Naruto looked down on the village with a scowl as the streets were filled with the lights of celebration. The Fourth Great Shinobi War was done and over with, the Akatsuki was done, Pein dead and everyone who died had been resurrected. One would think that now would be a time for celebration and happiness, generally you'd be right but when it came to a particular blonde shinobi his unnatural luck streak had seemingly died out. Sasuke the traitor extrordinare had been elected as the Rokudaime, Sakura was engaged to Sasuke and they were expecting twins, Hinata who he thought loved him by her own confession at long last actually told him she realized she didnt love him romantically as she had thought but rather looked up to him as a beacon to better himself and as if all that wasnt bad enough the Kyuubi was being a lot louder than normal. 'When I get out you're going to regret everything you've made me endure! All the people you care about are going to suffer when Im free!' or as he dubbed it by that point the usual bullshit.
"Penny for your thoughts Naruto?" a soft female voice behind him asked. The blonde turned and his scowl got harsher as he saw Hinata flanked by Sakura and Sasuke. If he had cared enough at that point he may have noticed the genuine worry in their eyes about the blonde shinobi but he was beyond caring.
"No. Leave me be and go back to your celebration. Im sure your precious council will send ANBU to find you three if you're gone too long. Safety of the Hokage, his soon to be wife unborn children and the great Hyuuga medic bullshit they've been spouting recently" Naruto said with a tightly controlled tone before turning his eyes to the village again. He didnt need to see the trio to know they flinched at his words. "Dont. Touch. Me. Traitor." His eyes turned as he glared at Sasuke with demonic red slit eyes seeing Sasuke try to approach him. "They're all fooled by your lies but Im not" he spat before jumping off the Hokage monument.
"What do we do Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. She knew that war did a lot to a person mentally and emotionally but the ball of sunshine that they knew as children hadnt been around for the longest time. Even when he was an annoying brat she was fond of him in a sense even if she did reject his advances on her and hit him when she had very little control of her inner personality that partially influenced her, he was like a brother to her even if she didnt show it all that well. Now all that remained was what could generously be called a shadow of a broken man. Gone was the kind, helpful warm soul and in his stead was a bitter, harsh, cruel unfeeling husk where their teammate once stood.
"I wish I knew Sakura" Sasuke said lost for words and action. He knew his former teammate despised him for defecting, nearly killing him on more than one ocassion and now he took the one thing that he always wanted: his dream. Sasuke hadnt even wanted the job but through some loopholes he had been forced to take it while Naruto was unconscious for a week in the hospital.
-At The Silver Leaf shinobi bar-
Naruto sat alone at the end of the bar by himself when he felt people approaching him. Looking up from his drink his face went expressionless as the other members of tbe Rookie 12 approached him. "What do you bunch want?" he asked flatly before he knocked back a glass of sake and poured another.
"For you to pull your head out of your ass for one. Ever since the god damn war ended and the summit of the new Kages you've been this snappy bitch at everyone!" Ino snapped at him voicing everyones thoughts.
Naruto laughed hollowly, it almost sounded evil if you didnt know him, and actually looked amused though his once inviting warm blue eyes were cold hard."Aw, is everyone not happy Im not worshipping the ground of the new Hokage his expectant fiancée walk on?" he asked. He snorted seeing the group tense. "Piss off and leave me alone, its my day off." Turning back to his drink he was a moment from knocking it back when it smacked out of his hand shattering the glass on the floor making the bar go dead quiet. Everyone at The Silver Leaf knew not to disturb the blonde war hero when he drank if you valued your life and here was the core group of not just the heroes to put the war to an end but their new leader pushing the blondes buttons.
"You're out of line. As your leader I will not tolerate being spoken to like that am I understood?" Sasuke asked with a hiss. Oh how he wished he hadnt said those words moments later. The temperature in the room dropped as Naruto laughed again, the same hollow laugh, only it seemed to be tinged with a bit of madness.
"You know what Hokage-sama" Naruto hissed out the word as he stood up "you're perfectly right, I am out of line." He bit his finger and summoned Gamakichi on the bar top. "Kichi, tell your dad to take my name off the summon scroll. Im fucking done" he said and dismissed the toad before he could say a word. He unsealed the master toad summon contract from a seal on his arm and watched his name disappear off the scroll before he shoved it into the Uchihas hands along with his headband. "Fuck you all, I quit." He left the group in a stupor after paying his bill and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
"Way to go idiots" Lee snapped surprising everyone for his choice of words, the tone he used and the fact he wasnt speaking about Flames of Youth. "We're all fine and well you two have to strike a nerve with him. Using your position, the one thing he worked so hard to try achieve, to try and intimidate him to fall in line" he said said glaring at Sasuke "and you Ms. Congeniality psychotherapist. These two are engaged, she is pregnant, he has the job Naruto has worked so hard to earn his whole life, this one indirectly lied to his face and is with someone else and what does he have to show for this whole war? Battle scars and heartache. Put yourself in Narutos shoes and try to be a happy coping individual. I quit too, this village isnt worth it anymore." Lee let his handband drop to the floor and left leaving the group stunned after harshly jabbing fingers at Sakura, Sasuke and Hinata.
-At the Namikaze compound-
Naruto stared at the broken mirror, his empty stare reflected back ack at him only the eyes and his reflection werent they own. Instead of the hardened blonde haired blue eyes man was what could only accurately be described as a demon. Red eyes the color of freshly spilled blood bore holes into him set against ashen skin. A sickeningly wide grin bore witness to a mouth full of razor sharp teeth stained crimson with the blood of all the men Naruto had ever killed. 'I told you boy no one would ever truly accept' the demonic visage spoke yet Naruto said nothing. His eyes didnt blink or didnt flinch as the image cackled. 'You're more like me than you know it and you cannot face the truth of reality. You are a monster.'
The glass of the mirror shattered under Narutos clenched fist. He wasnt a monster, he had a lot of aggression pent up and he killed a lot of people but so did everyone else; killing was an unavoidable fate in war. "Im not a monster" he said to himself near a whisper ignoring the glass shards embedded in his hand as blood dripped onto floor. Kyuubis mad whispers tickled the edges of his senses as he smacked his hand against his temple to silence the whispers ignoring the pain that came with the glass shards cutting open new wounds on his face. The whispers stopped as cackles of twisted laughter retreated for now barely catching the tail half '...who could love or respect a monster like you? You dream boy' before he jammed up the mental block between him and beast. For a moment he didnt move in the silence, the only sound to break the morgue like stillness was the drops of blood splashing on the floor.
Then the door opened and his eyes snapped over seeing Shizune. She had been one of the few people he could tolerate after the war. Unlike the other members of the Rookie 12 or the shinobi corps who tried to force him into a Yamanaka chair for counselling she would sit with him in silence. If he wanted to talk she'd listen and if he didnt then at the very least he knew he had someone who wouldnt judge him beside him.
"The whispers are getting worse arent they?" Shizune asked noticing the shattered mirror on the ground, the shards embedded in his hand and the blood dripping off his person.
"Irritation" Naruto said with a smooth lie. Of course he knew she would see through it but she wouldnt call him out on it knowing there was a modicum of truth to it somewhere though she wouldnt have any idea just how much. "I resigned my contract and turned in my headband. Im leaving the village and Im not coming back" he said after a moment knowing Shizunes eyes would still be on him. Sweeping the glass up off the floor he waited for her to blow up either in anger or worry yet it never came.
"Where will you go?" Shizune asked as she leaned against the wall.
"I dont know... Wherever the wind blows I guess" Naruto said with a sigh.
"What about your frie-"
"I dont have friends in this village Shizune and you know that better than anyone" Naruto cut her off. "None of them cared before. None of them care now. They respect the war hero who can slaughter a battalion of enemy troops, they dont respect the person he was." He was quiet for a moment as he dumped the glass in a trash container. "Be gone by seven tomorrow morning. I intend to leave by that time and burn this compound to the ground. This village doesnt deserve the rewards of my parents life work" he said turning to head to the sole meditation room.
-The next morning, 6:30am-
Checking his scrolls one last time he sealed the gates to his clans compound one last time before he pressing his hands into a puddle of oil that covered the Namikaze compound in its entirety. "Fox fire: pyre of the damned" he said with a tired sigh as blacks whisps of youkai infused fire escaped his lips. His hands left the oil as the flames touched it and it caught fire. In no time the the compound was ablaze as Naruto left the Leaf village for the last time as all available shinobi rushed to the Namikaze compund to try and save the works of the late Yondaime only it would too late by the time they arrived; notes, books, seal arrays far beyond their time were destoryed by the immense inferno. He had soaked the entirety of the inside of the compound so nothing would survive.