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Disclaimer: This is a work that was originally written by Lord-Daegoth that he wrote in collaboration with me. I am reposting these parts so the Fiery Dawn story can be complete once more since he deleted his entire gallery.  I have made no corrections or alterations to his work and I am posting in the original form that he did.

Fiery Dawn Part 2

He shot forwards. He could see the man’s chakra system; it shouldn’t be too difficult to seal his chakra well. Naruki’s palm opened as he lunged at his Sensei. His hand edged closer and closer. The man, however, had already gone. He quickly struggled to right himself. There was no way on earth, or in heaven or hell, he was going to make an ass of himself in front of Tekkan by falling over.
He turned to see his teacher’s hand. He felt the air rush by as he cannoned backwards. Well, he thought to himself, being thrown to the floor was better than falling. His Byakugan scanned for the others, they were hiding. Well, no Uzumaki would ever hide.
He leapt to his feet. Only to find that Taurus had, once again disappeared. He was nowhere. The Byakugan couldn’t see him. He relaxed, that meant he was nowhere in range. He looked for the other two. Something was wrong, they too had gone.
He ran to where he’d last seen them, there wasn’t even a trace. Something was very, very wrong.

Ha! What luck, he thought to himself. The Uzumaki, son of the Hokage, was stuck. His pensive look cracked into a smile, he had to stifle the laughter bubbling up inside his chest. He looked at the seen through his blood red eyes, though they had already done their work.
It was complex, but he was sure he could do it. He let his chakra creep forwards to his target. Tekkan began forming the seals as his sensei was busy keeping Naruki under control. He felt it edge closer and closer.
And then it reached the black haired man.
Got him! Tekkan almost yelled with elation, but it was too difficult to maintain his control to do that.

Kimi looked at the Scene. Naruki, as always, was stuck, like an idiot. She didn’t know where Tekkan was, but considering how much pride he took in that his Sharingan had manifested so early he was probably trying to copy Taurus-sensei. She wondered if he realised copying Genjutsu had its limits.
For one thing, he’d have to copy the illusion itself, and Taurus would have to be something of an idiot not to notice that his own illusion was being used on him, especially since he knew so much about them. The second limitation was that Genjutsu took a certain type of person to do; it wasn’t something that could be picked up.
Still, if it worked they’d have a chance at snagging the little trinket he had. Not only that, while it was almost certain that Tekkan’s Genjutsu, if it worked, would only hold Sensei for a few seconds or so, Her shadow imitation technique was not so easily routed.
She checked her surroundings, her little traps that she had placed to make certain that Taurus-sensei had to come through the shadows to get to her. It was almost perfect. The only thing she couldn’t accurately foresee was whether Tekkan’s little plan would work.
Then again, if it didn’t, his temper that he had inherited from his mother, Sakura, would show itself. Combined with the fire technique that it was almost compulsory for every Uchiha to master, it was going to be rougher than sensei suspected.

He was really confused, he suspected that Sensei could move fast enough to get away from him, but there was no way his team-mates could move fast enough to evade his Byakugan. So what was happening? He sighed, maybe if he had paid more attention in class he would know.
But it had all been so unfair; he’d been given an impossible standard to live up to. Being the son of the sixth Hokage was no fun at all, everyone expected him to be an excellent ninja. The only one who didn’t mention his father when lecturing him about skipping class was Iruka-sensei. Naruki suspected that was only because he realised it was an impossible standard to live up to.
Not to mention most of the Hyuuga looked down on him, including Hiashi and most of the clan elders. The only one who gave him any praise was his mother. He felt so pressured into being the best ninja he could be, and he didn’t really care for it. Except to be better than Tekkan, that was a given.
Still, Neji-Sama had trained him adequately. He could use the 64-strike technique and he’d been making progression using the Kaiten technique, even if it was only a little. His mother had tried to teach him her defence technique, but hadn’t come to any success.
He found that his father had actually turned out to have easier techniques to learn. He’d mastered the shadow clone technique, hence his graduation from the academy. He didn’t know why, but his father had flat out refused to teach him the Rasengan until he was older.
He heard that Sasuke had also refused to teach Tekkan the Chidori too. He wondered why they weren’t allowed to learn those techniques, wouldn’t it be an advantage in some of the situations they were likely to get into as ninja?
Suddenly the world blurred in front of his eyes. He was stood out in the open still, he hadn’t moved. Taurus Sensei was stood, stock still, his face  amused and leaves were scattered around his feet. His Byakugan swirled across the entire area. He cursed, everyone was here, and he’d been caught out.
He took a brief take of the situation. Tekkan was hiding in the undergrowth, there were leaves scattered around as if blown by a strong wind and Taurus was immobile and impassive. It took Naruki a few more seconds to realise an odd shadow crisscrossed the leaves and led, eventually, to Kimi. He looked at her with something akin to awe. One thought echoed in his mind.
That is so cool.

He sighed. He was lucky. His hold on his sensei had been broken almost as it had formed. No doubt he had picked up on where he was hiding. It looked like the man had been about to turn on him when the wind had blasted out of nowhere, carrying thousands of leaves.
Sensei had dodged, but it looked like he’d missed out on the importance of the leaves. Tekkan had seen the chakra shoot out under them as the chakra imbued shadow stretched out underneath them.  He’d been grinning even as he was caught. Kimi must have impressed him, but then again, that trick had even impressed Tekkan.

Kimi smirked; she’d caught out the Jounin. She was shocked at how easily his one little misstep had put him at the mercy of her technique. He looked at her with a piercing stare as he spoke.
“Very good, it appears I am caught,” his venomous drawl hissed as the body disappeared in a puff of Chakra. She hissed, it was a shadow clone. She should have known that had been far too easy. Her eyes darted to her flanks, her rear and above. He’d gone, that was for sure.
She gasped as a hand clamped on her ankle and heard a dry, muffled voice.
“Earth element; Decapitation technique.”
Only one thought ran through her mind as she felt herself being pulled down, the soil rushing up past her legs, abdomen and chest. That one thought stayed with her as her chin came to rest on the sharp, leaf covered grass.
“Oh shit.”

Naruki grinned. The main advantage of the Byakugan was being able to pick up exactly where you’re enemy was at any given time. So he’d known that Taurus-Sensei was under the ground, in relative safety. Now he wasn’t, and Naruki was just in the right place at just the right time.
Now he could get that little statue they’d all been trying for. His hand shot out, open palmed, chakra flowing and smashed into Taurus Sensei. His grin broadened, no tricks this time around, Naruki had him. Naruki’s hand dived into Taurus’ pouch and his fingers grasped a small tiger statuette.
His hand came out with the thing in its grasp. He was too busy welling with pride to notice Taurus turn on him. He only realised that after his Sensei’s hand wrapped itself around his hand. Naruki’s eyes flashed up to see the older man’s. They seemed more amused than anything.
Naruki screamed. Taurus’ hand closed tightly, forcing Naruki’s hand to crush the statue, and the shards lacerated his palm and fingers. After all the training with Neji-Sama, his mother and father, this hurt more than any of the exercises they’d put him through.

Tekkan looked on, helpless as his objective, and any chance of him remaining a Genin, was crushed in the hands of his rival. Trust Naruki to screw things up. He was sorely tempted to come out of hiding and smack the blonde haired idiot who’d just set him back a year.
He watched as Sensei unclenched his fist, releasing him. The old man’s leg sailed into Naruki and smashed him upwards. He rose for a considerable distance before the force of the blow finally gave up its desperate struggle against gravity. It was almost sickening to see him beat that easily.
Especially since, even though he hated to admit it, Naruki was the only Genin aside from Kimi who could actually put up a fight against him.
Tekkan winced as something hit him from behind. He didn’t even need his Sharingan to realise that it was a boot that had roughly propelled him from the safety of his hiding place to the spot where the dazed form of Naruki lay. As the seemingly irritated head of Kimi glared at the both of them.
“you failed, all of you.” Sensei said harshly, almost hissing. Naruki struggled To sit upright.
“Why? You could have crushed that statue at any point, how could we have passed?” he demanded, his pale eyes flashing dangerously.
“simple. It was so you could learn. Every time you succeed, you believe you’ve done everything right, that there is no need for change. A ninja’s true strength lies in his ability to adapt, evolve and survive. This is the will of nature for every creature, from worm to human.
“Remember, you learn nothing from victory, but there are a thousand lessons in defeat.” He concluded grimly. Tekkan’s mind struggled, he could help but ask the obvious question.
“Are you saying that losing is better than winning?”
“No. While it is true there is nothing to learn from victory and much to learn from a loss, the reason for the lesson is so that you can win next time.” The man began grinning. “I’m going to enjoy teaching you three. There’s no need for you to go back to the academy, you showed me you could work as a team even though I suspect it was unintentional.
“But, with every action comes a consequence, so tomorrow when you find me, you’ll be doing hard work before your first mission starts.” He chuckled at them. “Go get yourselves cleaned up. The coronation starts soon and you won’t want to be late.” He told them.

Naruki looked at his bloody hand. It stung, he’d have to bandage it before he went, and he’d have to take his best clothes and his flute. His father wanted him to play; luckily his hand would be good enough to do so. He grunted; a part of him wanted the cuts to be deep enough so that he couldn’t play the flute.
Taurus would have got his just desserts at the end of an irate and excitable Hokage.

Hinata looked up as her son speed through the door, and straight to the medicine cabinet. Hinata slipped on her Byakugan, Naruki never went to the medicine cabinet if he could help it, the aesthetic needles terrified him for some unfathomable reason. In Hinata’s mind, anyone who spent most of their time practicing with throwing needles, which Naruki was becoming increasingly adept with, shouldn’t be afraid of injections.
Her eyes couldn’t detect anything apart from a slight abnormality of chakra flow in his hand, one that was a disruption of chakra caused by pain. Hinata guessed that he’d tripped or something and caught something sharp in his hand. She got up from setting out his clothes and walked to him.
“What happened to your hand?” she asked him lightly.
“Eh? Oh, I hurt it training today.” He told her innocently. She knew there was more to the story, but she didn’t think that it was an outright lie so she didn’t press the matter.
“I hope you’re ready for your father’s big day.” She smiled at the young blonde haired and violet eyed boy in front of her. She was glad the Byakugan didn’t throw the balance of looks, the boy had most of his father’s looks, including the whisker marks she adored, and she’d fretted slightly about whether the Byakugan would make him seem less like his father.
“yeah, I’m ready. Just let me get washed and change.”  He yelled as he ran for the small sink in his room. She sighed, her little boy, always rushing somewhere.

Naruki scrambled into his clothes. His face was red from rubbing too fast with the towel. He finally got all the little bits on his decent clothes into the right place so he looked his best. The long orange robe that his father had bought for him. He loved it, but it was getting a little small for him, he knew this would probably best the last chance he’d get to wear it.
The rest of his clothes were baggy black garments held at the waist with a folded orange belt made from cloth. He inspected himself in the mirror and nodded approvingly. He grabbed his flute and headed for the kitchen for a last minute snack.

It was annoying to stand apart from the others, he could spot several of his friends standing on the roof in the two crowds that had formed either side of the center line with only enough room for one man to stride down the middle.
Naruki knew he would stride, that’s just how his father was. You give him something to be excited about and he’ll take it to the extremes. Naruki had something planned for his old man, something that’d put more of a serious note on things. He had nothing against his dad enjoying himself; it was just something to cool him off. Even if the effort could be compared to spitting on an inferno.
The noise around him, all the chattering and laughing, died. He looked p at the entrance to the roof. The advisors had picked a decent time to coronate him, it was only around five O’clock, but it was winter. There had been little sign of snow but there rarely was in the fire country, just cold and little time lit by the sun.
This timing was impeccable because, as he rose from the stairway red light flooded behind him, the sun setting as he strode towards the goal that he’d set himself at childhood. His smile dazzled more people than the sun did though, Naruki noted distastefully.
He watched his father stride to the two advisors. The two were smiling happily. Naruki looked on as his father bowed to the two ancient people who had become so important to the village. As he rose, the two ancients took their turn to bow. It wasn’t elaborate, but, aside from the words to come, this was the most like an actual ceremony.
“Hail, Uzumaki Naruto.” The first of the advisors said, his old voice was weathered, but held firm and strong.
“Hail, the Sixth Hokage.” The second declared, her wizened voice radiating an aura of command. Naruki Grinned slightly as his father bow again and took the robe handed to him by the pair.
Then the bit he’d been dreading came. Everyone turned to him, the musician. Steadily he raised his flute to his lips and began to play. The first bit would be easy, even with an injured hand. It was a high, keening note that was meant to inspire sorrow. It would normally seem odd to play this as a celebration, but this was a ninja village, and many people died as ninja. It also played along to the sombre conclusion he’d come to a while ago, the realisation that you are born alone and in the end you die alone.
He let the pitch drop sharply and then rise again just as quickly. The note was still high, but it had lost the keening quality. Then he let the flute warble, its tone shifting constantly up then down then up again. The piece was coming to a happier phase. Unfortunately for Naruki, that also put much more stress on his hand.
Next came the really hard bit. The note had to vary a lot and it required a lot of quick and intricate hand movements. The pace continued to increase and Naruki desperately fought his instincts and the wince reflex. Finally, after seven or so minutes of playing, he’d decided that was enough. He’d played one of his best and hardest songs, one that both meant something and displayed his finesse as musician.
His final note lasted for a long time. It was a sloping happy note that seemed to almost sigh as it faded. Naruki let his hands fall, with the flute, to his sides and waited for the reaction of the crowds and, more importantly, his father.
There was a dead moment of silence which caused Naruki to freeze inside. His thoughts raced as adrenaline flooded him and his nerves went ballistic. He fought down the powerful urge to run, and banished it as a few began to applaud enthusiastically. Naruki looked at the faces of those still silent and understood.
All of them had glazed eyes and an unresponsive smile on their faces. There silence wasn’t of disapproval, it was a silence of thought. It looked as if those silent were lost in some memory brought to the surface. Naruki saw the very same look on his fathers face, and took particular note of the wet mist clouding his eyes.
Naruki’s heart and mind soared. This was better then the reaction he’d expected. He’d hoped to provoke some emotions from people, but not the kind which rendered people unresponsive in such numbers or such intensity.
He saw only one silent look which was not one of memory and certainly not one of approval. It was a baleful glare from a boy his own age. It was a boy from his own team. He saw Tekkan’s sharp eyes fixed on him. Naruki saw his team-mates lips move, but he couldn’t hear it at this distance, but from the motion of the other boys lips he knew what it was.

“Idiot.”

Description
Disclaimer: This is a work that was originally written by Lord-Daegoth that he wrote in collaboration with me. I am reposting these parts so the Fiery Dawn story can be complete once more since he deleted his entire gallery.  I have made no corrections or alterations to his work and I am posting in the original form that he did.

Fiery Dawn Part 2

He shot forwards. He could see the man’s chakra system; it shouldn’t be too difficult to seal his chakra well. Naruki’s palm opened as he lunged at his Sensei. His hand edged closer and closer. The man, however, had already gone. He quickly struggled to right himself. There was no way on earth, or in heaven or hell, he was going to make an ass of himself in front of Tekkan by falling over.
He turned to see his teacher’s hand. He felt the air rush by as he cannoned backwards. Well, he thought to himself, being thrown to the floor was better than falling. His Byakugan scanned for the others, they were hiding. Well, no Uzumaki would ever hide.
He leapt to his feet. Only to find that Taurus had, once again disappeared. He was nowhere. The Byakugan couldn’t see him. He relaxed, that meant he was nowhere in range. He looked for the other two. Something was wrong, they too had gone.
He ran to where he’d last seen them, there wasn’t even a trace. Something was very, very wrong.

Ha! What luck, he thought to himself. The Uzumaki, son of the Hokage, was stuck. His pensive look cracked into a smile, he had to stifle the laughter bubbling up inside his chest. He looked at the seen through his blood red eyes, though they had already done their work.
It was complex, but he was sure he could do it. He let his chakra creep forwards to his target. Tekkan began forming the seals as his sensei was busy keeping Naruki under control. He felt it edge closer and closer.
And then it reached the black haired man.
Got him! Tekkan almost yelled with elation, but it was too difficult to maintain his control to do that.

Kimi looked at the Scene. Naruki, as always, was stuck, like an idiot. She didn’t know where Tekkan was, but considering how much pride he took in that his Sharingan had manifested so early he was probably trying to copy Taurus-sensei. She wondered if he realised copying Genjutsu had its limits.
For one thing, he’d have to copy the illusion itself, and Taurus would have to be something of an idiot not to notice that his own illusion was being used on him, especially since he knew so much about them. The second limitation was that Genjutsu took a certain type of person to do; it wasn’t something that could be picked up.
Still, if it worked they’d have a chance at snagging the little trinket he had. Not only that, while it was almost certain that Tekkan’s Genjutsu, if it worked, would only hold Sensei for a few seconds or so, Her shadow imitation technique was not so easily routed.
She checked her surroundings, her little traps that she had placed to make certain that Taurus-sensei had to come through the shadows to get to her. It was almost perfect. The only thing she couldn’t accurately foresee was whether Tekkan’s little plan would work.
Then again, if it didn’t, his temper that he had inherited from his mother, Sakura, would show itself. Combined with the fire technique that it was almost compulsory for every Uchiha to master, it was going to be rougher than sensei suspected.

He was really confused, he suspected that Sensei could move fast enough to get away from him, but there was no way his team-mates could move fast enough to evade his Byakugan. So what was happening? He sighed, maybe if he had paid more attention in class he would know.
But it had all been so unfair; he’d been given an impossible standard to live up to. Being the son of the sixth Hokage was no fun at all, everyone expected him to be an excellent ninja. The only one who didn’t mention his father when lecturing him about skipping class was Iruka-sensei. Naruki suspected that was only because he realised it was an impossible standard to live up to.
Not to mention most of the Hyuuga looked down on him, including Hiashi and most of the clan elders. The only one who gave him any praise was his mother. He felt so pressured into being the best ninja he could be, and he didn’t really care for it. Except to be better than Tekkan, that was a given.
Still, Neji-Sama had trained him adequately. He could use the 64-strike technique and he’d been making progression using the Kaiten technique, even if it was only a little. His mother had tried to teach him her defence technique, but hadn’t come to any success.
He found that his father had actually turned out to have easier techniques to learn. He’d mastered the shadow clone technique, hence his graduation from the academy. He didn’t know why, but his father had flat out refused to teach him the Rasengan until he was older.
He heard that Sasuke had also refused to teach Tekkan the Chidori too. He wondered why they weren’t allowed to learn those techniques, wouldn’t it be an advantage in some of the situations they were likely to get into as ninja?
Suddenly the world blurred in front of his eyes. He was stood out in the open still, he hadn’t moved. Taurus Sensei was stood, stock still, his face  amused and leaves were scattered around his feet. His Byakugan swirled across the entire area. He cursed, everyone was here, and he’d been caught out.
He took a brief take of the situation. Tekkan was hiding in the undergrowth, there were leaves scattered around as if blown by a strong wind and Taurus was immobile and impassive. It took Naruki a few more seconds to realise an odd shadow crisscrossed the leaves and led, eventually, to Kimi. He looked at her with something akin to awe. One thought echoed in his mind.
That is so cool.

He sighed. He was lucky. His hold on his sensei had been broken almost as it had formed. No doubt he had picked up on where he was hiding. It looked like the man had been about to turn on him when the wind had blasted out of nowhere, carrying thousands of leaves.
Sensei had dodged, but it looked like he’d missed out on the importance of the leaves. Tekkan had seen the chakra shoot out under them as the chakra imbued shadow stretched out underneath them.  He’d been grinning even as he was caught. Kimi must have impressed him, but then again, that trick had even impressed Tekkan.

Kimi smirked; she’d caught out the Jounin. She was shocked at how easily his one little misstep had put him at the mercy of her technique. He looked at her with a piercing stare as he spoke.
“Very good, it appears I am caught,” his venomous drawl hissed as the body disappeared in a puff of Chakra. She hissed, it was a shadow clone. She should have known that had been far too easy. Her eyes darted to her flanks, her rear and above. He’d gone, that was for sure.
She gasped as a hand clamped on her ankle and heard a dry, muffled voice.
“Earth element; Decapitation technique.”
Only one thought ran through her mind as she felt herself being pulled down, the soil rushing up past her legs, abdomen and chest. That one thought stayed with her as her chin came to rest on the sharp, leaf covered grass.
“Oh shit.”

Naruki grinned. The main advantage of the Byakugan was being able to pick up exactly where you’re enemy was at any given time. So he’d known that Taurus-Sensei was under the ground, in relative safety. Now he wasn’t, and Naruki was just in the right place at just the right time.
Now he could get that little statue they’d all been trying for. His hand shot out, open palmed, chakra flowing and smashed into Taurus Sensei. His grin broadened, no tricks this time around, Naruki had him. Naruki’s hand dived into Taurus’ pouch and his fingers grasped a small tiger statuette.
His hand came out with the thing in its grasp. He was too busy welling with pride to notice Taurus turn on him. He only realised that after his Sensei’s hand wrapped itself around his hand. Naruki’s eyes flashed up to see the older man’s. They seemed more amused than anything.
Naruki screamed. Taurus’ hand closed tightly, forcing Naruki’s hand to crush the statue, and the shards lacerated his palm and fingers. After all the training with Neji-Sama, his mother and father, this hurt more than any of the exercises they’d put him through.

Tekkan looked on, helpless as his objective, and any chance of him remaining a Genin, was crushed in the hands of his rival. Trust Naruki to screw things up. He was sorely tempted to come out of hiding and smack the blonde haired idiot who’d just set him back a year.
He watched as Sensei unclenched his fist, releasing him. The old man’s leg sailed into Naruki and smashed him upwards. He rose for a considerable distance before the force of the blow finally gave up its desperate struggle against gravity. It was almost sickening to see him beat that easily.
Especially since, even though he hated to admit it, Naruki was the only Genin aside from Kimi who could actually put up a fight against him.
Tekkan winced as something hit him from behind. He didn’t even need his Sharingan to realise that it was a boot that had roughly propelled him from the safety of his hiding place to the spot where the dazed form of Naruki lay. As the seemingly irritated head of Kimi glared at the both of them.
“you failed, all of you.” Sensei said harshly, almost hissing. Naruki struggled To sit upright.
“Why? You could have crushed that statue at any point, how could we have passed?” he demanded, his pale eyes flashing dangerously.
“simple. It was so you could learn. Every time you succeed, you believe you’ve done everything right, that there is no need for change. A ninja’s true strength lies in his ability to adapt, evolve and survive. This is the will of nature for every creature, from worm to human.
“Remember, you learn nothing from victory, but there are a thousand lessons in defeat.” He concluded grimly. Tekkan’s mind struggled, he could help but ask the obvious question.
“Are you saying that losing is better than winning?”
“No. While it is true there is nothing to learn from victory and much to learn from a loss, the reason for the lesson is so that you can win next time.” The man began grinning. “I’m going to enjoy teaching you three. There’s no need for you to go back to the academy, you showed me you could work as a team even though I suspect it was unintentional.
“But, with every action comes a consequence, so tomorrow when you find me, you’ll be doing hard work before your first mission starts.” He chuckled at them. “Go get yourselves cleaned up. The coronation starts soon and you won’t want to be late.” He told them.

Naruki looked at his bloody hand. It stung, he’d have to bandage it before he went, and he’d have to take his best clothes and his flute. His father wanted him to play; luckily his hand would be good enough to do so. He grunted; a part of him wanted the cuts to be deep enough so that he couldn’t play the flute.
Taurus would have got his just desserts at the end of an irate and excitable Hokage.

Hinata looked up as her son speed through the door, and straight to the medicine cabinet. Hinata slipped on her Byakugan, Naruki never went to the medicine cabinet if he could help it, the aesthetic needles terrified him for some unfathomable reason. In Hinata’s mind, anyone who spent most of their time practicing with throwing needles, which Naruki was becoming increasingly adept with, shouldn’t be afraid of injections.
Her eyes couldn’t detect anything apart from a slight abnormality of chakra flow in his hand, one that was a disruption of chakra caused by pain. Hinata guessed that he’d tripped or something and caught something sharp in his hand. She got up from setting out his clothes and walked to him.
“What happened to your hand?” she asked him lightly.
“Eh? Oh, I hurt it training today.” He told her innocently. She knew there was more to the story, but she didn’t think that it was an outright lie so she didn’t press the matter.
“I hope you’re ready for your father’s big day.” She smiled at the young blonde haired and violet eyed boy in front of her. She was glad the Byakugan didn’t throw the balance of looks, the boy had most of his father’s looks, including the whisker marks she adored, and she’d fretted slightly about whether the Byakugan would make him seem less like his father.
“yeah, I’m ready. Just let me get washed and change.”  He yelled as he ran for the small sink in his room. She sighed, her little boy, always rushing somewhere.

Naruki scrambled into his clothes. His face was red from rubbing too fast with the towel. He finally got all the little bits on his decent clothes into the right place so he looked his best. The long orange robe that his father had bought for him. He loved it, but it was getting a little small for him, he knew this would probably best the last chance he’d get to wear it.
The rest of his clothes were baggy black garments held at the waist with a folded orange belt made from cloth. He inspected himself in the mirror and nodded approvingly. He grabbed his flute and headed for the kitchen for a last minute snack.

It was annoying to stand apart from the others, he could spot several of his friends standing on the roof in the two crowds that had formed either side of the center line with only enough room for one man to stride down the middle.
Naruki knew he would stride, that’s just how his father was. You give him something to be excited about and he’ll take it to the extremes. Naruki had something planned for his old man, something that’d put more of a serious note on things. He had nothing against his dad enjoying himself; it was just something to cool him off. Even if the effort could be compared to spitting on an inferno.
The noise around him, all the chattering and laughing, died. He looked p at the entrance to the roof. The advisors had picked a decent time to coronate him, it was only around five O’clock, but it was winter. There had been little sign of snow but there rarely was in the fire country, just cold and little time lit by the sun.
This timing was impeccable because, as he rose from the stairway red light flooded behind him, the sun setting as he strode towards the goal that he’d set himself at childhood. His smile dazzled more people than the sun did though, Naruki noted distastefully.
He watched his father stride to the two advisors. The two were smiling happily. Naruki looked on as his father bowed to the two ancient people who had become so important to the village. As he rose, the two ancients took their turn to bow. It wasn’t elaborate, but, aside from the words to come, this was the most like an actual ceremony.
“Hail, Uzumaki Naruto.” The first of the advisors said, his old voice was weathered, but held firm and strong.
“Hail, the Sixth Hokage.” The second declared, her wizened voice radiating an aura of command. Naruki Grinned slightly as his father bow again and took the robe handed to him by the pair.
Then the bit he’d been dreading came. Everyone turned to him, the musician. Steadily he raised his flute to his lips and began to play. The first bit would be easy, even with an injured hand. It was a high, keening note that was meant to inspire sorrow. It would normally seem odd to play this as a celebration, but this was a ninja village, and many people died as ninja. It also played along to the sombre conclusion he’d come to a while ago, the realisation that you are born alone and in the end you die alone.
He let the pitch drop sharply and then rise again just as quickly. The note was still high, but it had lost the keening quality. Then he let the flute warble, its tone shifting constantly up then down then up again. The piece was coming to a happier phase. Unfortunately for Naruki, that also put much more stress on his hand.
Next came the really hard bit. The note had to vary a lot and it required a lot of quick and intricate hand movements. The pace continued to increase and Naruki desperately fought his instincts and the wince reflex. Finally, after seven or so minutes of playing, he’d decided that was enough. He’d played one of his best and hardest songs, one that both meant something and displayed his finesse as musician.
His final note lasted for a long time. It was a sloping happy note that seemed to almost sigh as it faded. Naruki let his hands fall, with the flute, to his sides and waited for the reaction of the crowds and, more importantly, his father.
There was a dead moment of silence which caused Naruki to freeze inside. His thoughts raced as adrenaline flooded him and his nerves went ballistic. He fought down the powerful urge to run, and banished it as a few began to applaud enthusiastically. Naruki looked at the faces of those still silent and understood.
All of them had glazed eyes and an unresponsive smile on their faces. There silence wasn’t of disapproval, it was a silence of thought. It looked as if those silent were lost in some memory brought to the surface. Naruki saw the very same look on his fathers face, and took particular note of the wet mist clouding his eyes.
Naruki’s heart and mind soared. This was better then the reaction he’d expected. He’d hoped to provoke some emotions from people, but not the kind which rendered people unresponsive in such numbers or such intensity.
He saw only one silent look which was not one of memory and certainly not one of approval. It was a baleful glare from a boy his own age. It was a boy from his own team. He saw Tekkan’s sharp eyes fixed on him. Naruki saw his team-mates lips move, but he couldn’t hear it at this distance, but from the motion of the other boys lips he knew what it was.

“Idiot.”