Disclaimer: The Naruto Universe is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

Update! - Couple typos amended and changed some of the gatekeeper's lines to fix continuity.

Super Update! - A line of Danzo's ended up conflicting with the rest of the story so his lines have been tweaked. As have a few other bits.

Note to New Readers - Please note this prologue does not do the rest of the story justice, but it looked good at the time!

The Missing Hokage - A Wandering Legacy

Prologue

It is said that on days of a particularly sad occurrence, the weather will change and pouring rain will drench the land. However, much like on any other normal day, bright sunshine lit up the Hidden Village in the Leaves - Konohagakure. It might well have been any other typical day for the ninja village, if it wasn't the first day of Uzumaki Naruto's exodus and the beginning of the legend of the Missing Hokage.

Sarutobi Konohamaru was unaware of the day's importance as he stared up at the Hokage Monument, something he found himself doing often lately. He missed his grandfather dearly, but seeing his face up there with the other Hokage was a small consolation. Was he still somehow watching over the village after death?

I hope so.

The old man had often talked of the "will of fire", something Konohamaru didn't exactly understand yet. Whatever it was, he suspected he and Naruto had it, and the hope that brought superseded the pain of grief, if only for awhile.

In fact he hadn't seen his adopted big brother in awhile, not since his string of recent escapades, the latest of which had been an intercepted prison break by Mizuki - the rogue Academy instructor.

As he turned away, Konohamaru noticed that the stonemasons who until recently had been starting work on the Fifth's face were totally absent. Maybe it was their day off or something.

Heading down the side street that led to Naruto's apartment, he thought of many ways he could surprise him. Maybe a new kind of Sexy Jutsu.

Or a transformation into Haruno Sakura. He's always following her around. The look on his face when I release the jutsu will be priceless!

He couldn't resist chuckling to himself, drawing a few odd looks from passers-by.

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of his prank, Konohamaru's train of thought was interrupted by loud commotion behind him. Glancing round, he first noticed that Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage herself, was marching down the street behind him. He then spotted Shizune behind her, pulling along a large cart.

Then he noticed other people in the street running for cover, as the air around Tsunade seemed to be radiating the rage of the Sun Goddess herself.

It appeared that Tsunade was very, very angry.

Oh crap!

Konohamaru was not the brightest kid of his age but he knew to stay where he was would be suicide. With a few well placed leaps he was onto one of the lower shop roofs within seconds. Looking back, he watched Tsunade storm past. It was lucky everyone had the good sense to run away. Had anyone remained in Tsunade's path, they would've likely been obliterated. Curiously, she had the distinctive Hokage hat clipped to her side.

What happened? And why is that cart filled with...junk?

At least it looked like junk from the roof. Bags, boxes, a couple barrels...and scrolls? Forget Naruto, this was way more exciting! Udon and Moegi had to see this. He leapt onto the next roof and away.

He found his closest friends in the shopping district, saving valuable time from rounding them up from their homes. It didn't take long to convince the two of them to follow him, many of the fellow shoppers around them were openly spreading the rumours that something was wrong with the Hokage. Her march through Konoha was not going unnoticed, but then subtlety had never been her strongest suit.

Rushing back towards the side-street, it seemed following Tsunade wouldn't be diffcult either. That cart was heavy enough to leave visible tracks in the dirt and the trio followed. It was strange to see the way ahead completely deserted.

"Nyeh...Konohamaru-kun, is this such a good idea?" Udon asked before sniffing. Why did he never bring tissues?

"Udon's right" Moegi said in a hushed voice. "If the Hokage's as mad as they say, there's no way I'm getting too close."

"We won't. We're just looking to see what's up".

Oddly enough, the tracks circled around Naruto's apartment building, and it looked like the cart had stopped briefly.

"Wait here guys." he said before hurtling up the stairs. He knew from stories that Naruto always left his window unlocked. Maybe he could convince Naruto-niichan to tag along. He might even be able to calm her down, knowing that he'd convinced her to come to Konoha in the first place.

It turned out Konohamaru didn't even need to clamber onto the balcony; the front door was wide open.

"Naruto-niichan?"

Stepping gingerly inside, he entered an empty room. Naruto wasn't here, but why was the door open? Something had happened here recently, the bed was unmade, spare scrolls littered the floor and milk had been spilled near the fridge. Feeling uneasy, Konohamaru left and jumped down to rejoin his comrades.

"Something's wrong. Naruto-niichan's not there and his room is all smashed up."

"Who would do that...wait...Tsunade?" Moegi asked as she glanced down at the tracks.

"C'mon, we gotta follow where she's gone!"

"Hang on a-" Moegi began but not fast enough to stop Konohamaru rushing ahead. She glanced at her teammate, sighed, and followed.

The cart's path cut all the way through the village. Konohamaru was beginning to tire near the village's edge. It couldn't be that much further, there wasn't anywhere else to go.

Unless she was leaving Konoha. No, she'd only just got here!

He turned the last corner, and standing underneath the main gate, there they were. Tsuande. Shizune. Naruto. And a dark-haired girl of Naruto's age that he didn't recognize, not from this distance. He turned around to see his friends struggling behind, panting.

"Quick! Hurry!"

He turned back to see the foursome pass under the gate.

They're ALL going? Where!?

With adrenaline kicking in, he hurled himself towards the gate. Naruto definitely wasn't being kidnapped, he was willingly walking alongside the cart.

Konohamaru would've gotten further, but the sight of the guard stepping out of the gate hut to block his way stopped him in his tracks.

"Where do you think you're going kiddo?"

"After them! Where are they going?"

"Didn't you hear? The Council banished Uzumaki Naruto. Lady Hokage probably went along to escort him to a new home. She made quite a case for leaving." he replied, a couple of sweat drops forming on his brow.

Naruto-niichan...banished...?

"What? No! They can't!"

"Banished? Why?!" Moegi asked as she and Udon caught up.

"Search me. You guys aren't getting through though, so don't even think about it."

Konohamaru's fists were clenching. He could try to get past but he knew deep down he wouldn't get far. The guards were good at what they did. He stared past the one facing him and watched the figure in his unforgettable orange jumpsuit walking away. As if in response, Naruto turned around and raised his fist to the sky, pointed at the Hokage monument.

Then Konohamaru saw Naruto look down and notice the three of them. Slowly, the fist opened up into a slow wave. Konohamaru's hand shot up to return the gesture, as did Moegi and Udon's. He watched as Naruto reluctantly turned away, and could do nothing as the tears started to flow.

Koharu Utatane stood on the balcony of the Hokage Tower, alongside her ever-present companion and fellow council member Homura Mitokado. Her eyes weren't getting any better but she could just make out a few dots walking down the forested road away from Konoha.

"They've left then?"

How typical of Danzo to appear behind them without a sound. He hobbled forward slowly, staring in the same direction.

"Hai." she replied.

"What exactly did she take?"

"A lot, we should discuss this inside." said Mitokado.

"I see. This is most unexpected. Where is Jiraiya?"

"He's easy enough to contact. I can get him here within a few days."

"Good. Let's talk in the office."

Utatane took one last look towards the gate. She knew the Kyuubi-child would be harder to track outside of the village, but she could not disagree with Mitokado, and his arguments made sense. Still, that nagging thought in the back of her mind about this decision would not shift.

The Konoha Council had banished the nine-tails jinchuuriki from the village, and in doing so, possibly lost the Fifth Hokage along with him.

Author Notes:

Well hi there! I figured a good way to introduce myself into this writing community would be to produce a self-written Q&A session:

Who the fook are you?

I am Matt, living in the UK, doing a screenwriting course at University, and this is my very first attempt at writing a fan-fiction story, let alone a Naruto one. But do read on before that puts you off.

So what makes you think you can write a half-decent Naruto-based story?

Well I've seen every single episode of Naruto from the very beginning right up to the current episode of Shippuuden (at the time of writing, Ep 305: "The Vengeful"). Yes, including the OVA's and those awful, ridiculous Curry of Life, "The Allied Mom Force" and ostrich-based filler episodes. Plus all the movies up to the first post-timeskip one. Even at its worst points I never wanted to stop watching the series, and I will keep watching til the damn thing finally ends. So yeah...maybe that's reason enough for you.

What got you interested in fan-fiction?

Probably the same way most people do. Firstly hearing about those hilariously bad romance short stories (the infamous Draco Malfoy one comes to mind), before stumbling across some genuinely engaging stories written with real intelligence and respect. TVTropes was my biggest helper there.

Uh huh, have you actually read some fan-fics?

Yes actually, if only a few. The brilliant "Team 8" by S'TarKan and "Time Braid" by ShaperV. Reading about the latter was in fact how I found the Missing Hokage challenge in the first place. I've read scraps of other fics but to avoid drawing unconscious elements from other stories I probably won't read many more. I'd prefer most of my writing to come from my own imagination.

Why Lionheart's "Missing Hokage" challenge?

Laziness mostly. Not sure a completely original story would be ideal for a debut story and this was the first challenge I stumbled across. Also I've read a couple of the previous responses to it and feel I can do somewhat better.

So you'll be following all the rules then?

Yes...mostly. Okay there's one rule in particular that doesn't make an awful lot of sense to me character-wise so I'm gonna 'adapt' it slightly. If you really want to know which one it is, go to Lionheart's profile page and it's the third rule from bottom. The only other rule I want to address leads nicely onto the next question...

What about pairings?

Right, I'm well aware this is the main reason most people read this stuff, and that one of the rules calls for NaruxHina and/or harem. Without spoiling too much, don't expect to find any kind of harem or immediate romances. I'm attempting something a wee bit more realistic here, and these characters are 12. 'Twelve'. Think about that for a second. That said, we'll see where the story goes. ^^

Are you done yet? I'm bored.

Sheesh. Everyone's a critic eh? Go figure.

I will point out the style of this story will be rather like Game of Thrones, which I fooking love. That means each chapter will be broken down into the perspectives of multiple characters. Probably only two or three a chapter. The series has a great variety of characters, and the anime tends to shove the vast majority into the background, so it'd be great to give some of them the limelight for a spell.

One final thing. Whether you love, hate or feel astoundingly indifferent about any chapter, please leave a review, short or long, all are welcome. Constructive criticism as a bonus is always a big help and I expect to make plenty of mistakes as a debut writer. Point these out without hesitation!

So...thank you kindly, and enjoy.