A Bloody Discovery

Cool gusts of wind blew as the voices of scared young teenagers carried through the leaf village's vacant streets, filling the dull air with quiet conversation. The big trees whistled quietly creating an ominous feel to the already heavy atmosphere. Although the genin were shaken up, that didn't stop them from conversing; so, meaningless dialogue continued spewing from their mouths.

"Walking down the streets with no jonins at night sure is scary don't you think?" Choji said, stating the obvious. Everyone silently cursed Choji for bringing back the scary atmosphere.

"Well no shit, but I highly doubt anyone in their right mind would attack a group of ninjas, our rank aside." Shikamaru reassured the group, easing the mood.

"Shikamaru is correct, that murderer seems to only attack people who are alone and in a weakened state. So logically they would have no chance against 12 trained shinobi." Neji cut in, nodding his head, obviously proud of his smart analysis.

"But like what if they do some crazy genjustu that knocks us all out and then.. they you know.." Ino contradicted. Sakura turned toward her nemesis, her face scrunched with fear.

"Stop saying stuff like that! You pig! You're scaring me!" Sakura shouted, attempting to mask her fear with anger.

As time went on so did their chatter but strangely, nobody took notice of the fact that Naruto had remained silent, walking slowly behind the ninjas. Not contributing to the ongoing conversations. The twisting the blonde felt in his stomach had only managed to grow since he awoke from hell. It had become more and more unbearable with every step, sharp pains shooting up his appendix. His breath had already become short and ragged, he tried to gain control of it but his attempts only ended in failure.

The blonde couldn't ignore the intense pounding in his chest anymore. It felt like his own heart was trying to break free from his rib cage, ripping through his flesh and bones. He cringed at the image, waves of similar memories flooding his tattered mind. He remembered the horrible acts he was forced to witness not even 3 hours ago. Naruto clenched his jaw, trying to rid the terrifying memories. Could this walk get any longer? The Uzumaki was drained, and the pain in his stomach was almost at the point of hindering his walking abilities. He couldn't bear it any longer, his jaw was clenched so tight he was almost sure it would crush his own teeth. He tightly balled his fist, needing some other form of pain to aid the growing feeling of what could only be described as pure hell in the pits of Naruto's stomach.

"Guys, you all down to come to my place? We just got some new baby puppies." Kiba asked the group, brightening the mood. The group was quick to agree, the only one dejecting the idea being none other than Naruto himself.

"I—I would love to go but, I have to get my laundry done today." Naruto strained, trying to conceal the pain that begged to seep through to his voice.

"Such a buzzkill. Didn't you say you were going to do it yesterday?" Kiba responded, rolling his eyes.

"Oh c'mon, you know Naruto, he probably got distracted eating ramen or reading scrolls." Ino added, throwing her arms in the air. The group chuckled in agreement.

"Haha yeah, got me there." Naruto attempted to laugh casually, but it came out more uneasy than he hoped.

"Okay, well at least let us drop you off at your apartment." Sakura probed looking towards the blonde. Naruto's eyes slightly widened, surprised by the offer. He shrugged his shoulders agreeing with Sakura.

By the time they arrived at Naruto's apartment complex, the blonde had reverted to the quiet shell walking slowly behind them, observing the cracks in the cement. They were all aware of Naruto's strange behavior; he's suddenly become reserved and quiet, his usually spunkiness gone and replaced with a constant anxiousness.

"Here you go, Naruto! I hope you stay very productive with your youthful laundry!" Rock Lee wanted to say more but was quickly told off by Tenten.

"Thank you guys, I'll catch you later." Naruto waved, slowly climbing up the rusty stairs. Almost as soon as Naruto disappeared from their view, The young teens started their conversation up again, Naruto being the subject.

"Naruto's been.. strange recently." Neji commented, his eyebrows darkening.

"Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed." Shikamaru sighed in relief. Hinata twiddled her fingers, worry plaguing her feelings.

"Yeah, I'm actually really worried. While we were on the mission yesterday he nearly passed out from what I'm assuming was lack of sleep." Sakura said, concern seeping from her voice. The group shared their concerns for the blonde ninja, Sasuke remaining silent. The Uchiha wasn't sure how to feel; he also wasn't sure if he had some role to play in Naruto's recent behavior. Sasuke would never admit it but he felt slightly guilty for leaving Naruto to fend for himself against that one guy. He was just so shocked that Naruto didn't do anything against him. The Naruto that Sasuke knows would never let that slide, he would've beat him to a pulp and laughed it off. So what changed? Why did he become some loser who's constantly depressed? He was supposed to be the opposite of Sasuke. So why was he acting like him?

"Yeah.. something's up." Sasuke muttered, breaking his silence.

…

Naruto staggered through the front door holding his stomach. The blonde had no idea what this pain was but he needed to find a cure, fast. He clutched the kitchen counter as he resisted the scream that begged to escape from his throat. Tears pricked the corners of his sapphire eyes as he fought against the urge to end himself then and there. There was a fire lit in the lower pits of his belly, his insides being scorched for unknown reasons. The blonde gathered his strength and slowly trudged towards the bathroom in seek of the half broken mirror. Once he arrived in the familiar space he hastily lifted his shirt, revealing black ink that seemed to be embedded into his skin. It had slightly irritated his skin leaving red marks around the ink.

Naruto instantly recognized the pattern. It was known as the eight trigrams seal, used to help seal away tailed beasts into their jinchuriki. He had become educated on it during his training with Jiraiya before the chunin exams. But why was it showing up now? It only ever revealed itself in situations where the fox's chakra was being used, or the seal was being tightened or loosened. The Uzumaki's thoughts were cut short when another sharp, stronger wave of pain shot up the boy's appendix. His limbs failed him as he fell to the floor. He clenched his fists drawing blood where his nails met his palms. To his surprise the pain lessened.

What he did next was blurry, he was so desperate to rid the pain he rolled up his sleeves and scratched at his arms till they were raw and bloody. Red, thick liquid now decorated Naruto's arm as the overwhelming pain in his stomach died down; the only ache remaining being the many wounds that now littered the blue eyed boy's forearms. He didn't care that they would heal within the next few hours, he would do it as many times as he needed to to get rid of that awful feeling.

As soon as the boy felt the pain fully subside he steadily arose to his feet, eyeing the consequences of his actions. The blonde was drenched in his own blood, his favorite orange jumpsuit now coated with a terrifying crimson. Naruto reached to get the gauze, cleaning up his wounds before wrapping it with the white fabric. He silently wiped his puffy eyes feeling a strange numbness overtaking his emotions. Carefully, he stripped of his clothes, dropping them in the pool of blood that lapped across his bathroom floor. Naruto quickly turned on the shower, stepping inside the tub. He stood quietly as he watched the blood slowly free itself from his skin, washing away with all the dirt and grime that managed to cling onto Naruto throughout the days. Grabbing the soap he gently scrubbed his wounds, ignoring the stinging pain.

Once he was done with his shower and fully clothed he put his two fingers together in a cross sign, summoning a shadow clone. He ordered the clone to clean up the blood and wash the jumpsuit, separately from the rest of his clothes to avoid staining. Naruto wasn't quite sure why this felt so natural to him, he had never done this sort of thing before; so why was there a strange sense of familiarity to it? He ignored the concerning thought and continued with his chores.

Grabbing some scrolls off the shelves, he decided he needed to keep himself occupied and catch up on ninja work. He felt himself falling behind long ago, but by the time he noticed it he was already too far gone to catch up. For some strange reason he felt motivated for the first time in weeks. Laying the scrolls down on the floor, he followed, laying himself on the floor boosting his head up with his hands.

Although the boy didn't even realize it himself, he had let himself slip into a depressive state months ago. Ever since Lord third passed something had shifted inside of Naruto. He didn't know how to properly convey how he felt so he didn't, the blonde never had a chance to let out the emotions he felt back then. It's sad to realize but Naruto never got better, he only distracted himself with other things. Training with Jiraiya, searching for Tsunade, those were all distractions from his mind and emotions. But now, Naruto didn't know where to put his mind. It was like he was the main character in a horror movie. He was faced with a terrifying situation with no clue what to do. Naruto didn't even know how to deal with his emotions, so how in god's name is he supposed to deal with a psychotic, murderous shadow?

A loud yawn escaped the ninja as his eyes darted right to left, reading the old scroll. This scroll's contents happened to contain information to perfect one's chakra control; which Naruto struggled a lot with, especially in his youth. So, as soon as the enthusiastic 8 year old saw the bold 'Chakra Control' etched across the outside of the scroll he bought it right away, unaware it would go 5 years completely untouched.

Sounds of the old washer machine spinning rang throughout the small space while Naruto continued reading through the scrolls information. The smell of pinsole and bleach had enveloped the room causing the boy to get strangely drowsy. He placed his head on the floor, messy blonde hair greeting the wooden planks. Placing the scroll in front of his face, he strained to keep his eyes open as he read over the characters. Before he even knew it the words on the paper had mushed together and Naruto's world had grown dark.

…

Pure bliss was the only term to describe how Naruto felt when his eyes opened. It was his room. He was in his room. The ninja could feel hot tears streaming down his pale face. It was over, the shadow had been caught and he would finally stop tormenting him. He could finally sleep without a worry in the world, he could go on late night walks without fearing for his life. The blonde brought a hand to his face wiping the many tears falling from his raw eyes.

Time had passed, the sun was setting. Naruto had successfully slept through the whole day. The boy laughed with new found excitement. He had never felt so relieved in the thirteen years he had been living. A celebration was what he wanted; he wanted to throw a party for the shinobi who had managed to catch that lunatic. Naruto decided the only way to show his gratitude would be to take them to the finest restaurant and treat them to the finest meal they had. The blonde smirked at his smart thinking and headed towards the laundry room to put in his new load.

He walked into his bathroom not expecting the attack on his nostrils. It smelt strongly of bleach, vinegar, and something else. He let out a groan, not used to the smell of so many different chemicals at once. Confusion plagued Naruto, his shadow clone had cleaned the bathroom almost 9 hours ago. Why was this smell so strong? It smelled as if it was freshly cleaned, 30 minutes couldn't have gone by since bleach was sprayed. Tensing up, he glanced around the bathroom not noticing any physical changes.

But, the blonde did notice something, something stranger..

The longer Naruto stood in the bathroom the more some different, more repulsing smell mixed in with the chemicals. He wasn't sure where it was coming from but he had to find it fast. Quickly he checked the shower, the toilet, and the sink. There was nothing worth commenting on. Finally, he decided to give up on the search and get his jumpsuit out of the wash. Naruto crouched down eyeing the dark glass, looking expectantly for his bright orange clothing.

No words could describe Naruto's expression when he opened the washer machine.

His vision grew blurry. This wasn't a hoax. The horrifying reality staring back at Naruto could not be denied. Those dull, vacant eyes piercing through his own. Everything the blonde had built up, crumbling down before him in mere seconds as he gaped at the lifeless, mangled body of Ebisu. The man was hardly recognizable, from what Naruto could see, Ebisu's head seemed to be detached from the rest of his body, tilted facing outwards towards him, his neck nowhere to be found. The rest of the Jonin's body was hidden, covered with a thick crimson that only allowed his head and a few fingers to be seen.

Slamming the door of the washing machine Naruto collapsed to the floor, body heaving with loud, harsh sobs. The Uzumaki attempted to get to his feet, his limbs refusing the order. Hunched over, he released a raw and heartbreaking scream. For some reason no matter how much he exerted his emotions the visitor in his washer didn't disappear. Naruto was stuck in this permanent reality with no escape.

This couldn't be real. It wasn't real. Yeah..he was hallucinating again! If he counted to 10 everything would be normal and completely fine.

"One…t-two…three—three…fou-" Naruto couldn't do it. His lungs were screaming at him demanding more oxygen, but no matter how much the blonde breathed in nothing helped. He couldn't breathe.

They would kill him. The council, Grandma Tsunade, Kakashi, Jiraiya, Sakura, Sasuke, Konohamaru.. What.. what was he going to tell him.. how..

Naruto's body shook in complete terror, he couldn't fathom how or why this happened. Was this his fault? Was he the culprit? No. Nononononono.

He was being framed. Oh my god. That was it. Naruto Uzumaki was being framed for murder. He needed to find something–anything to prove his innocence. Quickly, as fast as he could he stood up from the overly clean tiles and sprinted towards the front door shutting it behind him. Fat tears still ran down his face as he nearly tripped down the stairs.

He had to tell someone. If he didn't they would think he was trying to cover it up.. right? He was a victim in this scheme; they needed to catch the actual culprit before he strips anymore people of their life.

Shikamaru Nara would know exactly what to do…