When Naruto woke up he knew he was back in his body in the real world, mostly because of the feel of the cold stone under him. He pulled in deep, wheezing breaths as he used his hands to push himself up into a sitting position.
His body ached more than he could ever remember it doing, and although the fire was no longer raging through him he could still feeling something moving around in its place.
When he finally opened his eyes the world was spinning, or maybe it was just his head. He couldn't think very clearly yet, the memory of the pain running through his now numb body was clouding his thoughts.
Yet at the same time he was aware of everything around him, the sweat dripping off his skin and hitting the rock underneath him.
The wind pushing its way through the trees and their leaves, whistling as it passed his ears. He could…feel, every living thing in the forest around him. He could feel the birds in the trees, the deer moving as a group not a hundred metres from where he was. Naruto could feel every insect in the grass and under the ground, he knew the exact number of every ant in three different colonies in the clearing around him and could feel as they worked tirelessly. A beehive hanging on a tree to his right, thousands of bees flying in and out in a constant stream.
It was all just so much.
Slowly Naruto started to calm down, pull himself together to the point that he could think somewhat clearly again.
If he stayed out too long one of his sisters might decide to check on him, and if they found out that he wasn't there they would go straight to their parents who would probably form a whole search party to find him.
That was the last thing he needed.
Slowly getting to his feet on legs that felt like water under his weight, Naruto was about to start making his way home when he noticed something odd. There was a smell in the air a delicious one at that, looking around he tried to find the source of the scent, his mouth beginning to water slightly. Finding the source his eyes locked onto the dead body of the hawk he had killed earlier, as his eyes locked onto the corpse he found himself slowly approaching the bird. At first he had trouble focusing on it, his eyes blurring slightly, but the more he tried to see it clearly the clearer it became. He could see a faint outline shimmering around the corpse of the bird, the outline was in blue an somehow he knew that that meant it was dead. Even as he watched an orb of light begin to force itself out of the body of the hawk, the orb of light slowly beginning to hover above the corpse.
Unknown to Naruto was the fact that his eyes were adjusting to the point they could see the life in things, his irises had turned a crimson red colour and his sclera had turned a dark black colour. When added to his usually thin and pale appearance, it gave him a distinctly unnerving look.
For about a minute Naruto had just stared at the ball, transfixed by the pale light it gave off, even as it shined in his eyes, unaware of the changes he had begun to undertake, or even that he had been slowly walking towards it.
Then Naruto was suddenly struck with a craving, his mouth dry as he licked his lips. He didn't know what this thing was, if it was dangerous or some kind of Jutsu he had never heard of, but there was one thing he did know. The pale blue egg made out of light was the most delicious thing he had ever seen, and he wanted nothing more than to eat it whole.
Slowly reaching out towards it, Naruto wrapped his hands around the orb and pulled it towards him.
As he brought it closer to him he began to giggle in delirious happiness, .
Bringing it up Naruto opened his mouth as wide as he could, not realising his mouth had opened to twice what should have been possible, and shoved the egg in. For a moment Naruto feared he was going to choke as he tried to swallow the orb of light, the orb however seemed to get stuck in his throat, but then he felt it moving and when it passed his windpipe the young blonde took in a deep breath.
Then he felt it.
The moment the orb hit his stomach, Naruto felt his chakra increase ever so slightly, a cold sensation spreading through his body as it seemed to dissipate inside him and add to his reserves. He felt as the new pathways he had just opened pulsed, and couldn't help the pleased sigh that escaped his throat, this was the first time in his life that Naruto's body didn't hurt.
He had done it, he had unlocked his chakra. Now his family would finally see that he wasn't weak, and that they would have to train him just like his sisters. He could be a ninja just like his father and protect the village.
Licking his lips Naruto opened his eyes to reveal that they had returned to normal, turning in the direction of his home he started walking towards it a slight skip in his step as he headed home.
By the time he had gotten home the adrenaline rush from activating his chakra had worn off, and the moment he reached his bed Naruto collapsed onto it and was asleep within moments of his head hitting the pillow.
...
The next day Naruto was woken up by the sound of someone banging on his door and calling his name over and over again, and though it took a moment for his mind to fully wake up he easily recognised the voice of his sister Erza and let out a groan.
He didn't hate his sisters or anything, though they weren't as close as they had once been. When they were younger he did everything with them, hell he would go to them if he had a nightmare in the night instead of his parents. But then they had started training and he was left out, and their parents refused to even consider letting him join them in the training.
That had been about a year ago and since then he had become…distant from both Erza and Mito. Not that either of his sisters actually noticed, no they were unsurprisingly too busy training to actually realise he was being left out of things.
It wasn't fair that they were being trained while he was being treated like glass, and even though they tried to spend time with him they were usually too busy with something to do with training. But that was going to change now that he had unlocked his chakra, I mean now he had access to his chakra he could train with them.
Then there was the fact he wanted to ask his parents what that weird orb thing he had swallowed last night had been. Though he had to say that the fact that he had done something so stupid as to unlock his chakra like that by himself did actually scare him looking back at it.
His back clicking as he got out of bed still dressed in the clothes he had worn last night, Naruto moved to the door and opened it. He was a little surprised to see that not only was Erza standing on the other side but Mito was there as well, both of them smiling at him.
Mito was the first to step forward and pull Naruto into a hug, though the blonde was annoyed when he noticed that she was being overly gentle with him. Still treating him like he was made of glass…
"Happy Birthday Naruto!" The two girls chorused as they smiled down at him.
It took a moment for the words to sink into his head, though he did notice Erza taking Mito's place and hugging him as well.
"…Birthday?" Naruto asked a frown of confusion on his face as he looked at the girls in front of him.
Both girls frowned at him, Erza stepping back from the hug so she was once again next to Mito, placing her hands on her hips as she did so, doing it in a way Naruto had seen their mother do.
"Really Naruto, you should get out of your room more often if you don't even know it's our birthday." Erza said a disapproving look on her face as she looked down at Naruto.
"If I had a reason to leave my room more often maybe I would…" Naruto said somewhat uncomfortably as he his eyes shifted between the two similar looking girls.
His comment was met with uncomfortable silence, both girls suddenly looking…guilty? Maybe they weren't as clueless as Naruto had first thought, they at least realised what he was hinting at.
But as quick as it came the moment was gone and Mito was bouncing on the balls of her feet and grabbed his arm, pulling him out of his room and towards the stairs as she did so, a large smile on her face as she uncermoniously dragged him downstairs.
"Come on Naruto get your arse into gear, mum and dad are waiting for us downstairs. Don't forget we still have to get everything ready for our party, everyone is coming." Mito said excitedly as she continued to pull Naruto after her, Erza running after them a look of disapproval once again on her face as she saw how giddily Mito was acting.
Naruto's face darkened slightly at the mention of the party, not that either of his sisters seemed to notice as he whispered under his breath.
"You mean your party…" Naruto said bitterly.
...
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