The Great Run
"You are the Nine Tailed Demon Fox." Mizuki revealed to the boy before him. A glimmer of sadistic joy in his eyes as Naruto flinched, his face set in an expression of shock. The betraying ninja kept his gaze on the boy and judging by his stillness the right time to strike him down had arrived. The Forbidden Scroll would be his and Orochimaru would be please to receive such a gift from him. An oversized shuriken held in his hand flashed in motion as it was hurled in the direction of the young and motionless jinchuuriki aimed at its throat, a killing strike.
To both his and Iruka's surprises, the projectile struck nothing but the bare ground where the boy had stood, Naruto's blurry form had dashed and avoided the Shuriken before sprinting deeper into the forest outskirting Konoha, soon disappearing in the darkness of the evening. Both remaining ninjas stood still, their mind's trying to understand what had happened. One moment, Naruto had been standing motionless and dumbstruck when the next he had displayed incredible speed, much greater than he had ever shown in his days at the academy, and simply fled the area maintaining the incredible speed.
The instant passed and both ninja's gave chase, a competition to catch up with the jinchuuriki and the forbidden scroll the boy still held on to. Iruka shuddered at the idea of what incredible techniques the scroll held and at what would happen to his student if he would be caught by the traitor Mizuki. Determined not to let that happen, Iruka threw several kunais at the betraying ninja aimed for several key muscles and tendons of his legs, a strike to any of them would stop or severely slow down anybody. Unfortunately not a single one landed as Mizuki substituted himself and left a clone to bear the barrage of kunais dispelling at the first hit leaving a puff of smoke in its place. Mizuki was nowhere in sight.
Iruka kept running but now his attention diverted to any possible movement and hiding spot that his adversary could use to ambush him, the other ninja however was still unseen and this filled Iruka's muscles with dreading tension. Iruka didn't like his odds, nonetheless he still sprinted down the forest floor in chase of Naruto, hopeful he might catch his student first.
There were too many distractions to be taken into consideration and Iruka wasn't willing to slow down, he had to reach first. Pushing his muscle further their normal velocity, using chakra to minimize prevent lasting damage, the faithful Konoha Academy instructor blurred in rapid motion down the trail left by his careless student. It was a gamble but he was sure that his speed would prove enough to reach Naruto.
A clearing came quickly into view and, knowing better than to dash into it would be imprudent, as it offered a perfect ambush location, Iruka's hands formed a seal and soon a nearly perfect copy of himself appeared by the teachers two separated, the clone racing through the clearing while the real stood by its edge ready to perform a substitution technique and take his construct's place once across the empty space. Through the clone's eyes Iruka saw something laying motionless at the center of the clearing and as soon as the distance gap reduced Iruka recognized his student unique jumpsuit, only it was no longer orange but stained in scarlet from several wounds that adorned the boy.
Kneeling closer, Iruka saw a rather severe cut on Naruto's chest still wet in blood but noticeably the fluid no longer gushed out of the grievous wound and that meant he had been too late. He felt tempted pick the wounded corpse from the ground but the sudden ruffle of leaves from one side of the clearing picked Iruka's interest and he let his killing intent fill the area as he craved for Mizuki's painfully slow death. The outburst lasted barely a second before, in a quick and very sudden move the corpse closed the short distance between its kunai wielding right hand and Iruka's throat sinking the weapon deep, past bones and cartilage and tearing the spinal cord.
Iruka's body went limp and hang there while a wicked smirk stretched across Naruto's pale corpse face before smoke enveloped his figure and from it emerged Mizuki bearing the same smirk. It was short lived as Iruka's body vanished in a similar gust of smoke only to reveal a short wicked Class 3 Explosive Tag that took the time for Mizuki's brain to work through the deception to go off lighting the sky with a quickly dying flash of fire and smoke. The bare grass and stones of the clearing turned red as bits and pieces of the traitor sprayed all around the surface..
From the branch on which he kneeled Iruka allowed himself to smile at the gruesome sight, the bastard was dead. As he leapt from his hiding spot using his chakra enhanced muscle to catch up to Naruto's crazy escape the academy teacher felt his right leg go limp and as he landed he found himself quickly approaching the floor unable to stay on his feet. Looking down at his legs Iruka saw a bloody wound on his right thigh and it dawned on him that Mizuki's kunais had been laced with poison. A toxin that now flew at a rapid pace through his overly excited and chakra sped circulatory system. Few seconds later Iruka went limp and soon after his vision went black.
Naruto redoubled his effort as he ran through the forest away from the village that despised him so much and hearing the loud bang come from not so far away drew greater adrenaline induced strength from his muscles making his already staggering pace turning frightening. Twigs and gravel loudly crunched as he stepped on them during his escape, careless of the noise they produced. His heart ached, not from the strain of the excessive physical exercise, nor from the dark demon dwelling in his soul, but from the years and years of abuse, mistreatment and constant neglect that the people and shinobis of Konoha had perpetrated on him.
His childhood years had been spent ignoring the mistreatment he received holding on to the stupid notion that the village was like a family. It was true yet his naivete had refused to realise the fact that nobody regarded him as a part of it, for every grown man and woman and their children alike hated his very existence. Now that he knew about the Nine Tail his hopeful mind ceased to cloud his judgement and he accepted the reality his heart had known all along.
The pain slowly subsided as something in the back of his mind stirred and whispered, every single word bearing a familiar nuance, and power he didn't recognize filled his flimsy limbs and brought the already speeding scenery around him to a furious blur. No matter the mind boggling velocity he moved Naruto, for the first time in a long time, felt truly in control, conscious of every tree, rock or animal in his trajectory and able to calibrate his body to avoid the obstacles. In a matter of minutes the noises that his clumsy legs and feet had produced at the beginning of his flight ceased and, like them, the forest of Konoha thinned and eventually disappeared from his view.
Sasuke walked down Konoha's main street with both hands in inside his pockets as he made his way home to his apartment after a long training session in the old Uchiha estate. As he walked past the gates of the empty neighborhood he felt the skin of his sweaty arms shiver as the early evening air had began to cool down. Regardless he maintained his leisurely pace avoiding and ignoring every person that crossed him on the road. Some would try to make eye contact just to give their reverence to the last Uchiha while other tried to befriend him, either group angered Sasuke because neither acknowledge his desire to be left alone.
"Sasuke-san" A girly shout brought an involuntary twitch to one of his eyes as he recognized the voice. That was his bane, his most annoying stalker, a girl that yelled the words 'true' and 'love' but knew the real meaning of neither, in short she was Sakura Haruno. The poor girl deluded herself that one day he might decide she was good enough to bare his children and would marry her but that was so far from the truth. In fact, he decided, he would make sure that it would never happen, beginning, by avoiding her presence and ignore her whenever he had to be in the same room with her. "Sasuke-san," she said again this time using a more appropriate volume. "Hi, I was wondering, would you like t..."
"No" Sasuke interrupted her from finishing her question knowing already too well what she was going to ask. A date between them was an absurd dream. He continued walking taking no note of the girl's slight pout and the following barrage of words, questions, and useless information about her day. As her annoying voice bordered his ears he felt glad that, today, both had graduated from the academy. He couldn't care less about the girl's accomplishment but now that both had graduated it would mean they'd be assigned to teams reducing the time he had to bare her annoying presence as they'd be too busy training with their respective senseis. . The thought of the occurrence they be teamed together crossed Sasuke's mind but, after a shudder went down his spine, he dismissed it as impossible. No body was so unlucky.
The sudden blur of colors in quick motion drew him from his pondering and his eyes fell onto a set of three ANBUs running at dangerous speed on the roof tops of the nearby building. Their mastery of Body Flicker left him in slight awe and he spent few moments observing the trio run to their destination. His awe grew as a further when another ten ANBUs followed the first group all flickering from place to place without of pause or hand seals. "Do you think something is bad is going on?" A voice came from his side, a slight accent of fear amongst the words. "I doubt it." He responded simply out of instinct as his mind was still focused on the large group of ANBUs. Immediately he curse as he realized whom had ask the question and moments later Sakura began her words barrage against Sasuke's ears.
An ANBU in his prostrate form appeared at the feet of the Third Hokage as the old man held his hand over the crystal ball, instrument for his renown Telescope Technique. His eyes glazed by a thin sheet of moist as if a tear was about to roll from the corners of his eyes. Immediately the man rose his head as the image on the crystal slowly disappeared in a raging red haze. With impassive tone the Hokage spoke. "Report, Crow-1"
"We have cleared and secured the sector of the forest where the accident took place." His voice ran, its tone and gender disguised by the porcelain mask that hid his face. "We also had found Iruka-san and the remains of Mizuki. Iruka-san escaped the incident with minor wounds but an acute poisoning, possibly fatal, but on site medical treatment stabilized his system and allowed his transportation to the Hospital for further and final medical treatment. Three ANBUs, namely Frog-5, Dog-12, and Rat-2 have been stationed outside of his room ready to bring him to T&I division for further details on the accident when his condition will allow it."
The Hokage nodded only once, the authority in his position clearly making any other gesture needless. After an appropriated and respectful wait Crow continued, his voice steady and inexpressive. "Two group of eight of our trackers have been sent to retrieve the Forbidden Scroll and the fugitive jinchuuriki. We have sent some of our best and fastest, all from Sigma Division. Eagle-2 and Dog-1 are each leading a group. Their last report suggested that the task will be completed shortly due to abundant clues left by the fugitive. Also, upon analysis of his foot prints the fugitive has been moving at slightly above average speed however the trackers, are faster, and will have no problem to close the distance."
With the conclusion of his report the ANBU once again kneeled bringing his head a mere centimeter from the wooden floor of the Hokage's office and there he waited for any further order from the renown shinobi. After a moment of silence, the Hokage shift in his chair and cleared his voice. "You may leave now."
Without waiting an instant longer the Crow flickered out of the office leaving behind nothing but a single tiny ring of pale white smoke, a great remark in his skill in the essential ninja skill. Left alone, Sarutobi Hiruzen allowed his body to let go of his authority and rested his bones in his chair like any normal old man would. The thin film of water returned to his eyes moments after he tried. in vain, to use his Telescope Technique on Naruto. The pristine surface of the ball had shimmered as the Hokage's chakra flood the sphere but a moment later every inch of the crystal surface had turned dark red. Hiruzen was sure that something bad had happened that day but all his thought were instead focused on remembering the young boy and the pain the Hokage had seen on Naruto's face as he fled from the village. With a well practiced motion Hiruzen brought his pipe to his mouth and inhaled, the embers at the end of the pipe lighting in red, before the man let the smoke out moulding it into several rings, one smaller than the next. That day had been long indeed.