Return of the Sage
It was an early December night in Konoha, and a fierce blizzard was ripping its way through the village. The guards outside the village gate were struggling to keep warm in the fierce gales of the storm. On the whole, they thought there was little use in them being out in the open in such weather. After all, who in their right mind would be traveling in such conditions? But still they continued their vigil, and as the Hokage would say:"There is no greater privilege to a shinobi than keeping the village safe." And so they stuck to their posts, waiting for their shifts to end.
Hiruzen, for his part was awake this late as well, though for very different reasons. Six years ago he had declared his surrogate grandson dead, and for six years this terrible secret had weighed on his soul. The village, naturally, had been thrilled to hear of the "demon childs" demise, to them, their dead loved ones had finally been avenged. But to the elders and many clan heads, it was a very different story. To them, Naruto had been a potential powerful weapon to use against any enemy that dared rear their hand at them, and along with the massacre of the Uchiha, the village was in a venerable state. A venerable state that many people blames Hiruzen for. Even now he was in a meeting with the elders. Koharu and Homura were currently in his office, having come once again to pry as to what Hiruzen had planned for the village's defenses.
"Hiruzen, its been six years since the jinchuriki's disappearance, and five since the Uchiha massacre. We are weakened and exposed, we need decisive action!" It was Homura that was currently patronizing Hiruzen, with Koharu backing up her fellow elder.
Hiruzen looked up from his desk and across at his two teammates. In all their previous visits, they had been demanding, but never this accusatory. Where he once saw old comrades and friends, he now saw shriveled husks full of greed and jealously.
"Shisui, I almost think you were the most lucky between us. You are at peace now, and I am stuck dealing with these heartless bastards," Hiruzen thought as his gaze shifted to the ceiling above him.
"We know the jinchuriki is alive, Hiruzen, and we know you have been protecting him. Only a traitor of the village would keep such a powerful weapon from us," Koharu said coldly as she looked at the rather perturbed Hiruzen.
Hiruzen instantly snapped his face to look back at his old teammates. They were cruel and cunning he knew, but he did not expect them to sink as low as to question his loyalty to the village. The look on both Koharu and Homura's faces was cold and dark, one that said they were not willing to let this go this time. Hiruzen began to bristle with anger, he had risked and sacrificed much for this village, and he was not about to let these two excuses for shinobi humiliate him like this. Hiruzen's chakra becoming increasingly agitated, leaking a stifling air of rage and anger in to the room, when quite suddenly, there was a short knock on the door.
30 Minutes Earlier at the Village Gates
The guards were continuing to monitor the road into Konoha when they spotted a figure approaching. Being late night, they could not quite tell if it was a person or merely a wandering animal lost in the pure white squall of the storm. As the figure got closer, however, they realized it was a dark humanoid shape. Seeing no reason to stop the figure, as he was still quite a ways away, they merely watched as it approached. As it got closer they could tell it was a shinobi of some kind. They stood at about five feet and were covered in a long cloak that obscured much of their body. However the most striking thing to them was what appeared to be a very large sword on the stranger's back. The guards had been trained to see any armed individual as a potential threat, and so at last they hailed the cloaked figure
"You, there! Hold and state your business" a tall figure exclaimed, holding his hand up as to stop the man.
The figure, however kept approaching, slowly walked to the guard post with an air of mystery about him. The guards were flustered as to what to do, on one hand, it could be a potential danger, but on the other it could be a messenger from some of the outlying clans. Even as they were considering their options, the figure had suddenly appeared before their booth, and the guards at last had a good look at him.
The stranger was young, but had an aura of confidence and strength about him that told the guards that he was not a person to be trifled with lightly. He had a sharp face with piercing blue eyes. His hair was a dark blonde and was spiky with two bangs on either side of his face that were held in place by a simple black headband. Though the cloak concealed much, they could tell what he was wearing. His chest was cloaked in a long black coat that hung down to below his pant line. His shoulders were covered with a heavy metal plating going down each arm, the right going down to his forearm and connecting to a lighter metal gauntlet. The left plate metal went down to his elbow. On his left hand he had a black leather binding on his forearm that concluded into a similar metal gauntlet as his right. His pants were a lighter black with heavy chain mail going down each side. Large pockets were further down the pants, which looked to be full of assorted shuriken and kunai. His boots were heavier than traditional shinobi sandals and were covered on the sides and bottoms with the same heavy metal on his shoulders. But the most curious piece of his attire was a crimson mask in the shape of a wolf with fangs hanging downward that was fastened to his hip. All in all, he looked like a shinobi dressed for war.
The guards were stunned to find such a youth with an aura such as his. His chakra seemed to have a physical force and none of them had felt anything like it, not even from their own hokage. Frankly they were too preoccupied with the youth that they forgot about their duty. Finally, one of the guards snapped out of it and realized they still had a duty to preform.
"Again, what is your business with the Konoha, and why do you desire entry?" The youth looked to the man evenly before responding.
"I have come to talk with your Hokage. I have a message for him from the Land of Steam, the Kaze Clan, and an Anonymous Third Party." the youth produced a sealed scroll from behind his scroll and handed it to the guard in front of him.
The scroll was thick and had a seal on it the like of which none of the guards had ever seen. It looked alien to them with a series of symbols that read: ᚡᚨᚱᚷᚱᚺᛇᛗ. The guards were perplexed as to what to do, and the youth would obviously would not take no for answer. Protocol had no answer for a situation like this. Finally one of them rose from their seats and beckoned the youth to follow him.
"Follow me, the Hokage's office is in the eastern section of the village," a younger man with a bandage across his face. As he left to guide the youth toward the Hokage office, another young man accompanied him, this one with a dark piece of cloth over his head.
"Kotetsu, what do we do? For all we know, this could be an assassin!" the man with the cloth over his head whispered to his companion.
True, but Hokage-sama has his ANBU on guard ever since the massacre, if he is an assassin, he will find himself surrounded with no escape," the other man replied to his worried companion.
The three made their way through the winter blizzard briskly and in silence. The boy had his eyes glued to his guides and they, in their turn they had their chakra monitoring him closely and intensely. This boy was an enigma, and they thought, a dangerous one at that.
After what seemed like a rather lengthy walk through the Village, they finally arrived at the Hokage Residence, and his guides took their leave. Even though they were needed at the guard post, they had a sinking feeling that something was about to go very wrong, and so they stuck to the shadows behind the building, waiting to see what would happen.
The youth stepped into the building and was greeted by a warm waiting room occupied only by a small secretary at an old oak desk. The secretary looked up as the enigmatic youth entered and beckoned toward him. The youth walked forward, removing his hood and looked at the secretary.
"What is your business here?"
"I'm here to see the Hokage I have-"
"I"m quite sorry, but the Hokage's visiting hours are over, you may try tomorrow if you like," the Secretary said, hardly looking up at the boy.
"I do not care, I will see the Hokage," the boys reply came as coldly as the wind was outside and the secretary felt a shiver of fear run up her spine. She looked up at thee boy's face and some recognition came across her face.
"The jinchuriki, but he's supposed to be dead," alarms went off in her head and she zoned out, thinking he was here to finally finish his job and destroy the village once and for all.
"I assume his office in still on the third floor?" Naruto asked the dumbstruck secretary. In response, she could only assent, not trusting her voice to do anything other than scream.
"Thank you," Naruto replied as he began walking up the stairs towards the Jiji. He had mixed feelings being back where he had been tormented as a child and a slight shiver went up his spine as he thought of that horrid past.
As he walked step after step up the stairway his thoughts went back to the way he had left the village and he felt an uncertainty come over him.
"Don't dwell on it kid, like Mani said this Village will accept you back if for no other reason than to have their precious bijuu back. Just make sure you don't come across as too abrasive," came Kurama's sage advice within him. He knew he was right, but that didn't stop the nagging feeling that someone would try to manipulate him once again.
Finally Naruto arrived at the door to the Jiji's office, when he had been a kid, this place had been a somewhat safe haven for him, now he just felt dread as he reached to knock on the door. And then just as was beginning to knock, he felt it. A KI that leaked from the room, to him it was nothing, but he knew this was not a good sign for what he might find within. But finally he resolved himself and knocked on the door firmly and sharply.
"Come in," said a voice he had not heard in six years a voice that once meant safety and now meant uncertainty. Beyond the door Naruto could hear two more bickering voices, no doubtfully telling him to wait until whatever conversation they were having was done. Though their voices sounded stifled as the KI did much to quieten them.
Naruto slowly opened and entered the door and found Hiruzen as well as two elders in the room with him. He felt a strange wave of nostalgia and unease as he looked at the wizened Hokage and his visitors. Hiruzen had aged more, but still had the kind eyes he had remembered him having. His face was more weather beaten and wrinkled, but despite that he had a look of a man who would help anyone that needed it. And this sent a surge of tiny hope through Naruto's body.
The elders, however had a cold look about them, as if Naruto's intrusion was an affront to their very being. Naruto recognized both of them immediately as Koharu and Homura, they had given the Jiji much trouble while he was still in the village, and it seemed that they were still at at all these years later.
Naruto stepped further into the light of the room, revealing his features to all in the room. Simultaneously they all realized who he was. Hiruzen saw Naruto, a spitting image of a combination of Minato and Kushina. His hair and eyes were the spitting image of Minato's and his face was sharper and kind much like Kushina's. Hiruzen let out a brief smile at Naruto until he turned his gaze to the two elders in front of him.
The elders looked at Naruto, not with interest in their eyes, but with greed and satisfaction. They finally had their jinchuriki back, and this time it was out of Hiruzen's hands.
Naruto's eyes fell from Hiruzen's warm face, to the elders' cruel and heartless one. He gave both of them a look as cruel and heartless as their own before returning his gave to Hiruzen's.
"He has returned, but something feels off," Hiruzen thought to himself as his smile faded as he saw the hard look on Naruto's face.
"Koharu, Homura, you are both dismissed," Hiruzen said all the while intently watching the young man before him.
"No Hiruzen, the jinchuriki concerns more than just you, he must be brought before the village," Koharu coldly replied. Homura nodded agreement behind his partner as they both smiled cruelly at Hiruzen.
"Indeed, he belongs to he village now. He will be brought before the whole council and clans-" Homura tried to say, but before he could continue, a malevolent force choked the words from his mouth.
Naruto had turned toward the two elders, a look of cold hatred in his eyes. His eyes began to turn crimson with three black tomoe and black markings extended around his eyes down to his chin. The air around him seemed to solidify with power and his KI leaked in abundance.
"I am Naruto Uzumaki, a sage of Vargrheim. I am the son of the Yondaime Hokage, Minato and his wife Kushina. I belong to no one and this village will control me no longer." he said coldly, his eyes seeming to pierce the very souls of the elders. "I have come to speak to the Hokage, and the Hokage alone."
As Hiruzen watched the events unfold he realized that Naruto was a boy no longer. He did not know what had happened to harden the young man like this, until he thought back to the day he had left.
"Perhaps this is a product of the village. Perhaps this is a product of my negligence," he thought to himself as he watched Naruto cow the elders into submission.
The elders, feeling the enormity of his chakra, as well as fear from the pure KI he was leaking. Left in a hurry, not wanting to face the demon the boy had become. After they had left, Naruto turned to Hiruzen and instantly kneeled, the markings across his face as well as his sharingan immediately fading away.
"I apologize for my behavior, Hokage-sama," he apologized stiffly. "I have overstepped my bounds, but I could not stand another degradation from this village."
Hiruzen looked over the boy once more and saw no hint of the child he once knew, He was now a shinobi through and through, his childhood long behind him. He reminded Hiruzen of Kiyota. Serious and always willing to apologize even when he was in the right.
"Naruto, it is I who should be apologizing, I was not there the night you needed me most, and for that I am deeply sorry, but why would you come back, you could have had a perfect life away from the village."
"My mentor, Mani, the Great Sage Wolf, told me you might have answers for me. Two years ago a clan that took me in were massacred to the last woman and child. On that day, I vowed to find the perpetrator. I have wandered for two years, but I found no trace of them. Mani implored me to return to my homeland. She thought Konoha might have answers. She gave me this scroll to give to the Hokage, and told me that my presence and this would most likely buy the favor of the elders and clan heads. I know I have been gone a long time, but I would do anything to bring this monster to justice."
Hiruzen took the scroll from Naruto and read it thoroughly. As he read he came to understand why his mentor had sent him back. He looked up from the scroll to the boy who meant so much to him.
"You would do anything you say?"
"Yes, I would." Naruto replied instantly, his face steeled and ready for what whatever the Hokage's proposition would be.
"Then you will become a Konoha shinobi, and together the village and you will find this criminal. Together we will avenge your lost family."
Naruto looked up at the Hokage and saw tears in the old man's eyes. Naruto himself felt a surge of strange emotion well up from within him. He felt at ease, and finally he realized what emotion this was: happiness.
"Welcome home, Naruto." the old Hokage said to him
