” Sasuke suggested with a shrug. He seemed to forget
that not all of us had their strengths. No one knew much about the Uchiha clan,
despite them being one of the oldest clans around. Obito Uchiha was the village
leader. It was a mystery for everyone, considering how young he was when he
took office. He was my dad’s first student--the first person my dad was
responsible for beyond the wall.
That's why my dad had as much power as he did, not to discredit him. But having
the boss on your side is a bonus. It's why he can't blatantly do something to
hinder Itachi. It would muddy up the tangled web of relations between the
Namikaze and Uchiha clans.
It's best to have them on our side. No  one knew what it was, but there was
some force at work behind the Uchiha clan that gave them the power to have the
whole village at their beck and call.
What was it?
“Naruto, let's go.” I snapped out of my daze and saw Itachi's hand being held
out for mine. Sasuke was at Ino’s side, she squared her has as he whispered
something to her.
What happened?
“We need to go,” he repeated. He grasped my hand and started tugging me across
the grass. Sasuke and Ino followed a good distance behind.
I glanced back and noticed that reserved look on her face hadn't disappeared.
“Don't worry about them.” Itachi's voice was sharp and he yanked me forward.
“She'll be fine. Sasuke won't let anything happen to her.”
“Why do you say that?”
“If you don't see it, you're an idiot,” he chuckled. “My brother just so
happens to be very fond of Ms. Yamanaka.”
“He's got a hell of a way of showing it.” I looked back once more before
Itachi's finger hooked under my chin and directed my eyes towards his.
“Why so much concern, little fox?” He cooed.
“Don't call me that.”
“Why?” He stepped towards me, too close for excuses. “Are you afraid of anyone
knowing just how much you love to be hunted?”
“Itachi--”
“I'll stop.” He blinked away from me . “But honestly, you should keep out of
their business. She's good for him.”
“That's a matter of opinion.”
“Well, you're far from available,” Itachi reminded me. “And have you forgotten
that you're a homosexual?”
“Sexual orientation aside, I don't think they belong together.”
“It's not up to you to decide.”
“I can talk her out of it.” On the slim chance that she'd ever consider being
with Sasuke.
God, why did that make my blood boil so bad?
“You'll have to find them first,” he replied.
Wait--they were gone. I looked in all directions, up and down, the two of the
had disappeared. But I'd just seen them two minutes ago.
“Where are they?” I asked, gripping Itachi's shirt. “Where the hell are they?”
“You're worrying about nothing. They'll be fine, Sasuke has taken her ahead. He
prefers a different route.”
“So, you decide to split us up when we don't notice? What does that
accomplish?”
“That was my doing.” His face reddened. “I just really wanted to talk--about
us.”
“What about  us ?”
“Your father has moved up your wedding. You'll be married at the end of the
month.”
“The end of the month?” That was soon; much too soon, actually.
“There's a deserted campground underground a few miles east of here. It's
possibly one of the best camouflaged camping sites in years.”
“Itachi, what are you getting at?”
“Isn't it obvious?”
I blinked.
He grasped my hands and brought them to his lips. “Let's leave the village--
together .”
***** Chapter 7 *****
We darted through the trees, hand in hand. Itachi's grip on my tightened with
each passing second. Each sound we heard. There was no guarantee that there was
another place like the village out there. If there was, would they even take
us? Come to think of it, I wouldn't take in two complete strangers who wandered
up to my walls. Especially if we're able to make it through this purgatory in
one piece.
They'll kill you if you go back .
I was already treated like a monster. If people caught wind of me being back
out here, not even my dad’s word could help me.
They'll kill you if you go back .
Fuck, he was right. I can't go back. Not now--what if I actually was dangerous?
What if...what if…?
I felt my heart twist as ideas racked around in my brain. These trees were
dangerous. All sorts of creatures lurked out here. All sorts of beings.
Thinking back, the chances of Itachi wanting to leave the village with me were
slim. He was lovesick, but he was still logical, especially when it came to me.
He wanted nothing more than to make sure I was safe at all time. Coming all the
way out here was definitely something he would do. Same with Sasuke.
But...then there was this whole idea about taking chances and running away.
That didn't sound like Itachi at all. No--this was wrong. This was all wrong.
This can't be Itachi.
He started to slow down gradually, his grip on my wrist loosened. When he came
to a stop, he let go completely.
So , the voice drifted into my head.  You figured it out .
That voice--it couldn't be…
He turned around and I found myself face to face with myself, once again.
Menma. My mouth went dry and I drew in a breath.
“I almost had you.” God, his voice was beautiful. How did he do that? “I'd say
smart boy, but if you were we wouldn't be having this talk.”
“What happened to the others?”
He rolled his eyes. “They're fine. I haven't killed them.” His voice softened
when he said this next part, his finger tracing along my jawline. “I wouldn't
do that to you. I have to get you back home, little fox.”
“But…”
“I remember what I said before. However, you're turning out to be more fun than
my past potential projects.”
My eyes darted left and right. How could I get out of this? Menma was stealthy
enough to impersonate someone close to me effortlessly. I didn't know what he
was, but it wasn't something to underestimate.
“Little fox, are you afraid?” He grinned, flashing bloodstained canines. “Do
you think I'm lying about this whole thing?”
It was a thought.
“What do you want from me?” My voice waivered.
“Ah, now that is the big question.” His voice came from behind me and a hand
gripped my waist. “I want a lot of things. But first and foremost--I want you
to know what I am.”
“So tell me.”
“It's not that simple.” He pushed forward and I felt something poking into my
back. “You'll have to figure it out on your own.”
“Listen, I want to know what you did to me last time. What happened to me?”
“You're becoming one with nature,” he replied. “And you're a lovely sight. I
can feel it within you--I knew you were special.”
“Special in--what way?”
“You had the capacity to evolve on your own. No assistance needed.” He was
purring against me now. “I jump started your system but that was it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“In due time, little fox.” He pressed his lips to my neck. “Let's get you
home.” I was going to speak again but my body started to feel heavy. Menma held
me as I passed out.
 
~~
 
“You're okay, I'm so glad you're okay.” Ino was wrapping her arms around me
before I knew what was happening. The sun was burning my skin and I cracked an
eye open to see Sasuke standing over Ino’s shoulder glaring down at me.
“We thought you were dead,” he said before turning away from us. Why did he
seem disappointed? “No one in this quarter of the village is awake, yet.”
“How’d I get here?” My head was killing me. My whole body felt like it was on
fire and I was so--hungry. It was like my stomach was eating itself. I took a
deep breath and gripped Ino’s steel arm as she helped me up.
“We’ve been looking everywhere for you. We’ve got to get you home before people
start looking for us.” Ino carried me through the empty street as she spoke.
Sasuke walked ahead of us. At first glance, it looked like he was just being
distant--but I noticed the way his head moved from side to side every so often-
-he was on the lookout.
“Where did Itachi go?” I asked. “He was...he was out there with us.”
“You never saw him,” Sasuke muttered just loud enough for me to hear.
“I ran into Sasuke as soon as was saw that boy in the woods. I lost track of
you when we were running,” Ino said to me.
“But I was with you the entire time.”
“You were alone,” Ino said. “Or at least you weren’t with us.”
We stopped when we heard a series of snapping noises--like someone breaking
twigs over and over. It was coming from around the corner. Sasuke held out his
hand for us to stop before taking a blade out of some concealed area of his
body.
As he inched closer to the corner, I shifted my weight off of Ino and took a
step with him.
“Naruto, get back here,” Ino said, gripping my shirt. I twisted out of her
grasp and kept my distance behind Sasuke. When he got to the corner, I saw his
eyes widen and his face went pale. The blade he’d been holding dropped to the
ground and the raven haired boy sank to his knees with a look of utter despair.
As I drew closer, I started to consider the worst.
I stepped up beside Sasuke and took in the sight--the corpses littering the
alley. There were at least ten of them scattered about--men, women and children
alike. And they weren’t just killed--they were ripped to pieces by...something.
Sasuke’s breath hitched in his throat and I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder.
When he squeezed, I looked over at him and noticed his eyes trained on one body
in particular.
Sasuke’s cousin and Itachi’s best friend--Shisui Uchiha.
I parted my lips to say something--but what do you say in a situation like
this? He was just standing there--his eyes locked on Shisui’s face.
“We should tell someone about this,” Ino said.
“No.” Sasuke’s voice was still solid. “If we tell them, they’ll start asking
questions we don’t want to answer. We should leave and wait for someone else to
call in about it. They’d already dead, aren’t they?”
“How can you say that about--”
“He’s right,” I turned towards Ino. “We don’t want to blow our cover.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’ve got too many eyes on me, Ino.” If people found out I was anywhere near
here, they’d start making assumptions. “We need to leave--before whatever did
this comes back.”
The three of us started to move on. This district wasn’t very big. Once we were
out, we’d look less suspicious. Ino grasped my hand as we walked and squeezed
tight.
“We'll go to my house,” Sasuke said. “Crawl through my window and make our way
to the common room as if we've been in the whole night.”
“Can we stop for food?” I heard myself mumble.
“Naruto, this isn't the time,” Ino said as we walked. “We need to get you
somewhere safe.”
“Tch.” The noise came from Sasuke, but no other words followed. He led us
through the district on the quickest path he knew to his house and we were
standing beneath his window within ten minutes.
***** Chapter 8 *****
“Tell me where you went,” Tsunade demanded as she lowered herself to sit on the
edge of my bed.My only question in this moment was--how did she know I left
again? Sasuke’s plan seemed to have worked well enough for the rest of the
family, but she could somehow see through all of it. “And if you’re lucky, I
won’t say anything to your father.”
“You sound more like a second mother than a future wife.” I cut my eyes away
from her and tried to roll out of bed, but she caught the sheets that were
clinging to my body.
“I take on whatever role I need to in order to ensure the future of my clan,”
she recited, just as she had time and time again when we had arguments like
this. “You’re going to be my husband. And we can’t have children if you’re dead
in the trees somewhere!”
“Lower your voice, Tsunade.”
“And even worse, you dragged the others out behind you! What the hell were you
thinking, Naruto? Everyone could have been killed.”
I turned and the slap I delivered rang out with an echo in my bedroom. Tsunade
drew in a breath and let go of the towel so I could properly stand.
She really doesn’t know her place , a voice in my head said. Was it  my  voice?
It sounded like me--or was it  him ? Did it matter when there was so much anger
burning in my chest? This woman clearly had no respect for me.  If we’re going
to be married, she’s gotta listen .
“You won’t say a word about my business to anyone else,” I said in a low growl.
“Or what?” She glared at me with solid eyes. “Will you hit me in our marriage?”
“You wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. Once we’re married, you are mine
to deal with as I please.”
She shook her head and smirked shakily. “So, now you want me, huh? But only to
beat on....that’s no life for a wife.”
“If you listen, you have nothing to worry about.”
She pursed her lips and fell silent. My eyes fell to the part in her robe where
i could see her breasts almost perfectly. I’d never had as big of an
appreciation for them until recently. And right now they were looking so
delicious that I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering. And then she started to
sit up on the bed on her hands and knees.
“You should learn to just be seen, not heard.”
I fully expected her to give me some snide remark, but it never came. Instead,
she began to chew on her lip, remaining in the same position.
“If you want me to behave so much why don’t you tame me?”
“And how would I do that?” I stepped forward. I’d said it before--she was all
woman and I could only be tested so much. “Do you want me to take you before
our wedding night?”
That’s not what I’m--”
“Because I can.”
“You couldn’t.”
“Who’d be able to tell? Your husband?” I snickered. “It’s not like we both
haven’t been curious. Aren’t you ready for a man to claim you, Tsunade?”
“I’d hardly call you a man.”
“Don’t be a bitch.” I fisted her hair roughly and held her face close to my
crotch. “Show me that you appreciate me. This is the dick that’s going to be
giving you children someday.”
“Don’t remind me,” she replied as she struggled to get out of my grasp.
“Quit movin’ before I give you somethin’ to squirm away from.” I waited a
moment before letting her go and stepping away from the bed. I’d gotten what I
wanted out of this. She stopped yelling about us going over the wall. And if
she brought it up again, I’d figured out how to handle it.
 
~~
 
I’ll never forget the way my mother looked at me when the alarm sounded through
the village. It was only reserved during the most crucial of times--I’d only
heard it twice in my lifetime. Once was during Yamato’s rampage, and another
time was when a fire threatened half the homes on the South side.
There were four alarms total--they would sound off according to the area where
the threat was concentrated. And this time, it was coming from the direction of
the quarter we were in this morning.
Could this mean they found the bodies?
It would explain the alarms. It should be clear to any rational human being
that it wasn’t a mere animal that did that to those people. That wasn’t some
rabid killing by a random wildling, it was a full-on massacre at the hands of
some type of beast. And if something that dangerous--that gruesome--was lurking
the streets right now…
“We have to go,” my mother muttered as she gripped my arm, tugging me through
the crowd of people. She shoved the bag of groceries at me and told me to keep
my head low, don’t draw too much attention to us.
We made it home where everyone was already getting ready. The alarm meant a
lockdown. Everyone was ordered to find a place of shelter and remain there
while authorities swept the town for the perceived threat. That meant my dad
was one of them. And he wasn’t there when we got home.
“Minato  ordered us to board every door and window, two times over,” Ino told
us.
“Tch, what’s the point? If something wants us dead, it’ll find a way in,”
Sasuke spoke from his spot on the floor in front of the fire.
“Don’t be rude, Sasuke. We’re guests in Naruto’s home,” Itachi said and his
eyes rested on me for a moment.
My mind went back to the woods--with Menma. Specifically when he tried to trick
me into running away with him. He had Itachi’s voice when he asked--and his
face--and his smile. And I started to ask myself how sure I could be of
anything. He could very well be Menma. He could have gotten in here and no one
would even know it. Come to think of it, if there were others out there like
him, the whole town could be infested with him. They could just join a squad
and make their way into the village.
Wait...was that what Sasuke was talking about just now?
“You can talk and work,” my mother said, handing Itachi a hammer. “We have to
get this done quickly.”
And then we barricaded the house. With the lot of us--being me, my mom, Itachi,
Sasuke, Ino, and Tsunade--it took under an hour to get the whole place locked
down. My father left us two crossbows and gave Ino permission to get into his
collection of blades if we needed to.
“There’s one more window in the cellar that I want you to board up, Naruto.” My
mom handed me another board. “It’s the last one.”
“Right, I should’ve guessed it,” I sighed, taking the piece of wood and a
hammer. The idea of going down there by myself was unsettling. The cellar
always spooked me. Even as a kid. Sasuke locked me down there once on a dare
and forgot about me until after lunch.
“Would you like some company?” Itachi whispered as he stepped up behind me.
I shrugged one shoulder. “I can handle it on my own.”
At that, he smirked and took the supplies from me, stepping past me towards the
cellar door. “You say that, but I can see your hands trembling from here.”
 
“Sasuke tells me you all went out the other night,” Itachi said as he stepped
down from the ladder. “I’m glad you got back safe.”
“And he says I have a big mouth…”
“Oh, it’s not like I’ll tell anyone. You know I wouldn’t do that to you,” he
said with a warm smile. “Though I wish you would be more careful. You’re
precious to a lot of people.”
“Like you, I’m guessing?”
He laughed lightly at that. “If something had happened to you out there, I’d
have no choice but to hunt down the creature that did it. No second thoughts
about it.”
“And to think, this is all because you’ve been inside of my mouth?”
He snickered. “It’s because I love you.”
“Well, that’s unfortunate.”
“Is it?” He started pacing towards me, not stopping till my back had been
pressed against the wall. “I will admit, a man will do almost anything for the
person who brings him to the best orgasm of his life.”
I burst out laughing. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Why don’t you let me show you?” He questioned, raising his eyebrow. “You don’t
have to do anything.”
“You want to suck me off?”
“If I can make you feel even half as good as I felt, maybe you’ll see. What do
you say?”
What do I say? He was offering me a free blowjob. I couldn’t come up with a
clear answer. I knew what I should have said--I should have told him that I was
marrying Tsunade soon and that she was the only one I was interested in
receiving anything of that nature from.
But another part of me just wanted him on his knees already.
“We should get back up stairs,” I made myself say. “They’ll be wondering about
us.”
“Are you sure about that?” He questioned.
“Itachi.”
“Alright, alright. But I mean what I said--I love you, Naruto. And I plan to
show you.”
“Yeah, sure you do,” I rolled my eyes and walked back upstairs with him
trailing close behind me.
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