Unexplainable as it was, every muscle in his body failed to function. Adding on to that, his memory was hazy; nothing made sense. He didn't remember his white shirt being unevenly stained with red, nor the semi-sticky liquid touching his skin. The air smelt of sharp iron.

The sensitive hearing he achieved through training allowed him to hear drops of that liquid hitting the floor. One by one, he would hear the drips and drops. It continued to drain from the kunai he didn't recall swinging.

"What happened just now?" He barely heard Sakura ask, continued by a gasp. She sounded concerned, but that was all he could make out through the noise. The overwhelming noises all bundled together at once. It was as if his hearing became sharper, every little sound like a thunderclap.

The sobbing of the boy kneeling before him.

Every single drop of blood hitting the concrete floor.

The heavy, uneven breathing. But, was that his breathing or someone else's? It could be everyone's; he really couldn't make out where these noises came from. His bleary eyes did not make things easier.

The battle was long and tiresome. But why didn't he remember the moment this battle ended? All he knew was this was the conclusion of their fight. A limp body on the floor, Zabuza's body, was enough proof. The broken-willed child in all his loneliness confirmed there was no threat.

Once he knew there was no need to be fighting - there was nothing to be protected at the moment - Naruto's consciousness began to slip. His mental stamina, which was the thing that had kept him awake for that few seconds, was the last to falter. As it did, his eyes were at their heaviest.

Fighting back wasn't an option and before he knew it, Naruto succumbed to his mysterious sudden exhaustion. He could no longer feel the weight of his body at the center of his feet. Before he could register, he unwillingly let his mind rest.

From here, one would guess he saw nothing but the innocuous black in his slumber. Another would believe he was having a completely arbitrary dream. That was quite close. Naruto suddenly found himself standing idle, surrounded by nothing but pure white.

Without his consent, his hand reached out for something. A few seconds passed and his hand suddenly gripped on something warm. At least, that was the sensation he remembered feeling. Yes, he remembered, there was a man in front of him. The man had a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Tell me... who are you?" The man asked.

His lips moved on their own. He had answered this before. What was the answer he gave? What was it?

"I'm-"

Naruto's eyes opened. Deja vu hit him like a truck, but - at the very least - he noted there weren't any bandits trying to attack him in his sleep.

How many times has he seen this blank space? Only a few times, if he remembered correctly. It was a rarity when he saw the pure white instead of the black abyss. It was rare to think back on him and that question. However, the moments he did think back, it was proof. It was proof that this dream wasn't chosen at random. There was a reason.

When Naruto accepted that he was a monster, he dreamt of an abyss, of blackness. And in that empty space, a hand would appear accompanied by mockery and insults. The words would repeat until Naruto felt that he would go insane. And when Naruto started to have doubts about who he was, what he was, his dreams would serve to remind him with gore-filled nightmares that made him tremble.

Then, after he went through his acceptance and doubt, he would finally dream of that white space. Of that man asking Naruto that exact question in an almost comforting manner. And thus, the dream was closely arbitrary, but not quite.

"Finally decided to wake up, did you?"

Naruto wanted to give in to his desire to be lazy the moment he heard the voice of his leader-slash-teacher. He was sleepy; as if he had strained himself using too much chakra. But, he never recalled using too much, or what transpired for that matter.

A groan, one he'd been so desperately trying to hold back, left his mouth. He sorely wished to go back to sleep, but the other half of him managed to convince him otherwise. Truly, his long-lost laziness had come with bewilderment.

Naruto lifted himself up with effort. "Yes. Though, I cannot say I had a choice in the matter," he replied.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at his confusing statement. "What?"

"You said, and I quote, 'you finally decided to wake up'. I have not made any decisions."

Kakashi stared at his 'student' for a few seconds. He paused any actions he'd done prior to Naruto's statement and solely on scrutinizing the said boy. "Are you kidding me?" He questioned. "I can't tell if you're serious or messing with me."

"Both."

Kakashi shook his head. He was torn between being amused or being flat-out annoyed. "Having fun with your wordplay, aren't you?" He crossed his arms, "I guess I should be grateful you're not going Shakespeare on me anymore though."

At his statement, Naruto's face - jumping between a black expression and a poker face - settled with a poker face. He mirrored Kakashi's actions, crossing his arms across his chest. "That sounds tempting. Thank you for reminding me," Naruto said, a hint of amusement could be heard.

Albeit, Kakashi looked completely horrified, "What have I done?"

|•|

Time had passed speaking to his childhood friend - now teacher. He was told what had transpired yesterday. Naruto wasn't too surprised by what he had done. However, he had to say, his hands were pristine till the day before. Yes, hard to believe, right? That someone who was trained and forced to believe that they were nothing but a weapon for their village had taken no lives. Now, I have a kill count of one, Naruto thought absentmindedly.

It might have been a given to others. He was believed to be - miraculously - just another clean child-shinobi, but to those underground - those who knew who he worked for and who he was - it was... unexpected.

Albeit, considering he had easily said he would kill Zabuza and his previous actions, Naruto's teammates might have anticipated that he was a murderer. Truthfully speaking, he would be surprised if they did not think he was capable of ending another's life. He was aware of it, so why wouldn't they? It was the exact awareness that hadn't caused a shock in Naruto when he had finally done it.

He knew he could and would, eventually.

Especially, when taking into consideration what laid dormant inside of him. In fact, the whole conversation with Kakashi was focused on the mass of chakra inside him.

"I do not recall doing any of that," Naruto said, hiding the small amount of surprise. There was another feeling mixed with it, but he steered clear from it. His realizations on what his feelings were always seemed to... freak him out.

Those kinds of emotions were too complex.

"I see," Kakashi paused. His eyebrows were knitted together and his shoulders tense. "He took over your body, so it makes sense. But what's going on, is the seal not working anymore?"

"I must have borrowed Kurama's chakra in the desperate moment." The boy shrugged.

Confusion took over. "Kurama?" He repeated. His hand moved away from his chin and rested them on his knees. He leaned forward ever-so-slightly. "Is that-"

"It is his name."

"How do you know that?" It was physically visible that the man was jumping from thought to thought. He hummed thoughtfully and moved his arms about one more time into crossed arms. "Wait, come to think of it, you've been pretty calm the whole time. You're not even shocked that you were taken over by Kurama," he concluded, narrowing his eyes at Naruto. "How did you know the truth to the Uchiha Massacre too. Do you..." The words wouldn't come out easily and he was afraid that he would be right. Kakashi sucked in a breath. "Do you... still work under Danzo?"

Naruto averted eye contact. He was aware that his eyes were a giveaway. Adding on, he felt his expression falter. Nobody needed to see that distortion. Nobody should see that.

He swallowed. "It is not the first time this happened."

Naruto reached the bottom of the stairs and was immediately greeted by Tazuna and his daughter. The story he had told his Sensei had exhausted him a great deal, but he kept face.

"Good morning." He nodded, noting that the child was watching him from afar. He ignored the strange actions; the child wasn't a threat, after all.

It did make him wonder if he scared the child too much. Naruto remembered being unnecessarily violent. He was thankful that they weren't a client, ninja nor civilian from the Hidden Leaf Village. He would not like Naruto hurting just anybody.

"Are you feeling okay?" Tazuna's daughter asked politely.

"Yes, I am. Thank you for asking," Naruto replied, respectively. He bowed slightly before walking to the door.

"Where you going, kid?" Tazuna asked.

Naruto opened the door. He paused, took a breath in and breathed out softly. All the while, he hadn't glanced - not once - at the two. "I would like to have some fresh air after being asleep for such a long time," he answered and proceeded to step outside.

He closed the door behind him only to see a familiar face. He blankly stared at the boy before him, hands defensively balled into a fist. "You are--"

"Haku. I never told you my name before." Haku smiled, but it was a sad one.

A very bewildering thing in Naruto's eyes. In fact, it was more than bewildering. He had killed Haku's master - saviour - and he was smiling at him? Haku was watching him with grief-filled eyes. He was staring at Naruto with a certain softness that resembled empathy. A look conveying he knew and he understood everything then.

Simply put, Naruto's emotions were wreathed with shock. He could not even register his suspicions were correct when he guessed this boy was the fake ANBU.

"I... see," Naruto said.

Haku showed no sign of hostility or of attacking. As Naruto observed him, he noticed he was in casual clothes. A hand held onto a bag containing a variety of edible ingredients, both hands were occupied with groceries. Naruto's fists unclenched, relaxing his still recovering muscles. Haku raised his arms. Whether it was to signify surrender or to show Naruto the bags in his hands was yet to be determined.

"I volunteered to help Tazuna-san and this village," he said, proving it was the latter.

"I..." Haku paused, but he was not unsure of his next words.

Naruto could see his previously resigned attitude be replaced with determination. However, there was no mistaking that sombre smile. That was something Naruto could understand; rather, it was something he expected. While he found it difficult to understand human emotions, he could still guess when they would arise.

"... want to change," Haku continued softly.

He looked away and then went back to facing Naruto with the same sad smile as before. Naruto's face morphed into a poker-face; Haku's desire had caught him off guard. It was something new to the Jinchuriki. Something unheard of to him. Change? Why would he change? How? The concept was truly foreign to him and thus, he was left speechless.

"It was Zabuza's last wish, but I want to change. Not just for his sake," Haku explained, not aware of the impact his words caused. "And so, I do not hold any grudges. Remember what I said before?" He walked towards the door, but looked over his shoulder. One last glance followed by his final words. "I wanted to protect someone I hold dear to me and you did the same. I can't blame you for doing such a thing; I would be a hypocrite if I did."

With that being said, Haku went inside and left Naruto thinking. Time passed quite fast with all the knots in his mind turning and loosening here and there. He had his doubts about having their former enemy roaming around. Naruto held his chin in a thinking manner, but the gesture was odd with his poker face. Fortunately or unfortunately, going either way, his expression 'relaxed' into blankness.

"Is Kakashi aware of this?" He mumbled tonelessly.

More or less, at that moment, the aforementioned adult walked outside. The most likely reason he had stepped out was 'checking up' on his blond teammate-slash-student. "Look who's talking to themselves now."

"Did you approve of this?"

The comment fell on deaf ears. Kakashi shook his head. "Selective hearing," he murmured before taking Naruto's words seriously. Kakashi hummed with a nod. "We're not in the Leaf Village; the prisoner was technically captured by these villagers. It was up to them what to do with him," Kakashi explained, crossing his arms and staring at the sky. He then looked at Naruto, a smile under his mask, "So I just made a suggestion, is all."

"I have to say, you are very different to the by-the-rule Kakashi Hatake I knew." Under his nonchalance, there was a slight surprise. Looking back on the days Kakashi was assigned to watch over Naruto, it was difficult to believe he was the same boy that followed Naruto around. Naruto could only conclude that this man in front of him was not that boy anymore. He was a different person.

He felt silly not realizing this with all the signs. Kakashi was never late, he was never the sentimental type and he never smiled often as he did now. He was never the lax type either. Yet, there were traits that stayed and the habit of teasing each other never died out either. It felt weird to hear Kakashi laugh; to a certain extent, it was unnerving. The blond wondered if he would get used to this change he had recently discovered.

"I don't know what you mean," Kakashi replied. He neither tried to sound convincing nor tried to sound unconvincing. "Anyway, I told Haku to stay low and keep himself out of trouble for a while before becoming active again. He's stuck in the Land of Waves, but seeing how he's at peace now, I don't think there's going to be any problem with that."

Kakashi shrugged before gesturing towards the door. Naruto nodded, silently agreeing to go back inside. Kakashi stepped closer to the said door to open it, but he had words to share before that. "Zabuza was a rogue ninja, but Haku doesn't have any records. It will be easy to sweep this under the rug. I already spoke with Sasuke and Sakura. The village agreed on this as well."

Naruto had given up at this point. "How scandalous," he remarked with indifference.

Nonetheless, he had no objections. Naruto had nothing to say, because his conflicted thoughts were something he had to sort through. If he could not find this situation wrong or right - if he could not find a heavier weight of either pros or cons - what would he have anything to say?

There was nothing to say - absolutely nothing.

Kakashi scoffed. "It does seem like that, doesn't it?"

He opened the door and told Naruto to go inside first. Naruto did as told. His sensei mentioned something about having lunch together, but Naruto couldn't concentrate on what Kakashi was discussing. For that period of time, Naruto went into his own little world as he usually did. He felt every muscle burning as he moved. A migraine would come and go.

One word lingered in his mind. It was insignificant to some and significant to others. It was feared by those deemed incapable and loved by others. It morphed things into something different. And indeed, Naruto found it impossible. He feared it because he did not understand it.

Change.

Is that even possible? For inhuman creatures like me?