Chapter Text
He was four and they kicked him out.
He was four and he was an orphan.
He was four and the Orphanage would not accept him.
He was four and he was scared.
He was four and he was hungry.
He was four and nobody would feed him.
He was four and there was boy with silver hair.
He was four and he thought the boy was an angel because the boy had smiled beneath his mask and offered him some ramen.
He was four and he loved ramen because it was cheap and it was good and it was the first meal he had eaten in a week.
He was seven and the mobs were outside his window.
He was seven and they were stoning him.
He was seven and there they were.
He was seven and they were Anbu.
He was seven and the man stared back at him.
He was seven and the man said he was Inu.
He was seven and he thought Inu looked familiar with such familiar silver hair.
He was seven and he wanted to be Hokage because the Hokage knows who Anbu were and if he were Hokage, he could thank them.
He was twelve and he was a Genin.
He was twelve and the man said. “I am Hatake Kakashi.”
He was twelve and Kakashi looked familiar.
He was twelve and he said. “I'm going to be the Hokage!”
He was twelve and as Hokage, the first thing he would do is find Angel and treat him to ramen and then he would find Inu and thank him.
He was twelve and Kakashi told him to eat his vegetables.
He was twelve and he had used his money to pay for rent.
He was twelve and he was hungry.
He was twelve and Kakashi offered him some ramen.
He was twelve and Angel became Anbu who became Inu who became Kakashi who became Sensei who became...someone important.
He was fifteen and Gaara was dead.
He was fifteen and he was angry.
He was fifteen and they were crying.
He was fifteen and Chiyo was kneeling.
He was fifteen and Gaara was alive, but Chiyo was dead.
He was fifteen and Kakashi’s eye was open and the Sharingan was spinningspinningspinning.
He was fifteen and he was exhausted.
He was fifteen and he knew Kakashi had seen it , had remembered it , but he desperately wished the man would never have to use it .
He was fifteen and he had witnessed death.
He was fifteen and he was lucky because Gaara was alive and if Gaara was not alive, he would have lost it, because he was a boy who could never handle death.
He was nineteen and he was attending a funeral.
He was nineteen and the Konoha Eleven became the Konoha Six.
He was nineteen and Ino was dead.
He was nineteen and Kiba was dead.
He was nineteen and Choji was dead.
He was nineteen and Shino was dead.
He was nineteen and Hinata was deaddeaddead.
He was nineteen and he would fight on.
He was twenty-five and the sky burned.
He was twenty-five and rocks crumbled.
He was twenty-five and Konoha was no more.
He was twenty-five and he couldn't remember how the forest looked before it had burned.
He was twenty-five and they were dead.
He was twenty-five and Kakashi was dead.
He was twenty-five and the Memorial Stone had become a mountain.
He was twenty-five and the Will Of Fire became ash.
He was twenty-five and he was supposed to be dead.
Supposed to be, but he wasn't.
He was twenty-five, and he was going to save the world even if it meant losing everything but that didn't matter because everything had already been lost and he was what was left and in the end, he was the everything that was left to lose. So he would go back, and fix it all and he would not be everything and the people who were supposed to be everything would still be alive.
He was Naruto, and when he looked up at the burning sky that turned red and seemed to cry, one last time, he wistfully smiled and wished to find the Angel and Inu and he wished Kakashi would kiss him (because he never did and Naruto bitterly regretted it now) and tell him he needed to eat something other than ramen.
Kurama laughed and told him he was such a dobe to never realize that Angel was Inu and Inu was Kakashi.
Naruto gaped at that, gasping desperately in surprise. “Huh?!”
He was still wearing the same shocked expression when he appeared in the past.