Title: Legacy Namikaze

Summary: Post Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Upset by the treatment of Konoha, Naruto decides to cut his losses and framed his death on a mission. A few years later, Akatsuki is on the move- along with a mysterious organization led by a boy holding an eerie resemblance with the deceased blonde. Parings undecided.

A/N: Chapter 3 of Legacy Namikaze. Please vote for a paring (and there will be other pairings to vote for too.) No, it will not be a harem. You can vote for any female ruling out those from Konoha. And yes, I am aware Naruto may be a little OOC. So, for those wondering how Naruto fakes his death!

Disclaimer: If Naruto was mine majority of Akatsuki would not be dead 030. Sadly 'tis not because they are dead (a second time) after Kabuto's Edo Tensei. *sighs*

"Talking" 'Thoughts' "Biju speaking/shouting"

Chapter 3: Plans into motion, apologies unspoken

Naruto glanced around warily from his position in the treetop. One month and Team 7 was finally back together on their first mission outside the borders of Konoha. His raven-haired teammate was still on strict probation but after several troublesome protests during council meetings (the civilians mainly), the Hokage decided to cut him some slack.

Since his discovery about his heritage (well, his mother's side anyway) Naruto had taken to attempting to use the tantō. He was able to unsheathe it upon a seconds notice and although his aim was good, his stance and technique were mediocre at most. He had taken it to strapping it on his left hand side in order to free some space on his back where he would place the tachi diagonally across is shoulders and lower back.

The blonde jinchūriki narrowed his eyes as he went over the plan again. If he wanted to convince his sensei and teammates of his death then he had to damn sure make it believable. It took several days of planning even through the use of kage-bunshin after he had found out it's informative properties to refine his plan. If everything went well, he would be waltzing out of Konoha by the end of the day. However, in order for it to succeed, he needed the help of one 'fur-ball' residing within his gut.

Flashback no Jutsu

Naruto gazed warily at Sakura after meeting up for the first time in a few weeks. She held that look of guilt around her and hesitantly rose to meet his eye-level. He could see she had intended to apologize to him but upon seeing his new sword slung at his waist, couldn't help but blurt out.

"I never knew you could use a sword," The pink haired girl said.

Naruto simply frowned a little before grinning his trademark sunny smile. "Awesome isn't it Sakura-chan? I just started learning how to use it a few weeks ago!"

"That's…nice," she replied tentatively, Naruto had acted if nothing was wrong, had he possibly forgiven her? "You don't seem like the weapon type to me," Sakura joked half-heartedly, from the brief look of hurt upon Naruto's face before he resumed smiling again she could tell she had said the wrong thing. Inhaling deeply she started, "Look Naruto, I'm sorr-"

"Yo!" Kakashi appeared in a Shunshin (Body flicker) with Sasuke next to him. "I had to save a fish from drowning in the local pond before a bird ate it and the old lady next door accused me of murdering it so I had to stand trial and then I nearly forgot to pick up a certain raven after I left," He lied smoothly.

Naruto sighed, trust his teacher to show up late as usual. Team 7 headed out to the tower to collect a mission and no-one noticed as Sakura lingered behind- she still had not had the chance to say sorry.

Flashback no Jutsu: Kai!

Kakashi watched his 'beloved' pupils through his visible eye. It was a simple, mid C-rank mission to escort the wife of a wealthy merchant across Hi no Kuni (Fire Country) to a minor town near the border. Unfortunately for him and his team, nothing ever seemed to right. At least, that is what he had convinced himself when they were attacked by hired missing-nins that were to use the wife as a hostage in exchange for his money. They were relatively low level and in this case, it was quantity over quality. However, they were severely outnumbered and when Naruto had fallen out of his position screaming bloody murder, Kakashi was sure things had indeed taken a turn for the worse.

"Kage-bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto cried as he dodged under an attacker and moved towards where Sakura was guarding Rushin Takamori, the merchant's wife. Moving swiftly from his position, Kakashi was able to knock out one nin by surprise and using the others' stunned reactions to his advantage, had buried two kunai into the skulls of a couple of unfortunate nins.

Sasuke had pulled off the trademark Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire release: Great fireball technique) and had incapacitated another nin with a well-placed kunai.

Kakashi watched out of the corner of his eye when he realized that Naruto was struggling to keep up with the attackers. He was being slowly forced to back up against the nearby bridge leading across a gaping chasm and was desperately trying to avoid the attacks. 'Crap, Naruto's in trouble,' Kakashi thought as he saw the blonde's predicament. He was being pushed to the edge of the cliff and had trouble keeping a good footing.

"Doton: Dochūbaku! (Earth release: Landslide)" The missing nin cried out as a large amount of rubble gathered from the earth and went crashing into Naruto. "ARGH!" Letting out a startled cry the genin made a futile attempt to grab at the side of the canyon. He clawed desperately at the earth as rapid bursts of chakra tore free from his hand as he tried to hold on for dear life. Naruto could feel his sight blur as a shuriken impaled his hand, forcing him to lose his grip as he plummeted towards the bottom.

The silver-haired man froze. 'No…NO!'

Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate and Chidori'd the last of the shinobi sent to keep him distracted. "NARUTO!" He cried out as he bulldozed his way towards the blonde. Reaching out he created a Kage-bunshin and jumped over the rim. He let the bunshin hold his leg so he could try and catch the falling boy but to no avail. "NARUTO!"

He failed to realize the hidden grin on Naruto and the discreet Kawarimi (Replacement) handseal the blonde made as he fell.

'Not another one!' He desperately thought, 'Obito…I'm sorry, I failed you and Sensei…' Dread and anger at himself filled him with rage. If only he had revealed the Sharingan from the beginning and been serious about the nins, then, perhaps Naruto wouldn't have been knocked off the edge of the canyon. He ran through a short set of three handseals: Ox, rabbit, monkey.

"Raikiri! (Lightning cutter)" He cried as he plunged his hand into the ninja's chest. Sakura watched, horrified from her position near Takamori as she turned her attention from Sasuke who was shooting off fireballs with Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Fire release: Phoenix Fire Technique) to her teacher as he pulled his hand from the deceased enemies chest.

But where was Naruto?

"God no…" She breathed in horror as she saw Kakashi gaze turn towards the cliff.

Tsunade sat as she stared down the pale, white stack of paper, a.k.a every Kage's worst enemy and arc nemesis. She grabbed a nearby ruler and a look of concentration etched onto her face, measured the ever-growing stack of inanimate matter. "It grew!" She shrieked in unhappiness. And she had finally thought she was done for the day too! (Little did she know the words 'finish' and 'early' did not exist in a Kage's dictionary)

"Hokage-sama!" Izumo slammed the door to her office open as he caught his breath.

'Izumo…Isn't he meant to be watching the gates with Kotetsu?' Tsunade thought. It was then her mind caught onto what it could mean. Was there an invasion? Barrage of enemy nin perhaps? "Izumo," she barked, irritated that her work was disturbed, "You better have a good reason to barge in."

"I-it's Naruto," the Chunin stuttered as the busty Hokage felt her blood run cold. "He's…" He trailed off, uncertain of how to break the news of Team 7's casualty to her, luckily for him he didn't have to continue as the door was literally ripped off its hinges and the alarmed Hokage rushing off to meet the blonde.

She was expecting a critically injured Naruto from what she could interpret the Chunin's words as, what she not expect was to be greeted by the sight of a bloody corpse. The neck was broken from what she could tell and the arms were bent at odd angles. Several deep gashes were visible through the torn orange clothing the figure bore but what made it so horrifying to the Hokage was the mop of blonde hair and the Shodaime Hokage no Kubikazari (First Hokage's necklace) lying around his neck. "No…" It was then her phobia of blood kicked in, causing the legendary medic to freeze. Her mind was thrown into overdrive and her brain was screaming at her body to move.

"Lady Tsuna..de…" Shizune's voice cut through the tense atmosphere, she had followed wondering what would have had her running out of the Tower like a bat out of hell. Those few words were enough to snap Tsunade out of her stupor as she felt her legs become weak and she collapsed to her knees one thought running thgouh her panic-filled head: No! Not another one! First Dan and Nawaki and now Naruto; Why were all her precious people being taken away from her?

Rushing up to examine the body of the fallen jinchūriki Shizune spoke first, "Kakashi…" she said in a soft voice, "Just what did happen…?"

"He-" The silver haired man struggled to find the appropriate words.

"Naruto's gone!" Sakura cried, face filled with guilt, "I-it's all my fault-If only I did more on the mission…I didn't even to get to apologize! All because I-"

"Sakura," Kakashi spoke, "If there's someone to blame it's me." Self-loathing filled his voice as he continued, "I promised Obito and Sensei that I wouldn't let this repeat! And look! I'm a failure; what good is it if I can't even protect my allies?" 'Another forgotten name on the memorial…' Sasuke stood silently beside his team, yet a glance at his face could tell he was confused and distraught by the sudden death of his possibly only friend.

"Well well, if it isn't the little demon boy; one of his teammates finally get sick of the brat and kill him eh?" An onlooker sneered, backed up by his friends. By now, quite a crowd had gathered and many were cheering at the prospect of the blonde's death.

Fury built up within the Hokage at the sheer and utter stupidity of the villagers. Naruto had given his life for this ungrateful bunch and here they were cheering? Despite what Naruto had sealed within him, could they not see past their hatred? "All of you, Shut. Up."

And retrospectively, that one oblivious civilian that couldn't keep their mouth shut after the Hokage's order really had it coming. He suffered several broken ribs from a ruthless punch to the stomach (non chakra enhanced much to relief) after he had shouted out "The Demon is dead!" He didn't seem to be waking up soon. No one noticed the lingering figure that disappeared soon after.

His plan had been going perfectly, in fact, he felt rather bad after seeing Tsunade's reaction to his 'death'. Naruto had taken that particular mission file and edited it from High C to Low B rank to Low-Mid C rank. It had the perfect location and after erasing some important details from the filed mission request such as: 'Possible chance of hired missing nins hired by opposition in an attempt to blackmail Shintaro Takamori' in order to present the perfect opportunity for his framed death. It seemed like a perfectly harmless C rank mission- and Naruto was confident that Kakashi-sensei would pick it.

The reason Naruto was so assured that his teacher would select the mission was mainly about the location. The area of Hi no Kuni that they were travelling to was literally on the border between Kusagakure (Village Hidden in the Grass) which joined Iwagakure and Konohagakure. After researching, Naruto had found out that this was close to the location Obito, his sensei's teammate, was killed. The mission itself was lavishly paid and unlike many other C ranks, had an extremely long completion period. This meant that when they reached the location, Kakashi was most likely to use the extra time given to see Obito's grave site- seeing as although his body was not found a small grave was constructed for him along the border of Kusagakure.

Naruto had done his research on the rich merchant Shintaro and knew the chances of hired shobi or bandits were highly likely. In a worst case scenario, he would form a bunch Kōdona Kage-Bunshin (Advanced Shadow-clones) and send them in disguises to act as hired bandits.

Kōdona Kage-Bunshin were one of a kind bunshin. He, although not on good terms with the giant fox, Kyuubi, was able to strike up a deal. Lend some chakra and they would be free of Konoha. Kyuubi held no affection for his prison yet he had witnessed his vessels treatment and considered it humiliating that Naruto never put up a fight; so despite the strained relationship they both held, it was a done deal. The Kōdona Kage-Bunshin was a normal Kage-Bunshin made with 30% of the biju's chakra. This, when merged correctly with Naruto's (much like the first stage of Rasengan) created an extremely durable and realistic clone that could produce a certain amount of blood and did not disperse unless a killing blow was dealt.

He sent a clone beforehand to the Kasai Kyōkoku (Fire Canyon) and cut the ropes securing one side of the bridge. This would ensure that his team stopped to attempt to find either a route around or a route across the canyon. It presented a perfect chance for any enemies to attack as the team was cornered and attention directed to escorting the merchant's wife safely. It was then Naruto would pretend to be driven off the edge of the canyon and the Doton Jutsu used although unexpected, helped cover up the handseal formed for Kawarimi (Body replacement) when he switched places with a Kōdona Kage-Bunshin hidden nearby.

The hardest part was making it seem plausible. Even with the Kōdona Kage-Bunshin, once a death blow was dealt, it would disperse. In order to bypass this, he placed the clone into a death-like state and kept a very small but concentrated part of Kyuubi's chakra to keep the bunshin in a coma but alive. The circulating chakra was well hidden and served to keep the bunshin alive but only by the barest standards. It would be bloody, and knowing his teacher, his team wouldn't just leave his 'body' there. Although the chasm was deep, it was not so steep that climbing down proved difficult and some chakra at the bottom of one's feet made easy work. He had nearly blown his cover to Kakashi when he had exchanged his crystal hanging around his neck for the fake one, knowing Tsunade would be able to tell the difference.

After his 'funeral' had been held, he would disperse the bunshin and flee Konoha. Yet he found himself sneaking into the morgue where his body was and taking the necklace. It was one of the first gifts from his precious people and the weight felt reassuring around his neck. The disappearance of the item (as Tsunade had not the heart to remove it from the fake Naruto) would be suspicious but seeing as the civilians and select ninja despised him, it would be suspected as a robbery from someone thinking to defile his corpse.

Corpse. The word made a shiver run unconsciously through Naruto's spine as he rummaged through the items hidden under the loose floorboard in his apartment.

"Who's there?"

'Shit shit shit shit-' The genin sharply inhaled.

Naruto faltered and quietly placed the board back before slipping outside the open window and hanging onto the ledge outside. He sent a kage-bunshin disguised as an ant to observe then report back who it was. It was Iruka. The kind academy teacher was the only person making Naruto think twice about abandoning Konoha. It was because of Iruka, the thought of leaving made him feel horrible- what would Iruka think of him if he found out what Naruto had done? He reassured himself that his teacher would most likely not find out but a brief speculation about the 'what if's' added to the boy's growing guilt.

"I thought I saw Naruto for a second there…" Iruka whispered before chuckling sadly to himself. "I'm a fool, sending my pupil to his death." It was then Naruto realized. His sensei had sounded so hollow, broken.

The regret and remorse slammed full-force into the blonde as he gritted his teeth. 'I'm sorry,' he thought. 'But Konoha is better off without me and telling you would be too risky, I'm sorry…"

The sound of footfalls receded and Naruto crept quietly back into his room. So Iruka had come to say his goodbye at Naruto apartment personally? He felt a warm sensation fill his chest as he remembered his task and hurriedly took his belongings – The scrolls and Tachi along with his hidden kunai and shuriken stash. Taking his clothes and food supplies proved much too risky and it would seem strange if his clothes and belongings suddenly went missing. He ruffled up his bed covers to make it look like he had haphazardly climbed out of bed and not bothered to fold it neatly in the morning before proceeding to the living room. The living room was sparsely furnished and Naruto eyed an empty glass of milk on the table. 'Best leave it there,' He though before stepping out of his apartment. His hitai-ate was left with the fake bunshin and Naruto couldn't bring himself to dispose of it so he left it with the clone.

As he took one last look at his apartment door he cursed. He had spent so much time gloating over his plan for his death he hadn't planned what to do next: Like getting out of the village.

Naruto cautiously walked around in a modified version of his trademark 'Sexy no Jutsu'. It worked like a normal Henge (Transformation) except layered several layers of chakra over the user. This formed a solid Henge but had two downfalls. Firstly, it took a lot of chakra seeing as the user had to layer the Henge several times and secondly, it could only be used to transform into things of equal mass or higher. This was because unlike the normal E rank jutsu, it did not create a semi-genjutsu to deceive the sight, hence a person perceiving it as something else, but added different features and added form. The jutsu was ingenious but couldn't compress someone's physical body so the chosen transformation had to turn out large or equal in size to the user.

He was disguised (Ingeniously he thought) as a plan civilian girl with the typical brown hair and hazel eyes. And he was looking for makeup. He felt embarrassed he had to do this but it was a must do if he intended to get out of Konoha. (He had gotten into Konoha in a smiliar way but disposed of all 'evidence' as soon as he gained entrance.)

Contrary to what many people thought, Izumo and Kotsetsu were good guards. They were trained and could tell a Henge when they saw one without the need of a bloodline like Sharingan or Byakugan. This was because they were able to sense the chakra density within the air using a Jutsu and disrupt the flow when it came within radius.

Naruto had made it halfway out of the make-up store before a shout of surprise indicated he had been caught red handed. "Hey! You! Stop!"

The girl-who-was-really-a-guy didn't turn. Instead opting to flee into a nearby street and altered the Henge to resemble a street urchin. "Whatcha want missy? 'm just do'in no stealin' 'round here. Go check the 'ther r'oad 'stead of buggin lil' ol' me." He imitated in a heavy accent as a furious woman rounded the corner. He subconsciously leaned back further in his position against the wall to make sure the stolen goods were concealed safely.

Danger evaded, Naruto released the transformation and proceeded to rub in the concealing cream onto his cheeks, covering his prominent whisker marks. He tipped the entire bottle of hair dye onto his hair and rubbed it in vigorously before using some gel to make sure it was flattened and not as spiky before placing in the light brown contacts and taking off his jacket, leaving a black t-shirt underneath. He replaced his orange pants for a dark grey pair he found as spares in his 'hidden ninja stash' and sealed them in a scroll. Throwing away the bright pieces of clothing were easily spotted and likely to cause suspicions.

'Just a bit more, and Konoha will become nothing but distant memories,' Naruto convinced himself. 'Forgetting is always better than remembering and never living it down.'

-Konoha Gates-

"Name?" Izumo inquired.

"Kujisawa Kintoki," the bald man gruffy replied as he gave a brief tug on the reigns and led the horses to plod slowly on.

"Eh, sir, could you please- uh, wait?"

"What now?" The traveller asked irritated.

"Are you with the boy on the back?" Izumo questioned as he indicated to a brown-haired youth sitting unhappily on the back of the cart.

"Leave him be," the man replied, "Boy's name is Hakuren Fukumoto, says his mother's sick and in the next town, poor lad's been looking for a way to meet his parents and was plannin' on walking before I lent him a ride."

'Strange,' The chunin thought, it was unusual that such a young boy would travel by himself. He turned towards the boy before speaking, "Why do you want to meet your parents?"

"My mum's sick an' so dad rushed her off to the next town 'cuz he said she might not make it and the medicine stuff she takes can only be found in that area. He still ain't come back yet so I'm goin' ta meet him in case something happens…" 'Fukumoto' lied while keeping an unhappy façade. "I-I hope she's alright...mum's never been well, always coughing up blood 'n stuff." He added a few sniffs and watched as Izumo's eyes softened.

"Do you have a travel pass?" Izumo asked uncertainly.

"Whazzat? I don't have one then." The boy answered truthfully before his eyes started to water. "D-does that mean that if I don't have this 'travel pass thing' I can't meet dad and mum? But what if something has happened to them! I won't know if m' mum is alright!"

Izumo started to panic, he didn't want the boy to break out in tears but he couldn't pass him without a Travel Passport for clarification and safety reasons.

"Guard-san," the man started politely, "I'd let the kid through if I were you. Never can be too sure what happens nowadays with all the things that could happen. If you want list him down as travelling with me."

Naruto inwardly cheered. With a little 'innocent' appeal to the traveller, the man had simply gone along with his heartbreaking story and was even vouching for him as well as offering him a ride!

Izumo heaved a sigh and reluctantly let the traveller and boy through the gates. 'Fukumoto huh? I can't seem to recall anyone by that last name,' Izumo thought absently, after several more minutes of racking his brain for anyone with a similar name, he gave up. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for our hero of the story, he forgot that there was a Travel Log containing all the names of people coming in and out of Konoha lying nearby- Izumo had failed to realize Hakuren Fukumoto was never a real person in the first place.

A/N: And done! I apologize for the sucky, anticlimactic fight scene and I felt it moved a bit too quickly for my tastes. There's the explanation of how he framed his death and now he's finally leaving Konoha. Thanks for the reviews too, they make me feel all warm and fuzzy haha;; There's also what I thought the theory behind Naruto's 'Sexy' no Jutsu was. Kasai Kyōkoku and Kōdona Kage-Bunshin belong to me, made up from my horrible Japanese vocab. I do realize some parts are a bit confusing too so I'll work on fixing those things too so for now, bye. (Review please?) VOTE!

~Nhazun