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The sound of cheering and celebrating echoed through the bustling streets of Konoha, through the gates, and into the deep woods that surrounded the prosperous villages. The villagers were happy and merry, celebrating the fateful day six years prior, that the demon child of Konoha had been killed to the hands of the glorious Sasuke Uchiha. The Hokage of Konoha watched down at the village, disgust rising up in her throat like vomit. Her unfailing gaze glared knives down at the village, her amber eyes darkening with anger. To her right, Shizune stood, holding her emotions tight within her. From the day that Naruto had been killed, Konoha was slowly losing its stability. Within the village laid a civil war, those who still supported and cared for their lost comrade, and those who celebrated in Naruto's passing on. The separation began with the Council and the Hokage and like a stream, trickled down to even the citizens of Konoha. The whole situation had caused teams to be split, just to keep the Ninja from attacking on another. If there were to be any chaos or an attack on the village, Konoha would fall into the hands of whoever led the attack.
Tsunade grabbed her bottle of sake, and drank deep, trying to drown the demons of burden and guilt she felt towards the death of her adopted brother that resided deep within her soul.
'If only I had sent a Jounin with them… maybe he would still be here.'
Tsunade thought, holding the crystal necklace that had been found a few yards from the battle site. Tears of regret fell off her long eyelashes, and splashed onto the hard wood floor. Shizune cast her glance to the ground, sighing deeply. The only teams that had remained intact was Team 8, 10, and Team Guy. Team 8 had left the village on a mission, all too happy to get away from the ones known as the "Blood Traitors". These ones were known as the "Blood Cleansers". With a great sigh, Tsunade returned to her seat to fill out more paper work trying to keep her mind occupied.
Meanwhile outside of the gates, three Suna ANBU members perched on a tree branch overlooking Konoha. The members wore the masks of a wolf, a tiger, and the captain wore that of a fox.
"Leader- Sama, is everything alright?" The ANBU with the tiger mask asked, turning his gaze to his unusually quite captain.
"Yes. Make preparations. We will be staying until the Akatsuki attacks, such as our Kazekage has informed us of." The fox mask ANBU captain ordered, his voice raspy.
With a salute, the two other ANBU members began to set up their camp, and the Jutsus that would be needed to keep them in complete stealth mode. With a deep sigh, the captain removed his mask after checking the stability of the Jutsus. His long bangs flowed in the wind, covering his sharp cerulean eyes.
' I never thought I would return to this place.' Naruto thought with a deep sigh. The pain he held for how he was abused and discriminated against were silently rising deep from within him. His crystal eyes began to change into a deep crimson, his fists shaking with anger at the village who had betrayed him. A feral snarl escaped from his lips as he felt the chakra signature of the betrayal source training, Sasuke.
With a tight turn, Naruto jumped down from the tree branch, landing much to quietly from such a height. The other two ANBU members were waiting patiently, knowing all too well, how their Captain must be feeling. The one who wore the wolf mask was named Hayek, and was a former resident to the sound village, but had left when Orichimaru's reign on power became too much to bear, and had become a Suna Nin. His spiky onyx black hair ended at his shoulder blades, while one fringe covered his right emerald colored eye. The one who wore the tiger mask was known as Majin and had been a resident to the Hidden Rain village, but left after the death of his parents. His mahogany brown hair was tied back into a half ponytail, with the ends ending at the base of his neck. His eyes were the color of a honey color, and sometimes Naruto lost himself in his eyes, thinking of how much they looked like Tsunade's.
All three Ninja still wore their headbands of Suna on their foreheads as a sign of respect and loyalty. As the three Suna ninja sat by the fire, watching the sunset over the hills of trees, Hayek let out a low whistle.
"Man, this place is so gorgeous. I love the plant life. It might be worth the trip to come here and train more often."
"Don't let this place confuse you Hayek," Naruto cut in, " It may appear to be a land of bliss and harmony but it's a wolf in sheep's clothing. Inside the village you see the true turmoil, and once you've let your guard down, that is when it will reach inside of you, and take your soul. This aura of peace is only a façade, and empty dream."
With the end of his statement, an eerie silence fell among the ANBU members, until they all resided to sleep.
Naruto tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. His mind was full of his long hidden memories of his tainted home village. Growling deep in his throat, he sat up and rubbed his hand across his sleep ridden eyes. As he stepped out from his tent, he stretched his back, as the moonlight reflected off of his unusually tan skin.
"So, that's where the seal is." Majin spoke, as he leaned against a tree, pointing to the seal on Naruto's toned stomach.
"Yes, this is where it is locked up. I've been able to tap into as much power as I want to. He's actually not so bad, once you are alone, you learn who really gives a damn about you. As it stands, the Kyuubi was always there for me though everything. He's saved my life on more than one occasion, and I know now that the true demons in this world are people." Naruto explained, deep in thought.
Majin was about to speak, but was silenced when Naruto shot through the air, and pinned him to the ground.
"What the Hell man, get off of.." but was silenced when Naruto put his hand over his mouth.
"Get ready, they're close." Naruto whispered harshly, indicating to the Kunai that was embedded into the tree trunk, dripping with poison, that were Majin's head had been seconds prior. Glancing quickly at the swift moving Team 8 returning to the village.
With pure adrenaline surging in their veins, the three ANBU members quickly dressed, and prepared for battle. Naruto put his mask on, and pulled out his Katana, ready to kill. Stepping from the boundaries of their camp, the three ANBU members came face to face with the black robes with red clouds, the Akatsuki.
"Ah, ANBU members? Obviously from Suna. Aren't you three far from home?" The man with pale blue skin and gills asked.
"Kisame, and Itachi. I have to say that it's an honor to be the ones to kill you." Naruto spoke, disguising his voice with a Jutsu.
"Try it boy." Kisame growled as he pulled out his sharkskin blade.
"Wolf, Tiger, take on him. I'll take down the other one." Naruto ordered.
"Hai!" They shouted in unison, rushing forward.
"Hm. Your disguise doesn't work on my Sharnigan, Naruto." Itachi spoke, his voice monotone.
"Maybe I shouldn't kill you, and you could save me a lot of trouble by killing your Bastard brother for me." Naruto mused, cracking his knuckles.
Itachi froze, and for a split moment, his façade was cracked.
"However, I think I'll just be the one to wipe of the accursed Uchiha name." Naruto growled, as red chakra surged around his body.
Jumping back, Itachi began the hand signs for his Fireball Jutsu, but was taken off guard as Naruto lunged through the air, but was stalled as a Kunai ripped through his stomach. With incredible speed, even with his injury, Naruto landed his punch and shattered Itachi's jaw with a chakra infused punch. Before Itachi could recover, Naruto lunged through the air, forming hand signals.
"Wind Style, Suffocation Jutsu!"
With that, millions of small bubbles of wind surged down Itachi's throat, collecting the oxygen molecules.
Gagging and gasping for breath, Itachi grasped his throat, trying to force any oxygen into his burning lungs.
"This is the end." Naruto spoke with no emotion, plunged his katana into Itachi's unprotected neck, and decapitated the eldest survivor of the Uchiha massacre. Blood sprayed out from his wound, covering Naruto from head to toe. With a final look on the corpse, Naruto turned around and joined Majin and Hayek who had destroyed Kisame with a blast of explosive fireball.
"Are you alright Leader- Sama?" Majin asked quickly, seeing the gaping hole in Naruto's stomach.
Before Naruto could reply, he sank to his knees, using a Jutsu of that multitude caused him to use all of his chakra, and the blood loss was making him weak.
"Damn it, Majin go into the village and get Tsunade or something." Hayek groaned, knowing that Naruto would not like anyone from Konoha to know he was alive.
"Are you serious, he would be furious! He'd kill us." Majin shook his head.
"Look, Temari is too far away, and I don't know of any other Medical Nins in Konoha besides Tsunade. He will die without it, so just do it!" Hayek ordered, as Naruto began to grow pale from blood loss.
Majin sighed in frustration. Naruto had become his close friend, and he could not just sit back as he bled out. With a curt nod, Majin stood, and began to run towards Konoha, focusing chakra to his feet to run faster than humanly possible.
As he reached the gates, he slowed down, but ran right past the two ninja at the gate. Majin looked around, seeing how he must stand out. His team did not wear the standard ANBU uniforms. Hayek and himself wore loose Gi pants, that were black with a loose shirt, with black fishnet vests underneath. They also wore a white cape that tied around their neck, and flowed down to their back. Naruto as the captain wore a similar outfit, which was in the color of burnt orange, with a black sash, and black cape of similar design.
As Majin continued down to the Hokage mansion, he stopped suddenly when he spotted Tsuande walking down the street.
"Hokage- Sama!" He shouted, and ran to her.
"ANBU from Suna? What are you doing in my village?" She asked, suddenly suspicious.
"Please, you must come. Our captain has fallen, and is dying… please, you need to save him!" Majin pleaded.
"Let's go." She nodded, and they ran out of the village.
As they ran, she noticed the corpses of the two fallen Akatsuki members, making a mental note to ask what had happened.
"Here he is." Majin stopped, gasping for breath.
Tsunade nodded, and began to heal the Captain. Her hands began to glow blue with chakra, and the wound began to heal quite rapidly. Majin and Hayek stood back, and waited semi-impatiently. After a few moments, Naruto stirred, and opened his eyes, which widened to see Tsunade standing above of him.
"Ah, glad to see you're alive, you're one lucky guy." Tsunade grinned.
"Thank you for your help. We were under orders from our Kazekage to stop Itachi and Kisame from attacking the leaf, looking for the nine tails. Itachi just got a Kunai in me before I killed him. Thank you once more and we will be on our way now." Naruto saluted, showing respect, although inside he was breaking.
With a nod, the three ANBU members took off, heading for Suna. Halfway there, Naruto turned off from the group to take sometime on his own. As he was walking, sat down and began to meditate. From his behind, a gently hand rested on his shoulder. Naruto glanced behind him, and took off his mask, smiling at the person.
"Hey there Temari" Naruto grinned lightly.
Temari said nothing, and sat down next to Naruto, running her hands through his hair.
"How was your mission?" She mused.
"It was a success… although Tsunade had to heal me, luckily she didn't see who I was do to my mask…" Naruto groaned as he shook his head.
Temari gasped, and embraced Naruto.
"Thanks Temari, I'm glad to have a friend like you." Naruto murmured as he held her.
"Yeah, same goes to you." Temari sighed… ' Just a friend.. I wish that would change…"
Temari gasped as she felt the hot wetness of a tear fall down from Naruto's eyes as he let out his emotions. Temari held him tighter, letting him cry out all the emotions he had kept inside all these years. Naruto pulled away gently, wiping his tear stained eyes, and smiled.
Temari and Naruto's eyes locked, and Temari felt a slight blush rising on her cheeks. She leaned forward slightly, but Naruto pulled away, looking at the ground.
"C'mon, let us go home." Naruto stood, and helped Temari up, and the two walked back to Suna, both feeling the new sensation building up in their hearts.
~~ Read && Review please.~~
+Awoken Dreamer+