Naruto was finally on his way home to see his girlfriend, Hinata, after a royal clusterfuck of a mission, equalled only by his first 'proper' mission to The Land of Wave. It was getting late in the day when he came upon a town. He thought to himself, 'Finally! I can have something to eat that I didn't have to cook for myself,' and increased his pace slightly. He was vastly disappointed to find that, to his horror, that there was no one at the tavern, which prompted him to enter sage mode in order to prepare for whatever caused the tavern to be empty at a time which it should have been packed.
In sage mode, Naruto sensed a mass of people present in some kind of shrine that was at the centre of the village. Naruto said to himself, "Well, I might as well check out what's going on, after all, there's really nothing much I can do here until they get back anyway." He then stood up from the seat by the bar that he had taken upon entering the tavern and went to the shrine. As he got closer the mass of energy signatures separated into multiple individual signatures, telling him that, in all likelihood, there were two men standing over a newborn at the front of the room. He kicked the door open, mildly concerned as he had heard a rumour going around the nearby towns that there were some pretty weird beliefs held by the villagers in this town.
When he was inside he saw a man wearing blue hakama and a white kosode under a black kimono at standing behind an altar at the front of the shrine. He was clearly the shrine's kannushi. The kannushi, holding a blessed dagger above his head demanded, "Who art thou that darest delaye this ceremony?" lowering his dagger.
"What 'ceremony' would that be, exactly? Naruto demanded in return.
"This is a ceremony to cleanse this child of the daemons infecting her soul," The man raised his dagger back again and started to stab down with it.
Naruto was having none of that though, so quickly unsealed one of his Takigakure-style kunai that had a hikazeshin seal inscribed upon the blade from his modified sage cloak and threw it at the kannushi's blade arm. It tore right through it with ease as Naruto had streamed his wind chakra through the blade before throwing i. he teleported to the kunai behind the priest, who was stunned that anyone would have the nerve to attack him, the one that had been leading the town's mayor around by the nose for years. He said, "How dare you, you insolent cur! I'll have your head for this," as he tried to stop the blood with the shōsen jutsu.
Naruto thought, 'He's a medical ninja?' before glancing at the kid on the altar, which was in front of the honden in the haiden. Naruto glanced at the baby and, seeing its eyes, thought, 'It's eyes…it's either related to the Hyūga somehow, which is unlikely…' knowing the customs of his girlfriend's clan, '…or it is blind. Either way, there's no way that she is possessed by any kind of demon.' He glared at the 'kannushi' and said, "You're a medical ninja. How could you not notice that she's…" then he saw the smirk on the man's face and put the pieces together. He turned from the priest to the townsfolk. "Townspeople. You don't know me, but I'm a ninja from Konohagakure and am close to some of the greatest healers in history. As such I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, that this baby…" Naruto said, holding it up so that they could all see her. "…is possessed by no demon. She is merely blind." Naruto continued, judging the baby's gender by the pink rug that it was wrapped in.
The priest, who had stopped the bleeding, to an acceptable level, stood up behind Naruto and, literally, stabbed him in the back. Luckily for the blonde he was wearing the Kumogakure style flak vest that Killer Bee had given him after the war. Naruto knelt to the ground, pretending that the strike had been successful as the priest looked at the blade and saw the blood on it, along with the blood that was running down Naruto's back. The priest said, "People. You know me and all I've done for you over the years," quelling the murmurs that had started after Naruto's announcement.
One of the villagers said, "Yeah! Kannushi Takuda has never led us wrong before," a cry that was taken up by all of the villagers. Naruto's face was covered in grief at what he was about to do. The priest took up his knife one more time and brought it down on the defenceless child. Naruto unsealed another kunai, this one from the other side of his coat, and threw it at the priest's other hand, severing it from its arm from the elbow down before throwing another at the man standing next to the kannushi, the girl's father, because of the fanatical look in his eyes.
Naruto quickly stood up and caught both the arm and the knife before it could reach the baby. He picked the baby up and asked, "Is there any one of you here that will let the two of us leave here, free and clear?" the townsfolk charged at him. Naruto sighed and said, "I thought not," And put the baby girl down before drawing two of his Hikazeshin marked kunai, flashing from one to the other, slaughtering the entire town. Once he was done, he took the baby from the shrine and left the town.
On his way out though, he saw a clothes store and said to himself, "Well, it May go against my taste, robbing a guy I killed, but these clothes are way too distinctive." He then went into the store placed the baby on the front counter before rummaging through the clothes before changing into some close-fit brown pants tied off with a brown leather belt, a green tunic, darker brown leather boots and a green, hardened leather, vest. There were also some limited weapons available in the store, so he took a pyramid bow, along with a full quiver of arrows and a kunai pouch. Before he left the store he took up the baby from the counter and put her in the satchel that he took at the same time as the kunai pouch before emptying the register of all of its cash. He tossed his old clothes into the shrine before leaving the town, his forehead protector securing the as yet nameless baby in his satchel.
XXXXX
When Naruto didn't return from his mission, Tsunade sent out an investigative team to find out what, it anything, had happened. They returned three days later. The team leader said, "Hokage-sama."
"Yes?"
"We have some bad news to report I'm afraid."
"Naruto's not…"
"From what we can gather, that does not seem to be the case." Tsunade sighed in relief. "However…" the leader said, unsure how he should continue, knowing how close the Hokage was with Naruto.
"However what?" Tsunade demanded, glaring at the team leader, promising pain if he didn't continue, pronto.
"However, the same cannot be said of the townsfolk of Magentosa."
"What do you mean?"
"It would appear that Uzumaki Naruto massacred the entire town while they were in attendance of some rite at the towns shrine."
"That's not…Naruto wouldn't…"
"I'm afraid that it is not only possible, but entirely true." The team leader looked to one of his subordinates and said, "Peacock…" prompting one of his subordinates to step forward. The ANBU was wearing a mask that was decorated with a peacock tail extending up and away from the bridge of its nose. He placed Naruto's clothes and the kunai that he left at the scene on the Hokage's desk.
Tsunade said, "That's…" her face losing all of its colour as her eyes widened and her stomach dropped.
"It is my judgement that Uzumaki Naruto departed from his operational directive due to some event that he found to be abhorrent and cruel. So much so that it warranted the wholesale slaughter of the townsfolk. However, due to Magentosa being outside of The Land of Fire's borders, returning here would in all likelihood result in a political nightmare, possibly eventuating in war against an alliance of Taki, Kusa, Ame, Hoshi and the military of Tori, despite their recent cooperation due in large part to Naruto himself. Given that, even though it is in the latter stages of recovery, we still lost a lot of our shinobi in the Fourth Ninja War, our chances of emerging victorious against such odds are…well, negligible at best. Disappearing would eliminate any possibility of such a thing eventuating. That being the case, I decided that it would be prudent to return here before taking any further action."
"You're dismissed," Tsunade said, getting up, out of her chair and looking out her window as a tear ran down her right cheek as she gripped her haori tightly in her right hand, biting her bottom lip to prevent her emotions from getting the better of her. Tsunade called out, "Get Sakura and Hinata to drop whatever they are doing and get here now," to her secretary.
The secretary called out, "Hai!" and scurried off. She had never heard the Hokage use a tone mixed with an equal mix of grief and anger before and was rightfully scared at what may happen if she didn't do what she was told. She raced off to the hospital where she felt the chakra of both Hinata and Sakura leaving.
XXXXX
As Sakura and Hinata walked along the path that lead to Ichiraku Ramen, Sakura was saying, "So, how long have you suspected?"
"Not very long. I was missed it last month, and, given our work, I figured that it would be better to check than go on missions not knowing."
"Well, that's true enough, but you know that we kunoichi have a bunch of jutsu that can be used to prevent…" That was when Tsunade's secretary dropped down to the path in front of them and Sakura said, "Amara?"
"Yeah," Sakura's friend said. "Tsunade-sama wants to see the both of you, pronto."
"Alright, what does she want?" Sakura asked, never having been called to the Hokage's office at the same time as Hinata before.
"That's…probably better for her to tell you," Amara hesitantly said, unsure if the matter should be kept on a need to know basis.
"Alright," Sakura said, now getting anxious because the only time that she had never told her what she wanted to know, it was because she had been eavesdropping on a meeting that she really shouldn't have been."
Sakura sighed and said, "Alright Amara," following behind Amara as she walked back to the Hokage's office rather than taking back to the rooftops, not wanting to get to the Hokage's office for as long as she could possibly avoid it, knowing how close the two women with her were with the subject concerned.
Walking, it took ten minutes to reach the Hokage Tower Amara led them slowly through the tower's levels, which was starting to annoy Sakura, who's right eye's twitching was getting more and more pronounced. Hinata said, "Calm down Sakura. We're almost there."
Sakura let out a calming sigh and said, "Yeah, you're right," as they reached the door to the waiting room outside Tsunade's office.
Amara went up to the door and knocked, calling out, "Tsunade-sama, they're here."
Tsunade said, "Let them through," her voice laden with regret.
When Sakura and Hinata were in her office, Tsunade said, "Alright, you two, take a seat, you'll need it."
"Alright, why? What is it?" Hinata asked.
Tsunade sighed and said, "It's about Naruto."
The two girls felt their stomachs drop and a feeling of dread rise up within them. Feeling their legs start to weaken, they hurriedly moved to the side of the room and pulled a pair of chairs over so that they were facing Tsunade over her desk. Sakura asked, "So, what's the idiot done this time?"
Hinata said, "Sakura-san, you are talking about my boyfriend."
"Not for much longer though I should think," Sakura said, grinning as she nudged Hinata in her side. Hinata blushed as Sakura continued on to say, "I never thought that all of us that you would be the one participating in a shotgun wedding."
Tsunade said, "A…" and sighed, a dark look crossing her face.
"What is the problem Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked, the dread making its presence known again.
"Naruto…has abandoned Konoha."
"He's…but surely not!"
"I'm afraid so."
"But why?"
"That, I can't know for certain."
"For certain?" Hinata asked, seizing upon the only bit of the news that held out any hope for what she was being told being a lie.
Tsunade sighed and said, "I'll start with what I do know, if that's alright." Hinata and Sakura numbly nodded. "Okay then. As you know, he was late in coming back from his latest mission." Hinata and Sakura nodded. "Given the…abnormality of it, I sent a tracker team after him to see what had happened. What they found was…well…unexpected, to say the least."
"What was it?" Sakura asked.
Tsunade sighed and said, "He'd massacred everyone in Magentosa."
"He…!" Sakura exclaimed, not being able to link 'Naruto' and 'Massacre' together."
Hinata though, could. She asked, "What were they doing?"
Tsunade sighed and said, "Who knows? All that the team found was that they were all in the village's shrine. The team thinks that he found them in the midst of some rite or ritual that he didn't like the look of and decided that either the best, or the only, solution was the decimation of the village's people. Given that it is in the land of rivers, and their alliances with the lands of Rain, Grass, Birds and Bears, and our relative strengths at this time, the team think that he…"
"Sacrificed himself," Hinata said, a tear running down her right cheek. She slowly stood up and walked out of the room and left the Hokage Tower, walking towards the home that had finally been revealed was Naruto's inheritance. She only got halfway before her knees fell out from her and she fell into the wooden bench that was on the side of the street. She held her head in her hands and just let the tears fall.
Just after Hinata had left the office, Tsunade looked at her apprentice and asked, "Sakura, what…" surprised at Hinata's reaction to the news.
Sakura sighed and said, "She's pregnant."
"She's…" Tsunade said, feeling her stomach drop. She sighed and said, "Maybe I should have had Shikamaru or Shino deliver the news then."
"No, I think that there was no way that she could have received the news and not have reacted any differently."
"I suppose so," Tsunade said, heaving another sigh as she leant back in her chair. She interlocked her fingers and rested her head back on them and said, "What am I going to about this now?"
"About Naruto?"
"No. About Hinata."
Sakura said, "She's stronger than you think."
Tsunade sighed and said, "I sure hope so Sakura," Tsunade sighed and quietly said, "for all our sakes."
XXXXXXX
A/N
Okay, first things first. I came up with this idea before the whole Fourth Shinobi War Arc, so whilst I am including it, I will be disregarding certain things that happened in it, like Sasuke and Naruto receiving power from Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki. Also, to add a bit more realism to my story, Sasuke will not have been forgiven for everything he's done, however he was pardoned in so much as he wasn't sent to prison for attacking the Kage meeting and kidnapping Killer Bee, however he is still considered an international criminal due to his joining the Akatsuki whilst they were on their whole 'capture the bijū to destroy the world' plan. Also, I've always thought that the idea of magnet release using earth and wind natured chakras is ridiculous, so I shall be using earth and lightning component natures.
Terms
Daemon: Unclean spirit(Greek)
Honden: Sanctuary
Haiden: Hall of worship
