FicWad

Naruto stared up at the ceiling of his burning apartment, wheezing and coughing up the blood he was choking on. His chest was marred by multiple stab wounds and every breath the child took was agonising. The fumes filling the entire apartment complex made it even more strenuous.

He wanted to get out. He wanted to live. But the loss of blood and lack of air made that nigh impossible.

The corners of Naruto’s vision began to darken and he coughed up even more blood as he sobbed.

Why? Why? Why?! Why did this happen? I didn't deserve this! I didn't do anything wrong! I don’t… want to die. He thought in anguish; it wasn’t fair!

It was one of his sensei’s from the academy who did this to him; the white-haired man shoved him to the floor when he opened the door, covered his mouth and stabbed him in the chest. Repeatedly. With a kunai; the man had a maniacal grin on his face and a crazed glint in his eyes as he did it.

He took great joy in committing murder.

And then he poured flammable oil around the apartment and set it aflame as he left, leaving him to die through asphyxiation or blood loss.

Where are the ninjas? Naruto thought to himself, tears streaming from his eyes as his breathing slowed. Where is Gramps?

I… I don’t want to die.

With one last exhale the light finally left his eyes.

-\-\-

The apartment complex was completely consumed in fire by the time the Third Hokage arrived with a contingent of shinobi. Shinobi were already on the scene, trying their best to put out the fire that seemed to want to keep burning. Hiruzen looked amongst the gathered civilians, searching for the child of his predecessor; slowly his gaze went to the burning building the boy was not amongst them.

No… No no no no no!

Not expressing his thoughts Hiruzen quickly commanded the shinobi who came with him to join the efforts in putting out the fire and keep it from spreading to other buildings before joining in himself.

He hoped, prayed, and pleaded that Naruto had not been in his apartment as it burned. The Nine-tailed fox may have been inactive since Naruto had yet to tap into its chakra but he was still Konoha’s deterrent to war. Their only deterrent to war.

Naruto may have been his adopted grandson, but he was a major reason why no other hidden village had declared war on them again. If they were to learn they lost their only Jinchuuriki… he shuddered at the thought. They were still recovering from the Nine-Tails attack twelve years ago; they neither had the manpower, nor the resources, to fight another war.

The fire had taken longer for everyone to put out, but the second it was Hiruzen was the first to rush through the smouldering remains once it was safe enough to do so. The other ninjas followed suit. The elder made a beeline for the floor Naruto was on; he ignored the smell of burnt flesh - not all had made it out before the building was enveloped - as that was less important to him.

He had to know if Naruto was alright!

He stopped in front of Naruto’s apartment door and came to an abrupt halt. He stared at the floor, his face devoid of expression.

Extending out of the ember remains of the apartment was a charred hand belonging to a young child. Hiruzen barely noticed when a shinobi and kunoichi came to a stop on either side of him.

With a snap of his fingers, the two were moving. Hands laced with chakra they began pulling the smouldering wood off the boy as carefully as they could. Hiruzen stared on stoically as more and more of the body was revealed; he inhaled sharply upon recognising the parts of intact clothing on the corpse. Most of it was burned beyond recognition but there was enough of it for Hiruzen to know this was his surrogate grandson.

Hiruzen clenched his fists so hard his knuckles went white.

Konoha had just lost one of their main defences against other Jinchuuriki; they had lost the son of one of their greatest Hokages, and one of the remaining descendants of the Uzumaki Clan.

Hiruzen was pissed.

“Take the body to the morgue.” He ordered the shinobi behind him without turning. As they carried out the order, Hiruzen felt the presence of arriving jonin, chunin and genin. He quickly set about ordering them to help search for more casualties and to have the entire area sectioned off from the public and to have someone investigate what caused this fire to happen.

He wanted an investigation into what caused this building to burn down yesterday!

-\-\-

She stared down at the scene from atop a rooftop. She has seen everything. From the boy’s murder to the apartment being set alight. It had brought up memories she had long since repressed; memories she had wanted to stay forgotten. Now those memories had resurfaced and it made her angry. As she watched the boy’s body being taken away by the grownups, she, in an act that defied gravity, floated up and flew after them.

She continued to follow after them and only stopped once they brought the body into a hospital morgue. If she were capable of frowning, she would have when the body was set on the metal slab like a rag doll. They had little to no care for this child. She waited patiently, watching as that old man from before showed up multiple times throughout the day. It was only once she was sure they were gone that she phased through the door like it wasn’t an obstacle, revealing herself as she floated over to the slab.

She was thin and tall; with a porcelain white face mask with blank hollow eyes, rosy red cheeks and purple tear stripes that went from her eyes down her cheeks. The mask had a wide-open smile with red lipstick painted on in an exaggerated pucker. Three white buttons were on her long, thin torso, and three spindly fingers on her rounded hands; she had white stripes on her wrists and ankles.

She was a security puppet. To be more exact a security puppet that was possessed.
She came to a stop beside the slab and held out her long hands. A present box appeared between them like magic and she set it down on the floor beside her.

“Give gifts, give life…” She said in a soft feminine child-like voice as she reached down to undo the ribbon. A firm tug later and it became undone, the puppet opened the top and gently took out a mask made entirely of metal that resembled a dark orange fox and gently eased it onto the boy’s head.

Once it was fixed onto him the puppet floated and watched as a metallic liquid spilled from the mask and covered the charred corpse from head to toe.

-\-\-

Naruto looked around the black void. Truth be told, when he died he was expecting the afterlife to be a little… more than this. He was expecting something of a wasteland with lava rivers and a red sky. A void that stretched as far as the eye can see though? That was the last thing he was expecting.

“...If this is the afterlife then I am very disappointed.” He said aloud. Naruto frowned feeling surprisingly calm after being murdered by-

“Mizuki…” He growled anger welling up inside of him at the mere thought of that man walking around scott-free. “If I find a way out of this I’m going to do my damned best to haunt you! No fuck haunting you! I’ll find a way to kill you!”

His ranting came to an abrupt stop when a glimmer of light caught his eye. He looked, squinted, and felt a… tug? He frowned; it felt like it was calling to him. Was it a way out of here?

“...To hell with it. What do I have to lose.” He walked towards the light; the closer he got the more he heard something emitting from it. It sounded a lot like music; like one you would hear from a musical box. It was soothing. Calming even. Eventually, he stood in front of the light; it was small. Tiny. The size of his palm tiny.

He raised a hand as if to touch it, then hesitated. Should he do this? He had no idea what would happen if he were to touch it. But then he reminded himself: he had nothing left. He was dead. He had nothing to lose anymore.

With that thought he threw caution to the wind and touched it. Naruto closed his eyes tight when his vision was overcome with a blinding flash of light. And then he felt his entire being sucked through it.

-\-\-

Almost an hour had gone by and the Puppet had been keeping an eye and ear out for anyone that would come into the room. Luck was on her side since no one did. Within that time Naruto’s charred corpse was replaced by an animatronic fox, a metal endoskeleton and all that was seven feet tall. The twelve-year-old boy’s new body had a burnt orange and olive underbelly colour palate, sharp metal claws on his hands and feet, and razor-sharp teeth.
The puppet nodded to herself. She was sure this would work. That he wanted to be alive again. That he would come back. The remnant possessed the metal that encased him. All that needed to happen now was for her to wait and see if his will to live was strong. And she had a pretty good feeling that it was.

She was proven right when the robot began to twitch. Not wanting to be anywhere near within striking distance the puppet quickly floated back and kept watching.
The animatronic fox stilled… and Naruto opened his eyes and sat up with a gasp.
“What… where… the hell?!” He said looking confused at first, then perplexed at his voice sounding like he was speaking through a speaker, then frightened when he finally took in his new appearance.

“What the hell happened to me?!” He cried out as he looked himself over with increasing distress. He didn’t see a human body but one made of metal!

“You died.” Naruto froze at the unexpected answer and slowly he turned in the direction it came from and found the floating puppet staring at him just out of arms reach. “And I brought you back.”

“Who are you? What are you?”

“I’m Charlie. As for what I am, I am a security puppet. An animatronic, or robot, if you want to be more specific.”

Naruto looked at her. “You expect me to believe a robot brought me back to life?” He asked deadpanning.

Charlie giggled, “I never said I was a normal robot. You’re like me now.”

“Like you…?” Naruto questioned with squint eyes, looking and sounding confused. He looked down at himself. He couldn’t see how he could be like her. He was murdered and brought back to life by, if his hunch was right, possessing a-

Suddenly, Naruto looked at Charlie with wide eyes.

“You mean you’re-”

“Possessing a robot like you? Yes.” Charlie then asked, “What do you remember?”

Naruto narrowed his eyes, “I remember being stabbed. It was hard to breathe and it wasn’t just because of the smoke.” As he recounted his death Naruto steadily grew angrier and angrier.

“I see.” Charlie then floated to him and gently took his hand in hers and looked him in the eyes. “Would you like to get revenge?”

Naruto gave her a baffled look, “What?”

“Revenge. You were unjustly killed. Do you want to get revenge?”

Naruto said nothing. Then he nodded.

“I do. But not just on him.”

“Oh?”

“Out of everyone in this place, I can count on one hand how many people treated me as if I existed. Everyone else never paid attention to me and acted as if I didn't exist. Whenever they did it was to make sure I knew I wasn’t welcome. Even others my age were told to stay away and ignore me! And there were times I could hear them wishing I was dead behind my back for no reason! It was torture! And it was like that every god damned day!”

If Charle was capable of it she would have been doing a lot more than frowning. Having to endure that day after day would make anyone angry. It would drive a lesser person nuts. She should know. She had intimate knowledge of what that was like after being murdered by her father’s friend, William Afton, and possessing the puppet after dying.

She spent many years alone that it almost drove her insane; but there was one thing that kept her sane: stopping her murderer from killing more children. She failed in that goal many, many times but it kept her from going insane.

Charlie went over and hugged him tight, pulling Naruto out of his destructive thoughts. “Do you want help?”

“...Is that an offer?” He asked subdued by the hug.

“Yes.”

“...I would like that.” Pulling away from the hug and nodding Charlie took his hand again and guided him out of the morgue. He allowed her to guide him without protest.

-\-\-

One Day Later

Naruto’s death had been leaked and many residents in Konoha were overjoyed that the boy thought to be the Nine-tails reincarnated was gone from their lives forever. Many people had parties to celebrate the event. The Third Hokage took exception to this. He ordered his ANBU to track down the ones who leaked the information and to permanently silence them.
Then he called a council with the most powerful shinobi and civilians to his council room to ensure they all knew the side effects and ramifications of any news reaching the other hidden villages.

The elderly man had his back to them and was glaring a hole into the wall.

“I have called this meeting to order.” Hiruzen’s voice rose above the near-silent muttering among the individuals in the room, silencing everyone. His voice was different. It was firm. Imposing. It was no secret that the elder was fond of Naruto and that the boy thought of the man as his grandfather figure.

“Yesterday, an incident occurred that led to a major loss to not only our military defence but also a blow to the Fourth Hokage’s memory.” Slowly he turned and pinned everyone in place with his cold eyes. “The apartment complex where our only Jinchuuriki lived was set on fire. There have been ten casualties, with our Jinchuuriki, our only Jinchuuriki, counted amongst them. As of yesterday, an ongoing investigation is being conducted in search of foul play.”

“Lord Hokage-”

“Be. Silent.” His tone was as cold as the Land of Snow. “Yesterday, I learned the fire was deliberate. It was discovered during post-mortum that Naruto had been stabbed no less than fifteen times. He was murdered. And the apartment building set alight to burn away any evidence. And our people are celebrating his death as if it were a gift from the kami!”
Hiruzen paused momentarily and slowly looked at the assembled men and women before him. “Now. Allow me to explain to you all what is most likely to happen if news of our Jinchuuriki’s death were to ever reach the ears of the other Kages: a Fourth Shinobi World War.”

Everyone in the room was old enough to remember the last war. A few others were old enough to remember the war before that one.

“Now I have things I want to be done: first off, I want our counterintelligence to prevent any information on the death of our Jinchuuriki from reaching the other Kages. Two, I want teams of shinobi to investigate the leak and plug it. Three I want a dedicated team to investigate the death of Naruto Uzumaki.”

He didn't inform them that his corpse was missing from the morgue, because he was completely unaware of it.

-\-\-

Meanwhile, at the ninja academy, many would-be shinobi and kunoichi were making their way to class. The news of the building Naruto stayed in having burnt down, and the rumour of Naruto himself along with nine others having died in the fire, was the talk of the day. While many people mourned the deaths of the victims, barely anyone batted an eye at Naruto’s demise; his death hadn’t affected them - many were glad or hoping that the rumours were true.

No one knew him that well. All they knew of Naruto was that he was the annoying kid their parents told them to stay away from. Even Hinata, who was crushing on the boy, stayed away from him not because she was told to do so, but because she didn't have the courage or self-esteem to go and talk to him without fainting.

She even followed - or stalked depending on who was asked - him around without him knowing. Out of everyone she was the one most devastated by the rumours and was hoping, praying, that the rumours weren’t true.

“It’s hard to believe Naruto’s dead.” Kiba Inuzuka said, having fully believed the rumours.

“Troublesome…” Muttered Shikamaru Nara; he stared up at the ceiling with a bored look, “It’s just a rumour Kiba; it’s probably untrue.”

“Untrue? I’ve heard people say some ninjas had taken his body to the morgue!”

They heard a scoff behind them, “Who cares if that idiot is probably dead? He was loud and annoying and I’m hoping he died!” Said a sneering Sakura. As someone who had to sit next to Naruto, and endure his stupidity and his constant attempts to ask her out on a date, she was more than fed up with him.

“Sakura!” The pinkette in question looked to her left to find her friend/rival Ino Yamanaka staring at her with shocked wide eyes, “That was uncalled for doncha think?!”

Sakura just scoffed, “Uncalled for? I’m stating the truth! All of us thought he was annoying and an idiot. I bet many of us here are hoping the rumours would be true.”

“I don’t want him to die though!” Sakura just shrugged dismissively. She didn't understand why Ino was getting all worked up about all this; she didn't like the blond - in fact, she found him to be incredibly annoying.

“Sure you don’t.”

“Hey! Naruto may have been loud and annoying but hoping he’s died in the fire is taking things a little too far doncha think?!”

“Whatever. As long as he’s gone I’m happy.” Sakura said callously much to Ino’s disgust. How can Sakura be so… so… heartless?!

“Troublesome… Naruto may have been loud and annoying but he wasn’t all that bad once you got to know him.”

“Yeah! And wishing he died Sakura? Really?”

“Don’t tell me you care about that idiot Kiba.”

“Look, Naruto may have been loud and annoying but once you got to know him he was an alright dude. And I at least tried to get to know him. Unlike some people in our class.” The Inuzuka gave both Sakura and Ino a pointed look.

Shikamaru let out a tired sigh, “As troublesome as it is to admit, Kiba has a point: once you got to know him Naruto wasn’t all that bad.”

“C’mon, everyone, enough of this sombre talk,” Said Choji Akimichi, a big-boned kid who was eating from a massive bag of chips. “Let’s talk about something that doesn’t revolve around what happened yesterday?”

Kiba frowned thoughtfully and looked around, “Alright, you wanna talk about something else? Okay then: has anyone seen Shino?” He asked upon noticing the boy wasn’t around.

Happy with the subject change Shikamaru was more than happy to answer, “I heard from Shino himself that he wasn’t coming in today. Something about helping his parents integrate a new colony into him. He didn't go into detail.”

Kiba nodded in acknowledgement; while he didn't know how the Aburame clan could utilise bugs in their jutsus, he knew enough that the bugs were important to them. So this integration had to be pretty important for him to take a day off.

Eventually, they all got to their classroom and went inside only to come to an abrupt stop when they found a seven-foot-tall fox animatronic sitting in Naruto’s seat. It was slumped over the desk and its hands were almost touching the floor. Immediately Shikamaru began to analyse it from head to toe, taking in every detail from its sleek body, its clawed hands and feet, to how advanced it looked.

It was unlike anything he had seen before.

“Wha-what is that thong?” Ino asked the question that was on everyone’s minds.

“I dunno but it looks like some kind of advanced puppet.” A squint-eyed Kiba stated.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes as he stared at it. He could’ve sworn he saw that thing move, “We should go and wait outside for Mizuki and Iruka to come before we do anything.” He advised and the others were quick to agree and left the classroom to wait for their teachers to arrive.

As he left the room Kiba scrunched up his face when he smelt something foul in the air, “Uuuugh…. Does anyone smell that?”

When the door closed with an audible click Naruto opened his eyes and looked towards the door as he straightened up. His eyes, a vibrant blue, glowed with light as he stared at the door. Feeling a presence he looked ahead and found Charlie floating in front of the desk staring at the door.

“Are they the ones Naruto?” She asked, her voice in a tiny whisper to not alert the others outside. Naruto told her his name since, in his words, it wasn’t fair that he knew her name and she didn't know his.

“Yeah, they are.” He whispered back.

“I see.” Naruto knew from her tone that Charlie was frowning. Turning she looked at him, the hollow of her eyes now having eyes that were practically tiny white pinpricks. “The others are in place. Just give the word and I’ll give the signal.”

The others she was referring to were other animatronics like her. Children who were murdered and brought back to life by Charlie. At first, they were reserved and almost downright dismissive of Naruto’s presence and Charlie’s offer. They had found peace after finally giving William Afton his just deserts, so why should they help someone they don’t even know?

Their minds were quickly changed upon learning he was murdered by an adult, and how he was treated when he was alive. And just like that their reservations were thrown out the window, and came out of ‘retirement’ to help him get revenge. With them wanting to help Charlie gave them their animatronic bodies back, albeit with some major major upgrades compared to the ones they used to haunt. While they somewhat resemble their original robot shells, they were sleeker, stronger, mobile and aesthetically pleasing.

Naruto’s ear twitched and he quickly looked at the door. Then he quickly slumped over the table and closed his eyes. Charlie, knowing that they were about to have more… guests quickly sunk into the floor.

The door opened moments later and two men entered the classroom. The first man who walked in had shoulder-length white hair covered with a bandana; an emblem of a spiralling leaf was on the front. He was garbed in a long-sleeved white with a green flak jacket worn over it; a pair of matching coloured trousers finished the look.

The other man that walked in had dark hair done up in a ponytail and a scar ran across the bridge of his nose. His attire consisted of a forehead protector, a dark-blue long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves partially rolled up a pair of matching coloured trousers, shin-length toeless boots and a green flak jacket.

As the door opened, Naruto heard one of his classmates say, “I’m telling you the truth Iruka-sensei! There’s a giant robot sitting where that idiot would be!”

“Sure there is,” the scarred man said dismissively, “Like I’m going to fall for your tricks. Everyone get in..side…” he trailed off upon turning around and finding the robotic bipedal fox seated in Naruto’s seat, slumped over the table.

Iruka rubbed his eyes to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on him. The robot was still there.

“...Mizuki are you seeing this?”

The man in question just nodded, looking just as surprised as he was. “I’m seeing it. What’s it doing here?” Mizuki asked rhetorically; he couldn’t help but wonder why it was sitting in that demon brat’s seat of all seats.

Just as Iruka was about to answer, the sound of a phone ringing made everyone jump. Iruka and Mizuki immediately found the sound was originating from the desk. A cordless phone that had, up until this point, gone unnoticed.

Iruka and Mizuki both exchanged looks, confusion evident on their faces. There was never a phone in their classroom.

“Should… one of us answer it?” Just as Mizuki asked the phone suddenly stopped ringing. Then what happened next surprised everyone.

“Hello? Is this thing working?” Questioned Naruto and what puzzled everyone was how his voice had a static-like tint to it. “It is? Oh good! Ahem! If you’re hearing this message, then that means I’m dead. Hahahaha! Congratulations, you all got rid of me at long last. I hope you’re all happy.”

“I hope you’re dead you moron, because if this is another one of your stupid pranks I swear I’ll beat you so hard you’ll be wishing you died!” Sakura swore with a fed-up growl.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence as quite literally everyone stared at Sakura.

“...You had better watch your mouth Sakura…” Said Naruto from the phone. Everyone jumped when the robot suddenly moved. It straightened up, turned around and stood up giving Sakura a vicious glare, “...After all, it would be a damn shame if you were to die because of it.”

Everyone was staring at the robot with wide eyes because it was speaking with Naruto’s voice. Kiba made a face when he smelt that foul smell again and covered his nose, hacking and coughing.

“What’s the matter Kiba?” Naruto asked as he tilted his head, “Do you smell something bad? Something… foul?” He leaned forward and his tone went down to a dangerous pitch, “Something burnt?”

Feeling fed up with what she was assuming to be just another prank of his Sakura let out a loud dismissive scoff, “Shut up you idiot! You’re just taking advantage of the rumours around you dying in the fire from yesterday! And this stupid prank of yours is going too far! I swear if you don’t stop and show yourself, you’ll regret it!”

By the end of her little tangent, everyone was looking at Sakura as if she were stupid, had a death wish, or that she should just close her mouth.

“You still think I’m alive?” Naruto tilted his head again, “Then allow me to… correct that notion.” As everyone wondered what he meant by that, they were shown it by a hatch opening on his stomach and inside they found Naruto’s corpse, charred almost beyond recognition curled inside of it. They were able to recognise it was him because the eyesore of a jumpsuit he wore was partially recognisable.

Iruka and Mizuki both steeled their nerves at the gruesome sight. It wasn’t the first time they had seen a body burned beyond recognition. But Mizuki, having caused it, was secretly proud of himself for killing the demon brat. But the fact he was still alive in some manner through this machine pissed him off, though he kept it from showing.

The others, however, immediately looked away, gagging and coughing as their stomachs threatened to upchuck their breakfasts. Once they had gotten a good look, the stomach hatch sealed up again and Naruto grinned.

“As you all see I am thoroughly dead.” Straightening his head Naruto stared them all down, “Now, I bet you all are wondering, ‘If he’s dead then how is he here?’ Y’see, it’s an interesting story. One that involves this robot I’m possessing. But I’m not going to bother you with the details. It’s not that important. What IS important, however, is this: I’m going to count to five and then I’m going to kill you. One.”

“Naruto you can’t be serious!” Iruka protested.

Naruto immediately pinned the scared man with a glare, “Can’t I? After all I’ve endured from everyone? From being ignored to being called names behind my back? For twelve fucking years!? Two!”

“Naruto, think about what you’re planning to do! You don’t have to do this!” Being the smartest person in the room Shikamaru was fully aware of how serious Naruto was being.

“You’re right about that, Shikamaru. About me not having to do this, that is. But here is the truth: I want to do this. Three!” Too bad for them he was dead set on this. Nothing they can say will make him change his mind.

“N-N-Naruto, quiet playing around. This isn’t funny.” Said Sakura; she now had a nervous look on her face as she could finally tell how serious he was being.

“What’s the matter, Sakura? Where is all that bravado you had earlier? Weren’t you hoping that I died? Oh yes, I heard everything you said earlier. My new ears have really good hearing. Four!”

“Enough of this!” Sasuke Uchiha shouted out, separating himself from the group and bravely - stupidly - dashed forward to attack him. The twelve-year-old was confident he could take him on; robot or not, this was still the dope - someone he always beat down and this wouldn’t be any different!

He was proven hilariously wrong when Naruto, like a viper, leaned down and caught Sasuke by the wrist. The young boy looked at Naruto with an I dun goofed expression and Naruto, likewise, looked down at him with a very amused one of his own.

“Thank you for choosing to be my first victim Sasuke.” Then he grabbed the boy by the face with his free hand and Sasuke immediately struggled in an attempt to break free from his grasp, “Five!”

Sasuke screamed in agony when Naruto began squeezing his head with the intent of crushing his skull like a grape. Iruka was quick to act before that could happen, throwing several kunai and shuriken at the robotized Naruto. He grunted, surprised when the thrown and deadly sharp objects struck his metal chassis and rebounded off him. In his surprise he let Sasuke go who stumblingly ran away from him the second he was let go, with his hands clutching his face.

By this point only Mizuki and Iruka were in the classroom, the others having left shortly after Sasuke stupidly tried to attack a seven-foot-tall metal robot. Naruto glared at the scarred and with a growl grabbed onto a table and with a loud crack and snap pulled it out of the ground and threw it at the chunins with an animalistic roar.

Both Iruka and Mizuki dodged the thrown table and as it shattered against the wall they ran out of the room, with Iruka slamming the door shut behind him.

“Mizuki, you go warn the Hokage!”

“And tell him what? That Naruto came back to life and is possessing a robot?!”

“I don’t know! Just get him-!” Iruka was cut off when Naruto’s fist broke through the door and grabbed him by the throat; the door was broken even more when the man was bodily pulled back in through the door itself, his feet kicking in an absolute panic.

“No! Wait, Naruto! Don-” There was the sound of metal on skin and Iruka’s panicked cry was cut off and his feet went slack.

Mizuki stood in wide-eyed shock. And what he heard next sent chills up his spine.
“Mizuuuuuuuki~” Naruto leered at the man through the hole he made, fresh blood, Iruka’s blood, dribbled from his teeth. “You’re next, Mizuki. I’m going to enjoy tearing you apart!”

Mizuki was a ninja. He had trained just a little over a decade to fight. But he wasn’t a good one. He was a snivelling little coward at heart. So he bolted. Leaving the others in the academy to their fate.

Naruto straightened up, raised a leg and Spartan kicked the door breaking it in two and walked into the hallway like he was taking a stroll.

“Huh. He actually abandoned everyone to save himself.” He remarked as the direction Mizuki took off in was where the exit was. “What a coward.”

“People like him are cowards in the end,” Charlie said from behind him; Naruto looked back and found the marionette floating out of the classroom. “They would rather save their own butts than help others.”

“Personal experience?”

“...You could say that.”

“I see.” Naruto and Charlie both walked down or floated in Charlie’s case, the corridor, “By the way, you can let the others know that they can start hunting.”

Charlie let out a sound that was a mix of a chime and a giggle before floating down into and through the floor.

-\-\-

Ami, Kasumi, and Fuki were academy students. Having seen what that freak was doing to Sasuke they immediately took the chance to run away. They even separated from the others in their class because, in their eyes, it made them less of a target. Now they were standing in front of a door trying to get it open. Unfortunately for them, the door refused to budge.

“Hhhhhhrng! Hhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrng!! I…can’t…open it!”

“What do you mean you can’t open it Kasumi?! Ugh. Get out of the way you moron!” Ami went and pushed Kasumi out of the way to pull on the door herself. Only to meet the same result as Kasumi. “Wha-- what the heck?!”

“See?! What’d I tell you?”

“I don’t get it; the doors weren’t locked earlier!”

Thump…

“Wait… did you hear that?”

The purplette looked at the spiky-haired brunette with a frown, “Hear what, Fuki?”

Thump… Thump… Thump…

Ami frowned, “Actually, I hear it now. It sounds a lot like…?”

“Footsteps.” Kasumi finished.

They all shared a panicked look as the footsteps got closer and closer and they began looking for someplace to hide. To their dismay, not even the doors leading to other classrooms would budge. They were stuck in the open! And then it was too late for them to hide anywhere anymore.

To their horror, they found not Naruto but an entirely different anthropomorphic fox animatronic. She had a white-bodied suit with a pink underbelly, sharp metal claws on her hands and feet and razor-sharp teeth; and it was a she because she had a more obvious feminine curve and a bit of a chest on her.

The moment her eyes saw them, the white and pink seven-foot-tall robot fox narrowed her eyes into a glare.

“Oh, kami… there’s more than one!” Fuki whisper-shouted in plain unfiltered terror.

“What do we do?!” Kasumi and Fuki both looked to Ami for an answer but the girl was frozen in sheer terror.

They got their answer from the feminine robot, “You three can die for me.” she growled out with bloodthirst and walked over to them menacingly. And when Ami opened her mouth the robot then took off in a full-on sprint.

-\-\-

Naruto perked up when he heard three terrifying screams resounding in the hallways before they were cut off one by one. Looks like someone found three already. Humming to himself he went to where the screams originated from and wasn’t surprised to find one of his new friends, mouth and hands covered in blood and brain matter, standing above three bloodied corpses who either had their faces caved in, or partially missing the top of their skull.

“Hi, Mangle.”

“Oh! Naruto!” She stood up straight and paused, seeing the blood on his hands and around his teeth she asked, “Did you get him?”

Naruto shook his head as he went over to her side, “No. He got away. I got my other teacher instead.” Then he stared at the bodies of Ami, Kasumi and Fuki. “It’s strange… looking at them I should feel satisfaction. But instead, I feel…nothing.” He felt no sadness, no satisfaction, just…emptiness. “Is that a bad thing, Mangle?”

“I can’t answer that with absolute certainty, but, maybe just maybe, it’s because you never knew them?”

“...Yeah. Now that I think about it that’s probably it.” There was truth to her words because he never really knew Ami, Fuki and Kasumi. He didn't care for them and he knew the feeling was mutual.

He looked at Mangle “Come on. Let’s go find the others.” Mangle smiled and walked with him.

-\-\-

Hunting and killing children was one of the hardest things Charlie had to do. As someone who once tried to protect children from a serial killer, it was incredibly difficult for her to keep focus. She kept telling herself that these were not children, these were people who were training to become killers. And were proud of it.

Naruto had been just like them not too long ago. It wasn’t that difficult for her to put two and two together, and she was sure the others had discerned the same as she had. But in her eyes Naruto was different. She didn't know why but in her soul she knew it to be so.

And that was why she was currently looking through the files the academy had on Naruto. She wanted to learn more about the boy she recently resurrected and this so-called academy had plenty of information regarding him.

She wanted to know if she made the right choice in bringing him back.

‘So from how these reports paint him, Naruto hardly paid attention in class, is hyperactive, and would rather skip his classes just to pull pranks.’ Charlie would have a thoughtful frown if her mask were capable of it. She wasn’t going to lie, this record of Naruto made him sound less than a child soldier in training and more like someone acting his age.

As reassuring as this was she still wasn’t finished and continued learning more about him. It didn't take long for her to learn the way Naruto was treated, how every child ignored him, was done on purpose. To cultivate him into a weapon. How that was supposed to work she had no idea… And so she continued reading, hoping to gain more insight.

By the time she was finished, Charlie found herself disliking this place even more than before.

-\-\-

As Naruto and Mangle both explored the interior of the academy they inevitably stumbled across blood-covered mutilated corpses. Their innards were exposed, and their faces were bashed beyond recognition. One even had her jaw torn off.

Mangle took one look at them and knew who was responsible. “It looks like Foxy made short work of them.”

Naruto looked at her with the animatronic equivalent of a raised eyebrow, “How do you know that this is his handiwork?”

“Look.” Mangle gestured to the deep gouging wounds on the abdomen. Naruto suppressed a grimace; it was like someone took a hook and started hacking and tearing away at them, “All of those wounds had been made with a hook. Not to mention, out of us, he is the most violent.”

“Really? I never would have guessed.” Naruto was surprised; from what he saw of that robot fox he was pretty friendly, if a little overbearing. But when he thought about it a little more, he learned he should not be as surprised as he is because Foxy was the first to leap at the chance to help him after getting some snippets of his life from Charlie herself.
Though he may have been a bit biased towards Foxy since he tried to act as a cool older brother figure to him in the short amount of time they’d known each other.

Naruto was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a loud, mechanical "SCREEEEEEEEE!" further in. A series of terrified screams of adolescents, and some adults Naruto and Mangle noted, followed shortly after.

Naruto didn't hesitate. He immediately took off the moment he heard the secondary screams. Mangle quickly followed his example and kept pace with him saying, “Looks like Foxy caught a few.”

“Yep,” Naruto said, popping the P. “Let’s back him up shall we.”

Mangle giggled, “Isn’t that what we’re already doing?”

Naruto chuckled, “Touche.”

Naruto and Mangle both turned a corner and found Foxy the Pirate in a struggle with an adult male with dark hair and fair skin. He was a chunin from the flak jacket he wore. The animatronic and man were in a stalemate though the former had the upper hand. Foxy’s arms were being held back by the young man; his hand was making grabby gestures as he tried grabbing onto the young man’s neck with the intent of crushing it, only to be held back by the chunin. His hook arm was very close to gouging out the man’s eye, however.

Not too far from them was another chunin; a young woman with short green hair and tanned skin. Behind the woman were three academy students who were hiding behind her for safety against Foxy. The students had expressions that were the definition of smugness as they watched the chunin and Foxy struggle for dominance. The dumb little shits were acting like the man wasn’t having trouble holding the animatronic back from mauling his face off.

Hell, they probably thought that with Chunins around, they would be safe against the killer machines wandering through the academy.

Their smugness quickly gave way to undiluted terror when they saw Naruto and Mangle turn a corner, covered in the blood of their previous victims.

“There’s more than two with Naruto?!” One of them screamed out in utter terror. It was enough to distract the chunin who foolishly took his eyes away from Foxy to look to his right. It was the last mistake he would make. Foxy took advantage of the distraction and pulled the Chunin to him, off-balancing him from the sudden shift and landing directly into his open maw.

Then the robot proceeded to chomp down on the man’s head, a loud sickening crack echoed through the hall as blood sprayed out from the now-dead man’s thoroughly crushed skull like water from a hose as it broke like an egg.

Mangle and Naruto, meanwhile, had made a mad dash to the other chunin and students with the latter leaping at the woman and mauling her as she screamed. Mangle leapt over the kids and blocked them from escaping.

Naruto and Foxy quickly surrounded them and the former narrowed his eyes into a glare upon recognising some of them. Sakura, Ino, Sasuke, Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji were among them. The rest were nobodies. Just faces he had seen in the academy.

Naruto had to wonder why none of them were using the Acadamy three - or in the case of Clan members, using their clan-based jutsus - to escape.

They are probably so bloody scared at witnessing two chunins dying with laughable ease they forget they can use them. Having three blood-covered robots blocking them also didn't help.
“Well, would you look at that? Mister Avenger is scared!” Naruto mocked.

“You bastard!” Sasuke seethed with utter hatred in his eyes, “Why is there more than one of you!?”

Naruto leaned down by the waist and stared Sasuke directly into his dark eyes.

“And when, pray tell, did I say I was the only one hunting you?” That chilling statement sent a wave of terror through the academy students.

“For someone being trained to be a child soldier, he’s not that bright is he?” Mangle commented offhandedly, looking at her claws like she had just gotten a manicure done on them.

“Aye, the lad ain’t that smart. Thinkin’ there weren’t more of us. How’d ya think we got in ‘ere in the first place, matey?” Foxy rhetorically asked.

“Or how I was put in this robot body? It’s not like I got up and put myself inside of it.” Naruto added with a chuckle. Suddenly he snarled and grabbed the sides of Sasuke’s head with both hands. Then he squeezed. Hard. And Sasuke screamed in absolute agony as he felt his head being crushed between the two hands.

Sasuke’s agonised screams knocked the others out of their fear-induced inaction and did what any 12-year-old would have done at that moment. They turned tail and ran for their lives, leaving the screaming Sasuke to his fate.

Not that Mangle and Foxy would let them get far, as they took off after them.

“Look at that, Sasuke! Sakura and Ino, your biggest fangirls, left you to die. Alone.” He tutted, “Such a shame. So much for their camaraderie, eh? Then again, it’s not like you gave a crap about that.”

Sasuke’s screams were silenced when his skull was crushed between Naruto’s palms. Blood went everywhere. Fragments of his skull flung through the air, brain matter stained his hands, arms and bits of his chest.

As Sasuke’s now-partially headless corpse dropped to the floor Naruto tried to think up a one-liner for this moment, “I guess he wasn’t… hard-headed enough.” He paused for a moment before tsking, “Eh, that was lame.”

“I thought it was good.”

“Charlie,” Naruto greeted, looking to his right as the puppet hovered beside him. “And thanks. How’re the others?”

“You’re welcome. As for everyone else? Both Freddy and Toy Freddy are roaming the halls. The Chicas are wandering about near the exits. And the Bonnies are stalking the outskirts of the classrooms. As for Foxy and Mangle-” Suddenly the puppet cut herself off.

When she didn't talk for nearly ten seconds, Naruto finally asked, “What’s the matter?”

She looked at him. “Your old classmates managed to slip by Chica and Toy Chica and got out.”

“How many?”

-\-\-

Meanwhile, Sakura was hyperventilating as she, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru burst through the main doors of the ninja academy. Kiba leapt out into the open, a nasty slash on his back and the back of his thick coat coated in blood. He turned around midair, and let out a pained cry as he landed on his back. His puppy Akamaru was held in his arms and was barking with distress at Kiba’s laboured breathing.

Hinata Hyuuga never made it out. Having stayed behind to buy the others enough time to escape. She didn't last more than 10 seconds against them; turns out the Gentle Fist the Hyuuga Clan prided themselves on was utterly useless against machines that don’t use chakra to function.

Who’d have thunk?

Not to mention she tried to monologue- not that Mangle gave her the chance to talk after tackling her to the floor and mauling her to death. To the point she was unrecognisable.
Seriously, who tries to monologue in a life-or-death situation? What are they, stupid? They heard Mangle say once the nefarious deed was done. Fortunately for them, they had found several chunins that managed to escape the utter slaughter fest happening around them and two stayed behind to distract the foxes while the rest escorted them out of the academy.
Upon seeing the academy being evacuated, and many of the students injured and coated in blood everyone in the vicinity, from ninjas to civilians, quickly rushed to their aid.
The academy students were curling themselves up into a ball as they cried in anguish; the chunins that escorted them out were busy trying to barricade the door.

That was until one of them screamed, “OH SHIT! THEY’RE COMING! BRACE YOURSELVES!!”

The door rattled as one of the robots within smacked right into it with such force it made a Foxy-shaped dent. Then several more fist and foot-shaped dents were made as Foxy punched and kicked at the door to the point it began to deform.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK! SOMEONE GET HELP-” The chunin’s panicked orders were abruptly cut off when Foxy’s fist finally smashed through the door and struck him in the throat with such force it completely caved in his neck. He was dead before he hit the ground, his head bent at an awkward angle.

“Fire Style: Flame Bullet!” A stream of fire struck the arm and Foxy quickly pulled it back in the moment he felt his metal arm getting heated. It wouldn’t have done much in the long term, thanks to Charlie upgrading his body to resist fire; but resistance did not mean immune and he didn't want to take any chances.

“Earth Style: Earth Wall!” Foxy growled when the hole he made was resealed again. As much as he wanted to punch the door and that so-called earth wall down, he wasn’t stupid enough to do it.

"Someone get the Hokage! The ANBU! Someone capable quickly! There are machines inside the academy killing everyone!" He heard some woman, probably one of those adults wearing a flak jacket yell.

"What?!" Already Foxy was walking away, the panicked voices getting dimmer and dimmer the further away he got, "We're being attacked?! By who?!"

"Never mind that! I'm going to get the Hokage! Just keep that door closed!"

-\-\-

“Not all of them,” Charlie eventually answered the patiently waiting Naruto. “Mangle got that pale-eyed girl, by the way.”

Naruto always found that girl weird. The way she kept fainting whenever he so much as looked at her got annoying after a while. Like Ami, Fuki and Kasumi, he never really knew her so to find out she was dead didn't bother him in the slightest.

“I see. No skin off my back I guess.” He remarked with an uncaring shrug. Honestly, he felt nothing for the deaths unfolding here. And though he wasn’t showing it, he was growing more and more worried that he was turning into a monster.

Naruto and Charlie remained in place for several minutes. Then, after the five-minute mark came and went, the duo heard many heavy footsteps. One after the other the rest of the animatronics showed themselves all bloody and covered in gore.

The first ones to appear were the Freddies; Freddy Fazbear’s appearance, compared to how looked in the past, looked entirely brand new. And though he retained his classic look Charlie had taken some creative liberties when making his new body. Such as to say, his joints had gotten a complete workover so now he was more mobile, and his movements were as fluid as the humans he was hunting.

Toy Freddy was the child-friendly version of his original counterpart, with rosy red blushed cheeks, and blue eyes, and had a bit of a ‘cuddly teddy bear’ look going for him. The hands of both Freddies were coated in the blood of the poor saps that were caught by them, with some blood splattered on their faces and chests.

The second ones to show up were the Chicas; out of the original four, Chica was overhauled the most in terms of appearance. While she still resembled a chicken, she now looks far more feminine, with a figure similar to her Toy counterpart. She still wore her white bib that said ‘LET’S EAT!’ and even had her pink cupcake in her hand. She had blood on her beak with a bit of skull at the tip.

Toy Chica’s appearance was similar to her original appearance: blushed cheeks, eyelashes, blue eyes and a beak. She had a more womanly figure now, rather than having a somewhat round ovular physique. The most significant change made to her was that her pelvic region now resembled an actual pair of shorts…or undergarments, depending on how it was viewed as. Her bib remained the same as always, though it was splattered with blood. As was her beak and hands.

The third ones are the Bonnies; Toy Bonnie is a shiny blue, green-eyed bunny animatronic with blushed red cheeks. The inside of his ears and abdomen was a pale-power blue colour.
And Bonnie stood a full head and shoulders over his Toy counterpart. He was a lavender-coloured bunny with purple eyes so light they would have been mistaken for pink with the colour of his muzzle, stomach, and insides of his ears being white and he wore a red bowtie with a neck strap that was partially obstructed by his chin. Both bunnies had splatterings of blood on their hands and arms, and legs and feet.

“Everyone.” Charlie greeted.

“Charlie,” Freddy greeted her with a tip of his top hat. He smiled and nodded at Naruto who returned the gesture.

“We didn't get everyone, kiddo. The adults here were tougher than I was expecting. I’m sorry.” Toy Bonnie apologetically said to him.

Naruto waved off his apology like it was no big deal, “You don’t need to apologise, Bonn. This academy is a big building. And the teachers here are trained soldiers. Some were bound to escape anyways.”

“Did’ya get the one who killed you?” Toy Chica asked.

Naruto shook his head, “Unfortunately not. Mizuki bailed everyone and left them to die.”

Every animatronic looked rightfully disgruntled at that and Foxy would’ve spat on the floor if he were capable of it, “Fah! Thar yellow-bellied coward! He fled like the maggot he is!” He shook his hook hand in anger.

“People like him always run to save their own skin.” Charlie agreed. Then she perked up and looked off to her left as if she could see people there, “...But before that, we’re going to have to wait for another opportunity to get him. I can sense these so-called ninjas gathering outside the building.”

“Yar, as much as I like this new body, I ain’t eager to test it on adults that can spew fire,” Foxy grunted disgruntedly as he looked at the arm that was burnt. He was fire resistant, not fireproof, and he was not going to test his new body. Fortunately, the fire that had been shot at him never left a mark. But that can change if he pushes his luck.

Naruto, meanwhile, was staring in the same direction Charlie was, “...You guys go on ahead,” He told them in a near absentminded tone, “There’s one more thing I need to do.”

“What would that be?” Chica asked.

Naruto said nothing for a moment, “A message,” He started, “I want to leave a message.”

“Well, I can stay with you for that. Someone has to pull you out of here when you’ve finished giving the message.” Charlie was not comfortable leaving him here by his lonesome. Not after everything she learnt they were doing to him in the academy.

Naruto who was completely unaware of the discoveries the marionette had made, gave her a thankful smile, “Thanks, Charlie. It’s not needed, but very much appreciated.”

She giggled as everyone else faded away like a mirage. “I’m not about to leave you alone, Naruto. Now, let’s go leave this message of yours.”

Nodding Naurto bade her to follow as he backtracked deeper into the academy.

-\-\-

Pandemonium.

That was what the scene that beheld Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, and his small entourage of elite ANBU could be described as. The main entrance to the academy was blocked off by a wall of earth, the body of a chunin whose neck was caved in had gone completely ignored. And there was a force of chunins and jonins around, ensuring the civilians kept away and preventing whatever was inside from getting out.

The elder was garbed in his samurai-esque armour and had a very serious look on his face as he took stock of the situation; many of the surviving students were curled up on the ground, mumbling incoherently to themselves. Some even had blood coating their clothes!
He also noted how many were there and who was not.

Sakura Harano, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and Kiba Inuzuka; students from Umino Iruka’s class… though many more, including Iruka and Mizuki, were missing.
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes and directed the majority of his elite ANBU to care for the survivors while keeping three of them with him. Glaring toward the barricaded double doors the elder walked to it with a purpose, his subordinates following close behind.

After taking down the wall of earth blocking the doors, Hiruzen steeled himself as he and his bodyguards strode on in. They had no idea what to expect but they were going to be prepared for anything.

-\-\-

Blood on the floor and walls greeted him the moment he stepped into the building. The metallic smell of blood assaulted his nose the moment he stepped inside. It was a smell he had grown used to. A smell he hoped to never smell again. As the group walked further in, Hanzou scowled in dismay as he found the corpses of chunin and genin hopefuls alike strewn along the ground. Many of them were missing limbs and were mauled almost beyond recognition, and the further they walked the more bodies and blood-coated corridors were revealed.

Eventually, they came across the still-warm body of Hinata Hyuuga; she was only recognisable due to her clothing. Her face was mauled beyond recognition. Hiruzen merely spared her body a single glance before walking past it.

Given the so-called Last Uchiha wasn’t among the survivors, it wasn’t hard to guess he never made it out of the slaughter. And when they found the headless Sasuke, with bits of his skull and brain matter staining the ground around him, Hiruzen resisted the urge to sigh.

What a damn mess.

Two clan heirs were confirmed dead with many more unaccounted for. He was going to dread telling the victims' parents of their child(rens) fate once this was done. They were going to be calling for blood once they learned what happened here.

After being informed by one of his subordinates they were being attacked by machines, Hiruzen felt there was more to this than everyone knew. His ninjas were experienced fighters, unless they were taken by surprise they should have been able to fight off these so-called machines, alone or not.

Eventually, they reached Iruka’s class, the origin point where it all began, and found the man’s feet dangling through the hole he was pulled through. Most of the man’s head was crushed, with a pool of blood having long since formed around his mostly caved-in skull.
The man and his three ANBU guards all stopped at the opposite end of the classroom when they saw a seven-foot-tall animatronic fox that looked to be made out of metal and a fake fur coat that made up its suit. It has burnt orange fur, light red linen pants and metal nails on its hands and feet that appear to look like claws. It has sharp teeth jutting out from the top of its maw. Its mouth, hands, and chest were coated in drying blood.
And it was staring directly at them.

Hiruzen frowned heavily as he stared it down. This must be one of those so-called machines that was killing everyone it came across. And that it was modelled after a fox did nothing to help his building unease.

“What in the name of the Six Paths is that thing?” One of the ANBU asked the very question that was on everyone’s mind.

“I think the answer to that question is pretty obvious,” The fox replied with Naruto’s voice, something Hiruzen did not like in the slightest.

“Who are you and how did you get Naruto’s voice?!” He demanded.

Naruto merely tilted his head before opening his stomach hatch. The smell of burnt flesh filled the room as Naruto’s charred corpse was shown to the man. The Hokahe stared in horror, having recognised the dead body within, the body he went to the morgue with.
“What have you done to Naruto?!” Hiruzen demanded in outrage, looking like he was just able to hold himself back from attacking.

“Do you know what it was like to be stabbed in the chest repeatedly? To choke on your blood as your home burnt down around you? It’s. Horrible.” Naruto said rather than answer his question.

The dead even tone sent shivers up Hiruzen’s spine and suddenly he had a feeling this was not some mere automaton.

“And as I laid there dying, in my own home, I was wondering where all the ninjas were. And as I took my last breath, I wondered… where were you, Old man.”

“...Naruto,” Hiruzen started, not wanting to sound too hopeful, “Is that truly you?”

Naruto didn't answer but he nodded in affirmation. Then he glanced to his right, and before the eyes of Hiruzen and his subordinates, Charlie appeared beside him. She stared at him with those small white pupils and she put her hand on his shoulder.

Charlie’s head was angled in such a way that it seemed she was glaring at the ninjas.

“Naruto has suffered at the hands of your people for twelve years, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He is no longer yours to abuse whenever you see fit.” He is no longer someone you can cultivate into a weapon.

“His murderer is still alive.”

“And I’m not going to stop until I find him.” Naruto chimed in as he and Charlie began to grow transparent, “This will not be the last time you see me, Old Man. Believe it.”
Then he and Charlie vanished completely.

Hiruzen stood there for what seemed like hours to him, his final ominous words rang in his head.

One thing was for certain: this was not going to be the last time they saw Naruto.