A figure was standing on the Hokage monument, staring down at the Hidden Leaf Village below. Another figure poofed nearby and walked up to the first figure. It was too dark to see who they were but from their shadowy outlines, one looked like an older girl and the other was a boy.

"You're sure you want to do this?" the girl asked. There was deep sympathy in her voice.

"You know me better than probably anyone in this village."

"True….but still sometimes I don't know what goes on in that head of yours."

The boy was silent.

"I mean. I can go, nothing can stop me. The only one who cared deeply for me was my mother. And she died in front of my eyes trying to protect me. You, however, have friends and people you can call your family. People who would be crushed if you left. I don't need you to come now."

"It's getting worse; I can't control it half the time. And I told you before. I won't let one of us ever be alone. You need me. It doesn't matter how strong you are, you won't manage on your own knowing who you are."

"Are you sure?"

"Why do you keep asking!? I already told you!"

"Because the moment we leave the village, there's no turning back. Ever. I want you to realize that if you come with me, you can't give up and go back. Never."

The boy became silent again, thinking things over.

"Final chance. Are you sure you want to come?"

"Yes."

"Ok. There are two letters for Tsunade on her desk. She'll find them in the morning and by then we will be long gone. One is the one you wrote, and the other is mine."

The girl looked to the horizon. They had two hours before the sun would start rising.

"We need to go. We need to get past the border before daybreak, but before we reach our destination, we need to meet a friend of mine."

"Who?"

"You'll see."

And with that both figures disappeared into the fading darkness and out of the Hidden Leaf Village. The place where both of they had once called home.

'Good-bye, my friends. I hope we will see each other again."

Count the Stars – Chapter 1

Tsunade sat in her office looking as miserable as she had five years ago when he left. The bright ray of happiness that could melt any heart of stone. The kid could make friends no matter how short I time someone knew him. The boy who inspired all. Naruto Uzumaki.

Tsuande could remember that morning like it was yesterday….

FLASHBACK

It was morning, and Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village had entered her office like she did every day. This day was different though. She didn't know why, but she felt that something was wrong. Something was missing.

She shrugged the feeling off and sat at her desk, looking at the large pile of paperwork in front of her. Before she began to work, Tsunade noticed something. Two letters lay neatly, side by side on her desk.

The one on the left had a small blue tint to it, she immediately recognized that it was from Cagalli Ibara, a jounin who was know for her mastery over water and for being the container of the Eight-tailed wolf Arashi. She would read that one later. Whenever Cagalli sent a letter, it usually was a riddle with no meaning what-so-ever and drove Tsunade insane. She didn't need to deal with her right now.

Tsunade turned her attention to the letter on the right. It seemed normal. She picked it up and opened it.

Shizune entered Tsunade's office and saw her reading the letter. Tsuande dropped it and had a look of shock on her face. "LADY TSUNADE!? What's wrong?!" Shizune asked when she reached the desk. Tsunade didn't answer, instead she pointed to the opened letter that she dropped onto her desk.

Shizune picked up the letter and read it….

'Tsunade-obaasan,

I'm sorry it has to be this way, but I need to leave.

I can't control the stupid fox' chakra half the time and it's only getting worse. Ero-sennin's training isn't helping me control it either. So, I'm leaving. I don't want anyone to get hurt, if something happened to all the people I care about, I would never forgive myself.

Don't send out a search team. I don't know how, but Cagalli-chan said that even if you send someone, they won't find us. Cagalli-chan said her letter explains the whole situation better, so you might want to read it.

Well, this is good-bye. I hope we I see everyone again someday. It's unlikely but who says you can't hope?

Naruto Uzumaki'

"Oh my god….." was all Shizune could say. When Tsunade got out of her shock, she immediately grabbed Cagalli's letter, ripped it open and began to read it…

'Tsunade-sama,

I'm guessing you read the boy's letter before mine and you're pretty upset. It's pretty out of character of me to be serious in a letter but now is not the time for jokes. I'm sorry. Really I am.

I had been planning to do this later with your approval, but you know how plans can unexpectedly change. Onee-chan couldn't even predict this to happen.

Kyuubi's chakra is getting to difficult for Naruto to handle and thing as just going to get worse. If I had waited, Kyuubi would have taken over Naruto's body and probably destroyed everything. I know Jiraiya-sama had the best intentions in mind when he was trying to help Naruto control Kyuubi's chakra, but it won't work. The only one who can help one jinchuuriki, is another jinchuuriki.

I'm afraid we won't be able to return. This kind of training changes people. And those changes would be the only thing will cause the entire village to turn against him, only causing more unnecessary pain.

Here's what I'm going to do. We are currently on route to Iwa to meet a friend of mine and then we are going to leave. I'm telling you this because I trust that you won't do anything stupid like send a 'rescue' team. I am doing this for the boy, not because I want to. If I didn't have to, then we would have never left. If you send anyone after us, I WILL KILL THEM WITH NO HESITATION! THIS IS YOUR FIRST AND ONLY WARNING! Besides, they won't find us anyway.

Well, this is good-bye. Don't worry. Onee-chan said that we will all see each other again.

Cagalli Ibara'

END FLASHBACK

Tsunade had sent a team, against Cagalli's warning, but it didn't do much. By the time the team reached Iwa, Cagalli and Naruto had already left. It seemed that they had been there and left the same day they had arrived. And then, they vanished. No one knew where they went, no clues were left. They just…..disappeared.

Tsunade wasn't the only one who was upset by Naruto's leaving; everyone felt a similar pain and expressed it differently.

Jiraiya blamed himself for not being able to help the boy. Hinata became very quiet and Neji said that when she was in her room she was crying. Sakura also blamed herself. The both her teammates were gone and she couldn't save either of them. The entire rookie 9 were upset that the blond nin had left.

Probably the only one who didn't show his disappointment like the others was Rock Lee. Lee trained even harder, his excuse was that he wanted to become stronger so that when they saw Naruto again, he could beat him and bring him home.

"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked, getting Tsunade out of her daze. "There's a report here." She headed the blond Hokage a folder, which she opened.

"A new ninja village has surfaced. They are located in the newly formed Yami no Kuni, which is between Tsuchi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni. They call themselves Hakumeigakure no Sato." Tsunade continued to read the folder report.

"Apparently they rule themselves differently then the other ninja villages. They have a Kage, but he just a figurehead so they can fit in. They are ruled by a council of nine shinobi each with a rank. It starts with Ichi, the weakest, and ends with Kyu, the strongest who is also the Hakumeikage. Not much else is known." Shizune finished at the same time that Tsunade put the folder down.

Just then, a woman came into the room with a scroll. "Hokage-sama! A Letter has just come from Hakumeigakure asking to meet with you." She handed the scroll to Tsunade who read it quickly.

"It seems that they will send their strongest two council members, Hachi and Kyu, for negotiations if we comply. And that it would take a week for them to arrive." She was silent, and then "Send a message back to Hakumei saying that we will allow a meeting."

"Yes ma'am!" the woman left the room and Shizune looked at Tsunade who said, "I have a funny feeling about this. And I'm not sure if it's good or bad."


Translations:

Onee-chan- big sister (It's what Cagalli uses to refer to Arashi)

Yami no Kuni- Darkness Country

Tsuchi no Kuni- Earth Country

Kaze no Kuni- Wind Country

Hakumeigakure no Sato- Village Hidden in the Twilight

Hakumeikage- Twilight Shadow ((Cool huh?))

Hachi- Eight

Kyu- Nine

Ichi- One

HOORAY!!! I'M DONE! YAHOO!!! I really like this story. If anyone reading this read All water has a source, sorry to say that's on hiatus due to lack of inspiration.

I know what you are all thinking….NO NO NO NO NO AND NO! Naruto is not Kyu, we will find out what has happened to him later. If I hear anyone comment saying that he is Kyu…..I will kill you………

Anyway. Just as a note... This story's name comes from a song I wrote recently that will show up in the story. Maybe 2-3 times. It's such a pretty song. sniff I love it.

Bye Bye…..I'll get chapter 2 up when I write it.