Chapter 3: The Escape.
Two figures silently raced through the eerie constraints of the Uchiha compound; shrouded in dark clothing they were invisible in the pitch black night, the glowing moon above them cast down a gentle silver light to guide them through the darkness, the two of them would make their escape tonight. Heading straight for the exit of the compound, they bolted through the empty streets, launched themselves over the 'do not cross' banner that sectioned off the ghost town and were soon weaving through the short, narrow back alley streets of Konoha, silently slipping towards their destination using a cleverly devised route for optimum stealth.
Leading the way was the blonde, well versed in the shortcuts and hidden alley ways of the village, the two hurtled through the village at a speed unexpected of the average seven year old, though not unheard of, they leapt over fences, jumped along walls and traversed the narrow corridors without a moments hesitation. Thoughts of a silver haired jonin being a Chuunin at the age of seven years old ran through Naruto's mind as he wondered if he too could one day be considered a prodigy, however this was left to the back of his mind as they dashed through Konoha at break neck speeds.
Sasuke could be seen closely behind the blonde, using the red string that Naruto had wrapped around his wrist that he could see with crystal clear clarity thanks to his sharingan, making it easy to follow his new friend down the winding streets, Sasuke's sharingan glowed in the darkness as he swiftly moved towards the nearing escape point, although he wasn't the only one with red eyes at this point.
Naruto's blood red eyes were an effect of being trained by the kyuubi within him, a 'gift' from the great demon that allowed him heightened sight although that was its only ability, although it was no kekkei genkai it was incredibly useful to have and his vision stretched far beyond that of the average human, its vision could be considered parallel to the sharingan however he lacked the other attributes of the Uchiha bloodline.
The air was cold, frosty with the feeling of tension, the streets were silent, yet the two knew that there was definitely ninja present on the streets, this wasn't one of the great shinobi villages for nothing. The tranquil night stars were blinking at the two below as Naruto turned to look at the hokage building for the last time, he admired it for a second, taking in the fiery red building with a hint of sadness washing over him, he frowned deeply in momentary thought.
"I'll always wonder what it would've been like to be accepted." Naruto thought solemnly before steaming on ahead, memories of the hokage were happy ones he had to admit, however the man was a genius shinobi and the leader of a shinobi village, no matter what concern he had shown, Naruto guessed it to be fake or at least out of sympathy, after all he was just a man, a very busy man at that. He had no hard feelings about it, if anything he was happy that the man at least gave him the time of day and was always kind to him. The rest of Konoha didn't share the same sentiments though, they were the ones who had driven him to this, causing him to flee his own village from the sheer force of their resentment, Naruto quickly shook off the idle thoughts, sticking to the task at hand as they raced through the blurring streets.
Sasuke's heart was pounding as he continued on, adrenaline surged through his body pushing him on faster and harder, he was going to do it, all of his hard work was finally paying off, he was making his escape from the village that would want him dead, though he knew that it wouldn't be easy. The plan was to escape the village from the slight gap in the patrol that Naruto had shown him; from there they would simply flee, covering as much ground as they could without stopping for as long as they could. Sasuke had faith in their stamina but he was not so arrogant to believe they could beat jounin or ANBU in a war of attrition, gaining enough ground after escaping would be the truly difficult part.
They had of course in there careful planning considered that if they were to over exhaust themselves in covering ground, then were somehow caught they would be useless to make any sort of attempt at escaping, no they had until around noon the next day before the whole village was aware that they were missing, or so they believed.
As soon as their exhaustion became taxing they were to rest while being as well hidden as they could be, rest was something prioritized highly, their energy would certainly be needed if they were to succeed. Sasuke couldn't help but feel excited, his new life was about to begin, no matter how hard it maybe, he had someone he could truly consider a friend and equal, but he could only imagine what hardships were in store for the both of them.
He looked over at the blonde in front of him, wondering what they would face together in the near future; he wanted to be prepared for whatever it was and couldn't help but feel like the two of them could face any challenge. For the first time in a long while Sasuke felt as if he could trust another person. Sasuke frowned deeply, deciding that now was not the time to get distracted.
With the adrenaline rushing through his body he didn't care about the challenges anymore, he'd never felt such a rush before, he felt alive, he was choosing his own path and making his own decisions, he was escaping! As the blurring streets passed by in his peripheral vision he continued, chasing the red string bound to his friend's wrist as they dashed through the night.
Naruto suddenly leapt, wall jumped three times between the two buildings then when he had enough height, he landed gracefully on the roof, crouching down in an effort to lower his visibility, he was soon joined by Sasuke. Naruto smiled softly to the boy before turning back and looking to the large wall that stood before them, they were just meters away, ready to make the jump.
Naruto took a deep breath, his breath hitching slightly as he looked over the village that would soon become just a distant memory of the life he never wanted, from the corner of his eye he saw the raven looking over the Uchiha compound with hardened eyes. They were ready to move on.
'Hmph...for some reason i'm still gunna miss this place.' The blonde considered a little sadly, he wished he could of at least stopped at Ichiraku's one last time, to let the old man and Ayame know that he was leaving, he wished he could gaze down on the peaceful village once more from the head of his father's monument, no matter what had happened here, Konoha was his home.
"Ready to go?" Naruto asked a little sadly, thankfully the raven boy didn't question his solemn tone, momentarily Sasuke seemed deep in thought as he gracefully looked over the village, his eyes falling upon the Uchiha compound.
'I know I have to leave you all behind...one day, somehow, I will make things right, for all of you.' Happy memories of his clan flooded to his mind, the smiling faces that would greet him as Fugaku's son, a wash of pain came over him as his thoughts drifted slightly,
'Itachi, why did you do it? Will I ever truly be able to understand you...Nii-san.' Sasuke grimaced as he referred to Itachi as his older brother as he once did so affectionately, even when he believed Itachi was fully responsible for his clan's murder it had been difficult.
No matter how many times he declared that he hated his brother and wished for his death, Sasuke couldn't convince himself, the raven loved Itachi more than anything in the world, he was his idol, his ambition, every day he had wished to be able to prove himself yet his caring older brother shown no signs of caring about strength or power. Itachi had been the one to acknowledge him, everyone else simply saw him as an inferior to his older brother, it had haunted him every day of his life, Sasuke had even gained a rather fierce inferiority complex. Still it had been Itachi's gentle smile and brotherly love that had made it difficult for him to resent his older sibling, even after the murder of his clan Sasuke felt the pain of being betrayed by the person who was his whole world.
'Nii-san, I'll find you...and when I do you have alot to answer for!' Sasuke growled softly as his gaze hardened over the Uchiha compound, he clenched his fists so strongly that his knuckles turned white,
'I have to grow strong, powerful if you're going to recognise me! I won't let you keep lying anymore!' Sasuke felt determination fill his body, for some reason he felt invincible, adrenaline and a wash of emotions he'd never felt in his life surged throughout his mind, for a single moment he felt as if he had limitless potential.
With a stiff nod the Uchiha gave the signal to the blonde, it was time for them to leave Konoha, the patrols that were facing the opposite way wouldn't even notice them slip by as they landed on the wall silently, not taking the time to even steady themselves after landing, they leapt down the huge wall, the wind rushing through their hooded hair and billowing clothing as they made their steep descend.
They glanced at each other a final time, checking everything was in order after the particularly large drop from the wall, the two of them had landed on solid, uneven ground and if they had been unlucky they could of easily broken their ankles. Of course the two boys had applied chakra to their feet as a defence mechanism but still, they were young and easily damaged. The two firmly nodded to each other, clearly showing their determination, the adrenaline and excitement was still fuelling their young bodies, the rush of escaping a major shinobi village was not lost on them. They powered forward as fast they could manage, silently racing through the dense forests that surrounded Konoha, the trees and leaves rustled harshly as the two disturbed the midnight landscape with their sheer speed. They were free.
They dashed determinately through seemingly unending thick forestry, the dense trees and foliage were perfect to mask them from sight, even if they had been followed it would be difficult to clearly pinpoint their locations in a setting like this. Naruto stopped momentarily as did Sasuke, the two had been taking precautions to throw off trackers as best they could, with a cunning, elusive fox like Kyuubi to guide them it was like having an experienced shinobi aiding them in their escape.
"Make sure to travel through any rivers you may come by, the waters will help to wash away your scent making it difficult for those pesky Inuzuka to get a good lead on you." Kyuubi 'spoke' to Naruto through his mind, the blonde nodded a stiff affirmative while watching Sasuke busying himself, the raven was more prepared than he had let on, he was currently perched in a tree.
"Sasuke? What are you doing now, we don't have time for this!" Naruto yelled in a hushed tone, his whisper sounding almost violent as he tried to make himself heard.
"Tch! This'll buy us some extra time and we need all we can get idiot. It's not all about running you know, there's no way we can simply out run trained ninja." Sasuke spat with irritation, he was trying to concentrate, he didn't have to be reminded of how little time they had, every second was precious right now.
"Well what are you doing bastard?! Let me help it'll be faster!" Naruto had effortlessly leapt up to the last Uchiha and was currently following the trail of steel wire that had been wrapped around various trees in the surrounding.
"Hn, are you sure you can understand something complicated like this?" Sasuke replied with a proud smirk, if there was anything he was good at it was traps, one time he had even managed to take Itachi off guard, the young raven had completely booby trapped his older brothers training ground with rocks and blunted wooden shuriken and kunai hoping to impress. That had earned him a rather forceful flick to the forehead, much to Sasuke's irritation though Itachi had given him a warm smile, insisting that he had done well.
"Tch, I got it, I got it! Just tell me what to do, jeez! Don't have to be a jerk 'bout it!" Naruto muttered in defence, he had always known he wasn't exactly an intellectual genius, he had learned all he had from hard work and bookworm behaviour, still he wasn't exactly dumb.
"Just pin kunai to the wire from different trees, make sure they all aim towards the centre of the clearing. " Sasuke stated simply, his tone becoming somewhat commanding as he issued orders to the blonde, Naruto raised an eye brow in curiosity but didn't question his friend and done as he was told.
"Huff! Oi Sasuke!? Are you sure this will help? They'll probably easily see through something like this! If we're gunna waste time setting this up it better be worth it!" A dangerous glint appeared in the eyes of the blonde, Sasuke wasn't the only one who had experience with traps, his prankster grin formed on his foxy features before he spoke again,
"We should add more layers right, it's harder to dodge a trap if it sets of even more traps all around the place!" Naruto threw his arms around animatedly, if they were going to make a trap they were going to do it properly!
"Of course idiot, who do you think you're talking to here?" A victorious smirk fell across Sasuke's porcelain features as Naruto frowned, crossing his arms in defiance, he was even pouting like the small child he was.
"Yeah, yeah! Just hurry up! We might as well use whatever we can find." With a single cross hand seal Naruto muttered his signature technique, five clones popped into existence, the blonde had only given them a tiny amount of chakra, maybe about twenty minutes worth, which given his reserves was barely noticeable at all.
It was now the raven's turn to glance at his blonde partner in crime in interest, he didn't know there could be solid clones, he watched as they poofed into existence all wearing a cheesy foxy grin,
"Go and collect anything of use, plenty of rocks and big tree branches!" Naruto ordered merrily and with a proud nod the clones raced off, scattering around the clearing to make themselves busy, it wasn't long before they came back with logs of various sizes and handfuls of rocks.
"What are you plotting?" Sasuke asked sternly, unable to hide his curiosity any longer, to his annoyance a proud grin fell across the blonde's features, yet he said nothing,
"I doubt rocks are going to have much effect against trained hunters." Sasuke mocked flatly, watching as the blonde attached large quantities of the natural projectiles to the wiring that was spread all around the clearing. They had wrapped the steel ninja wire around ten trees of the clearing, giving them almost three hundred and sixty degree coverage, the kunai and shuriken were likely to injure anyone who was in the centre of the small forest area.
Naruto continued in silence to load up rocks on to the wire, Sasuke frowned, from the way Naruto was setting everything up it just didn't make sense, it seemed like he wanted the rocks to rain down both before and after the shuriken and kunai had been fired. It just didn't really make sense to the raven, much to his irritation. The blonde was used to working with whatever he had while running away from the villagers, traps like this came naturally to him.
"The rocks aren't meant to do damage, idiot." Naruto shot back with a superior smirk of his own as he put extra volume on his last word, causing the irritable Uchiha to frown angrily at that,
"They're a distraction, wouldn't it be harder to dodge kunai or shuriken from all angles while you're distracted from being pelted by rocks? They're like a feint." The blonde explained with a dangerous glint in his eyes, traps were like fun little, life endangering puzzles to him.
"Hn, so the rocks after are to dull the senses of the hunters after the shuriken and kunai have gone off, It will be difficult for them to stay on guard or fully alert when being attacked from multiple angles, not being sure which attacks are real and which are distractions." Sasuke summarized with a knowing nod of understanding causing the blonde to give him a rather lame thumbs up and a happy foxy grin.
"Hn, and what about those?" Sasuke questioned quietly as he watched the clones setting up huge logs to fall from the trees once the logs had been fired off, the weight of the rocks were holding the logs in place and once they were gone the logs would spring to action.
"This is just the next phase of the trap! Getting hit by one of these would hurt!" Naruto nodded at his own genius as his clones went about their tasks. Sasuke didn't seem convinced though and with a proud smirk of his own he moved over to the clones.
"Hmph, I can do better than that, idiot." He shot back as the two continued to out-do each other, Naruto growled in annoyance but said nothing as he watched his raven friend go to work, the boy was slapping small paper slips all over the logs.
"Explosion tags? Why didn't I think of that?" Naruto questioned thoughtfully as the last Uchiha finished up strapping the dangerous seal tags to the logs, not only would those explosions be big enough to rock the whole clearing with just one tag but the splintered logs would act as dangerous shrapnel, if the ninja's trailing them were even within the clearing at this point, some damage would be done.
"Hn! Don't underestimate me!" Sasuke growled out much to Naruto's surprise, the blonde widened his eyes as Sasuke placed yet more tags from his backpack down on the floor of the clearing, in amongst leaves and foliage, it was definitely a good idea to raid and seal away the Uchiha clan's arsenal of explosion tags and supplies.
"More tags? Isn't that a bit wasteful? There's already enough explosives on the logs." Naruto said flatly, questioning the sanity of his Uchiha friend, at this point it just seemed a little over kill, the blonde realized now that his clones only had around ten minutes remaining of their life span, he decided to make use of them.
"You guys! Run off in all different directions and make as much mess as you can! Make it really super obvious that someone had been running that way! Kick up leaves, mark trees, do whatever you can!" Naruto ordered happily, with grins of natural troublemakers the shadow clones raced off into the night, overjoyed with their task of simply leaving a mess in their wake.
"Hn, not a bad idea." Sasuke somewhat complimented flatly, not taking his eyes of the tags he was littering around the clearing, he frowned, realizing he hadn't actually answered the blonde yet as he'd focused on his work.
He held up two of the many seals he was placing around the area, much to Naruto's confusion, then the raven merely flipped it over, revealing smoke bombs strapped to one of the seals while the other was left blank.
"Duds?" Naruto asked with a questioning gaze, his eye brows had lifted in surprise which made Sasuke grin victoriously, the raven had been placing fake explosive seals that would only detonate the smoke bombs with their fuse but he'd also been placing down, real, live explosive seals that would have enough fire power to seriously injure anyone within the blast radius, these weren't just any commercial tags, these were tags used for demolition, breaking and entry. These had been the tags created by the Uchiha to storm the Hokage tower and surrounding political buildings such as the hospital or governing buildings.
"Not just duds, these seals were going to be used to raid buildings." Sasuke replied without a sign of emotion, Naruto realized his friends voice had hardened somewhat, of course the blonde had knew all about the clan and the truth left by Sasuke's father, they had discussed it when asking one another what their reasons for leaving Konoha were.
"Sasuke, those are likely to kill the people chasing us, you know that right?" The blonde asked with a fixed gaze, sure they had been setting up traps with kunai and shuriken, but shinobi had many ways to deal with projectiles like that, but these explosives would decimate the clearing entirely.
Sasuke didn't say anything much to Naruto's concern, the blonde gulped at the tension,
"Oi Sasuke, you realize if we kill members of Konoha we might be made missing nin right? I mean...I'm not sure if we will be added to the books cause we're not exactly ninja right, but we'll be criminals after this for sure." The young Uzumaki spoke with wisdom far above his age, causing the raven to glare at him, If there was one thing that irritated Sasuke, it was stating the obvious.
"True, but I only got the idea to use these after your clones had ran off. It was perfect actually." Sasuke explained though it only served to make the blonde widen his cerulean eyes in curiosity, though he appreciated the praise.
"It's doubtful that anyone would blame us for a trap of this level. In fact I don't think a trap of this nature has been made around these parts for a long time." Sasuke stated, not exactly getting to the point of all this, Naruto frowned, hoping to avoid a history lesson from the grumbling Uchiha.
"It's much more likely that this trap was made by an Uchiha, an Uchiha who was extremely skilled and knew how to slow or kill any trackers that followed him." Sasuke's gaze hardened and he frowned deeply at the mere thought of what he was planning to do.
"...Itachi Uchiha." The raven wordlessly took out one of the light purple ANBU jackets as well as a vial of fake blood, he'd initially taken the blood to create footsteps that would cause misdirection, the trick was to apply it to ninja sandals, then step around the place, causing rather visible footprints, the perfect red herring.
He worked on staining the jacket, splashing the blood around it in a believable manner, it was made to look like someone else's blood, the tell tale signs that the wearer had slashed open an enemy in a rather cruel manner.
'This might be a little too accurate.' Sasuke thought sadly as he walked out of the clearing, ripping and tearing the jacket as he did, it looked aged as if it had seen better days, Sasuke climbed to a particularly high tree around three hundred meters from their trap. He wrapped the jacket around one of the branches, setting the scene. To tracking ninja it would appear as if Itachi had discarded the jacket on the run, the trap just before it had been set to stop anyone from reaching this piece of incriminating evidence, of course there was barely any scent of Itachi left on the aged piece of clothing.
'Sorry for this...Nii-san. I know you'd be able to deal with any trouble this might cause you.' Sasuke grimaced at his apologetic tone, it reminded him of just how young he really was, it almost made him wish his older brother was here to smile warmly at him and show him guidance.
Naruto crossed his arms patiently as the young raven stepped back into view, the blonde stayed silent, knowing that it couldn't have been easy on the young Uchiha to do what he'd just done,
"So the smoke bombs will go off at the beginning right? Then the rocks, then kunai and shuriken, more rocks, tree logs and explosives and then if anyone is still in the area for whatever reason, these explosives will finish the job?" The blonde summarized only to receive a stiff, determined nod from the last Uchiha, Naruto had to admit this place was now literally a death trap.
"Hopefully they will get out of the clearing before that." Sasuke muttered much to Naruto's surprise, he thought at this point the raven was completely uncaring to Konoha and its citizens,
"It would be troublesome if they realised this was actually created by us, that would make us murderers rather than runaways after all." Sasuke explained causing Naruto to sigh, that was more the answer he'd been expecting from his new friend, but he didn't really care in the end. The blonde steeled himself, Konoha was likely to be his enemy in the future and he should prepare himself to think as such. Now they were nothing but shinobi.
"We should get going, let's head in a different direction to north for a little while, otherwise it would be too obvious who planted that jacket. With the different ways the clones ran off, the jacket and us going in a completely different direction, this trap could slow them down for hours. Especially if they're injured...after all we've used almost everything we'd sealed from the Uchiha compound." Naruto stopped himself from adding that they might actually kill a bunch of shinobi with their trap, he didn't really enjoy the thought of killing, it made him feel dizzy.
"Oi, Sasuke? Why did you have your brothers clothes anyways?" Naruto asked with a deep frown coating his face, he was clearly thinking to hard about something, the raven merely huffed at him, shrugging his shoulders while turning around to face the young blonde,
"The only clothing I have is my training gear that i'm wearing right now, I was too busy planning to escape to think about getting more clothes so I brought along some of Itachi's things, I can cut them however I need and they'll last until we can head into some of the smaller towns at least." Sasuke explained casually, to his surprise Naruto let out an amused chuckle at his expense
"Y'know you could of just borrowed some of mine right?" The Uzumaki questioned happily, a knowing smirk was plastered across his cheery features yet Sasuke merely looked at him with disinterest.
"I have my pride you know." He replied in a deadpan tone, Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment trying to understand what the elusive Uchiha meant, clearly he was insulting the blonde,
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?" Naruto spat back in playful annoyance but the raven scoffed, not interested in the topic any longer, though Sasuke would never admit it, he felt as if he needed to bring along at least something that reminded him of the only family he had left alive.
"The two of you have done well. We better get moving again, we've already used half an hour here."Kyuubi instructed her blonde host with a serious tone he wasn't quite used to, he frowned,
'Still it was good that we managed to rest while making this...we'll be able to move faster at least for a little while.' Naruto responded within his mind, he felt Kyuubi nod with satisfaction,
"Don't worry kit, we have good chance of being free as long as we make up enough ground. Setting more traps along the way might be a good idea, though maybe not so lethal if you don't wish to kill your trackers.' The nine tailed fox explained thoughtfully, while she didn't particularly care if anyone from Konoha met their end, thanks to the way they had treated her host, she had to admit that the young Uchiha had a point, the two boys being marked as wanted criminals would make it harder for them to enter towns or villages within the fire country at a later date.
Without another word to one another two young boys raced off once again, they had veered to the east slightly, not wanting to head immediately north, though later along their path they soon steered west, eventually righting their non-existent path to head north. The earthy mud below them offered no sympathy to their aching legs as the varying terrain only served to make running as uncomfortable as possible, they had no idea how far they had gotten, but it wasn't far enough.
Seeing a small flowing river in the near distance of the clearing they were racing through, the boys headed straight for it, rushing through it without faltering in order to put off their pursuers. The boys hoped that the simple trick would help to buy them even a little extra time, and when escaping from a major hidden village any, any extra time was good time.
Their breathing had become extremely ragged as their bodies struggled to get the oxygen they needed, but the two didn't stop, they weren't tired yet, the two were just feeling the strain of testing their limits. They could go on for hours still, they had to or they would surely be caught and all of their efforts would have been in vain. The two runaways valiantly soldiered on past the tempting offer of resting or setting up camp, using all of the techniques that hid their tracks that they could remember in an effort to at least delay whoever was sent after them. Naruto had even made clones every so often, each with only ten minute time limits, the chakra burn was almost none existent to the blonde, yet the clones were able to make simple, badly constructed rock traps as well as rush off in different misleading directions.
Hours had rolled by and they began to slow, the blurring landscape became more and more visible as time passed, their legs were heavy, their bodies refused to go on until eventually they came to stop. At this point they had each eaten ration bars while on the move, they had even taken a soldier pill just to give them that extra kick of chakra to force them to continue onwards but by now they were run ragged. Staring up tiredly at the radiant sun in the crystal clear blue morning sky they assumed it to be around ten AM, they had covered a large distance across the fire country, and would have to find a monument or nearby town to check their map to figure out exactly where they were.
For now though, they were sat catching their breath in a hidden cave, deciding that their best course of action would be to sleep, being deprived of it would surely have negative effects on them. The boys knew that in the day light the cave could be a suspicious area which would no doubt be checked by a tracking team. They just hoped that by the time they woke up that distance they had covered would make up the difference. They had ran for twelve hours straight and were about to indulge in eight hours of rest once they had eaten.
The two sat in silence while eating, not quite knowing what to say to each as they enjoyed the sensation of simply relaxing a little, the two finished their meals with thoughts of how to survive the next day racing through their minds. Naruto said goodnight which eased the atmosphere between the two, and soon they were fast asleep only hoping that that their best was good enough. They had raced across fire country like a speeding bullet train, clearing miles upon miles of land, yet they knew that their pace would have been easy to match by older, more experienced shinobi.
It was two PM, the third Hokage had just received some devastatingly shocking news, in fact he wasn't quite sure how to combat the situation at hand. He had just been alerted to disappearance of the last Uchiha and the nine tails jinchuuriki, a heavy blow to the village even if they were but children. The elderly man frowned, he had an unwavering belief that the two of them would become strong, how powerful he wasn't sure, in fact their escape might have doomed them to an early grave.
The old man sighed heavily, he had the irritating village elders breathing down his neck to send out tracking squads, Hiruzen agreed it would be for the best, the two would be great assets to the village when they grew older. As of now they worryingly had the potential to be great enemies. Currently the only strength the village had lost was their tailed beast their military was not actually affected by the runaways, and for this the Hokage was thankful for but it didn't little to alleviate his crushing headache, he was far too old for this nonsense.
Sarutobi doubted that he could ever realign them with Konoha now, after all he knew what Sasuke knew. It turns out that the head of the Uchiha had far better insight than he had let on, the third nodded to himself sternly as he remembered that Itachi Uchiha was son of the clan head and he shown insight to the degree of it being like seeing the future. No, Sasuke Uchiha would not be fighting for Konoha any time soon and the Sandaime certainly did not believe in brain washing, much to Danzo's chagrin.
As for Naruto he imagined that the situation within the village walls had finally became unbearable for the poor young boy, a sad smile fell across his tired, elderly features, he felt truly sympathetic to the blonde. he was surprised he didn't pick up on the blondes plan to leave the village when he had visited his apartment just yesterday. It was unfortunate yet he had a whole village to think of, if he was seen to be too friendly with the young jinchuuriki things could quickly turn sour, leading to uproars and in-subordination, leaving the leaf village prone to enemy attacks and spies. He'd already had enough trouble with the Uchiha acting so dangerously.
He had no choice; he turned to the ANBU within the room, a heavy, tired sigh escaping him,
"Mark down Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto as A rank missing nin. If they are seen, they are to be treated as immediate enemies of Konoha, however do not engage until their motives are known. Send out tracking teams, give them until midnight tomorrow, maybe it isn't too late to clear up this mess." The man said in a hardened tone, he finished speaking, taking a long drag on his pipe before exhaling the calming smoke to fill the room.
"Excuse me Hokage-sama…" The brave ANBU stepped forward, bowing as he did so, clearly not trying to anger the powerful Kage level ninja that sat in front of him, yet he couldn't let this slide,
"I don't mean to question your judgement, but don't you think A-rank is a little…far fetched? They're just kids!" The man passionately spoke, after all there was no way a couple of brats could be considered A rank threats, a frown had deeply set across the Jounin's features, surely the young boys weren't so powerful?
The Sandaime tiredly closed his eyes letting out another hollow sigh as he did so, he wasn't sure he was making the correct decision either, truthfully it pained him to make such a call,
"The reason I have ranked them so highly is not because of their current strength, and technically the two of them cannot even be classed as missing ninja as they didn't even join our ranks." The elder explained, his own frown washing over his aged features, currently it felt like his best option even if he wasn't truly convinced himself.
"Then…?" The ANBU questioned curiously, still confused of the Hokages motives, it didn't really make any sense to him, surely the boys would be hunted down for the bounty if nothing else.
"Those two are in possession of things that many people would wish to obtain, if they were ranked at their current power they would surely not survive. Which would a person be more likely to attack, an A rank threat or a C rank?" The Hokage explained sternly to the somewhat puzzled Anbu operative.
"Despite being runaways the two of them are still Konoha citizens…not even ninja, they should technically be allowed to leave the village at any time… due to kyuubi and the sharingan however…" Hiruzen grumbled before he trailed off as if not wanting to continue the thought, it somehow disgusted him how people could be treated as mere extensions of Konoha, tools, weapons.
"So you wish to protect them from threats? …I see… but Hokage-sama, if I may, what about the time limit given to the tracking squad…it doesn't make much sense." The man nervously offered. The third let out a grumble in his frustration. The ANBU gave an uncharacteristic huff from behind his Inu mask, this was his sensei's legacy at stake here, he couldn't simply let them be added to the bingo books, they'd be hunted down and killed, or worse.
"I think not adding them to the books at all would be much better, track them as long as needed, if they're going to be hunted down by anyone it may as well be from Konoha, we can protect them here in the village!" Kakashi suddenly found strength in his determination, he wouldn't let Minato's child be slaughtered or worked in to the ground as a weapon of war.
"It is as I said. They deserve their freedom, if they can escape a high ranking tracking squad for that length of time they will at least show that they are capable of looking after themselves…if not then…they are not ready. The two of them however, are no longer interested in Konoha. If we bring them back, they will only rebel or attempt to escape again, still if they are not ready at very least we can delay them until they are." Sarutobi replied somewhat sadly, in all honesty he would miss the young blonde dearly, Naruto was more like a grandchild to him than even his blood relative.
"Still, listing them as missing nin will only cause more trouble, what if Iwa were to learn of Naruto or his heritage? They might even be the ones to capture him. What if Kumo were the ones to snag the Uchiha? The boys might not be strong right now Hokage-sama but eventually they could be killing machines." The ANBU operative spoke coldly before bowing low, he wasn't trying to undermine the Hokage, yet he believed with all of his heart that this was the wrong decision to make, there was simply too much at stake.
Hiruzen frowned deeply, the action causing even more wrinkles to set upon his tired, aged face,
"Perhaps you are right young Inu, maybe I have become naive in this time of strained peace..." The third Hokage took a long, deep puff of his trusty pipe, filling the room once again with the calming smoke that swamped his office.
"Fine, I shall not add them to the bingo books. As they grow I will continue to send squads of hunter-nin after them over the years, we'll attempt to keep track of them as best we can, their motives and goals could be a danger to Konoha, still we will not be thinning our man power simply to babysit two runaways, I will be only deploying what we have spare." The Hokage conceded finally much to the relief of the silver haired ANBU captain, he felt a rather heavy weight lifted from his shoulders at that, perhaps there was still hope of bringing back his Sensei's only child.
"You realise what this means however?...I doubt these children will ever wish to return to Konoha." Sarutobi's features hardened, reminding the Inu ANBU member just why he was sitting behind the Kage desk, this was the 'God Of Shinobi' , ' The Professor' a man who had mastered all five elements and survived various shinobi wars for a reason. Inu managed to glare at the man as he felt his heart constrict slightly, surely the Hokage wasn't trying to imply what he thought he was?
"I will pass my orders to the rest of the shinobi, do not engage Naruto or Sasuke without clear understanding of their understanding or motives... something tells me Konoha would be wise to be friend rather than foe." The third explained while pulling out papers from a drawer in his proud oak desk, he began scribbling down various orders, all relating to the two young runaways yet Kakashi didn't leave, apparently he was not yet satisfied.
"And if they resist the Hunter-nins, Hokage-sama?" He questioned quietly, a hint of sadness in his voice as if he would rather not know the answer, Inu knew this was not as simple as he first hoped,
"I will have the Hunter-nins attack them for information rather than capture." The elderly man folded his fingers together, gently resting his chin on them with a tired sigh as he continued,
"Dragging them back here will do us no good, if they want to leave now then forcing them to stay would be unwise, even if they were to become shinobi for the leaf, who knows if they would remain loyal. They may even flee during a mission...or worse, betray us." Hiruzen grumbled wisely leaving Kakashi nodding in agreement, unfortunately he'd heard of similar cases in other hidden villages.
"As long as we know they aren't affiliated with other villages, or out spreading tyranny, then we can sleep easy, ne? Kakashi." For the first time during this meeting Sarutobi offered a gentle, peace loving smile, the scarecrow jounin couldn't help but offer an eye smile from behind his mask, this was the best he was going to get from the Hokage, and in his opinion it could of turned out alot worse for the two young runaways. Most jinchuriki that escaped would be turned into emotionless weapons after all.
The ANBU tracking squad had left immediately, they wasted no time when it came to the hunt, they figured the runaways would have an easy trail, being as young as they were, to their disappointing surprise the small boys seemed to have a talent in concealing their presence. The recent runaways had covered their tracks shockingly well, making it difficult to pinpoint the direction the boys had traveled. Tsume Inuzuka smirked, even after asking the patrolling wall guards from the midnight shift they had found no evidence, it was only when they searched the nearby forests that she managed to pick up a scent, it was a good job she liked a good challenge. Her feral grin spread across her features, it had been a while since she'd led a pack on a hunt.
Rocketing through the landscape at a pace that only jounin could handle, the tracking team surged on through the land of fire, racing after their objectives, yet again their lead went cold. Tsume growled, her brow furrowing in irritation, this had always been the annoying side of tracking.
"Tch! I don't smell 'em anywhere round here. Looks like we're stoppin' again boys!" The feral Inuzuka barked out in command, there was a collective groan from her team as they instantly began searching their surroundings for any hidden clues.
Stopping and starting during a hunt was nothing to ANBU, they were soon at It again as they followed the strange, twisting routes towards their targets. The Inuzuka clan head was clearly more irritated than usual, likely due to being rendered an ordinary jonin thanks to two brats and their ability to remove their scent from the area by travelling through so many rivers. She snarled under her mask, maybe she'd have to rough 'em up a bit if they ever managed to find the small runaways.
'Hmph! Talented or not, the little pups will be runnin' with their tails between their legs when I get my hands on 'em!' She thought mischievously while an evil smirk fell across her features, Tsume imagined herself dragging them back to Konoha by their ears, similarly to how she punished her young Kiba. She frowned a little sadly, thanking the gods that it wasn't her little one who had fled the village.
"Oi Captain! There's something over here, this is where the new trail ends, its obvious that someone has been through this forest." One of the ANBU yelled in a stiff, reporting manner, no one in their right mind wanted to annoy Tsume Inuzuka, unless they wanted to be scarred for life that is,
"The brats?" She questioned with her eyebrows raising in curiosity, yet her squad member merely shrugged his shoulders with a sigh, he looked around the seemingly innocent clearing,
"It's difficult to tell, from here the trail spreads out in seven different directions, one heading north, four east, two west." The man replied stoically from behind his mask, Tsume nodded an affirmative and leapt down from the tree branch she was currently perched upon, leading the rest of her squad into the small clearing.
Her ears perked up suddenly as the unmistakable sound pierced the area, steel cable groaned under pressure then with an immediate cracking noise the cables surrounding them on all sides suddenly snapped. Tsume's eyes widened in horror as understanding washed across her face, she'd fallen straight into a trap along with the rest of her squad, she instinctively raised her arms up to defend herself, as did the rest of the ANBU.
The sounds of blunt projectiles hitting their marks echoed around the clearing as the ANBU stumbled around, the force of the barrage of rocks causing them to wince and step around the clearing in order to maintain their footing and avoid the worst of the blows.
"Rocks!?" Tsume yelled in confusion while lowering her face safely behind her arms, she had to admit it was more of an annoyance than a trap but it was slowing them down all the same, so she supposed it had its purpose.
Tssssss. The ANBU all tensed as the rocks continued to pelt them from multiple angles, the familiar sound washed over the clearing, it took only a second before they realized what it was,
"Explosives, take cover!" Tsume roared with authority, it was too late though, the fuses had come to an end, she closed her eyes in fear, this could be the last thing she ever did...then, nothing.
Pshhhh. A new sound suddenly flooded the small forest clearing, thick grey clouds rose from the ground coating the area in a shroud of smoke. Tsume squinted in an attempt to see while coughing violently, they'd been had.
"Fakes?" She questioned with irritation only to let out a few more fierce coughs, she slowly glanced around as best she could, it seemed her teammates weren't fairing any better than she was, they'd underestimated whoever had made this trap.
Rocks suddenly pelted them again from various angles leaving them at wits end, their guard was up and the whole squad looked nervous, clearly on edge. It was then that they realised how deadly this clearing really was. The startling sound of kunai and shuriken piercing the air echoed around the silent forest, flying down at them from odd, precise angles, the shinobi squinted desperately in an attempt to see while doing their best to dodge out of the way.
Most of the members had received at least a few deep cuts from the lethal kunai strike but nothing major, the shuriken had been mostly ineffective too, missing their targets by small distances. Then rocks again, barraging them from all angles, the ANBU again threw up their arms in attempt to shield themselves, it seemed unending. Then a much larger batch of kunai and shuriken rained down from the trees, this time at a complete three hundred and sixty degree angle, for the ANBU that could barely even see, it was difficult to know what projectiles were real and which were the less lethal sharp rocks.
"Gyak!" A member cried out in pain as kunai and shuriken littered his arms and legs, he went down silently, falling to his knees and slumping to the soft earth below, most of the other ANBU faired a little better, only receiving the odd gash or cut, even Tsume had one of the deadly shuriken lodged painfully in her shoulder. She let out a fierce growl, ripping it out of her flesh as she jumped back to avoid yet another barrage of kunai.
The smoke was beginning to clear but only slightly, a little of their vision was returning, and now it seemed the ranged projectiles had all been expended. Tsume glanced around the clearing in annoyance, one of their squad was wounded, and most of them had been caught in the crossfire, it was a good job they had their masks to protect their faces otherwise they would have been littered with scars.
Then as if from out of nowhere, huge tree branches shot forward into the clearing at a velocity that could easily render any man unconscious, thankfully for the ANBU squad, their reactions saved them from a nasty knockout. They glared angrily at the five logs that now hung calmly in the clearing, still attached to trees high above them.
"Tch! What a pain in the ass! Could this get any worse!?" Tsume barked out aggressively, she couldn't believe she'd fell into a trap so dangerous, she was a tracking ninja, it was her job to avoid this kind of thing! Tssssss. The Inuzuka clan head wished she had the time to sigh and complain, yet she leapt from her position as fast as possible, these explosive seals were no duds, the fuse was much too loud. Her eyes widened in horror, there was still one of her team members in the clearing!
Fearlessly, the feral women leapt into danger, throwing the large man over her shoulder as if he were weightless, she had just seconds to get out otherwise she'd be killed for sure, it was then that she realized what it felt like to fear for your life. Much louder fuses shook the clearing from below, she could feel the heat at her feet as they quickly burned away. For the first time in her ninja career Tsume completely frozen, staring at the ground with clear horror on her face. She was going to die.
"Hyuk!" Tsume grunted in pain as she felt a weight slam into her stomach, she doubled over, allowing the force to rocket her from the clearing with only moments to spare, she slid across the ground of the surrounding forest on her back feeling a sense of relief she smirked proudly as she looked up at her Nin-dog, Kuromaru who had hit her with an under powered fang over fang, effectively saving her from the blast, she looked to her side, glad she managed to hold on to her comrade despite the pain. The Inuzuka clan head had no time to speak though as she jumped to her feet, grabbed her squad member and leapt even further away from the clearing, Tsume knew her ANBU squad had done the same.
A terrifying explosion rocked the earth, the clearing erupted into wooden splinters and multiple, layered explosions, each detonating a millisecond after the next, that was only the beginning. The seals littered around the forest floor ignited in a crystal clear blue, the tags had been finely crafted with enhanced fuinjutsu, though they were clearly the work of an old Uchiha blacksmith that had fallen during the clan's massacre.
The blue chakra ignited along with the paper seal, causing the many explosions to grow exponentially in force, the forest glowed a painful white as light ravaged the area, smoke, flames and further explosions continued to shock the wounded landscape. The great trees fell injured, ripped from their roots, many of them snapping and falling or imploding due to the sheer force of the terrifying blasts. Tsume hastily covered her eyes and Kuromaru buried his face into her ribs, shielding his eyes from the blinding light, smoke billowed into the sky and the crippling power of the explosions caused a great wind to wash over the area, causing the hunter-nin's to gasp for their breath as it was sucked away from them.
The worst of it faded, only leaving fire and charred black ground, snapped trees and a badly injured forest, it seemed as if her team had somehow managed to survive the assault, a deep frown fell over Tsume's face, knowing that she could of been the one to lead her team to their graves.
"There's no way that was made by a couple of brats!...Those were demolition seals, seals used for bringing down whole buildings!" The Inuzuka loudly shouted out to no one in particular, she panted desperately for her breath, letting out a heavy sigh as she did, right now she just felt lucky to be alive.
She threw her arms out either side of her, closing her eyes and allowing her body a moment of rest, she knew she liked a challenge but this was a little much. Tsume frowned in annoyance as she heard a hazy voice reach her ears, her fierce eyes flickered open, much to her irritation, as she heard the voice call out to her once again, only far more clearer this time.
"Captain!...We found this just north of this clearing, I believe we've found who was responsible for this trap. Tch...and to think that I almost believed it was those little brats!" The ANBU male grumbled as he proudly displayed the evidence to Tsume.
She let out a low, grumbling growl, just from the sight of the ANBU attire she recognised that faint scent, a deadly fierce look came about her features as her fists clenched until her knuckles turned white. She hated this man more than anything, to her, family was everything, yet this man had butchered his own clan like lamb to the slaughter, the blood that ran across the jacket clearly evidence of that.
"Uchiha...Itachi." She muttered out softly with a pained expression, no wonder she had almost lost her life, that man was leagues above her, as much as she hated to admit it. In all honesty Tsume felt relief knowing that he wasn't lingering around to finish them off.
It was around six PM when the boys awoke, the two could hear the chirping of crickets in the nearby forestry and the sun had already began to fall, making the sky melt into a golden orange dream. Naruto and Sasuke had quickly packed up everything before setting fire to the whole cave, any evidence of who had been there would be disposed of with the flames, it was a risky tactic but the time that their trackers would spend looking for evidence would buy them some time, as little as it may be. Though their trap was effective the boys had no way of knowing that, to them it was better to not take any chances, they didn't want to risk being dragged all the way back to Konoha after travelling so far after all.
"We need to move again." Sasuke stated stoically to which the blonde sat opposite him nodded, it was easy for Naruto to tell that his new friend was feeling the pressure, one look at the raven shown that he was clearly on edge, Naruto supposed he better attempt to ease the tension.
"They should've probably been getting close by now...maybe our trap worked after all?" Naruto asked with a forced cheeky grin, they had only slept for eight hours like planned which should have a little time left, but not much. Truthfully the two of them expected hunter-nins by now.
"They'll be expecting us to go to the border. Maybe it would be better to do the opposite." Sasuke thought aloud to the blonde who raised an eyebrow curiously, the raven managed a proud smirk at that, Konoha would never expect them to travel west.
"We'll head into the thicker forests but we'll have to be careful, Old man Hokage said the west was filled with bandits, the deeper forests aren't usually used by shinobi as they don't really lead to any civilizations." The blonde informed wisely, showing off some off his bookworm like knowledge, Sasuke nodded in agreement and with that the two raced off into the sunset, leaving the blazing cave to be discovered by any pursuers.
'It seems we will be living in the wilderness from now on.' Sasuke thought with a frown, he imagined living in the wild and while they did only bring basic camping equipment he was fairly sure they could survive in the wild for short periods at a time, being constantly on the move would mean that they would also be harder to find. Eventually though they would need to make stops within some of the smaller villages or towns to restock their limited supplies.
Naruto glanced over to Sasuke with concern, the raven was silent while in deep thought, the two were still rather paranoid and the tension was starting to make the two of them feel a little uneasy in the moment of quiet. The idea of being enemies to Konoha was finally sinking in, although it would usually be perfectly fine for ordinary civilians to leave the village, even at such a young age, the last member of a prestigious clan and the nine tailed jinchuuriki weren't considered ordinary civilians.
"Hmph! Bet the damn villagers are already wanting me dead!" The blonde thought angrily with a huff, he was glad that he would no longer have to deal with Konoha's society, they were the bane of his existence, without them holding him down the blonde knew he'd be so much happier, he'd probably grow stronger too!
"We should stay away from villages and main roads as much as possible for now, I'm not sure exactly where we are right now, but if we try to out run them in a straight line they'll definitely catch us." Naruto spoke wisely, his experience with running away had really helped them but he doubted they had much time before the ANBU were hot on their tail, it just seemed to be going too well, it made them wonder if their trap had actually killed any ANBU that may have trailed them.
"The orders to track us would surely have been given by now…" Sasuke sighed tiredly, unsure how to continue, after collecting his thoughts he spoke again with a deep frown dressing his face.
"I'm not sure what we can do if they spot us, but I'm not going back there." He spoke with determination, his fists clenched at the thought of being dragged back to the village they had just escaped.
Naruto looked back in agreement, the two of them had worked far too hard to return, this is their true path, far away from the village that had made their lives almost unbearable.
"If they find us we have no choice but to keep running, we're no match for them." The blonde replied in a disappointed tone, the young Uzumaki eyes held a certain fire to them, clearly determined in his decision. Sasuke let out a low growl of annoyance before answering, he hated the thought of being weaker than anyone, the thought of being powerless but he pushed it the back of his mind for the time being, there was more important things to worry about.
"Let's move." With that the two of them sped up, entering the denser forests as they travelled further west, the trees were unimaginably tall, towering far above the earth, thanks to this they'd be able to travel by jumping through tree tops without leaving too much of a trace. Naruto grinned mischievously, it would take hours for unskilled hunters to check the many branches of these large trees for any clear indication of which path they'd taken.
"Oi Sakura!? Have you heard the news!?" A young blonde bellowed at her friend, unable to contain her emotion, she'd always been a bit of a gossip but this was different, she honestly felt heartbroken when she had found out. The pinkette covered her ears on reflex, Sakura had only recently starting coming out of her shell thanks to Ino, the cherry blossom girl had always been quiet and considerate, a small smile blessed her features, it was troubling how loud Ino could be sometimes.
"Naruto has run away from the village!" The bubbly blonde yelled in clear dismay, yet Sakura didn't seem all that interested, did she really have no idea what was going on? The news had spread like wild fire across the village, everyone knew by now!
"Naruto has?...Well they'll catch him right? My parents always tell me to stay away from him, I think he might be dangerous or something...I don't really get it..." Sakura rambled as she thought aloud; there was no way the Hokage would let them be in danger, so if Naruto was really as scary as her parents made out, she was confident he'd be found.
Ino sighed angrily, not realizing she had missed out most of the details of her announcement, instead she only wondered how Sakura could possibly care about something like that in such a crisis, the Yamanaka huffed in annoyance, unable to deal with it anymore as she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted childishly.
"I don't care about that! I heard that Sasuke-kun has left with him!" The blonde groaned loudly, she felt so hopeless, there was nothing she could do about the situation as much as she wanted to, she may never see Sasuke again, just the thought made her want to cry.
"Huh? Sasuke-kun has? But everyone likes Sasuke-kun, not like Naruto, I mean I guess he must be hurt from losing his family but leaving the village is dangerous!" Sakura continued to vent her thoughts aloud only this time she was clearly distressed.
"Please be safe Sasuke-kun...I know things in the village must be hard right now but running away just isn't right. I know the people here annoy you but Konoha is your home, someone will find you eventually!" She thought as she let her mind drift to the raven, she didn't really understand much about him if she was honest, unfortunately for Sakura he had never given the pinkette the time of day.
"Tch! There's no way they'll just leave Sasuke-kun out there...anything could happen to him and he's the last of his clan!" Ino ranted in an attempt to reassure herself more than anything else, it was times like this when she lost her composure that she really came across as a little air headed.
"Hmm, but my parents always say Naruto is trouble and I shouldn't go near him cause it's not safe, even if he can act so stupid that it hurts, he's just a knucklehead, why would Sasuke-kun leave the village with him of all people?" She questioned the Yamanka with curiosity, the whole situation didn't really make sense to the young cherry blossom, things just didn't add up.
"…Sasuke-kun left the village with his own free will, his home was searched and plans and documents detailing nearly every genin candidate and their potentials were found hidden around the house. I guess Naruto just came out on top, maybe Sasuke-kun saw something that none of us did, he is a genius after all." Ino tried her best to reason, shrugging her shoulders lazily as she tried to make sense of the information herself, she may not look it but she was actually rather intelligent, scoring just a little under Sakura in the academy entry tests.
Sakura shook her head with a soft frown falling across her face, she thought back to all of her run ins with the blonde Uzumaki, he'd been goofy, a complete class clown who would do anything for attention, and from what she knew of Sasuke...he hated giving people attention.
'That can't be right!' She huffed inwardly, crossing her arms in annoyance there's no way that Sasuke would just leave for good, there had to be more to it than that, she knew Sasuke wouldn't do something childishly like running away to get attention like Naruto might.
"Still...why with Naruto of all people?" She continued to question herself, she didn't like this at all, she felt her heart tightening at the idea of never seeing Sasuke again, Sakura knew all the girls her age acted this way but she didn't want to just fawn over him, she really wanted to get to know him, to spend time with the raven, not just drool over him, though the pinkette had to admit, she could be quite the fan girl herself.
"Hokage-sama has ordered all of Konoha's shinobi not to attack Naruto or Sasuke-kun without a good reason and firm evidence, so I don't think he wants to kill them or anything like that..." Ino explained thoughtfully, she felt a little pressured to continue when Sakura's eyes fixed intently on her,
"Y'know 'cuz like some ninjas when they leave their own villages they get ANBU after them to kill them n stuff, Daddy says Sasuke-kun and Naruto are lucky not to be put in the wanted books. I did hear that Hokage-sama has sent tracking ninja after the two of them though, to bring them back here." Ino did her best to explain, sighing softly as she realised Sakura was hanging on her every word looking for a sign of hope.
"That's good right?! Then they'll be brought back here where it's safe, how do they think they'll be able to live outside the village anyway, that's crazy!" Sakura mumbled angrily, still a little in denial at what was happening, it had just been a regular summers day until all this had happened.
"Didn't you say Sasuke-kun had information about all of the genin candidates? Do you think he might get into trouble?" Sakura asked with a concerned tone, she was having a hard time getting her head around all of this, the pinkette was doing her best to remain calm and resist the urge to cry, never mind understand just what had actually happened. Sakura suddenly paled, worrying her bubbly blonde friend,
"Wait...you don't think? Sasuke-kun couldn't be a spy right?! That might be why my parents tell me to stay away from Naruto! He might just act like a total idiot so no one gets suspicious!" Sakura started softly as her mind clutched at straws, at the end of her explanation though she was practically yelling at the poor Yamanaka who was beginning to feel a little nervous, Ino hated to admit it but that almost made sense.
"I don't know much about that…I think he was trying to decide who to leave the village with, Daddy said all of his plans were made for two people so it's clear he knew he'd made them for him and Naruto." Ino replied softly, she wished that she understood, just yesterday she had seen the two boys by the pier on the outside of town yet she thought nothing of it, she guessed that Naruto was probably just pestering Sasuke like he pestered most people.
"Maybe Naruto was just the best candidate? …None of us have seen him fight after all…" Ino considered aloud, almost startled by her own words as they left her mouth, of course this did nothing to calm Sakura's suspicions, it was true, neither of them had seen Naruto fight before.
"Hmph! Maybe he was the only person who wanted to leave?" Sakura replied with a huff, she really didn't want to start believing that Sasuke was some evil spy, seemingly happy with her own given reason she decided the two of them wouldn't get anywhere bickering about it.
" Yeah right forehead if Sasuke-kun asked you to go with him you'd be drooling at his feet!" Ino mocked with her normal teasing grin causing the cherry blossom to glare dangerously at her, maybe there was time for a little arguing after all.
Slowly the information leaked across Konoha, many of the young genin candidates were among the first to find out due to their clan heritage and of course Ino's gossiping tendencies, yet most were indifferent or even glad that they had left, seeing Naruto as an annoyance and Sasuke as too much of a challenge though some of the genin were angry, not understanding the reasoning for leaving, they declared the two boys as traitors of Konoha that didn't deserve to be brought back.
"Heh…how troublesome, the village is making such a fuss over two runaways." Shikamaru mumbled lazily with a hint of amusement to his best friend Choji, the boy was snacking happily on some potato chips while nodding to his friend in agreement, he really didn't think it was such a big deal.
"What's so special about those two anyway!?" The boy asked loudly in between mouthfuls, Shikamaru just sighed deeply in response to that and looked back to the clouds, watching them float by in the brilliant blue summers sky, he was glad he could still have his peace and quiet.
"Oiiii! Have you two heard the news!?" the two heard a familiar voice yell aggressively, followed by the sound of weak barking from the puppy that was laid atop of the canine looking boy,
'So much for my peace and quiet...' Shikamaru thought with a rather exaggerated sigh, this day was really starting to become troublesome, he'd hoped to avoid any of the gossiping so he could relax.
"Kiba? Uh…yeah we've heard all about it from our parents." Choji replied casually though the Akamichi was somewhat surprised to see the Inuzuka boy, he never realised he knew where he and Shikamaru would hide away when they didn't want to be bothered.
"Hmph! How could they just run off like that?! Cowards…no! It's worse than that they just completely bailed on the village that makes them traitors!" Kiba declared angrily to the group who seemed to take no notice of him, he couldn't understand why anyone would just leave Konoha, it was unforgivable to abandon the people that cared for you like that, to an Inuzuka family was everything, people of Konoha were supposed to stick together, just like a good pack should.
"Oi! Shikamaru! What do you think? They should be hunted right?! My mom could find them easily, no sweat at all! She's the best tracker there is!" He yelled enthusiastically trying to engage the lazy Nara but to his disappointment Shikamaru just sighed before speaking
"Heh, what I think is…you're too noisy."
By now most of the jounin had received word that the two had fled the village, Kakashi Hatake was among those who immediately volunteered to bring back the young Uchiha, there were fears that there could be a rendezvous with Itachi, and other than the Hokage or Jiraiya, Kakashi figured he would be the best option to combat the Uchiha. Yet a bigger part of him was doing this for his beloved Sensei, he felt guilty that Naruto had escaped the village and that he was powerless to help the young blonde.
Despite his attempts, he wasn't able to adopt Naruto as his own, the Hokage had told him that the life of an ANBU captain was a dangerous one, should anything happen to him after taking in Naruto the blonde would have been heartbroken, something of that magnitude may have even weakened the seal. Kakashi sighed heavily into the latest 'Icha Icha' book, of course the silver haired man had applied to step down from his position as captain but that wasn't an instantaneous procedure, he had to finish training and working alongside his ANBU comrades like Yamato who was soon to complete his ANBU initiation.
The training programme had taken over three years to complete but in a couple of days time he would be able to step down from his position as a ANBU commander, meaning he would actually have full rights to claim guardianship over the pained Uzumaki, right now he needed to at least try his best to bring back the poor blonde. Then maybe the two of them could start their somewhat strange family.
Although it was doubtable that Sasuke would want to be re-united with his elder brother after the events of the Uchiha massacre, the Hokage was not convinced, he knew exactly how close Itachi and Sasuke had been merely weeks ago and after reading Fugaku's scroll Sasuke would at least be curious to find out why Itachi did what he did. Hiruzen hoped to hear good news from his tracking squads as soon as possible, he was getting much too old for this.
For the two boys on the run, everything started now.
Hope you enjoyed it!