No matter how fast that girl ran, she knew the fireballs moved faster than she did. Bluer than blue, and blazing in the dark night, she could feel that they were about to bring doom to her and everyone else in the village.
Couple hour ago, beautiful girls were being paraded through the village lane. For many years, the villagers held a celebration for the girls of age on every first full moon of the 10th month. Usually, by the end of the year, these beautiful girls would be married off to the neighboring villages' families. This tradition, which began since the first generation set foot in the Mount Karasu, had been keeping the villages from conflict and war. Among the girls was energetic named Katsuyu. As the eldest child, Katsuyu would be the first of the family's four daughters to be married. Lucky for her, her husband-to-be was none other than her childhood friend, Tsuna. Katsuyu couldn't get happier tonight.
The parade finished in the village square where bonfire was lit. Around the bonfire, the elders and parents gathered and drank to their heart content. Some women would grab the girls' hand and invited them to dance with the music. The children would be playing with stick and fireworks and handballs. The night was full of joy.
Unbeknownst to them, miles from their whereabouts, a demonic fire emerged from the thin air in the village border. That demonic fire quickly spread along the border and covered them like a wall. It glowed like a pillar of light, gigantic and breathtaking. The fire accumulated hot air into the sky. A middle-aged man, who happened to be on his way home from a nearby river, was the first to see the firewall. The fire quickly devoured the forest which was full of dried branches and leaves. He immediately ran to his village, alarming the others of the fire.
At the bonfire, children started to get sweaty. They also had trouble to breathe. At that time the men started to notice the dark smog in clear sky. One of them then shouted, "Fire! The woods is on fire!"
Women and children moved closer together, while their men gathered tools to extinguish the fire. But, before they could actually leave to the woods, the bonfire suddenly got bigger and turned blue. The flames height reached the roof and it was very hot that the woods of the bonfire vanished into ashes. The women were terrified, so do the children. Although they were also terrified by the sight, with their trembling body the men built a barricade in front of the women.
From the blue flames, four fireballs emerged. They flew in the air in a circle. "What the hell are that?" a young man with a branch in his hand asked in horror.
They didn't fly for long tough because by the time the villagers began to panic, the fireballs aimed the villagers straightaway. Each of them ran with all his might to every direction. The fireballs plummeted the soil and set it on fire. In no time, the joyful festive was turned into a bloody night.
Being separated from her family, Katsuyu attempted to go to the border. She cursed the kimono that she wore because it limited her movement. With her short stride, Katsuyu kept on running. She didn't look back, she didn't have the heart to look the people whom she knew burned to death. Flames gleamed in her eyes, surrounding her wherever she ran to. Her breathing was short. She kept running, with tears fell to her cheeks knowing that she would die eventually. Over and over, she muttered the same name on her lips, "Tsuna."
For the time being, the neighboring villagers came together at the border. They brought what their hand could get on to put off the fire. Tsuna was there among the crowd. He and several men had tried to break through, but the fire was so thick that their elders pulled them back. All the methods that they had tried were proven to no avail. "What in the world is this?" said a man who could only stand still now. "How can we save them?" asked the other. With teary eyes and his heart shrinking, Tsuna collapsed to the ground.
Like mad bulls, the fireballs smashed against everything in their path. Houses were turned into bonfires while the villagers danced around them, ran aimlessly to save their own life. They had tried everything to extinguish the fire, but none has worked. That night, the little village was drowning in a sea of unforgiving blue flames.
"Look," a man pointed to the distant sky, "look there everyone! What is that?"
In the clear sky, the blue flames rose and for a moment formed a symbol that was all but familiar to them before disappeared at once. "Irish," an elder muttered.
"What is that mean?" the other asked.
"They are back." He said to his men in trembling voice. "Hanakotoba is back."
A hundred miles from the burned village, Konohagakure celebrated the birth of the Peacekeeper Team of the Five Great Villages. Comprised of hand-picked shinobi from five villages, the Peace Team was built for the purpose of peacekeeping efforts. For the next six month, Konohagakure would send 10 shinobi teams on the first peace mission. Included in the first batch was Team Seven.
That probably would explain why Naruto was given a rather long time in the village before his departure. Since the Toneri incident, Kakashi immediately put Naruto under his tutelage to prepare him before he took over the Hokage position. That evening, weary from the study session with Shikamaru, Naruto headed off directly to his apartment. He had promised Hinata the previous day that he would come home earlier tonight. It's been so long since the last time they had a date. Naruto was so fired up he skipped his favorite ramen stall.
A wide smile was plastered on his face when he opened his apartment's door. However, to his surprise, the light was off. Hinata was not there. "Huh?" his shoulder slumped. He checked his desk. Hinata would usually leave a note if something urgent came, but none was there. "Am I too early?" Naruto then decided to pick her up instead, or perhaps he would meet Hinata on the way to her house. He leaped through the roofs immediately.
In his way to Hyuuga manor, he was stopped by Sai. "Where are you going, Naruto?" Sai asked him.
"Hinata." He gleefully answered. "What are you doing here?" Naruto asked back. To find Sai stood still alone in front of sweets shop without his painting kit was a little amiss.
"Ah, no nothing." He dashed off right away.
"What's wrong with him," he mumbled.
Actually, he could directly go to her quarter like he always did when he missed her, but tonight he opted for the front gate. "Well well, it's been a long time too since the last time I impress that old man," he said while knocking the gate.
"I didn't count renting a small apartment as impressing," a cold heavy voice shot Naruto while the door was opened. Even after all the years that they have known each other, the first impression would always stick. "Brat," he called him.
"Grumpy Old Man," Naruto shot back. "My apartment is not small. It's enough for two persons. And I bought it with my own money." He protested.
"It's only the size of my kitchen," Hiashi argued.
Naruto growled. "Be it the size of a kitchen, I still your future son-in-law, and a future Hokage too, Old Man." He said smugly.
Hiashi chuckled. "Being a Hokage is a thing, but being my son-in-law is completely on a whole different level, Brat." His smirk remarked his win on their table talk. He then informed him the most important thing he wanted to hear, "Hinata went on a mission yesterday. I think she will return later tonight. Go wait for her and return her before sunrise."
With that spoken permission, Naruto went to Konoha's Gate with a light heart.