The Red Flash Chapter 41 (A Dream) (Patreon)

Naruto and Roku stood in front of a big house near a river. The house was very well decorated, a three-floor house made of wood. The wood had the symbol of a Wolf around the edge, in front of the house was a tree with red leaves covering the ground like a red blanket, the sun shining down on the tree and the house. The river was flowing near the tree, fishes swimming across the river, sometimes jumping from the surface and falling in the water again making splash sounds.

Birds flew near the river to drink water before flying back, few had made little houses in the tree, little birds crying out for their parents to feed them was heard around the tree, a bluebird quickly landed near them with a butterfly on his beak, feeding his little bird.

Naruto and Roku stood on the other side of the river staring motionlessly at the house In front of them.  The redhead smiled at the nature in front of them but wondered why he was here, his eyes turned to look at Roku-sama who had a melancholy look on his face.

Almost like knowing what the young Uzumaki wanted to say, Roku sighed and slightly turned his head at Naruto.

"This was the home of my parents, my father lived here, despite being known and having great power on his hands, he didn't care to have the luxury. Like some 'people' " Roku spat the last part with venom.

"My grandfather believed that spreading his knowledge of chakra would unite people, the wars would stop and peace would finally come," he said as he remembered something he regretted, his eyes looking downwards and slowly shaking his head.

"What happened?" Naruto asked curiously, his hands resting behind his head, a calm look on his face as he observed and had all his attention on him.

"My father spread the knowledge of Chakra around the world, but in the beginning, not that many people were keen on using Chakra, some people even believed that chakra pulled out the worst on people. Making them emotionless and arrogant. And ... maybe it did to some" he said regretfully.

The door of the house in front of them opened, walking outside was what Naruto thought to be a young Roku Uzumaki, despite being old. Naruto could tell from his long face and sharp features that the man in front of him was Roku.

He was wearing a weird cloth that covered his body, no pants or shirts. The cloth was white in colour, except the part around his chest covered in a red-dark colour that had strings to tighten together, around his sleeves he had a weird golden symbol of a whirlpool.

"Ajana, Seikatsu come outside. Tou-san said we need to go to Jiyū Town, by tomorrow morning" Young Roku yelled at whoever was inside.

Suddenly outside stepped a woman around his age with dark hair that reached her shoes, she was wearing a white kimono. Her face shape like a heart with red crimson eyes. Small forehead but with a small scar around her left eyebrow. Her lips were full and full chest, her skin looked slightly pale. A sword on her right hand, the sword short, with a silver pommel.

"Roku-chan, our father said we have time until tomorrow evening" Ajane who addressed Roku as her brother said, her smile spreading on her face and a small chuckle escaping her lips when she noticed the irritation on her brother's face.

Young Roku crossed his arms in front of his chest. "We need to do our job Aja, we can't disappoint our father" Roku stated but Naruto noticed the small tone he used when he used her nickname.

Ajana sighed, she had heard that before many times. "Our father never said we are forced to do anything, wouldn't hurt sometimes to take things more ... lightly" she suggested sometimes bored of her brother taking things too seriously.

He opened his mouth to object but a shorter man came running from inside smiling from ear to ear. "Oj Roku, are you going to lecture us again, or can we be in our way" the man who Naruto guessed was Seikatsu spoke. He noticed his smile not leaving his face.

The boy looked younger than Roku and Ajana, at least by around four years or more. He stood one meter and 21 centimetres tall. Wearing white clothes like Roku. A sword tightened behind his back, a small bag tightened around his hips. His face is smaller than Roku, but with a small nose, his eyes green like grass.

Roku sighed bored, pinching the bridge of his nose, he opened his eyes to look at his brother. "You never take things seriously, if it were up to you, we would spend our whole time sitting in the grass listening to birds singing all day long," he said bored.

Seikatsu looked offended for a split second before smiling again. "What's wrong with that, I like good songs or do you expect me to listen to your songs," he said leaning his head closer to Roku.

Ajana chuckled slightly while Roku just shakes his head before turning around and walking away.

"No wonder, you still don't have a girlfriend," he said quietly smirking, but he didn't notice a small frown on Ajana's face.

Roku said nothing but they just continued forward to reach the town, hopefully, sooner rather than later.

Naruto watched with amusement while Roku had a sad smile on his face.

"My father told us to reach the town and help them with a plague, and possibly teach whoever wanted how to use chakra. The town we went, was located in the land between the lands of trees (Land of Fire) and Mountain's Land (Kumo), the place was good. Almost everyone was friendly towards each other, and helping a town like that would make people see our family as good" Old Roku stated before a frown showed on his face.

"At least that's what we thought"

Before Naruto could ask what he meant, the scene changed, showing Roku walking towards the town. Naruto could see the town was surrounded by a deep forest and located near a lake. In the middle of the town were a few houses with two floors but overall, every other house was with only one floor.

It was the middle of the day, the sun high in the sky. Roku looked focused and was slightly anxious, while Ajana was checking if they had taken everything, while Seikatsu looked to be talking to a ... bird, that was resting on his shoulder.

"Seikatsu what would it take for you to focus on something at least once in your life" Roku half-shouted at his little brother. The bird flew away much to the disappointment of Seikatsu who looked hurt.

Ajana wanted to tell Roku to lay off him but Seikatsu talked first, he turned to Roku with an angry look but his face softened.

"Very well. I'm sorry you're right" he said and walked ahead of them. Roku expected his brother to be angry while Ajana had a small smile on her face, happy that it hadn't escalated like usual.

"Roku-chan, be more gentle. Seikatsu is still only 15 years old, he will be more serious" she said quietly, especially when she mentioned his name. Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Roku looked at her red eyes and nodded his head in defeat. "Maybe you're right," he said quietly and turned to walk towards his brother who had gained a distance between them.

Soon they reached the town, the streets were mostly empty, except a few people walking around holding big logs in their arms bringing them to their homes. Roku knew soon enough this works wouldn't be hard to do anymore, with Chakra, people's work will be easier, sickness easier to heal. People would be happy amongst each other just how Grandpa predicted.

"Naruto, back then despite the knowledge of chakra being known. It took a long time for that knowledge to spread around the Elemental Nations, that's why when I was young, many people didn't even know what chakra was, let alone how to use it" Old Roku stated.

Naruto nodded his head with a small hint of sadness, Chakra was supposed to unite people, to bring peace, but instead of doing that, it just made wars more dangerous.

"There's a bad thing for everything Naruto. Even when you do good things, there's always will be a bad thing that comes out of it" Kurama stated knowing what Naruto was thinking.

The young Uzumaki said nothing but just nodded his head.

"This happened in the year 1401 BNW (Before Ninja War), this town changed my view of my own people," old Roku said with a sad smile.

The young siblings asked around the town where the sick people were, but nobody said anything, most would freak out when they noticed their clothes.

Roku knocked on another door and noticed many medallions hanging around the door. The door opened only halfway revealing a man's face. His eyes looked at his eyes and started filling with fear. Roku noticed it.

"H-how c-c-can I Help yo-uu?" He asked stuttering, his hands holding the door were shaking.

"We're not here to hurt you, we're here to help for the plague" Seikatsu suddenly asked behind Roku before moving his brother aside and having a softer face.

The man eyed his brother, "Please just leave us, we have already given you enough gold" the man said desperately.

Roku's face turned to anger, his teeth clenched, why was this man thinking that they were here to get gold.

He was about to object when Seikatsu raised his hand at him to keep silent before turning his head to the man.

"What do you mean? Who's collecting gold?" Seikatsu asked thinking that maybe the town was terrorized by groups of people.

The man looked more frightened by his question, his face lost colour, and his lower lip started trembling. "People w-with y-your clothes. Your S-Symbol. They steal-take our Gold in exchange for H-healing the sick people" the man said, his voice shaking like a leaf.

Roku's knuckles turned white, his people had sworn to protect and help people and never rob them.

He slammed his hand on the wall causing the man to flinch and back away.

"Stop lying, our People Would ..." "ROKU" Ajana shouted at him before turning to the man.

"I'm really sorry" she apologized to him who looked frightened and was lying on the ground covering his face with his hands.

She sighed and gave her brothers a look and they left. Walking away from the house, Roku still in bad mood stomped the ground in anger.

"Can you believe him? Our people would never harm innocent" Roku said sure and looking at his sibling for approval.

Ajana looked uncertain but nodded her head on the end, but Seikatsu didn't say anything in approval.

"Roku, I think we should look around the town and find the truth, the man might be lying or not, but you noticed how everyone in the town is frightened the moment they saw our clothes and our symbol. Something is happening here" he said pointing towards the east part of the town.

Roku shook his head in denial, their people were trained by their father. They would never harm innocent, he thought and walked past his brother shaking his head.

Seikatsu looked down hoping that he and the town were wrong. Ajana put a hand on his shoulder giving him a reassuring smile trying to make him feel better. Seikatsu smiled back and they followed their brother.

They visited a few more houses but no one said anything worthwhile, some of them would straight up close the door in their face and telling them that to leave and stop terrorizing the town. Roku would just shake his head in disbelief, after all, they were here to help those people but none of them wanted their help, calling them thieves.

Naruto and older Roku kept observing, the young Uzumaki agreed with Seikatsu, he didn't know why but couldn't shake off this odd feeling about the whole situation. Everyone in the town was sure that people with white clothes and their symbols were taking gold from the town in exchange for healing whoever was sick.

"What do you think about the situation young Uzumaki?" Roku asked with a neutral tone.

Naruto turned to him. "I think your brother might be right" he replied.

Roku closed his eyes and a small smile was on his face before it disappeared just as soon as it appeared.

"Let's see then," Roku said.

Young Roku reached the houses near the river, he could see the river but what caught his attention was that no ships were in the water hunting for fish, and the water itself didn't look blue, looked a bit grey raising a red flag.

They eat and drink from this river, perhaps something has poisoned the waters?! Roku thought and his siblings seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Seikatsu walked towards the river and touched the surface, his fingers wet and the water looked slightly grey.

He turned to Roku who was waiting for his answer. "Even a blind man can see this. The water is poison, but I'm sure someone has done it on purpose" Seikatsu stated with an angry look on his face. Something new even for Roku and Ajana.

"I will ask around the town, you and Roku can see where the poison is coming from" Ajana suggested and both of them

nodded in agreement.

They separated, Roku and Seikatsu started running across the river trying to find the source, they split to cover more ground.

Ajana

She looked around the town trying to find something, the streets looked deserted, winds flying closely, but no other source of sound anywhere. She glanced at her left noticing a few people hiding behind corners, she saw knives and even machete in their hands glaring at her with hatred. She could feel and see these people didn't want them here.

The thought that maybe someone from their group was taking gold in exchange for safety disgusted her, they were supposed to Unite people, her grandfather had wanted that his whole life, why couldn't people see that.

Suddenly people from corners around her came out holding knives, glaring at her with hatred and some with malicious feelings behind their eyes.

Ajana's hand went to her sword ready to cut them down if they tried anything. She saw one in front of her, who she believed to be the one in charge of these people.

He had a small beard and long dark hair with a scar that went from his nose across his right cheek and ended close to his jawline, a sharp nose and thin lips that one would think he had no lips, his face long with a pointy chin, dark eyes like night and he looked around his thirties, quiet good build, his clothes were white and blue torn around his chest, knee and elbow, unlike the others this one had his machete still behind his back and not pointing at her.

"What do you want?" Ajana asked wary and ready to protect herself.

"I want you and your people to leave, since your people came the plague has started. And if that wasn't enough, you're taking gold from our family, and You Call Yourself Savers" he screamed the last part but still kept his machete behind his back. The people around him and shouted in agreement.

"What are you talking about? My group helps people, we would never harm any town" she replied trying to reason with the man in front of him.

Before he could speak again, a woman walked forward from the small gathering of people around her. She was holding a little boy in her arms, her eyes glaring at her with tears rolling down her cheek, her teeth half broken.

"HELP?! Look what you people did to my boy" she shouted with venom through her teeth. A small glance at the boy in her arms and Ajane immediately looked the other way. The boy looked around four to six years old. But half of his face was burned, barely any skin left only red.

"We didn't pay you last month, a-and ......" she started sobbing holding her child close before walking away. The man in the front gave the woman a reassuring smile and a kiss on the boy's head before they walked away. Turning to Ajana.

"I want you gone, leave and we won't hurt you," he said gesturing for her to leave the town. But one guy on her right shouted at him.

"How Can You Say That Synaji? After what these monsters Did To Your Son ...." He shouted pointing an accusing finger at Ajana.

"TANNER" the man with the name Synaji in the front shouted at him with a warning glare. Tanner closed his mouth and kept silent, everyone else kept silent too.

Seeing no objections, Synaji turned to the girl. "Just leave. Us" he said sounding tired.

Ajana felt hurt, she didn't want to leave these people. No, she wanted to help, she knew Roku would probably have a way to help this town. Without saying a word, she just nodded her head and jumped away.

Soon she reached the forest outside the town and raised her chakra level wanting her brothers to come here quickly. It didn't take long and soon Roku showed followed by Seikatsu.

She was about to say what happened but before she could open her mouth to talk.

"Aja, Seikatsu says that our people did this to this town. He says they spread the plague" Roku said gesturing at Seikatsu with small glare and he glared back.

"Roku, p-perhaps he's right. These people accuse us that ..." "No. Our father would never train people that are not worthy" Roku interrupt without giving it a second thought.

Their father was all about the good in the world, perhaps Indra could have done something but to their information, their 'uncle' had disappeared around StrongStone (Iwa), far away from this town. And not to mention he liked to be alone, rather than have a large number of people around him.

Ajana closed her eyes for a moment annoyed by the blind belief of her big brother that some people might have just pretended to be good people just so they can learn chakra.

She was about to object when Seikatsu pulled out something from his pocket.

"I found this material around the river on the north side," he said pulling out a small bag filled with red dirt. Ajana's eyes widened recognizing Tears of Anis Poison, one small sample, enough to kill ten people and the worst part it had no smell, one could drink or eat in his food and never realize it, and even the symptoms were very similar to simple flu until your lungs are suddenly destroyed and you Die.

Even Roku was surprised, "Someone has done this, and there's only one way to understand who did this. We will wait until the people that come here to collect gold, come again" Ajana suggested.

Seikatsu nodded his head in agreement immediately, Roku sighed before nodding his head.

After 13 Days

The young siblings were waiting outside the village since they arrived, Roku had sent a letter to their father with an eagle explaining that they would be late and that this job was taking longer than usual. They hadn't visited the town since that day and were still waiting.

Seikatsu had tried many times to go into the town to help them in any way possible but Ajana explained that they didn't want their help and had explained what had happened after they had left.

Roku had been angry when he heard that they had threatened her, but she said that it was no problem.

Now she was waiting for anything to happen, Seikatsu was walking around the camp, his head down and deep in thought, Roku had closed his eyes and was trying to combine fire and lighting to create a new Ninshu.

Suddenly they heard screams coming from the town, without a second of hesitation. Seikatsu jumped first towards the town not thinking. "Wait Seikatsu" Roku yelled but their little brother had already left. Soon Ajana and Roku followed seeing smoke coming out from a few houses from the centre of the town. People were lying on the ground dead near the centre of the town.

She saw her brother near a few people and she immediately recognized their clothes. A house burning close to them, five people with the same clothes and same symbol as them.

Ajana stood near Seikatsu who was clenching his teeth in anger, Roku stood in front of them with a clear frown and disappointment on his face.

"Why are you doing this? My father taught you the art of chakra to help People" Roku asked calmly, but Ready for anything.

The man in front of the group started laughing at him, slapping his knees.

"Do you really think we care about these people? While your father's nonsense words were annoying at least it paid off, we are above humans, these Peasants are nothing" he said pointing at the people of the town.

Roku still kept his cool but Seikatsu pulled out his sword ready to kill them, but Ajana hold him back.

"I see, Chakra is supposed to unite people. Not ... This" Roku shouted causing the whole group to laugh.

"Let me tell you one little secret, this world will never be in peace. As long as greed exists, Peace Will Never Exist. This chakra you speak so fondly of, will only cause more War. Mark my Words" he said before the group rushed towards them.

Roku sighed sadly before making a move towards the leader. In an instant, Seikatsu, Ajana and Roku were behind them.

"Water Slash" they shouted and four of them fell to the ground, blood streaming out of their throats except for the leader who had a huge slash across his chest but still standing.

He slowly turned his body in their direction, using his sword to stand. Blood coming out his mouth.

"Go ahead. I will never beg" he said through his clenched teeth.

Roku sighed sadly and walked towards him, he put his blade close to his neck and looked at his enemy with sadness.

"Any last words?"

"Fight, fight and keep fighting, the day will come when you will understand me"

Roku nodded and with a single swing, his head rolled down in the ground.

The scene changed, now Naruto looked at old Roku with a sad smile.

"That day. I understood that Chakra would not unite anyone. That day I decided to build a place where everyone can call home"

"Uzushiogakure"