Let my heart be hardened...
All action stopped.
His sudden presence filled those that knew what they were doing with fear and those that didn't with wariness. He assessed everything and everyone around him in a split second and felt anger wash over him like a current. Now he had to question everything they did every time he left! What Hokage had time to worry about such things?
"You only have yourself to blame kit."
The blonde's nostrils flared, "This couldn't possibly be my fault! And they say I'm the one that can't be trusted, me! Ha!"
"This is the kind of price you pay for democracy. You let them see what they're asking for and they'll still think you're hiding something and if you don't let them in you're hiding something. They will never trust you."
Naruto paused for a moment. Maybe this was what he was avoiding this whole time, why he was so hesitant on really saying what he wanted to say or doing what he wanted to do. How funny would it be to think that after all this time he had earned their trust and respect only to figure out that they never gave it to him. Most likely he was being used in some way. But how?
"You are blind to some things kit, but not this. You knew," Kurama nearly snarled, "they've been planning to betray you since the beginning."
Someone in the outside world was talking to him. They sounded frantic, nearly scared but he couldn't be bothered to stop the conversation he was having with Kurama. Nowadays Naruto felt as if Kurama was the only one that was on his side anymore. Though, maybe that was a requirement considering they couldn't part from each other. Surely if that were possible even the fox would leave him too.
The fox didn't say anything to refute this. He knew his host's thoughts whenever he was allowed to hear them so he was fully aware of the blonde's dark trail of pity. It was no secret that Kurama was anything but on the side of stupid humans that placed themselves at the center of the universe. However if the option were left up to him and he could abandon this boy without losing nearly half of his power and therefore being a shell of his former self it would be hard for him to completely turn his back on him. Even without the power that he granted him when he asked for it, the fox could acknowledge the kit's power. He surely wasn't a pushover and was someone to be as feared as he already was. That power was completely his own and he made it so. He could truly respect that about the human host.
"It's time to dismantle the entire thing."
Luminescent orange orbs peered down at Naruto as he stood in the familiar pit of tar, "They won't go down so easily."
"They'll have to. I'll force them. I will achieve my goal with or without them and no one will stand in my way...not even you."
"I don't plan on doing that. Your affairs are your own. I will remind you however that the actions you are about to make now will have consequences."
The blonde's blue eyes closed as he turned his back on the kitsune, "Every decision has consequences."
His office was in front of him again only this time it was just himself and Kiba standing inside of it. He wondered for a moment where everyone went but he was too busy having a conversation with Kurama to notice they were all ordered by the Inuzuka to leave.
"I trusted you with Konoha while I was gone."
Anyone looking at the brown-haired male could visibly see the shame washing over him. It was in the way he shut his eyes away from Naruto and the way he slightly shuddered. It was in his clenched fists and tightened throat as well as in his shrinking posture. So many excuses wanted to roll off his tongue but he knew none of them would be good enough.
"I know now that entrusting anything to anyone here was a mistake," Naruto turned to face Kiba and noted the expression on his face, "I'm assuming Shikamaru betrayed me as well."
The very word betrayal made the Inuzuka's skin crawl, "I thought I would've been able to make him see sense but..."
"If you weren't able to convince him then no one would've been able to," Naruto sighed deeply, "well I guess since you're the only one left on my side I should make you the messenger to the masses."
A look of confusion flashed across said man's face, "What do you mean?"
A heavy wave of powerful chakra signatures made his eyes widen in surprise and he found himself suddenly surrounded. A rise of panic bubbled up his throat in the form of a wary scream. Nothing but red masks filled his vision and for a moment he was sure he would be killed right then and there. A quick analysis of the weakest person standing near him ensured that he would be defeated in less than a second if he tried anything.
"Don't be afraid. You've been loyal to me even now. Even when Ino stormed in here with all of her demented curiosity over the phantom you didn't allow yourself to fall prey into it as well."
Kiba's breath caught in his throat. How the hell did he know that?
"I have eyes everywhere," The blonde turned to an empty spot in his office and two more of the red-masked shinobi showed up, "you two will escort Inuzuka-san to the site where the phantom is being kept. You will inform everyone there of their demotion and if you are met with any opposition at all you will incapacitate that person and lock them up. I want more than half of their chakra drained and I want them put into a chakra binding cell. There shouldn't be a problem with space down there either. There's more than enough room."
A wide berth of space was suddenly made in the tight circle of red Anbu surrounding Kiba and he nearly lost his balance. Naruto couldn't be serious. This couldn't be happening. He knew there was chance this may happen some day, but it was a very, very small chance. Naruto was hailed as the strongest ninja of their generation and quite possibly throughout the entirety of the nations and he was beginning to turn against them.
He surmised that maybe they had brought this upon themselves. Maybe he could've supported Naruto more than he did originally and that would probably help things in the long run, but then he corrected his way of thinking. This was a long time coming. As their leader and Hokage, Naruto was suppose to be able to trust all of them and so far the ones he trusted enough to compose his board around did nothing but go against him in the end. It didn't help that Kiba was powerless to stop them as well.
The Inuzuka's body was shifted as he was seized by his arms and easily lifted a couple of inches off the ground and immediately his heart shot to his throat. The last thing he saw as he was carried out of the Hokage tower was Naruto's infamous cloak. It would probably be the last time he ever stepped foot in that place but he would always remember that particular image. He once considered the red material a passionate and striking symbolism for what Naruto had lost. Now it just reminded him of the red color most of their executioners wore.
Naruto didn't stay in his office for a moment longer and left shortly after Kiba was taken away. He just needed a couple of seconds to himself and knew just the place where he could find some semblance of peace.
The route he took to get to the burial ground was the same one he always took and it was as second nature as breathing. Anyone could ask him specifics about the landscape and he would know the answer and then some. He would even recognize the scent of the soft, healthy soil.
He knew the place like the back of his hand.
Every tree, every root, every leaf, every petal, and every rock. It was all so different now. He never wished for this place, his sanctuary, to be touched by the outside world surrounding it. That was the purpose of the trees encircling the entire area. Everything here was suppose to remind him of her when she was alive, but now it only served to remind him of her when she was destroyed and crumbled in his arms. When she was her ugliest. There was nothing beautiful in the way she died. Nothing. He refused to remember her that way and he refused to let this beast get away with what it had done. It had uprooted half the cherry blossoms that were in full bloom. All the petals were crushed into the ground and some were still stained with the blood of one of his subordinates. The surrounding flowers he allowed Ino to oversee and plant were upturned and obliterated, leaving nothing but smears of their colors behind.
This was such a beautiful place and it was taken from him too.
He walked towards the only thing left untouched and sank to his knees before it, placing his hands on the cool surface and resting his forehead against it. How long had it been since he cried for her like this? Weeks? Months? Years? How had he been able to do his job as Hokage without completely breaking down like he was right now? What changed inside of him? And would that change be something Sakura was proud of? Or would she turn away from him in pity and shame?
Tears fell past his chin and onto his clothes. He hardly noticed them due to their warmth comforting his cold flesh. The more of his emotions he poured out, the heavier his chest felt, until he could bear the weight no longer and eventually bowed his head down to the base of her tombstone. He felt sick. He never realized just how much pain he was in until he was forced to face it by having to see the damage left behind by that cursed phantom. He hadn't felt this much pain since Jiraiya's death except this time he felt like he actually might die from it. What would the rest of this village do if he were to have a heart attack right now, he wondered.
His broken sobs were silent for the most part but what wasn't was his inner screams of despair. It rattled the chains inside of him and shook the walls, almost forcing everything to come down. It was like a dam had broke inside of him and Kurama was forced to deal with the aftermath of it. The wailing moans echoing in the long corridors inside the chamber were a cacophony of agony which threatened his sensitive hearing. He knew quite well there would be nothing he would be able to say to subside the noise for his own benefit. No words of comfort and not even scolding would force the kit out of his reverie. He could only remove himself. The passage of time would be the only thing to heal a wound this deep. Humans were faulty that way.
As much as he despised the human race collectively, Kurama couldn't find it within himself to hold his human container to the same standard. He found it hard to dismiss the pain his host was feeling right now and was against discrediting the pure emotion the boy felt for that other human girl. The fox bowed his head in respect as the wails grew and sighed, his long ears dipping to touch his head. Maybe to any of the other tailed bijuu they would find this sort of noise beautiful; taking pleasure in any sort of pain their jinchuuriki partook in. In Kurama's case this was not something he enjoyed in the least.
Naruto stayed in the position he was in for hours and within those hours he wasn't bothered once. He wasn't going out of his way to hide his massive and intimidating chakra signature, thus his presence could be felt if nothing else. He surmised he had no one else to thank but his red army. He wasn't searching for them so they didn't make their positions known unless they knew he was looking for them. But now he was. His chakra was prodding the area with a refined precision that he could only learn from Sakura and like he predicted there they were. Ten of them bordered the area silently. No one would interrupt the moment he was allowing himself to have. Not even if his selfish tendency would get them killed. They would slaughter anyone that approached and that was definitely apparent in the way they oozed murder and evil intention. Not even a civilian would venture so far without getting a bad feeling and turning away. He favored his secret army, but favored his village more , and Sakura the most. If he needed to destroy them for the sake of his people, or the sake of Sakura's memory, he would make them all disappear and perhaps start over at a later time.
He also realized in the same breath and stream of thoughts that if Sakura ever wished it, Konoha would be destroyed too, and like his army he would rebuild that as well.
The Uchiha's voice was caught in his throat. He couldn't pull his eyes away from the sight. There had to be some sort of explanation for what he was seeing. A part of him wanted to activate his sharingan just to be sure there wasn't a genjutsu affecting what he was seeing, but something told him there was no foul play here.
Hinata was just as shocked as he, and judging by the way her eyebrows were furrowed, maybe even appalled.
They were silent for the longest time. Sasuke counted the minutes because that was all he could trust himself to do.
"This is impossible," she muttered, "this is...there must be an explanation."
Her opal eyes were darting around like a caged animal's would and his skin slightly crawled as he watched her steadily rising panic show on her face.
"This can't be happening."
He knew at some point he should take control of the situation and try to calm the heiress down but he was in a state of distress too. How the hell was this possible? The last he saw the wound, which couldn't have been more than several hours ago, it was nasty and gaping. Now it appeared to be in the late stages of healing when it should be nowhere near that. The Uchiha truly wondered if he was going crazy, if anything he saw in the last fifteen hours were true, if the whispers he heard in the small villages he would pass through were even true.
Unknown to him but very apparent to the Hyuuga heiress, he was shaking and blinking more than he needed to, his Sharingan flickering on and off in his distress. Her thoughts traveled from rational to irrational in short spasms of time and the only solution that came to her mind was a drastic one. Pale eyes darted around with hasty precision until she found what she was searching for lying plainly on the edge of the sink. How did she not notice it before? She would've cut herself by mistake already wouldn't she? Well, it matters not, it would serve its purpose soon enough, that sliver of glass that must've fallen from the cracked and dirty bathroom mirror. Her pale hand reached for it until she had it firmly grasped in her palm. The small pinch of pain she felt was expected but what wasn't was the fixation she had on the droplets of blood running down her arm. She couldn't look away. It was so red and dark.
Sasuke hadn't noticed anything that she was doing until he heard her whimper softly, the only other noise that was made in the last fifteen minutes of them both standing there. The sudden sight of blood and her hand holding the piece of glass that she somehow conjured from somewhere was enough to spur him into action. His hand shot out with strength and precision as he smacked the offending object out of her grasp, taking with it some of her skin. She cried out in pain and surprise but began to scramble for it on her hands and knees as it slid across the bathroom floor. He yanked her back by her neck and that's when she began to fight him, clawing and scratching at his face and arms. Some of her attacks he batted away with ease but some he missed and she would catch him good.
His annoyance grew and he grabbed her harshly by both arms and shook her, her long locks whipping her in the face as he did so, "Stop! STOP!"
She slouched towards his chest and rested all of her body weight on him. Without him holding her up she would fall. She hung her head and her hair shadowed her eyes. A part of him was revolted at her behavior but most of that feeling of disgust was focused on himself. The way he froze up at the sight of something he didn't understand was the same thing he did when he first saw the beast. He couldn't afford stunts like that anymore. It almost got him killed! He would've been dead had it not been for the Hyuuga woman shoving him away from his imminent death. It should've been him saving himself like he usually did. It was apparent that he had a lot of self-reflection to do and a lot of demons of his own to slay but instead of doing just that he found an even better solution. Getting mad.
He shoved her away from his person and watched as she collapsed to the floor and she cried out when her knees smashed against the porcelain.
"Are you some kind of idiot?" his words were condescending and venomous, "you were going to gouge what little piece of flesh that scar covers and then what? Then what?!"
Her long, dark hair pooled around her on the floor and her bangs still prevented her eyes from being seen. He noticed her jaw lock and her hands slowly turn into fists but still she remained as silent as ever. It infuriated him that she still had nothing to say even after all of this.
How could he be so naive? He allowed this woman to come into his life and manipulate his own allegiance out of him and solely to her. Now here she was so weak and pitiful before him when they both had so much to lose, their lives being the most important thing and she wanted to completely lose her mind. He wanted to hit her.
"You have no right to act this way! Not when you have so much riding on top of what you have to do!" he glanced at the barely there scar and he visibly paled, "you can worry about that later, after you make me Hokage."
She gritted her teeth, "This is all what it boils down to right?" She whirled on him like an angry torrent, "that seat of power! All you've ever wanted was power!"
Onyx eyes narrowed. What the hell was wrong with her? Shit was more or less hitting the fan and she wanted to point fingers at true motives and loyalty? Where the hell did she even get off?
"Are you crazy? I can't be the only sane one here! Focus!" He shouted at her.
A heavy pause filled between them. Hinata's heart was thrumming in her chest at an alarming rate and for a second she thought she would have a heart attack. Maybe the Uchiha was right. She needed to calm down and think about their next course of action instead of freaking out.
Watching the Hyuuga heiress begin to calm down gave the Uchiha grounds to bring his anger down a notch as well. Usually when his temper got out of his control he would black out and wake to find himself in the center of decimation that he was undoubtedly the cause of. Having that happen so close to the Leaf would dig him into a deeper pit that he already couldn't crawl out of.
Wanting to get his mind off of his own predicament, Sasuke decided at the last minute to placate Hinata the best way he knew how, "There's nothing for you to worry about if you don't really know what could happen in the first place. It could be totally harmless to your body." He said with a slimmer of confidence.
This didn't seem to please the heiress whatsoever, "You don't seem like the type of person who would be comforted by ignorance, Uchiha-san."
His lips straightened into a frown as her words sunk in. No he wasn't the type of person to be comfortable not knowing something, especially if it was something as important as his body, but there would be no point in freaking out over it if that didn't help him gain information.
"I'm not telling you to be content with whatever is going on with that mark," He ran a frustrated hand through his oily hair, "all I'm saying is that panicking now, when we could be found at any moment, is extremely unwise."
She didn't respond to what he said but mentally she was agreeing with what he was saying. If her mind could stop running in circles for a moment she would be able to figure out a plan in no time.
Sasuke, on the other hand, knew what they should do next. As much as it pained him to even think it, much less say it aloud, they needed to go back to the village as soon as they were able. Yes, Naruto was a tyrant in every way shape and form, but he made sure they were protected. Their chances of survival were much stronger under him than by themselves away from the village. If that thing decided to come after them again, Sasuke knew in his skin they would die horribly. He didn't care how much the Hyuuga woman despised Naruto. She could die like some animal without him.
"If you can stand and walk on your own be ready to leave." He told her while heading towards the exit of the room.
Hinata turned around to watch him go, confusion clearly written on her face, "Where are we going?"
"The Leaf." Sasuke told her, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Kakashi watched flickering from a small pit of fire as it danced in the biting chill of the desert. Pitched tents provided some shelter for what was left of Suna's elite and citizens but the lack of an abundant food source and water made the remaining trip back to the Leaf problematic. It took a while to get the remainder of Suna to be quiet once night fell but on the contrary once the sun rose again and they were roused out of their exhaustion it was back to the random outbursts and paranoia that sometimes rooted men and women to the very spot. The only way to move people like that was to either place them under a genjutsu (courtesy of Kakashi and his mangekyou) or find the least painful pressure point to hit and have them carried to the next resting spot. It was almost the same when it came time to coaxing them to sleep as well. All were plagued with nightmares and woke at the most unfortunate times screaming as if the beast had them in its jaws. Again, Kakashi's skills were needed most of the time and it sometimes left him ragged. Even an hour's worth of sleep was something that was a miracle to achieve for him.
It was tedious, it was hard, and often times it taxed on the veteran's patience but all he could think about was the haunted look in the young Kazekage's eyes and sympathize with him. He's lost people before, people he cherished more than anything, but to lose nearly an entire village while the rest was bereft of any kind of mental stability? Kakashi had no idea how Gaara was holding it all together. All he knew was that if he was ever put in the same kind of situation, he would want all the help he could get, he would need it.
It was his turn to take patrol for the next couple of hours and for once in his entire jounin life he wished the Inuzuka boy was still around and hadn't been left behind in Konoha. His impeccable smell would've been comforting to say the least. Having the stoic and brooding Hyuuga male constantly by his side was quite frankly annoying and he wished he had Naruto's presence there as a reprieve. It was a wonder that Neji was asleep now and not bothering him with his mere presence, it was the closest semblance of peace he was going to get which is why he practically leapt at the chance to patrol the perimeter in the first place.
Every couple of minutes or so, the jounin would wonder what exactly made the blonde turn as pale as he did when he got that note from the messenger bird. Surely if it were extreme he would've told him right? And could he really handle it by himself? He had more faith in his Hokage than anyone else did and figured whatever Naruto put his mind to he would end up accomplishing it- whatever it was. It didn't help that ever since the blonde left, Neji would always make a point to watch the silver-haired ninja like a hawk, as if the veteran would do something heinous whenever an opportunity arose. He was getting quite irritated to say the least.
"Hatake-san, I've come to relieve you of your duties. In three hours, it'll be time for everyone who's under genjutsu to be released from it."
Kakashi nodded his head in response to the Suna shinobi and slid down the hard rock he was once perched on top of and made his way back to camp. It was a bit of a walk but it was still within his field of vision so he wasn't worried about the boundaries. As he approached, he could see more Suna shinobi up and moving about, which half of them shouldn't have been. His eyebrows furrowed a bit in question as he observed them more and noticed how rigid all of their shoulders were and the stiffness in their body movement. They were all on edge for some reason.
Slow alarm started filling at the bottom of his stomach as he increased his pace and before he knew it, he was questioning the first Suna elite that he met.
"What's going on? Why are they up and moving about when they should be sleeping for their shifts?"
Off to the side, Kakashi noticed Neji climbing out of his assigned tent at the sound of movement and feeling of tension.
"I can-I can't explain it...it's like...it's like we all feel the same thing. I-I asked them."
Confused, Kakashi opened his mouth to question what he meant before a terrified shriek made him jump.
"IT'S COMING! I FEEL HIM! HE'S COMING! HE'S COME FOR THE REST OF US!"
Two more men started shouting out relatively the same thing and Kakashi wasted no time in trying to figure out whether he believed them or not. The fear in their eyes was incentive enough to yank the civilians out of the genjutsu he put them in hours ago.
Neji continued to shout his questions but the harsh look in Kakashi's eyes made the man shut up.
"Well then what the hell should we do?! They're making a lot of noise and we're sitting ducks out in the open liike-"
The Hyuuga was cut off as the sudden uprooting of a nearby tent made him swivel around sharply, Byakugan already activated. Kakashi noticed the tears in the tent and spurred chakra to his feet to reach the terrified civilians huddling underneath. His eyes widened and he shut them quickly as blood begin to spray and guttural screams erupted from their throats. He opened them again and grimaced at the carnage in front of him. They were torn apart in a matter of seconds.
"Oh my- what the hell is it?"
Kakashi ignored the Hyuuga's stunned question as his eyes narrowed at the nearly invisible monster seeming to shift and morph to match the landscape around it. His sharingan caught its dark colored fur as it went in and out of camouflage as it did so at a speed too high for those without a doujutsu to see. He saw talons and the hind legs of a wolf's and the hungry gleam of luminescent yellow eyes. It towered over all of them at maybe nine feet and perhaps about as wide as an overgrown neanderthal. It was something out of horror book, a monster brought to life.
The beast.
Blood seeped from its long jaws and snout and half of its face turned towards Kakashi's direction. Peering at him with an uncanny interest. The jounin could do nothing as he looked up at the monster, ensnared in his predatory gaze. It seemed to assess him as its eyes trailed up and down his body and Kakashi could do nothing but swallow thickly as it did so. His eyes widened as he heard the beast grunt and look towards a Suna civilian that was on the ground tearing their hair out amidst their panic. Kakashi opened his mouth to scream but the beast was upon them before the noise could rip its way out of his throat. The sound of crunching bone and gurgling made Kakashi turn his back on the scene and immediately begin doing handsigns.
"Kamui!"
A rip in time and space opened up in front of him and the gates of Konoha appeared on the other side. It wasn't very large and the more he struggled to keep it open the smaller it became. Neji's eyes widened as he turned to look back at the silver-haired jounin whose eyes were leaking blood.
"You can't be serious."
Kakashi grunted in strain as he glared at the Hyuuga, "Direct who you can through the portal and save who you can. We're running out of time."
"Are you insane?! You'll die out here! There won't be enough time to get yourself through as well!"
"FOR FUCK'S SAKE HYUUGA DO AS I SAY!"
Neji gritted his teeth and seemed ready to resist but thought better of it, opting to curse and begin throwing people through the tear instead, regardless if he handled them too roughly. He counted at least twenty civilians he pulled through and eight shinobi before the tear disappeared behind all of them and he was met with the soft breeze of Fire country.
A/N: College has officially kicked my ass but here I stand! I apologize for this ungodly wait you guys. I hope you can forgive me