Naruto: Rise of the Titans: Deathstroke in Konoha

Chapter 7: Caught

Raven gazed out at the shining village with awe.

It was larger than she had expected it to be, and she found it difficult how she had not been able to see it up on the tree tops, which gave way to a realisation as to why they called it the village hidden in the leaves. She doubted few would be able to find it, unless it was by accident, or they knew where it was already.

The settlement stretched out before her like a jewel in the forest, the sunlight shining down upon the stone roofs, illuminating them as though they were mirrors, a thousand bustling voices reached her ears as the sounds of the Konoha market reached her.

Suddenly gasping, she realised she had been holding her breath at the sight. Konoha was beautiful.

"We have to remain silent" Naruto's voice said beside her. "We don't want them to know either of you are here, if they do they-" His speech was cut off and Raven heard strange sounds. She glanced over at Naruto who was still carrying Jinx in his arms; Jinx was struggling in Naruto's grasp, trying to kiss him.

The tree exploded.

*

Naruto felt it needful to inform Raven and Jinx of the necessity of silence, but as he was explaining their current situation and the dangers of being caught, jinx cut him off with unexpected struggling against him. She has begun trying to draw her face closer to his, no doubt to kiss him. Panicking he began to push her away, while still trying to keep hold of her so she wouldn't fall out of the tree, such a fall would surely cause great harm.

At the corner of his eye, he saw Raven see them, his blood might have gone cold at the look on her face, if it had had time too. But before any such reaction could occur, the tree was torn apart beneath his feet, a loud snapping sound boomed around him and the tree was splintered into pieces, effectively exploding. The fell down and hit the ground hard, Naruto knocking his head slightly, dropping Jinx in the process.

"Ouch." He said in a dazed voice. He opened one eye and glanced around…they were surrounded. Naruto cursed in his head, Konoha village people were notorious for such incidents, when discretion was needed, and something went wrong, they were there faster than was comprehendible, gossiping and staring. But if at any time they needed to have the attention on them, they were often ignored.

The villages stared at them, their faces full of wonder. Naruto looked for familiar faces but found only a few here and there, one seemed to be his favourite Ramen vendor, though why he wasn't at his stall Naruto couldn't guess.

*

Raven felt groggy, having hit the ground pretty hard, lately it had become increasingly difficult to control her emotions, she was almost considering asking Naruto not to touch her, so she could return to her normal state, she instantly regretted the thought as she realised that not being able to touch him would more than she could handle.

She opened her eyes and looked at the ground beneath her, her hands clenching dirt, a few golden leaves trodden into the soil. Even the earth here was somewhat beautiful. Most, when looking at Raven, saw a creature of darkness, that knew no beauty, but few realised that although she was of darkness, she admired the light of beauty. She loved the brush strokes on old paintings, they told not only the story of the painting, but that of the painter instead. Emotions, thoughts, interpretations, all within the lines of the brush, and such simple things as a golden leaf, like those before her, seamed beautiful in the life they once held, and the beauty they still hold in death. The monks of Azurath had taught her of art, of how when something is created, a part of the creator is always within his creation. It held meaning to her, as she herself was able to move her own soul to create forms, even seemingly alive forms with concentration. When she moves an object, she always feels a part of it. She smiled at this.

Reaching out with her mind, the leaf before her held a dark glow around its edges, it floated up and she sat back, gazing at it for a moment.

Suddenly the lack of noise caught her attention, it was too quiet. She looked up and saw a crowd of more than a hundred individuals, all gazing at her, their expressions fearful.

She let go of her hold on the leaf, and let it float back to the ground. Raven was speechless, she didn't know what to do or say.

Suddenly, before her a man fell from the sky, she had no idea how he had done this feat, as the only access would have been the tree that was currently in shards and splinters behind her. She could tell he was male by the posture of his body, but his figure itself was covered by a large cloak, and his face was hidden by a white mask, representing something of a feline shape, with odd red markings upon its surface.

Four others dropped down to surround her, Naruto and Jinx. Naruto approached her on his knees, leaning over to her ear.

"These are the Anbu, their strong and ruthless; don't give them a reason to hurt you." His voice was strained, as though he was worried for her sake, perhaps these Anbu really were strong enough to be a threat.

The Anbu before her inclined his head towards Naruto and Jinx, his mask shifted back to hers, seemingly observing her, analysing her for some unforeseen future acknowledgment.

"Who you does not matter, what you are here for does not matter, what does matter is that you are not from this village. You have demonstrated chakra ability. You are to remain here until Hokage Tsunade comes to inspect and interrogate you." At once he vanished, moving too fast for Raven to see. She heard a gasp behind her that no doubt came from Jinx.

Naruto looked at her with sympathy, grasping her hand tightly. Her cloak shifted to a soft white colour, earning gasping remarks from the crowd.

……………………………………

They did not have to wait long before the Anbu returned with Hokage Tsunade.

Naruto watched her approach, expecting her to look at him and smile, or to show some form of acknowledgment. She did not. She gazed at Raven intently, her eyes hiding none of her resolve.

"Who are you? Which village do you come from? Amegakure? Hoshigakure? Takumi? Speak!" She demanded her voice authoritive. Naruto was shocked at the demanding and seemingly angry voice.

He clenched Raven's hand tightly, knowing that she was speechless.

*

For the first time in a long time, Raven felt an emotion which she had almost forgotten. She was afraid. This women before her was formidable, while her figure was lithe, she could sense a form of strength within her. Suddenly remembering her own strength she felt foolish with herself, this women was strong, but she was no match for her. She cursed her emotions and how their presence overwhelmed her when she was in contact with Naruto, but she was grateful for the contact. She couldn't trust that it was only due to being in control that she had felt the fear, fear could still grip her without being in contact with Naruto, and she did not want to cause any more damage to the surrounding area.

Straightening herself and putting on a face that she hoped was one of determination and a little defiance.

"My name is Rachel Roth." She said boldly. Naruto looked at her with shock, very rarely did she ever refer to herself as her real name, but she thought it would not bode well if she exclaimed the name of a scavenger bird as her name.

The women before her scowled in detestment and scepticism. "Unlikely, I know of no land in which such names exist. And I know of many lands."

*

Naruto saw this wasn't going well, he realised they should have taken precautions against this, they should have revised fake identities and gathered new clothing, instead they had come here blind and unprepared. He thought himself a fool for such stupid mistakes.

Wanting to correct his errors, he stood up, pulling Raven to her feet. "She is with me Tsunade. I brought her here from a distant land, I wanted to show her the sights and-"

"Don't lie to me Naruto Uzumaki!" She snapped, interrupting him.

"But-"

Tsunade turned to him, stepping forward, he let go of Raven's hand, hearing her catch her breath as her powers once again needed controlling and her clothing turned back to their dark blue. Naruto backed away as Tsunade approached heavily.

"You come into my village after you are absent for almost long enough to be known as a missing-nin, leaving Konoha at risk of possible weakness in your absence, you bring these girls from an unknown land into Konoha, threatening our ways, sneaking around, arguing, causing fights, destruction of property and the land, and all without my approval!" Her voice was strong and authoritive, making him shake a little at the respect she inspired. She had certainly been a good choice for Hokage, she was intimidating. But she was not the Tsunade he had grown to know, there was no softness to her, no recognition in her eyes of the friendship they had once had. It was as though her role of Hokage had stolen everything that could be seen as a possible weakness, leaving only a respectable, and authoritive power with a voice of reason. He didn't know this woman.

"What's happened Tsunade, we used to be friends." Naruto pleaded, confused and somewhat afraid.

Tsunade seemed to soften, and a semblance of the women he had known before was visible in her eyes, she turned away.

"Friends don't break my laws, friends don't lie, friends don't endanger the village-" She paused, turning her back on him, inclining her slightly to the side she spoke again. "Friends stick around."

It was suddenly very obvious to Naruto; she was upset that he had left. He had no delusions about her feelings for him, they were nothing more than friends, but it seemed, that although they had never been amazingly close in his eyes, she had thought differently of him, she may even have thought of him as one of her closest friends. He realised how much he must have hurt her.

"Tsunade…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave-" He began.

"But you did Naruto, you did." She said softly, turning to face him. "In your absence we were attacked many times. You have saved this village often in the past, many of us grew to respect and rely on you for that, perhaps we shouldn't have, perhaps we should have tried ourselves, but the enemies were growing stronger, things were getting harder, and few of us were strong enough to help, you were one of them. You don't even realise how much you were valued by us, Naruto. And you left us. Perhaps next time you leave and return, there wont be a Konoha waiting for you, I hope that plays on your conscious somewhat, it certainly plays on mine." She turned her back began walking away, leaving Naruto speechless.

They respected him? Valued him? He had never realised. It seemed that while he was here, he may have been caught up too much in childish antics to realise their feelings for him, and how people had changed in their treatment of him.

Tsunade's voice broke through his thoughts.

"Naruto, you are banished for six months for endangering Konoha through the unlawful introduction of outsiders." Naruto stood, shocked and breathless. "In that time you are not to return under any circumstances unless ordered to by me. You are to take these girls with you, they will never be welcome in this village, should they return without my approval, they will be treated as invaders and taken care of appropriately." Tsunade's voice was dark and foreboding. Naruto found himself gulping from a dry throat.

"Go." Her words were final. He knew better than to argue.

Naruto walked forward and took Raven by the hand; he motioned for Jinx to follow, together the three of them re-entered the forest.

Author's notes: hey people. I am sooo sorry for how long it has been since an update. I could tell you all the technical problems, there were a lot. But honestly, once they were all out of the way, it had been so long since writing a chapter that it was tiresome and I couldn't be bothered. Thankfully, some Naruto episodes and teen titans episodes has rejuvenated my vigour…mostly. ^-^ I hope to update this more and I'm sure you'll enjoy the next chapter. Love you all!

Aerkoni + DarkUzumaki