I don't Own Naruto.
Bold is Supernatural speech.
Italics are Thoughts, flashbacks, all that.
A/N: This will be the last official chapter of this story, there will be an epilogue at some point, I may write it soon, I may wait a while, but the war will end here, and the beginning will be in it's chronologically proper spot.
-Chapter Twelve: The Battle: Part Two-
The second day of combat saw far more casualties than the previous day. Yamato had been assigned to fix the holes in the wall, his special affinity for manipulating nature made him the best person for the job. It took him a while, but he got the major ones, the parts that couldn't easily be guarded, the holes that would allow massive numbers through.
Currently, the man that was regarded now as the Hokage was meditating. He'd so much to think about, and not much time to do it. Four of his samurai had died in the battle today, one yesterday, all five of them were given burials on his grounds, Naruto had personally dug the graves, and while they were now only marked with wooden crosses, he had promised to give them proper markers when the fighting was over.
Sitting there in the room he'd designated for meditation, he had a vision.
A dragon was flying towards a fox, the fox was alone, the dragon appeared to be, but hiding in it's shadow was another dragon. The fox attacked, taking a nearly fatal wound, killing both dragons, but suffering for it. The fox then laid down, waiting for death to come.
Naruto's eyes opened, he stood up and walked outside. It was late, but not entirely too late, maybe two in the morning. He'd decided to walk a little.
Kakashi sat with Itachi, they hadn't had much of a chance to catch up since Itachi returned, he'd been with Naruto so much, and Kakashi in the ANBU.
"So have you resumed your position as captain?" Itachi asked, taking a drink of the tea that sat in front of him.
"Yeah, Yamato retired as captain a while ago, and they needed someone for the job. I decided that I might as well volunteer, I've already done it once, why not?" Kakashi had tea as well, but hadn't yet taken a drink.
"I never really liked the job."
"You were thirteen when you took the job."
"You weren't much older."
"But I was better prepared, I'd already seen a lot of combat by that time, so paper work and all that was no problem. I remember when you when you first applied for ANBU, no one really took you seriously, being only thirteen, you didn't look like much. You couldn't even use a sword when we decided to test you." Being eight years older than Itachi, Kakashi had been the standing captain when Itachi decided to apply for ANBU. The cyclopean man then retired to regular Jounin duties only two years later with a total of nine years of special operations duty under his belt.
"That wasn't totally true, I could use it, but not with any more finesse than a civilian." Itachi had truly been bad with a sword before he'd undergone the one and a half years of ANBU stealth and tactics training. When he came back he was a totally different person. He'd been the perfect ANBU agent. Itachi had come out of the ANBU training skilled in all common weapons of shinobi, well versed in almost all jutsu that he could do, he could cover his tracks so well that anyone trying to track him would fail to do so, if they even noticed that there were any tracks there in the first place.
Kakashi had seen that the teen was incredibly skilled, and as soon as he had proven himself, relinquished his position to the ninja. They had kept in contact for a while, that is until he was fifteen, the Uchiha massacre had taken place, and Uchiha Itachi left the village.
Kakashi was a different story entirely. He had been a natural with any edged object from the start. His prized sword the White Fang had been broken on his first mission as a Jounin, and he had it replaced with an ANBU issue blade, he had joined the special unit shortly after that mission, it was required at least five B-class or above missions as a Jounin before you were considered clear to apply. When Kakashi had joined, they had him in the training for only nine months rather than the entire eighteen. Finally when he had taken his mask, he teamed up with very few people, preferring solo missions. Minato had taken office while Kakashi was in training, and as such, the young ninja was surprised to see his teacher walking up to make the graduation speech. When Minato had fallen, Kakashi had been bitter for a while, but continued his duties to ANBU, some said that he did them better than before, others said that he seemed the same, and he was subject to many rumors over the course of his years in ANBU.
Naruto had settled on sitting atop the mountain which bore the faces of the former and current Hokage. He sat on the head of his late father, a place he'd spent a great deal of time up here when he was younger.
"What should I do?" He'd spent much time asking himself that question, and he still hadn't found the answer.
"I think you should take the job, you've been wanting it since we were kids, and I can tell you still want it now." Sakura's voice came from behind him. She came to sit next to him.
"Sakura, I promised him I'd never work as a ninja again."
"You won't be working as a ninja. Did the original Japanese Samurai that gave ninjas their missions act as ninja?"
"That's different." Naruto said. "They weren't living in a village surrounded by ninja who wanted them to be a leader against their master's wishes." Naruto looked at the woman sitting next to him.
"His wish was for you to uphold the samurai way, maybe you should bring that old style of leadership back." She took his hand in her own, kissing him. "I'm going back to the house, I'll see you there." she stood up and began to walk back home.
Naruto was once again left to his thoughts, contemplating once again the many things he had to contemplate. His mind began to wander to the vision that had come to him. The dragon that had another hidden in it's shadow. It obviously meant a hidden enemy, but where? Who was the first enemy, was this vision of a soon to come event, or of something long off? The fox, it's obviously me. Does this mean I'll be killed by whatever enemy the dragons represent? Naruto was not fond of the idea of dying, but he would face his death with dignity, not lay down like a wounded animal and let death take him quietly. So the death of the fox must mean something else, like maybe it will be a revision of character. Naruto sat wracking his brain for the answers. He decided that he should also go home, that the answers would come in time. He stood up, looking at the village below him. They really want me now. And for a moment, tears slid down his face.
When he arrived at his home, he'd found that Itachi was not home, and that many of his former students were gone as well. He shrugged and went to his bedroom, stopped outside the door, and favored the bathroom, the bath calling to him. He had himself a soak in the bath before bed, wishing that like the day's dirt and grime, his thoughts could be washed off like the sweat of fighting a war. Sure his thoughts had been temporarily pushed aside, but they were not solved. When he tied on his yukata to go to bed, he found that sleep came well to him that night.
Waking the next morning he prepared for battle. First he put on his white gi, then put his black one over it, then tied on his hakama. He put his boots on, the pleated pants fit into them. Next he went to meditate, clearing his mind for battle. Then he dawned his armor, that shining red armor that was still polished like the day he'd received it. His sword and tanto were tucked into his belt, he picked up his spear, and went out to meet his army.
He made his way through the streets, eerily empty streets, with the civilians in the shelters still, the population was not much smaller than before, but the streets were absolutely empty. When he arrived at the place where the army would meet before marching, he realized why. There before him was his entire army, all arranged in rank and file, ninja and samurai alike all stood, waiting for him.
"This is unexpected, but also good. I hope you all slept well, today we're going to annihilate the Uchiha's army!" Naruto held up his spear, causing the army to erupt in cheers. Smaller units were to be placed at strategic points through out the village, close enough to each other that they could assist each other, but far enough apart that they could defend the entire city. First, the scouts were to be sent out.
The scouts that had been sent out returned a short period later.
"Sir, the enemy army appears larger than before. We estimate another one thousand soldiers." Suddenly the vision made sense.
"Thank you." He turned around, facing his soldiers. "We seem to have hit a snag. We'll be fighting a force that is one thousand stronger than before. No matter, we still overpower the forces. It'll take at least a three to one ratio to destroy us all." Currently it was not far off, it was a two to one ratio, but Naruto was planning on doing what he'd done yesterday, and using some of the Nine Tails' chakra to assist him in the defense. He was standing at the gate, the one that the scouts returned from, this was the gate that the majority of the soldiers would come through.
Sasuke had now learned of Naruto's power, and as such, he was planning a careful assault. It would be difficult, since they were trying to siege a city that was prepared for it. He decided that invading the city would be hard, but above the city, on the mountain, the wall would likely be less guarded than below. He'd had a division of his troops, about five hundred of them make their way to that side. The remainder of the troops, about four thousand marched straight on, straight to the north end of the village.
Naruto saw the army from atop the wall, he turned around.
"Here they come!" He shouted down to the soldiers that were around him. He waited for them to be within fifty yards of the wall before having the ambush squad outside the wall to attack. They assaulted the army with fire jutsu as well as earth jutsu, the two that would disrupt the ranks the most. The initial assault killed only about fifty men, but the chaos caused by it allowed the archers, and the three dozen clones that Naruto made to fire on the army with explosive arrows. The archers fired as much as they could before the advancing enemy got too close to the wall, then turned on the rear of the ranks, killing off the rear soldiers was not to slow the numbers, but rather to dwindle them down.
When the enemy broke through the gate, the Konoha soldiers that were waiting for the enemies that would be at a bottleneck in entering began attacking them, felling the enemies as they made their entrance. Naruto left his clones to shoot, and dropped down with his spear in hand, landing right in the middle of the enemies, he began attacking them. Both the blade of the spear and the pointed butt cap felled enemies, crushing skulls, impaling a number of people, or just having the shaft smashed against their windpipe.
Naruto turned, his spear trailing him, and lashed out with a variation of the Tachi no Kasai. The massive wave of energy continued through enemies until it dissipated.
The Konoha forces watched as the samurai general made corpses out of dozens of the enemy. Those that had tried to gain entry from that way were slaughtered by the man. Those outside decided to try to make it to another gate.
Kakashi, and Itachi, along with a large detachment of the ANBU forces were posted at the Southern gate, as well as many other Jounin. During the Second Great Shinobi war, a group of ninja had gained access to the village by destroying a large section of this wall, and came storming down the mountain into the village. That was why Naruto had decided to have the two people he trusted most in the forces to guard that wall, because Sasuke knew of the breech, and as such, would try and use it to his advantage.
Hyuuga Neji saw the advancing enemies at the West gate, and the men he was leading were ready to fight them off. Rock Lee was standing, wearing a more traditional looking outfit of a green gi and black martial arts pants, his hair was being worn shorter, no longer did he wish to be a clone of his former teacher, instead he chose his own path, and as such was now a changed man. On his hands were plated gauntlets, the overlapping metal plates extended all the way to his elbows, they also came down over the knuckles, allowing his punches to be reinforced with studded metal plates. He'd chosen to accompany his friend in guarding the western gate.
Currently, about one third of the army had been charging this way, the rest that had not been killed by Naruto were headed east. Naruto had decided to follow the army east, leaving Arima and Sakura to guard that gate. As he headed that way, he asked the Nine tails for chakra, allowing the red shroud to veil him. The First thing he saw was the Konoha ninja already fighting, and they were outnumbered, Naruto increased his speed, and jumped the entire detachment of Konoha ninja. His spear pointed downward in front of him, he landed on an enemy ninja, the spear skewering the man, the spear had lodged itself firmly into the ground. Naruto, not caring to draw his swords in the tight space turned to hand to hand combat, his gauntlet smashing through a man's face. He took this opportunity to draw his sword.
The Konoha ninja took this opportunity to turn the tides. While all attention was turned on the man that seemed to fall from the sky enshrouded in red chakra, the Konoha ninja attacked, striking down dozens of the mercenary force. Naruto felt lighter suddenly, the parting of the enemies allowed him time to look down and see that his armor was no longer on him. There he stood in his usual dress, leather kote, and boots. The shroud of red chakra had also vanished, but he could feel the demon chakra still in his body, he had found his spear still in his hand, and now was brandishing his spear with literally frightening skill, felling enemy ninja left, right, up, down, and at various other angles. He faded in and out of the vision of ninja on both sides, disappearing just long enough for everyone to wonder where he'd strike next. Sasuke stepped into the clearing, he smirked, blood running off his dark blue armor
"So Dobe, it seems that you've got some skill. Unfortunately it was you I choose to kill." Sasuke drew his sword, challenging Naruto. Naruto stood from his battle stance, tossing the spear up and then jamming it's blade into the ground. He took his katana, The Uzumaki stood, ready for any attack, Sasuke vanished, coming down on Naruto who simply snatched the blade out of the air, breaking it in half between his fingers.
"Don't toy with me Sasuke. I've had enough of your mocking me, I could have killed you at anytime, but now I'm fed up, so take your death like a true ninja." Naruto threw his former teammate back with a blast of pure chakra, and then dashed forward, cutting the tendons of Sasuke's legs, while Sasuke tried to stand, Naruto went to where his spear was, plucked it from the ground, turned and threw it, spearing the Uchiha's head to the ground. He then pulled the spear out. "All you had to do was come home, and all of it could be avoided." Naruto turned to the crowd of scared ninja. "Any who don't wish to share a similar fate will turn and run." The Uzumaki said quietly as he wiped the blood from his spear on a nearby man's cloak. All enemy ninja turned tail and ran. Naruto looked at his remaining forces, all cheering, Haruno Sakura came from the numbers and ran to him, the years had been very kind to this beautiful Kunoichi. Naruto embraced her and held her, feeling the blood on her clothes.
"You've done it, you've defeated him. No more worries." Sakura said.
"I know, but remember that I can't become Hokage, my vow." Sakura looked up at him. Seeing the signs of the demon chakra in his face.
"You won't be coming back as a ninja, you'll be the samurai leader of a ninja army, just like you are now." Naruto then realized that he was indeed acting as a Hokage, he was right now, leading the ninja into battle as their leader. For the past few days, he'd been acting as Hokage, minus the paperwork.
"So I have. Fine, I'll take the position, I understand now." The last comment was made to himself.
"And by the way Naruto, Happy birthday." She placed a kiss on his lips. Naruto felt the demonic energy fade, as did his ability to stay conscious.
When he woke up, he realized that he was in the hospital.
"This is where it all started." He stood up, realizing that he was naked, he found his clothes. "I wonder where my armor disappeared off to?" He remembered that he was not wearing it when he had killed Sasuke.
Sakura walked in to see him finishing dressing. "Well, I see you're finally awake."
"How long has it been?"
"About a week. You literally had no chakra left, it was because of the fox that you're even alive, he sustained you until your chakra began returning. We got the village cleaned up, it seems that Kakashi and Itachi had their hands full while up at the southern entrance. It's a good thing you put them up there." She handed him his katana and wakizashi. "I've never realized how beautiful those swords are." The red handles, the golden colored blades, and the image of the nine tails on the hilt, they were truly masterpieces.
"No one will ever have a pair of swords like these." Naruto said, remembering the first time he'd laid eyes on them. "I suppose I've got some sort of duties as a Hokage now."
"No, your official inauguration into office isn't for a week. We've got to celebrate your birthday party."
"Ah, right, let me have some time to myself, I'll meet you back at the house."
"Alright, I'm on hospital duty right now, I'll be at the house in a few hours." He kissed her goodbye and then went to do what he'd needed.
At the stonemason's shop, he had requested the grave markers for his fallen men, and gave the address to have them delivered to. Many people, civilian and ninja, came up to him, bowed to him and thanked him. One time, a woman came to him.
"Lord Uzumaki, I have to apologize."
"What for friend?"
"My brother, Urashima attacked you a few years ago, I've come to apologize for him."
"Ma'am, he was doing what he believed to be the right thing. Have you made a marker for him here? He's buried in Yokusho where I killed him."
"We can't afford it, he was our main source of income, now it's just me, working at a shop." Naruto reached into his gi, removing a wad of bills.
"Here, buy him a nice grave marker."
"Thank you sir." She bowed low.
Naruto then proceeded to do what he had left to do. After that he returned to his house to find all of his friends and students had come to his mansion. Sakura had come to the front to greet him.
"Sakura, there's something I need to ask you." Her eyebrow raised when he said that.
"What is it Naruto?" He reached into his gi and produced a small box, getting down onto one knee, he spoke.
"Will you marry me?" A round of gasps went through the room as they laid eyes on the ring. A diamond was set in the middle of a platinum band, and on either side was a pair of pink topaz gemstones.
Sakura could feel her heart skip a beat, she went weak in the knees, using all of her strength to keep herself standing. "Sakura?" He saw the tears in her eyes.
"Yes. Yes I'll marry you." And the round of claps that followed was no real surprise.
"Looks like we'll be celebrating two things." Jiraiya made his presence known. The party was full of congratulations and shared drinks.
Finally it ended, many of his friends were passed out about his house, sleeping off alcohol.
-One Week Later-
Naruto was dressed in his best attire, which was a golden silk gi, and a pair of black hakama. It was his inauguration today, and he was somewhat nervous, because he'd decided today that he'd reveal the truth about his tenant. Many ninja were asking about the red chakra anyway.
Currently Tsunade was giving her resignation speech, and had shortly thereafter called Naruto up.
"You all know me, But what I'm about to tell you is something that only some of you know." He took a deep breath. "Twenty years ago, when my father, Namikaze Minato was the Hokage, the Kyuubi no Yoko attacked. Now the younger generation was told that my father killed the beast, but people who know about demons know it's impossible for a human to kill a demon of that caliber. No, that demon was sealed into my stomach, and I have been the prison for the Kyuubi for the past twenty years, and I will continue to be for the remainder of my life." The crowd was silent for a second, but then a shout from some person changed that.
"We don't care about that anymore!" And they all erupted in cheers. Naruto managed to silence them.
"I want all of you to know however, that I've not forgotten how I was treated. No, but I have forgiven all that mistreated me. Now, everyone wants me to be Hokage. Now, my dream has been recognized, and I'll put all of my effort into doing this job in the best way that I can. Thank you." Naruto bowed and stepped down from the podium to receive the hat and robe, which he was never going to wear, but it was a tradition that the two must be passed down. Naruto had finally accomplished his lifelong dream. He was the Rokudaime Hokage.
-Chapter Twelve: End-
Author's Note: And that's a wrap folks. I'll be writing an epilogue chapter some time down the road, but for now, I've got another story that's on it's way, and I still have two others that I'm going to be writing. I hope that you liked what I've written, I hope it doesn't seem rushed like the last chapter, because I took the time I could with it, The epilogue chapter will be considerably shorter, probably about a quarter of the length of this, it's got no real purpose, but I want to do it. Thanks for reading, I hope you have a look at the next story I post, and the other three I have.
