If Tomorrow Never Comes

By Revelias

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Author's Note: I do not own Naruto or anything there in so please do not sue me.

I have updated Chapter 1 in order to fix a few problems I found after posting.

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Chapter 2: The Ones You Leave Behind

Tsunade watched the people of Konoha moving about their daily routines oblivious to what their short sighted bigotry had cost the village. She could not help but feel pity towards the people of Leaf. Of course she understood the source of the people's fears of Naruto. Despite the decree of the Third all the old generation knew of the boy with the demon fox sealed within him.

It was crime to speak of the Nine Tails and the fact that Naruto was its' host. The Third had seen to that. Yet despite the fact that the old generation had adhered to the letter of the decree they allowed their hatred towards Naruto to poison their children's opinion of him. The result had been obvious, Naruto had spent the better part of his childhood tormented and alone. This was the destiny of all the Jinchūriki.

Tsunade didn't blame Naruto for leaving. She understood that a life time of being despised would take its toll on anyone. Naruto had dealt with it the only way he could, by becoming the hyper-active ninja of Konoha. By doing so he had gained some form of attention, even if it was not always positive. Still despite all the factors that were against him Naruto had eventually earned the respect of many of his fellow ninja. Those who knew him best harbored no doubt of his loyalty to his friends and village.

Tsunade didn't blame Naruto for leaving, she blamed him for leaving his precious people behind to find away to carry on without him.

"Damn Brat. You just up and leave without a word to anyone and expect me to break the news. I swear if you ever do come back I'm going to personally put you in the hospital for a week." The Fifth silently ranted before a knock broke her train of thought.

"Lady Tsunade, the teams you requested are here." Miyoko stated as she poked her head into the Hokage's office.

Tsunade silently cursed the young woman serving as her assistant. Despite her efficiency in the role and her good and caring nature, Miyoko would never be able to replace Shizune.

"Very well please send them in and also I want you to arrange meeting of the village council for this afternoon." Tsunade ordered as she took her customary position at her desk.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Miyoko quickly replied as she fully opened the door to the waiting teams.

Filing past the Hokage's assistant teams Kakashi, Guy, Kurenai, and Asuma entered one by one.

"I've summoned you all because I have some news I think you need to here," Tsunade began.

"Excuse me, Lady Tsunade, but shouldn't we wait for Naruto." Sakura hesitantly interrupted. "I know he just got back from his battle with Pein but I'm sure he'd want to be here if you have a mission for us."

Tsunade looked sadly at her student before she began to speak again.

"What I have called you here for concerns Naruto. I spoke with him last night at some length about something that occurred after he returned to the village. It seems that Naruto was reminded of how many in the village feel towards him."

"I don't understand, what do you mean by how they feel towards him?" Neji asked.

Tsunade knew that the meeting would undoubtedly lead to this and that for his friends to understand exactly why Naruto had left they would have to be told of one of the Leaf's greatest secrets.

"As you all know Naruto has always been considered somewhat of an outcast within the village." The Fifth began.

"What you don't know is why. But before I continue I need you to understand that what I am about to tell you is classified S-level and not to be spoken of outside this room." Tsunade informed the gathered ninja.

"You all know the story of how the the Fourth Hokage defeated the Nine-Tails at the cost of his own life. That story is not, however, entirely true. What is true that the Fourth fought and defeated the demon but was unable to destroy it. Therefore in order to protect the village he was forced to seal the fox's spirit inside a living person. He chose a newborn boy as the vassal.... he chose Naruto.

As he was dying he asked that Naruto be treated as hero by the village because for the rest of his life he would be the only thing standing between the village and the Nine-Tail's rage. The Third did his best to see that the Fourth's last request was carried out. But people being what they are refused to see Naruto as anything but the demon. Many wanted and called for Naruto's execution, the more kind hearted amongst them asked that he be banished from the village.

In order to try to provide Naruto with a normal life he placed him under the protection of the Anbu and decreed that no one was to ever speak of Naruto's connection to the Nine-Tails. He hoped that this would allow Naruto to at least find friends among the villages children and have a normal childhood. However, although the people adhered to the spirit of the Third's order the hatred in their hearts remained and over time colored their children's opinion of Naruto. This meant that any hope for a normal childhood was all but gone." Tsunade finished speaking to the group.

For a few moment the room remained quite as the gathered ninja waited to see if there was more that the Hokage wanted to tell them.

"So, is that it? Shikamaru lazily asked.

"Is that it? I just tell you one of the Leaf's most closely guarded secrets and all you can say is 'Is that it'!" Tsunade responded heatedly towards the slacker ninja.

"Lady Tsunade, I'm sure that Shikamaru meant no disrespect but that simple fact is that you have only confirmed what we have all suspected. " Neji offered trying to calm the Fifth.

"And exactly how did you all come to suspect this of all things about Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Please, we have all gone on missions with him and we do talk to one another. I mean seriously the guy fought and beat Gaara, Sasuke, Orochimaru, and Pein. He has done things that would have killed anyone else not to mention that when he does get hurt he's down for a day or two and it's like nothing ever happened. Now really, with all that staring us in the face. Did you really expect us not to notice?" Shikamaru explained.

"I see. Naruto does tend defy logic. So I suppose that if you tried to make sense of it considering the history of the Leaf then the Nine-Tails would be an obvious conclusion. I guess that if the village had really wanted to keep Naruto and the Fox a secret then we should have forbidden him form attending the academy and becoming a ninja." Kurenai surmised.

"Nonsense. Naruto is a splendid ninja empowered with the power of youth. What right would we have had to deny him the right to become a ninja." Guy offered.

"Excuse me, but aren't we getting away from the point. Lady Tsunade said she had something important to tell us concerning Naruto." Hinata quietly said trying to bring the group back to the reason they had been summoned to the Hokage's office.

"Of course, you're right Hinata. I told you about Naruto and the Fox because some of the villagers would have rather he not have survived he last battle and made those feelings known to him. After so many years of hearing how much they hated him and wished he would die Naruto decided that the best thing for him to do was to leave the village." Tsunade explained.

"He what....... that idiot I'll kill him!" Sakura bellowed

Everyone was stunned by the news they had just received, For a long time no one said anything, each trying to understand how their friend could have been in so much pain and not have any of them notice.

"Lady Tsunade, if Naruto told you he was planing on leaving then why didn't you stop him?" Tenten asked the older woman.

"I tried to stop him. I went so far as to threaten to call the Anbu and have him placed under arrest. However, even that didn't change his mind. If I had gone through with it he would either have killed the Anbu or been killed by them in either event he would still be gone. So I made him an offer. In order to prevent declaring him a rouge ninja I gave him a mission and ordered him to find his place in the world. Officially he is still apart of the Leaf, he's just on an extended mission." Tsunade justified her actions.

"OK, so he's out there alone looking for who knows what. The question is what do we do about it?" Kiba asked.

"We bring the idiot back!" Sakura said as she slammed her hand against Tsunade's desk.

"That won't work Sakura. Naruto left because he was missing something in his life here. Until he finds what he's missing nothing will change." Ino said trying to calm her friend.

"Ino's is right whatever Naruto is searching for it's something that he has to find on his own. If he needs us we will be there, but until that time we will just have to wait." Tsunade reasoned with the group.

"For now I think it would best if we kept this to ourselves. I'm sure that the villagers will figure it out for themselves soon enough." The Fifth stated before she dismissed the gathered ninja to continue on with their daily routines.

"Pardon me Lady Tsunade, may I speak with you for a moment?" Hinata softly asked.

"Of course Hinata. How may I help you?" Tsunade responded.

"I would like to ask a favor of you, not for myself but as a way to help Naruto. I would like to request that you to allow me to leave the village in order to find Naruto and join him on his mission. He is out there alone and he needs someone with him. So, I'm asking you to please consider what I have have to say before you decide." Hinata pleaded with the Fifth.

To Be Continued.