Welcome all to the much delayed fourth chapter of Forest Dweller! I sincerely apologize for how long it took me to update. I graduated high school and went directly into a full time job. It has taken me a while to adjust to working life and now that I have I am ready to begin writing again! :D Without further a do, Onto the Chapter!
'Thoughts'
"Speaking"
'Demon Thoughts'
"Demon speaking"
Xxxxx
So much could change in five years. Time is not really as slow as everyone makes it out to be. For one Sarutobi Hiruzen, he could not wish for the slowing of time anymore than he already had. Tomorrow was the day. Tomorrow was October tenth; the festival of the Kyuubi's defeat was tomorrow. Naruto was also going to be banished into the Forest of Death. Sarutobi sighed and packed the tobacco into his pipe and began to smoke, a habit that he had been practicing more and more as this day drew closer.
Naruto honestly couldn't have come out any better if he had planned it ten years in advance. The boy was truly a walking ninja encyclopedia. He knew everything. He had been forced to read and memorize the entire Sarutobi library. The God amongst Shinobi had given all of his knowledge to a five year old boy. And the boy understood it. Sarutobi expected him to remember it but not to be able to actually apply any of the things he was teaching him. He was only five! Naruto was probably his best student. He had the knowledge of a Kage, the chakra reserves of a chunin, the stamina of a god, and a heart of gold. And they were sending him into the forest. Alone. Sarutobi couldn't help but feel helpless. Reaching down into his desk he took out a stamp with his seal on it and began going through the horror that was paperwork.
Going through the higher ranked missions first, the Hokage decided to get rid of some high security risk personnel. Sarutobi was not a malicious man but when the Daimyo wanted someone dead for treason, and paid quite highly, you did what you had to. That went to one Hatake Kakashi. He was the Anbu Commander and one of Sarutobi's confidants.
Moving swiftly through the A and B rank missions, Sarutobi quickly slowed his pace as he had to start assigning missions to newly mad Genin teams. As he went through the missions he absently touched the scar that ran down his face. It reached from the top of the right side of his forehead and went all the way down to his jaw. He had gained that beauty when he fought against the Raikage in the Konoha-Kumo Skirmish.
When the Cloud shinobi tried to take the Hyuuga heir, they were swiftly detained and killed for diplomacy under false intentions. It was basically a law passed by the Nidaime to prevent a country from doing illegal things while performing "diplomacy". After Sarutobi had them killed the Raikage had demanded that he send him the head of the head of the Hyuuga clan; Hyuuga Hiashi. While Sarutobi would have loved to give the man what he wanted, he would not allow a transaction against one of his shinobi go unpunished. He sent the Raikage the heads of the so called "diplomats". The Raikage responded by launching a contingent into Hi no Kuni through their secret hillside base on the border.
Sarutobi would never forget that day. He launched an entire army of ninja with him leading them. A squad of ninja was four people. A group was four squads, so sixteen people. A battalion was four groups, so sixty four people. And finally, an Army was two hundred and fifty six ninja. Four Battalions under Sarutobi's Banner were marched all the way to Kumo's gates. When the ninja army arrived the Raikage was waiting for them with two armies flanking him on either side. Sarutobi tried once more for diplomacy and would give fair terms, but the Raikage's pride was injured in the week or so this skirmish had been going on. He told the Hokage that when the old man fought him on equal terms they would talk. That's when Sarutobi surprised everyone by taking off his ceremony robes and was geared up in full battle attire. What a battle that was…
Flashback no jutsu!
Sarutobi sighed as he gave the signal to halt the army. He looked at the armies by the Raikage and honestly wasn't worried. While they had quantity, Konoha had quality. For every one Konoha shinobi lost, Kumo would lose four or more. But Sarutobi didn't want more bloodshed. He braced himself and turned to his commander.
"Kakashi. Tell the Generals to form the armies up with ninjutsu users in the front, then Genjutsu users, finally taijutsu users ready to hop in when the nin and gen users are done. Have any seals ready before the battle starts and have the kenjutsu users mixed in with the rest."
"It will be done Hokage-Sama."
Kakashi sent three clones out while he went to handle the other battalion himself. Sarutobi turned from the armies and could feel the Raikage's Stare a thousand meters away. He motioned for the army to take a ready position and then he addressed the Raikage.
"Raikage-Dono! I come to your gates not for war, but for peace! You can stop the war that is about to happen if you just swallow your pride! Allow me into Kumo and we can negotiate!" Sarutobi swallowed hard and awaited a response.
The armies on both sides were nervously preparing for what they thought was going happen. Finally, the Raikage leapt from the walls and landed five hundred meters away from Sarutobi.
"Fool! You bring war to my gates and expect me to tuck my tail between my legs and admit that you are the better?! Never! It will be a cold day in hell before I "negotiate". I will negotiate when you can match me blow for blow on the battlefield. Until then, let our shinobi do the talking.
As if some weird Kami had taken control of him, Sarutobi reached to grasp the robes that he rarely took off, and flung them aside. Sarutobi was geared up in full battle attire and yelled to the Raikage.
"Then face me in battle boy! Do not presume that I gained the nickname, God amongst shinobi, for no reason! When I match you blow for blow and knock you on your ass, will you negotiate then?!"
The look the Raikage gave him, ah, that will stick with him until the day he died. Pure shock graced his face, then amazement, anger, confusion and finally ending on giddiness.
"I guess we will see who will be negotiating when this is over, wont we Hokage-Dono?"
And with that they both took off with shunshins. The amount of speed they were traveling at was insane! They were simply using taijutsu to get a feel for each other. Quickly separating from each other they both started throwing high level jutsu around. Sarutobi, using his impressive intellect, tried to use odd combinations of jutsu to throw the Raikage off balance and catch him off guard. The Raikage on the other hand, Simply used overwhelming Raiton jutsu to try and shock the Hokage to death. After they had fought for nearly twenty minutes, They separated from each other panting heavily.
The Raikage looked worse for wear and had a long gash going across his chest where Sarutobi's kunai had cut him. "Damn it old man…. You're better than I thought you were going to be."
The Hokage was breathing rather raggedly and was hunched over. "Does that mean you are willing to negotiate?" The Hokage hoped he would just give in.
The Raikage smirked. "Not likely. I still have one jutsu I haven't tried out yet." Putting his hand towards the ground he held three fingers out and started to pump Raiton chakra through his fingers.
Sarutobi grimaced. He knew what jutsu that was. It was his father's creation and was rumored to have died with him. Clearly that Intel was wrong. Shrugging off his weariness, Sarutobi grasped the kunai in his hand and rapidly used the Shunshin no jutsu.
He and the Raikage met in a brilliant display of high level fighting. When the smoke cleared the armies were surprised to see that the fight had ended in…a draw. The Raikage held his hand inches from Sarutobi's stomach. Sarutobi on the other hand, had the Raikage by his hair and a Kunai on his throat. Both armies looked on in shock and awe.
The Raikage's eyes were wide. He swallowed and his throat touched the kunai. As it did he tore away from the Hokage and slashed up with his fingers. Sarutobi slashed at the man's throat and was glad to hear a grunt of pain. That's also the point where all he saw in his right eye was red. Reaching up, he saw that his hand was covered in blood. Sarutobi was the only man who could fall with dignity. Kakashi caught him before he hit the ground. A medic ninja was there and attempted to heal the wound, but for some reason it wouldn't knit!
"The chakra prevents healing. That's going to be a nice battle scar. You win old man. I will give you what you want. You have my respect. Now get out of my country.
Flashback no jutsu Kai!
Sarutobi smirked. He had gotten fourteen new lightning jutsu, knowledge of their two Jinchuriki, how their Anbu system worked, and some structural information. Sarutobi was oddly surprised to see an alliance proposal on his desk almost two weeks later. The letter was an odd one as well.
Dear Hokage-Dono,
I appreciate strength above all else. I would like to form an alliance with you as this would increase both our nations' strength. I hope to spar with you again sometime.
Sincerely,
The Raikage, A
Not saying that the fight wasn't fun but it was life or death for him. Not just a spar. As such he really realized that he wouldn't live forever and should probably write a will. In his will he left most of his valuables to his son, Asuma. He went on to divvy up all his precious belongings to the clans of Konoha. Then he remembered that every Hokage gets to create an unalterable law in his will. Only the Shodaime had gotten around to writing a will and his law was that the Uchiha would forever have the land that they own now, and that they would be the only ones to run the Military Police. That hadn't changed. But as he thought about it he realized a way to save Naruto!
The law went like this; in the event of my inevitable death, one, Uzumaki Naruto is to be released from the forest of death and put into the ninja ranks in a team of Genin. This law is also to be put into effect if I am incapacitated in the hospital, have gone missing, or decide to become a missing ninja. As such, Naruto is to be given a house on the outskirts of Konoha and an allowance of twenty thousand ryo a month for six months.
Satisfied with his cleverness he stood up and looked out the window down at Konoha. He smiled to himself as he did. 'This isn't over yet. Not by a long shot.'
XXXXX October Tenth XXXXX
Naruto was nervous. No, nervous wasn't the right word. Shitting his pants! That's the right expression. He was just summoned from the Sarutobi mansion to go to the Forest of Death. He was already near training ground thirty eight. He had less than ten minutes until he was forced to live in the damn forest for the rest of his life. It wasn't fair. He didn't choose to have the Kyuubi sealed in him. So, just because the prejudice of six people he had to live the rest of his life in an evil forest. Joy.
Naruto arrived at the gates and was greeted by the same eleven people who were there when the sentence was made. He looked and saw that there was a split in the group. Five were standing on the left and six on the right, the supporters and the condemners. So they came to watch his march to hell. He would give them no satisfaction in seeing him scared. Steeling his nerves, he marched right up to the group and stood there waiting for judgment. He looked Danzo in his eye and saw that he was going to be the first one to speak.
Moving away from the other five people, Danzo took a position close enough to Naruto to be intimidating. "Uzumaki Naruto, you are hereby condemned to live in the forest of death until the day of your death." He motioned his head at the gates behind him."This is not to be your home. If someone could grab the boy be will go to where he will be inserted into the forest."
Sarutobi was confused but wanted to see what Danzo was planning. Grabbing Naruto he set off after Danzo and prayed this wasn't one of the man's twisted plots.
XXXXX
They arrived at the location a few hours later. What most people don't know is that the Forest of Death was not where the Chunin exams where held. No, that was just a nick name most people gave it because of its close proximity to the actual forest. The Forest of death was located behind training ground forty-four and was much, much larger. The fence stretched straight across going for well over five kilometers in each direction. Nobody had ever tried to map out the forest so no one knew how far back it actually went.
Sarutobi paled when he saw it. He had assumed that Danzo had meant the training ground! He had not prepared Naruto for the actual forest. Looking over he saw Danzo with a smug look on his face
Sarutobi was livid. 'You old bastard! You think you've won don't you? Wait until you read my will…' Smirking himself he knelt down and looked Naruto in the eye."Naruto this is it. You have to go into the forest now. Don't forget any of the lessons I have taught you. Be brave and in the end you will get out of this forest a much stronger individual. Promise me you will not give into its hate."
Naruto for all his credit did not shed a single tear and gave a nod. He then turned to the people standing behind him. "To the ones who did not decide to put me into the forest, thank you. To those who did, well, I hope I never get out of this forest or I may do something about it." Smiling, he turned from the people standing behind him and walked stoically into the Forest if death.
XXXXX
And that's Chapter 4! Again, I sincerely apologize for the obnoxious wait for this chapter. I will gladly take any (constructive) Criticism that you all have for me. I hope to update at least once a month if not more. Also, anyone that would like to give me a jutsu list(with Japanese and English names) it would be greatly appreciated as creating your own can be quite the pain in the ass.