Reconcile
Disclaimer: By no way, form or legal right do I own Naruto.
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Chapter 1: Betrayal
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The sun was just peeking over the hills of rice country as the boy entered the small town below Mt. Kakkazan. It was a tiny village, with only a few hundred members in the community, blissful and happy as they went about their everyday lives as children happily played with one another, something the boy momentarily longed for but stamp it out.
The boy had little time to enjoy this little land of peace. He ran through the trees at top speed, appearing as an orange blur against the soft green of the leaves. The thirteen-year-old boy soared through the sky, feeling the wind rush through his blonde hair, flowing freely without the restriction of his forehead protector. He had just entered left the mountains where he'd completed the next stage of the mission, and now, he only had to wait until nightfall to complete his mission.
He landed in a tree in the middle of the park, recovering from the drop, and swung around the branch with his hand and landed at the base of the tree. Naruto leaned forward, leaning his back against the bark, and smiled. He was finally on a mission again! And an A-rank solo one too!
Ever since the Sasuke retrieval mission, the council hadn't sent him on any missions, because they knew he used the demon fox chakra to fight him.
Normally he always had someone with him on anything C-ranked or higher but considering how things were with his team, it was probably for the best that he was on solo right now.
It has been five months since the mission. Sasuke had been placed under heavy probation and hadn't been allowed to leave the village since then. While they remained on the same team, only Sakura and Kakashi had been given missions outside the village, always leaving the two of them to train. It always felt odd when they had trained…they wouldn't talk, and they'd always be as rough as they could, occasionally resulting in trips to the hospital. But somehow, there was some sort of odd respect between the two, under all that bitter rivalry.
Sakura didn't hate him, but she had distanced herself from him after the mission. Kakashi hadn't hated him, and actually congratulated him on his increase in strength, and on defeating and saving Sasuke, but…the bonds that had once held the four of them together had worn thin. They never went on out anymore…never went to festivals together…it was all just work and training.
Iruka really felt like the only family he had left, but he couldn't bother him every day. After all, he was only one student out of many, and with new classes started, it was hard to make time. He couldn't make him ignore all the other students. So for the past five months, he'd been almost completely alone.
Of course, that did give him a chance to train. He'd already perfected his use of his natural element: wind, and he was also developing a affinity for water as Kakashi had once told him people could make themselves have more then one element, which he wanted to start practicing.
He already knew about four basic wind jutsus, and wanted to invent his own, but before he could start, he'd been given the mission. It was his salvation from endless training, and his ticket to see the world once more.
Though he really couldn't help shake the feeling of dire dread that he had felt since he got this mission and he knew the source of it.
The council.
Naruto frowned a little. He knew the council better then they gave him credit for. There just had to be a catch in this mission, he knew it. When he had dragged Sasuke back, the raven haired boy was forced to tell everything that transpired between him and Naruto's battle.
The council should have been enraged, they should have insisted him to be mercilessly killed for using the demon's chakra.
The fact they just sat there, silent fear, hate and distrust evident in their eyes as they dismissed him without once demanding his immediate execution him had him worried.
Naruto may not have been the top of his class but he wasn't stupid. For all he knew the bombs he set were really beacons for the enemy; kami knows Orochimaru wanted his head (and vital organs) for stopping Sasuke.
"Hi there!"
Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin. Looking next to him, he saw a chirpy little girl, about eight years wearing a blue sundress with a green and white checkered bandana around her thin neck, wearing a large pink bow in her strawberry blonde hair, large pretty hazel eyes and freckles. On her shoulder was a white rat.
The girl smiled brightly up at him. "Whatcha doin, sir?"
Naruto just stared at the girl.
"Are you visiting the village?" The girl asked.
Naruto sat up, as the little girl stood by him. "Yeah…I came by to see the sights on my way to Grass country."
"Are you lost? Why've you out here? This park isn't really close to the markets."
Naruto looked down, staring at the shaded grass. "Lost? …Well, I guess you could say that."
"Oh." The girl smiled. "I just came out here to get my rat friend here some fresh air." She said, petting the large rodent on the head. "He's a good boy, but Mama doesn't like him, says he's a pest and a disease attracter, but I don't believe that."
"… Well people don't like rodents in general because there not very useful. Actually, there the opposite."
But the girl shook her head. "No. Some are very helpful, like squirrels! They collect nuts for winter! And bats! They help keep the bug population down; otherwise our food would get eaten by night time crawlers! Plus," The little girl said happily as she held the rat up to Naruto's face.
"My rat is special! I trained him! He recognizes me as family, and this place as his territory. If anyone was attacked, he'd fight for me. He's apart of my family." She said, lowering the rat. "Is there anything special to you?"
Naruto searched for something, but Konoha didn't come to mind. Maybe Iruka, but even he'd been drifting away.
"…Now that I try to find something, I can't think of anything truly special to me."
The girl sighed. "That's so sad, sir." She went silent for a moment, before brightening up, giving him a bright smile. "I know! Let's meet here tomorrow! We'll be friends! I'm Mitsi!" The girl said happily.
Naruto looked at the short child, slightly in shock, but the girl just smiled, holding out her pinky. It was childish, but it made him happy. Giving a true, warm smile, he held out his own pinky, taking the girl's.
"Naruto."
They stayed like that as the girl called Mitsi made their plan.
"Meet me back here at noon tomorrow. I'll bring some lunch for us to eat, and we'll go to the chapel on the Mooring slope!" She said happily, pointing to a aera on the mountain opposite of them was.
"It's up on Moor Mountian, about halfway up and deep into the mountain woods but theres a path so nobody can get lost! I love it up there, it's so pretty and you can see everything up there! I wish I could stay up there forever."
Then, the rat made a small squeak, and jumped out of the girl's hands, coming up to Naruto and standing on his shoulder, looking him in the eye. Slowly, Naruto pulled up his hand and placed it on the rat's head, and began petting the critter, slowly moving his hand along its body.
The girl giggled. "He likes you." She said.
After a minute of petting, the rat twitched a whisker, before jumping off and back onto the girl.
"My rat act a little different than normal ones. He's really nice and friendly." Mitsi petted her rat on her shoulder.
"Well, I should go. Mama's probably worried about me." She finished, running off back to the village. "Remember, meet me here at noon tomorrow! Goodbye, Naru-kun!" She said happily.
"Yeah…See you tomorrow!" He shouted, before falling back onto the bark. Naruto looked at the clouds, smiling brightly for the first time in months.
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"Alright…done!" Naruto announced to himself as he planted the last explosive note on the sound base. For the past week, he'd been traveling by day and by night to various sections of the base, planting explosive notes and preparing to knock out the foundation of the base in Mt. Kakkazan. Now, all that was left was to detonate them in the dead of night.
Naruto rushed to a safe distance on a small cliff-face on the side of the mountain, over a hundred feet away from the other buildings of the base. All of them were held up by wood, and if he destroyed the wooden posts, they'd collapse, and kill any sound shinobi inside of it. It wouldn't harm the village, and Naruto planned on spending some time in the village after that just to relax.
Slowly, Naruto pulled out a kunai with an explosive note attached, and ignited it, throwing it at the support beam. The result was spectacular!
The first note blew, igniting the others around the building. The sound shinobi didn't even have time to react as the buildings fell apart, and as the explosions began to spread, from one building to the hallway to the next, until the entire base was just a pile of rubble. Fires engulfed the wooden remains, slowly eating away at whatever was left of the base. Naruto smirked. His work was done. Until suddenly, as Naruto turned to head back down the mountain under the cover of night, light filled the air, and Naruto felt something very warm to his left.
Naruto whirled around just in time to watch as the side of the mountain where the base once stood burst open, spewing the hot red magma down the side, slowly engulfing the remains of the base, as well as the few living who still remained. Naruto watched in horror as he heard a few shrieks slice through the air, chilling him to the bone.
Hot ash filled the sky, blocking out the stars and the moon, before slowly descending downwards. Naruto knew that he had to get down there and help the villagers escape. The lava would probably stop before it reached the village, or miss it completely, but the hot ash descending from the sky would pile up and kill anyone who remained.
Naruto leapt down the cliff, running as fast as he could, but before he got too far, a column of lava burst through the mountain in the middle of his path. He couldn't stop in time, and so jumped to the side, flying past the lava spout.
Naruto came to a stop on another cliff, watching as his path became too red to walk across. He tried to find a place to jump, but he doubted he could make it.
Another roaring sound made him turn around, in time to see more lava heading straight for him. Gathering all his chakra into his feet, he jumped back, over thirty feet in the air. He landed on a piece of solid rock, looking back to watch as the rock he stood on only moments ago melted in seconds.
But now, he stood on a rock where there was nowhere left to go. He knew he'd be safe on this rock; it was high up on the ground. But…all the people below…
Naruto crouched over as ash began to fall around him, cradling himself. He was crying, something he'd sworn to never do again. But now…he looked at the sweet village once more, and broke down, unable to stand the sound of the screams any longer.
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Daybreak. No sun. No joy. No beginnings. Naruto made his way through the ruins of the village, covered in what looked like a fresh blanket of tainted snow. The ash had buried so much, and the lava had made its way down to destroy half the village. Over a hundred people had died, all because of him. He couldn't stand it.
Yet, his face showed no emotion. He was broken. He had only been able to watch and listen to the screams as the eruption destroyed the village. Now, people were returning to the village, looking for any survivors.
So far, no luck. Bodies littered the ground buried under the ash, having either died when the lava had hit the place or suffocated on the on the sulfuric residue that filtered the air.
Naruto walked through the ash, along the burned and mugged buildings along the streets. He barely heard the people that had lived through this as they wailed at the loss of there homes, But Naruto didn't care. That wasn't what mattered. He still couldn't believe that he'd done this; that over a hundred died because of this stupid mission. Naruto turned the corner into the market, and in that moment, his heart stopped, and his blood ran cold.
That pink ribbon the little girl Mitsi had been wearing the other day was stuck in the crack of a crate stuck in the ash, half destroyed, with the rims burned as it slowly swung in the still air. Naruto walked up to it, whimpering. He slowly picked it up, only to watch it fall apart in his hands.
Naruto removed the crate's top, hoping to find the other end of ribbon.
He let out a startled cry upon seeing what else was in there.
Mitsi was in the crate, dress burnt at the rims, shoes ruined, ash smudged her face and body, her bandana spread out next to her, a tiny hand on top of it as though hoping to protect it.
Naruto quickly looked for vital signs; a pulse, a shallow breath, anything.
Tears fell down his eyes when they met hers; her hazel eyes were lifeless, dulled by death.
Naruto just stood there, eyes wide and reflecting the anguish he felt. Dropping to his knees Naruto let out the most grief stricken wail, resounding in union by few other's who had found family and loved ones.
The only person who ever willingly befriend him without any ulterior motive behind it or having just gotten beaten by him was dead and it was all his fault.
A tiny squeak was heard, causing Naruto to stop, looking back into the crate.
The white rat poked its head out from under the checkered bandana, sniffing the air and looking at Naruto. It was burned in several places, and it looked like it hurt to move. Naruto slowly stood up, holding out his hand for it. The rat slowly backed away, but sniffed again and walked forward onto his outstretched hand. Naruto took the rat and held it close to his chest, weeping more over the loss.
After a moment that felt like hours, Naruto gently placed the rat and bandana in his pocket before bending over and picking up Mitsi's lifeless form.
"Meet me back here at noon tomorrow. I'll bring some lunch for us to eat, and we'll go to the chapel on the Mooring slope! It's up on Moor Mountain, about halfway up and deep into the mountain woods but there's a path so nobody can get lost! I love it up there, it's so pretty and you can see everything! I wish I could stay up there forever."
"And forever you shall." The boy whispered, hoarse from the crying.
Naruto ran, ran out of the decimated town, ran till he was at the base of the mountain then ran some more till he found a path. Taking the path he continued down it till he found what he was looking for; the chapel of the Mooring slope.
It was an old place, partly ruined from age and disuse but had a beauty all its own. He wandered around the forgotten church till he found a statue. It was an angel.
He spent the rest of the day digging a hole under it, some clones he made had created a coffin, while other ones were carving on the angels pedestal.
After many hours of intense preparation, Naruto put the dead child in the poorly crafted coffin, having cleaned her face of the ash and closed her beautiful eyes, before four more clones lowered her into the grave they made. Slowly they filled the grave with dirt, till it was mounded on.
Naruto dispersed them as he knelt before the new grave, tears shining in his eyes as he read the inscription:
Here Lies
Mitsi
A good girl, a kind friend, and a true angel.
Naruto felt movement in his pocket before the rat's head popped out then darted back in.
Naruto reached for the animal, gently pulling him out, accidentally pulling out the bandana that dropped to the ground.
He slowly picked the checkered cloth up, noting its adequate condition. As he held it, he cries as more tears ran down his face. He collapsed over the newly made grave, crying at the loss of one so innocent, and his only true friend. But even during his anguish he held the small animal gently, keeping hold of the last two things Mitsi had.
He cried himself to sleep.
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It must have been midnight when the boy awoke. He stared at the grave, his mind as blank as his face. Slowly he got up, sore and stiff from sleeping on the grave but didn't care.
Earlier he had made a box along with the coffin. Pulling out the small box he wrote a message on some paper, ripped a piece of his shirt off and wrapped it in, before placing the box in a cubbyhole in the angel statue, promising to return here again, and to never forget his transgression.
"Please…forgive me…" He said, still showed no signs of emotion though tears slowly trickled down his face.
Paying his respects once more he slowly made his way down the mountain side. He eventually made it back to the town.
Just yesterday, this was a thriving place, full of life and people with futures. Now it a ghost town. He thought, feeling empty as he sat down, the white rodent in his hands.
What was he going to do? He had to return eventually to Konoha and make a report, but now all he wanted to do was curl up and die--
Then, something clicked in Naruto's mind:
The council.
They must have known. They must have known that this would happen. They had sent people who scouted the land, and if that was a volcano, they would have known.
They set him up. They tried to get rid of him. That's why they gave him this one mission.
He wasn't supposed to come back.
Placing the rat in his pocket once more, he realized what he had to do:
He had to get away from here. He would be blamed, even if he was set up. He had no way to prove his innocence and Tsunade only had so much power and any attempt to stop this would lead to her impeachment and a very possible civil war.
The council really put some thought into this one, but he had one advantage; they underestimated him.
The Third Hokage had taught him early on that people who underestimated others were more likely to loose. He had never really listened to that but now he heeded those words of wisdom.
The Third had gone to great lengths to make Naruto look like a total idiot, otherwise the council would have been more aggressive when trying to kill him.
He may not have been very smart but he was smart enough to use that to his advantage.
Standing up, he reached to his forehead on his headband. He removed it, and stared at it with a vacant expression, before placing a low powered exploding note on the metal insignia, dropping it on the ground. He had thirty minutes before it went off.
He took out Mitsi's checkered cloth and wrapped it around his neck and tied a knot in the back. It must have looked odd, him wearing a green and white checkered bandana around his neck that sharply contrasted against his violent orange clothing, but he didn't care.
Naruto had to escape. Naruto knew he was supposed to be dead. He couldn't go back to the village. He had to escape, and create a new life. If the old fools thought him stupid enough to get killed in that inferno, then let them. He would be safer that way. And if the council thought him dead, then maybe so would Akatsuki.
Placing a hand in the pocket to ensure the rat wouldn't fall out, he began walking into the forest, to god knows where.
He gently held the still trembling rat, stroking the unburned fur, offering him a small bit of relief.
After a mile of walking, Naruto faintly heard the tag bomb he put on the headband go off.
Slowly, without making a sound, he continued through the forest, to roads unknown, bearing the weight of his iniquity.
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Aaaaaand we have another story folks! These things just pop up as I'm trying to unplug my writer's block so hopefully I can get re-motivated to write my other stories soon.
Don't keep your figures crossed.
Anyway this is my first time writing angst stories, plus I wanted to try some a little different because I've read stories were Naruto is banished right after he retrieves Sasuke and I always thought, WHY would you banish a guy who can use powers that can crush you if he willed it? So instead of banishing him, they tried to make it look like a mistake, because, come on, they ninja's! People die on their mission's everyday! Only Naruto's gets away, making everyone believe he's dead. I have more but that's a surprise.
So far I've managed to rewrite it at least five times before this came out and to be honest, I'm really disappointed.
Not only did I make Naruto sad (something I don't like) I killed off over half of a town and a little girl too.
To be honest I was trying to go for sad tragedy but to me I feel like I got sick morbidness instead.
But on the bright side, I have less of a writer's block (I hate writer's block; they have destroyed so many stories) and have another chapter of one of my other stories almost done.
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Next Chapter: Tears of Regret, Sasuke's Change
E.o.S.
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