Naruto: Good Graces
It was night time at the Fire temple; the moon was full, and the grasshoppers cricketed. At a nearby river, there stood two ninjas: Asuma Sarutobi and Chiriku. Both were panting, beads of sweat dropped down from their faces and the two companions placed their weapons down. The two members of the Twelve Guardian Ninja looked at their fallen former comrade, Kazuma, and sighed.
"Asuma... I believe it's time you go back to Konoha" said Chiriku, solemnly. Asuma took out a cigarette and lit it up. He sighed and blew out a large white puff of smoke, which disappeared into the night. "Yeah, I guess... We did our job protecting the 'King', so there's not really much else to do".
Asuma placed his chakra blades away and blew out another puff of smoke. He turned to look at the full moon in silence. Chiriku walked over and placed a hand on Asuma's shoulder. "You miss Konoha, don't you?" the ninja monk asked. Asuma quietly nodded his head.
"Then you should go back there. We successfully defended the Hokage, so we've done all we can already. Konoha is your true home" Chiriku said. Asuma glanced at his friend, "What about you? What do you plan on doing after all of this?".
Chiriku simply chuckled and pointed to the Fire temple, "I'll stay and make sure this'll never happen again in the Fire temple".
Asuma smiled and nodded his head, "I guess I'll just start packing then".
Asuma went into his room inside the temple to pack his belongings into a bag. While he packed, he stumbled across a photo of him and his parents. It was a photo that was taken when Asuma graduated ninja academy. Despite the fact that it was supposed to be a happy moment in his life, the younger Sarutobi clansman noticed that he wasn't smiling in the photo. In fact, his mother was the only one that smiled, while his father had a stern look on his face.
Asuma frowned and clenched his fists tightly, as he felt like he was about to punch something. "Heh... You never cared for me, didn't you dad?" Asuma quietly asked himself, before he put the photo inside his bag.
Asuma finally finished packing, so he left the room and sighed. He knew that his return to Konoha would cause a great stir between him and his father, but it wasn't like he had a choice; It was either Konoha or become a rogue ninja with no home village. He walked to the main exit of the temple, where he was greeted by Chiriku.
Chiriku gave Asuma a friendly bow, "It's been an honor to have fought alongside a great ninja like you. Let us pray for you to have a safe return to Konoha". Both Chiriku and Asuma closed their eyes, placed their palms together and silently prayed on the outskirts of the Fire temple.
They finished the prayer, with Asuma taking one last look before he left the Fire temple. He returned a bow of respect to the ninja monk and left the temple, disappearing into the night. Asuma glided through the trees, swift like a hawk in the sky. Asuma chuckled to himself, as the quiet, lonely night reminded him of his last moments in Konoha, before he left.
The elder Sarutobi was in the Hokage's office, silently examining mission reports from various ninja squads. Hiruzen was forced back into the position of Hokage after the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha. The door to his office opened, but Hiruzen paid no attention to it. "You came to say goodbye?" he asked, coldly.
Asuma frowned and clenched his fists. He hated when his father used that tone of voice with him and it didn't help that he seemed almost indifferent, despite what was going on. "Yeah..." Asuma answered, bluntly. Hiruzen continued to examine the reports, as if Asuma wasn't even there. Asuma stood in awkward silence, as the two Sarutobi clansmen refused to break the silence. He glanced around and took out a cigarette, but after much thought, he placed it back in the carton.
It was a rare moment for Asuma to refuse a light; Only when a situation really bothered him was when he stopped smoking. Without another word, Asuma scoffed and left the Hokage's office, slamming the door. "Should've just left, instead of wasting my time here with that old man..." Asuma said to himself, before leaving the headquarters. He continued to walk through the village, alone. HIs head dropped and walked in silence, as he felt an empty feeling within his heart.
Before he knew it, he found himself outside the village's gate. He gave one last look at the village he once called home and dashed into the night, breaking all ties and loyalties to Konoha.
Asuma was lost in his thoughts and almost forgot that he was at the outskirts of Konoha. "Heh, time sure flies when you're distracted..." he said to himself, as he continued to dash through the forest. However, a voice in the back of his head told him that something wasn't right. He took out his chakra blades and before he knew it, multiple shurikens were flying in his direction.
He quickly blocked the oncoming attacks and leaped down from the trees. There, he was attacked by two mysterious ninjas, both armed with kunais and were attempting to impale the young Sarutobi. Asuma backflipped out of harm's way and landed on his feet, prepared to engage his assailants.
"As expected from the son of the Third Hokage" said one of the attackers. Asuma bit his lower lip and clenched his fists. Damn... They must be here to collect my bounty. I better take them out fast...
The two ninjas then performed hand seals (Horse, Dog, Bird, Ox, Snake) and yelled, "Doton: Dosekiryū!". Two giant earth dragons appeared from the ground and rushed straight at Asuma, who quickly dodged it. The earth dragons barely missed him, as he now regained his stance. "Who are you?" asked Asuma.
The ninjas chuckled to themselves, "We're rogue ninjas, like you! Only except, we work as bounty hunters and it just so happens that your name came up. 35 million ryos is quite a bit of money, so either you surrender now and we'll make your death quick, or we can prolong the inevitable. Either way, it's a win-win situation for us". Asuma, slyly smiles to himself, and charges up his chakra blades. The two rogue ninjas narrowed their eyes and prepared to dodge as they saw Asuma's blades emit blue, razor shaped chakra.
"You don't understand, do you?" he asked, before he quickly dashed forward and sliced the two rogue ninjas in half with his chakra blades. "There's a reason why I'm worth 35 million ryos! It'll take more than that to take MY head off!" exclaimed Asuma, proudly.
"Doton: Kengan no Jutsu!"
Before he knew it, Asuma found himself flying across the forest. "Shit... I got too careless..." he muttered, as he turned to face nine more rogue ninjas, eager to kill him.
Meanwhile, a Konoha ninja rushed to the Hokage's office. He bursted through the doors and frantically bowed to the Hokage. "Hokage-sama! There's a situation going on outside the village walls! Should I alert ANBU?". The Konoha ninja's jaw dropped as he found the Hokage dressed in his battle attire. The old shinobi performed the hand seals (Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram) and slammed his hand onto the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" and in front of Hiruzen appeared Enma, the Monkey King.
"No need to call in ANBU or any backup shinobi. This is a battle I'll handle on my own. Enma, morph into the Adamantine staff!" ordered Hiruzen. Enma grinned eagerly, "Alright! Henge: Kongōnyoi!". Enma morphed into a large black staff with yellow edges. Without another word, the Hokage grabbed Enma and leaped out of the office. "I just hope we'll be able to make it there on time!" commented Hiruzen.
Back on the outskirts of Konoha, Asuma coughed blood and panted. He was still drained from his fight at the Fire temple and was in no condition to fight these rogue ninjas. He leaned back against a tree and tried to get into his fighting stance. However, his arms weakly shook, his legs trembled and he winced in pain; He knew he was done for.
The rogue ninjas laughed at Asuma's condition and took out their kunais. "You honestly thought you could get away from us? Heh, this has got to be the easiest 35 million ryos we've ever gotten! Sorry kid, but playtime's over! DIE!" yelled a rogue ninja, as he attempted to deliver the finishing blow to Asuma. Out of nowhere, the attacking ninja was sent flying across the forest.
Asuma's eyes widened as his saviour was none other than Hiruzen Sarutobi himself. "D-dad?" he asked. Hiruzen stood in between Asuma and the rogue ninjas with a stern look on his face. One of the rogue ninjas checked on their comrade, who was attacked by Hiruzen, and found out that his skull was crushed from the Hokage's staff.
"Step aside, old man! We have no business with you!" exclaimed one of the rogue ninjas. Hiruzen chuckled and firmly stood his ground, letting the rogue ninjas know that he wasn't going to budge.
"You have no business trying to hunt down MY son, outside of MY village! I don't like to engage in unnecessary fighting, so I'll ask you just once: leave now while you still have the chance! I have every right to kill all of you for attacking him, but I'm giving you all a chance to leave alive" replied Hiruzen, calmly.
The rogue ninjas glared at Hiruzen and Asuma, clenching onto a kunai. "Heh, nice try old geezer! I guess you'll just have to join your little brat in the afterlife!" yelled one of the rogue ninjas. They all then performed a bird hand seal, which led Hiruzen to lower his stance.
"Doton: Doryūsō!" exclaimed the rogue ninjas. Hiruzen quickly grabbed Asuma and leaped from the ground as many spears, made from mud, protruded from the ground. "Hmm... Earth ninjas, huh?" said Hiruzen, to himself, as he held onto Asuma and leaped from tree to tree, narrowly dodging the spears.
He placed Asuma behind a tree and decided to engage the enemies, after knowing that Asuma will be safe. "Sarutobi, you gave them a chance to leave in peace... Finish them!" reminded Enma. Hiruzen scoffed and grabbed a lone shuriken, "I guess I have no choice but to do so...".
The Hokage threw the shuriken at the rogue ninjas, who laughed it off. "Fool, it'll take more than just one shuriken to kill us!" yelled one of the rogue ninjas. The elder ninja performed the hand seals (Ram, Rat, Bird, Boar, Tiger) and yelled, "Shuriken Kage Bushin No Jutsu!". Suddenly, the lone shuriken multiplied into 1000 clones. Three of the rogue ninjas fell victim to the bombardment of shurikens, which led the others to take cover.
After the shuriken attack was over, Hiruzen quickly ran forward and engaged the rest of the ninjas in a taijutsu fight. He swung the mighty staff and hit two of the rogue ninjas directly on the face, shattering their heads. The rest of the rogue ninjas tried to flee but the Hokage didn't show any mercy and formed a tiger hand seal.
"Katon: Karyūdan!"
Multiple fire projectiles flew at the fleeing ninjas and each technique landed, effectively engulfing them in flames. Hiruzen watched as they discintegrated into the flames, giving a mere grunt. "Great job, Sarutobi! That looked a bit too easy for you" said Enma, grinning. Hiruzen returned the grin and went over to where Asuma took cover.
Asuma looked his father in the eyes and grunted. He took a cigarette out and began smoking, while Hiruzen stood there in silence. "You saved me... Why?" asked Asuma, as he exhaled a white cloud of smoke.
"Because it's my duty to protect Konoha's shinobi" Hiruzen answered, bluntly. Asuma frowned and looked away from his father, "That's all you care about... Konoha?".
Hiruzen frowned and looked at his son, "What do you mean, 'that's all I care about'?". Asuma glared at his father, "You only care about the village! Konoha this, Konoha that! You don't care about your own family! You never did...".
"If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't have come out here to save you! Had it been another ninja, I would've just sent a squad to deal with it but here, I came out to save you myself!" replied Hiruzen, sharply. Asuma gasped and looked down to the ground, ashamed.
"Asuma... The reason I care about Konoha so much is because it's our home. As the Hokage, it's my duty to protect our home. The 'King' is not the Hokage or the Fire Daimyo; it's you. You, along with the younger ninjas, are the future of Konoha. I won't always be here to protect and serve the village, so I'll raise the future generation of ninjas and pass on the Will of Fire to you all when it's my time to go. Do you understand, now?" Hiruzen asked.
Tears fell down Asuma's face and out of embarrassment, he wiped the tears and hid his face. Hiruzen crouched down and gave his son a hug, which surprised Asuma. The young Sarutobi clansman couldn't help but smile as he cherished the rare moment, where his father acted like a genuine, loving parent. "Dad... I'm sorry... I'm sorry for leaving" apologized Asuma, as he returned the hug. A tear dropped from the face of Hirzuen as well, as he smiled softly.
"It's ok, Asuma... I'm sorry for being so distant. I should've done a better job raising you" replied Hiruzen. Asuma shook his head, "No, you did a great job raising me. By raising the village, you raised me".
Hiruzen smiled and nodded his head, "Thank you Asuma... I'm proud of you for understanding. Now, let's get you inside and get those wounds treated". Asuma nodded as his father helped him up and helped him walk into the village.
"Thanks for everything... Dad"