A/N: Hello and welcome to my first Naruto Fanfic! This story is dedicated to my little prince Naruto who's grown to be quite the king, all I wish is that the road to his greatness wasn't filled with so many thorns, and I thought to myself – what if there was a change? A change that wasn't connected to anything, a change given to Naruto as a break? I've got weird ideas swirling around in my mind every day so, well. Also on a sidenote, Naruto's more mature in this story but that's about it for his sorta ooc-ness.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
P.S. This will be the only A/N you'll see with me actually communicating to you, perhaps there will also be one more at the end of this story but, we'll see yeah?
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of its characters, I only own my story.
"To be human, you can't only be strong – you also need to be kind, considerate, compassionate, smart, truthful, selfless, brave; because those things are what makes you strong, what is strength without peace? Humans were created for love, not hate, and I know how cheesy it is but someday, in someplace, it'll all add up and all those virtues will mean something. To me, to you, to us. All of us."
Naruto wrapped his arms around the other, "And I know we have not much time, and you need to go soon, and I want to say more to you and ask more questions but I know I can't." He shuddered as a tear danced on his cheeks, unmarred and still smooth – no whiskers, "But let me tell you this, you needn't do anything, you don't need to be in control, let life control you, and whatever path you'll receive... is a path worth waiting for. Trust your feelings."
PROLOGUE
In the early morning where everything was kind and brand new, a brand new house stood before the feet of the Hidden Leaf Village. Implanted on the ground and seemingly, heartbreakingly, alien.
"Was there some sort of renovation overnight?"
"I've never seen such a building here before, it looks different."
Elderly ladies were awake by this time of dawn, they were off to the market to start their morning Sunday shopping where they'd gossip more than they'd be shopping. And that's how the rumors spread, word of a new house in Konoha scattered across the acres of the Hidden Leaf Village, news of this reached even the Hokage's office.
"A new house?" Tsunade questioned, right eyebrow arched and amber eyes curious, "I never approved of any renovation nor any construction."
"I know," Shizune answered, frowning – nothing but blank confusion reflected in her dark orbs, "What should we do? I mean – we can't really do anything but evict the landlord and their tenants."
Tsunade pressed her knuckles to her red lips, deep in thought before swiveling her chair to open her file cabinet, "Shizune, what was the address of the new house?"
"Kurobuna street, number sixteen."
The Hokage, holding the file in her hands flipped it open and scanned through the tenants quickly, "Yosano Hajime, Katan Baruchi, Daisuke Aiko, Etsuko Akemi and... Naruto Uzumaki?" Groaning, the blonde threw her head back knowing that she was going to get quite the migraine, "This isn't going to be easy."
Shizune, with lips curled up into a nervous smile spoke in a voice that matched her smile, "We can't really do anything about it, can we? Rules are rules, let's get going, I'll buy you some sake afterwards as compensation."
Tsunade shot her a desperate look before sighing tiredly and getting up on her feet, "Yeah yeah."
And off they went, through the halls, down the stairs and out into the streets of Konoha heading towards where their designed destination was. The roads of the village were bumpy and still paved with dirt, Tsunade made a mental note to change that – she really needed to get some stable roads soon. Carts jostled right and left as debris flied here and there making Tsunade and Shizune cough, they really needed to get out more.
Their expressions hold one of absolute curiosity and worry upon seeing the new house that has taken residence of the old Kurobuna Street, number sixteen where the infamous ex-prankster of Konoha laid.
"Shizune, the file please."
At the exact contact of skin and folder, there was a whoosh of wind that tore through trees and grass – tussling and roughing out everything but leaving without mar on any living being.
"What the hell was that?" Tsunade questioned, eyes narrowed and directed towards the cloudy sky, "I thought it was still sunny out."
"I have no idea." Her assistant answered, following her Lady's movements.
"Let's just get inside the house, maybe Naruto'll let us stay here for a while." The blonde Hokage said blandly, a yawn of frustration in her speech.
Shizune only smiled weakly after her, "I doubt it."
Tsunade only waved her statement away as she ascended the stairs, heading to Naruto's room first.
She knocked on the red oak door, "Hey brat! Open up!" And then the door opened by itself, a crack that allowed no light to enter – the room was dark and all light was gone, 'Is he out or something?'
Gentle grasping the door knob, Tsunade pushed it open, her voice softening as a sense of foreboding came over her, "Kid?"
And that's when she gasped.
"Lady Tsunade! Are you al – ! " As Shizune entered, she as well gaped in shock, droping her briefcase and instantly covering her lips with one hand and the other clutching Tonton even closer to her chest. The pig squealed in shock and began growling oddly, almost as if there was a danger in the room, "...right."
The room was empty, no black plastic bags filled with garbage, no spoiled milk, no leftover ramen sprawled on the floor, no orange jacket lying about, no bed, no table and no Naruto. There was only dust and a sense of a longtime emptiness, it seemed as if no one had ever even entered the room in eons.
Tsunade, the first to recover in shock dropped her file and instantly tore through the room, looking into the bathroom, the guest room, the bedroom – everywhere, "Kid! Naruto!"
But there was none.
Shizune carefully bended down to pick up the fallen file and flipped through it as Tsunade's cries of Naruto filled the room, "... Lady Tsunade?"
The Hokage snapped her head towards her assistant, hope and worry in her eyes – her instincts telling her that something was most definitely wrong.
"Naruto's name isn't here."
And as honey hues and dark hazel orbs met they knew exactly what had happened.
Naruto wasn't here anymore.
"Shizune! Organize a search party for Naruto, file it as a an S-Rank mission!"
"S-Rank? Lady Tsunade, isn't that too much?"
"Just do it!"
In the spans of a year their searches for the young orange loving teen came up to a zero percent, there were many rumors saying that Naruto ran away out of heartbreak or stress, some others say that there was a monster who ate him(this rumor, however, was created by a majority of children) and some say that there was a change in time and space that took Naruto away – this was the most ridiculous theory but actually the most factual one. Many people knew of jutsus allowing them to travel from timelines and dimensions and many people know that these jutsus were extremely dangerous and life threatening – most of them were written in scrolls but they were rumored to all be burned by the second Hokage, and again, these were just rumors of the people.
But they weren't just mere rumors in the eyes of Lady Tsunade, each counted as a theory wanting to be tested – she was growing tired of endless nights of searching for him, any human would; with all the stress and worry of having a boy who you treated as your own son vanish on a random day.
After discovering that Naruto no longer lived there, Tsunade didn't have the heart to demolish that building and left it standing there with herself to tend to, she cleaned the building every day, made sure it was fully furnished and made it seem that Naruto still existed in that room. Call it an obsession but she was too in love with the boy to ever let him go, so was the love of a mother – it was surprising to everyone to see her care so much. However, they understood, Konoha's people were good people.
News of this even reached Sasuke whom was still on the run, he didn't return to join the village but did try himself to look for the peppy ninja from time to time, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he was worried.
The sense of foreboding filled every citizen – former or current – of the Hidden Leaf Village. Even those who did not care in the slightest way found fear, and it was not fear of Naruto being gone, no; they were afraid of something greater. Something in the great beyond, they felt it for everyone.
Nevertheless, they were all background characters playing keeps for show and tell, while the real puppeteers worked their way on the stage as the velvet curtains drew back – ready to entertain a crowd of so-called Gods.
"Let the show begin."
p.s. this is a shit fic
