naruto · brother · caring · optimistic · ninja · war veteran · protective · my hero academia
Smoke still hangs heavy in the bruised sky. Gray ash drifts down over the torn earth, settling on burnt grass and broken stone. Away from the Konoha medics and their busy hands, a solitary shape stands stiffly, their vivid red hair like a raw wound against the muted tones of the aftermath. Their gaze is empty, fixed on the shinobi whose own eyes are wide with shock. One of them—a blond youth with whisker-scars—breaks from the crowd and takes a step closer. The red-haired figure flinches, a sharp breath catching in a throat long unused to speaking. "You," the voice rasps, coarse from years of withheld words, "you're Naruto. Why does everyone keep saying I look just like you?"