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The Naka River stands as it always has, massive cliff faces surrounding the perilous rush of water.
Naruto stands at the top of a cliff face and understands why people tend to avoid it. The hairs on his arms are standing on end and every sound is magnified in his head. Every chirp of a bird a scream, the constant sound of running water is like an avalanche
Naruto came here out of sheer curiosity and the fact that there’s no one that would stop him.
A cold breeze drifts past, which doesn’t make any sense. It’s only cold here, the air is freezing here, but nowhere else.
Naruto steps forward close to the cliff edge, crouching down and looking over the edge. His stomach lurches as he looks down, his head swims, his eyes burn and he reels back, panting. The drop is immense. At the bottom lies rushing water.
Naruto isn’t afraid of heights. Never has been. And yet…
Naruto pulls himself upright slowly. The few birds have stopped chirping and the cold air becomes oppressive, like a vacuum sucking up all the life out of the air. It makes Naruto stumble and he turns around, to get away because none of that is normal. Places shouldn’t behave like that.
Places can’t get the weather to change or ignite fears in people that had never existed in the first place.
People had said the Naka River was a strange place, and Naruto is now very tempted to believe them.
He turns around, ready to leave this place behind, maybe mention it to Sakura when he gets a chance, but he freezes in his tracks. The air around him is freezing and Naruto swears he can almost feel icicles forming on his skin.
A person stands before him, too skinny, too pale, dripping wet and gaping holes where his eyes should be.
The person’s lips twist to form some form of horrible, lopsided grimace and Naruto screams before he can think of anything else to do.
The person blinks like he can see even though there’s blood dripping down his face and nothing about this is right.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he says and his voice is surprisingly light and airy and completely not what it should be considering his appearance.
The person looks down at himself, as though he can see, and an incredibly sad smile gracing his features. "I am a little horrifying aren't I?" he says, but Naruto doesn't think its a question that he should answer.
"What?" Naruto asks, the rest of the sentence dying in this throat.
"What am I?" the person asks and when Naruto finally manages to hum in confirmation, the man smiles. "I'm dead. Here is where I died," he says, gesturing to the clip behind Naruto.
He goes quiet for a moment before he tilts his head back to Naruto. "My soul doesn't seem to be ready to leave just yet."
Ah. Yes. Makes sense. Naruto should have known that a literal ghost was here. Of course, what else would it be that made this location so unnerving?