Tale of the Setting Sun

Chapter 37: "Burial"

This feeling...what was this feeling, coursing through him? His thoughts, usually so sharp and focused, felt like they were in a jumble. One thought led to another, before falling short, and then scrambling to another, before repeating, like waves on a shore.

When he opened his mouth, however, what somehow came out was, "No…I won't leave you behind." Lightning began to course seamlessly through Naruto's body, his hair standing on end.

Hinata looked taken aback, her pale eyes widening with surprise. "Are...you sure?"

"Don't worry. You won't be electrocuted." To prove his point, Naruto encased his hands in a top layer of wind chakra.

"No, it's not that. Won't I slow you down?"

"We're surrounded by enemy ninja here. I can't leave you behind." Somehow, his mouth was moving automatically, forming the words he needed. "If it makes you feel any better, you're a medic-nin. If the village is in any danger, we'll need every medic we have."

A beat passed, as Hinata considered it—and then she nodded. Her features tightening with purpose, she unfurled a scroll. In a flash of smoke, the undercover agent's corpse and its accompanying bodily fluids disappeared, leaving behind no evidence that anything had ever been there.

She was an excellent ninja, Naruto thought. And loyal. She was willing to compromise her own safety in exchange for the village's protection.

It was strange to think that he had once been like her.

"Naruto? Are you ready?"

Refocusing himself, Naruto summoned two shadow clones. He didn't need to give any commands; with a nod at their originator, they simultaneously formed a tiger seal with their hands before flickering away. Their job would be to gather natural energy for him; the journey back to the Hidden Leaf would be taxing, and he needed every resource he could get.

Turning back to Hinata, Naruto extended his wind chakra to the rest of his arms and his chest: "This is going to be a little uncomfortable, but hang on tight."

In a forest cave not too far from the Hidden Leaf, a group of Sound-nin chittered in the darkness. By some stint of their village's ninjutsu, their voices traveled no further than the entrance to the cave, assuring that their relentless advance towards their goal remained undetected.

"Man. I'm itching for some action already."

"It won't be long now. Just a few more hours…"

"Those Leaf bastards won't know what hit them."

Brave words—but Tobi could smell the stink of fear coming off of them. While the Hidden Leaf was not as formidable as the Hidden Cloud, you couldn't expect to partake in an invasion against one of the great hidden villages and walk away unscatched.

"What're you snickering about?" It seemed one of them had noticed Tobi sitting alone in the corner.

"Snickering? What gave you that impression?" With an unflattering yelp, Tobi hunched over. "I think that fish I had earlier was bad... My stomach hurts… Bleargh..."

Hurriedly, the others backed away and returned to their mutterings.

Dropping back down to the ground, Tobi leaned his masked face against his fist, and regarded the silhouettes spread out in the cave. It was very likely that not a single one of them would survive the coming battle.

Fear not, he thought.

Their sacrifices would not be meaningless.

The sun had just broken across the horizon when they crossed into Fire country. The increasingly familiar scenery around them passed in a blur as Naruto blitzed through the trees, pale lightning crackling in his wake.

The journey so far hadn't been as draining as Naruto had feared. Hinata was lighter than she looked, feeling nearly weightless in his arms—or perhaps he was just that distracted.

All of a sudden, without warning, a dark shadow tumbled down from the sky.

Flailing limbs, the rustle of a cloak—it was the body of a dead man, and right as it passed Naruto, he saw its dark eyes, staring accusingly back at him.

A jolt running down his spine, Naruto almost skidded to a stop—but he kept going. And then one by one, more appeared: Ghostly figures in ragged cloaks, falling down from the sky around him like leaves in the wind.

It was nonsensical; it wasn't real. However, while it almost felt like the times when Amakurō had played an illusionary trick on him, he knew that it wasn't a genjutsu. No, it was a memory, distorted, drawn up from the recesses of his mind.

He hadn't thought of them in a very long time—his first kills.

It had happened on his first mission involving bodyguard duty. He and his team had been escorting a silk merchant's caravan to Yugakure when bandits had attacked. Naruto had ended up killing all of them, even the one that had begged for his life.

At the time, he had thought that was the only way to carry out his mission. He had steeled his heart and committed himself to his cause. And yet, following that, when the missing-nin Hidan had attacked Yugakure, he had thrown himself in front of a civilian boy during the middle of the fight. Naruto hadn't been able to explain it at the time, other than feeling a need to save the boy.

As they fell, the ghostly bandits looked at him, their necks gleaming red and their dark eyes searing into his back as he swiftly passed them.

Was it the same impulsive need driving Naruto right now? Despite everything that had happened since then—the people he had encountered, the training and journeys he had undergone—had nothing about him changed at all?

The throng of bodies milling about the stadium was a security detail's nightmare.

As civilians and senior shinobi alike crowded through the gates, any attempt to herd the masses in an orderly fashion had long since dissipated. Rather, any effort to exert control would have been superfluous, for numerous members of the Leaf's elite were scattered throughout the audience, their presence revealed not so subtly by their painted masks. After the village's prolonged hiatus from acting as host for the chūnin exams, it was a blatant show of power; an audacious greeting to quash any possible thoughts of betrayal from their so-called allies.

The participating nations' Kage overlooked the stage from the lofty apex of the stands, their shadowy figures distinguished only by the color of their hats. After an outwardly pleasant exchange of small-talk, the three had fallen silent; no doubt, the real discussions would have to wait until they were behind closed doors.

The third exam was about to begin.

In one of the tunnels connecting the stadium to the outside, two shinobi walked side by side in seemingly companionable conversation. The hitai-ate on their persons signified their allegiance to the Hidden Rain; their privacy was secured by the watchful presence of two others from their village.

...What?

Ajisai couldn't believe her ears.

The jōnin was still talking, but while his lips continued to move, Ajisai couldn't comprehend a single syllable. She couldn't have heard him correctly—and yet there was no other way to interpret his words.

"After the chūnin exams are over, Haku is to be given over to the Hidden Sound."

The jōnin had already moved onto another topic, namely that of the next set of orders from the Lady Angel. It was unfathomable for Ajisai to even dream of interrupting, when she clung onto every mention of their savior, and yet, this—this, she could not let pass.

"Wait, I'm sorry," she broke in. "What do you mean he's to be 'given over?'"

The jōnin eyed her darkly, clearly irritated at being cut off. "What're you even talking about?"

She stopped, her heart beginning to sink. "Haku! What do you mean 'give him over to the Hidden Sound?' What about that seal on him I mentioned in the report?"

"Oh, him. Yes, we're aware of it. We've made a deal with the Hidden Sound to give him to them in exchange for their cooperation." The jōnin paused, taking in her expression. "He's not even from our village, you know."

"This-this is coming from Tenshi-sama?" Ajisai sputtered.

The jōnin raised an eyebrow. "Are you questioning her word?"

Ajisai shrunk back, her mind spinning at the thought of such blasphemy. "Of course not. Never. I just..."

"Be grateful you were even given the honor of being a part of this plan. Now, do you understand your next orders?"

"I...yes. Yes, sir."

"Do not fail us. The Lady's salvation is almost at hand."

And with that last warning, the jōnin left, disappearing with the other two Ame-nin.

Her heart thudding in her chest, Ajisai looked out at the audience still streaming into the stadium. Somewhere below the stadium, she knew that Haku was waiting for his upcoming fight. The seal shouldn't have been affecting him physically, and yet, he had been barely able to get out of the hospital bed that morning.

"Oh, Suiren," Ajisai quietly called out her fallen teammate's name.

How could she have let things turn out this way? As team leader, she had utterly failed.

The sun climbed higher in the sky as they drew closer to the Hidden Leaf, and Naruto could feel the burn of chakra exhaustion inching upon him.

Though the ghostly bandits had faded with the distance, as the sun's rays trickled down through the canopy, Naruto saw three new figures regarding him. They, too, were drawn from his memories, and they spoke words they had never said aloud to him.

"You actually thought I considered you one of my shinobi?" said the Hokage, his lined features twisting amusedly. "You fool. I was simply using you."

Jiraiya shook his head irritably. "You're nothing at all like your father. Are you really his son?"

"They should've given me my new team to start with," said Kakashi, looking away.

Swallowing, Naruto picked up his speed, and with a crackling sound, burst through the jeering phantoms. As he did so, his whole body felt cold, and yet, he could feel a bead of sweat trickle down his brow.

This was no time for this, he thought to himself. The village was going to be attacked. He needed to regain control over himself.

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of blue —

Wings outstretched, a bird flitted by.

The quarterfinals flew by in a series of increasing mismatches, as the foreign ninja overwhelmed their Leaf opponents with ease. Gradually, the riotous crowd—predominantly made up of Leaf shinobi and civilians—that had started the day quieted down to a disappointed buzz. The last quarterfinal bracket was a match between the female Suna genin, Temari, and the Leaf's final chance at redemption: Yamanaka Ino.

This is going to be unfortunate, Sakura thought to herself with no small amount of glee.

True to expectation, it appeared Temari had been paying attention during the preliminaries. As soon as the match began, she kept her distance, remaining constantly in motion while distracting Ino with her wind jutsu.

"C'mon, cousin!" Menma shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth to magnify his already loud voice. "Beat that crusty Sand bitch!"

"Menma!" Sakura hissed, dragging his hands away.

Shrugging her off, Menma scowled. "What's the big deal? Everyone else is doing it."

"Would you jump off a cliff if everyone else was doing it?"

"Well, it wouldn't be my first time," he stubbornly maintained.

A loud groan sounded from the audience around them. The two returned their attentions to the stage, only to see Ino's prone figure lying facedown. Temari landed on the ground and folded up her giant fan.

The proctor, Shikamaru, raised a hand. "The winner is Temari from the Hidden Sand!"

There were two shadows leaping beside Naruto. He knew he shouldn't have paid any attention to them; he should have gone straight past them. But despite himself, he turned to look at their faces, and at the familiar sight, he felt a lump rising in the back of his throat.

"I always knew you were a monster," whispered the girl, fearfully.

"You're not real," Naruto replied instantly, his heart thundering in his chest.

"It's not fair," the boy spat, his scarred features twisting in disgust. "You don't care about anyone besides yourself. So why are you the one who survived?"

"You're not really Naruto," said the girl, her voice growing louder. "The real Naruto disappeared a long time ago. You're just an empty vessel trying to pass as a human when really you're the Nine-tails—"

"That's not true!"

"Naruto?" came a voice from below. "Are you okay?"

At the sound, the two shadowy figures faded away, and Naruto shook his head in a daze. When he had stopped, he saw a pair of concerned, pale eyes gazing up at him.

He wondered if she could feel his pounding heartbeat.

"We're almost there," he said quietly.

Footsteps echoed in the dark tunnel where Gaara had been waiting his turn. He opened his eyes and saw his sister's face, pale and drawn.

"Remember, Gaara… At the signal."

Uncrossing his arms, he straightened up, and without a word, he brushed past his sister.

As soon as Gaara had crossed into the open, sunlight struck his face, harsh and unforgiving, momentarily blinding him. Then, as the white spots faded from his vision, he found himself standing across from a girl with hair that burned like fire in the daylight.

"Moving on to the semifinals will be Karin from the Hidden Grass versus Gaara from the Hidden Sand!" cried the proctor. He fixed Gaara with a sharp look, before snapping his hand up into the air. "Begin!"

The girl didn't waste any time, bursting into action with a quick series of hand seals that sent her plunging bodily into the ground. The audience began to murmur uneasily, no doubt waiting for Gaara to retaliate.

He didn't move from his position; though he couldn't track her as well as he could have in the desert, there was no attack his sand couldn't protect him from. All he had to do was wait, and his prey would come to him on its own.

Sure enough, before long, the ground at Gaara's feet suddenly exploded—a paper bomb planted below him, perhaps. It made no difference, as the sand that immediately rose up around him as a shield absorbed the heat of the sudden explosion. His arms still crossed across his chest, Gaara moved only the pupils of his eyes as he looked around for the girl.

However, it seemed she had not revealed herself with the attack, choosing to bide her time underground. A wise decision, staying out of sight; he wasn't interested in fighting her. And if it had been anyone else besides him, perhaps it would have extended her life for just a few extra minutes.

But time was of the essence, and it was running out—both for her and for himself.

Mother is growing restless.

Gaara watched as his chakra-infused sand began to trickle back to his gourd. The smell of old blood wafted into his face, and his nostrils flared. From the corner of his eye, he caught a sudden burst of movement from the audience. And then a dark shadow unfolded itself over Gaara: Temari stood on the rim of the stadium, her giant fan raised into the sky and blocking the sun.

It was the signal they'd agreed upon. Without hesitation, Gaara formed the ram seal.

"Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu (Feigning Sleep Technique)!"

For the first time in a long while, the sweet and terrifying bliss of sleep descended forcefully upon him. He could feel Mother roaring in delight, rising out of him. His eyes fluttered shut, and his last fleeting thought was a question:

When he awoke—if he awoke—would the world have come to an end?

Deep underground, the moment Gaara fell asleep, Karin sensed the shift in chakra, though she hadn't yet realized its ramifications. For a split second, the overbearing feral and bloodthirsty chakra seemed to recede, and Karin sensed the chakra lying underneath.

It was cold, it was furious. But it was also tired and lonely, and in a way, it reminded her of Naruto's chakra.

Then, it exploded.

Pure, unadulterated hatred and wrath—words couldn't describe the churning mammoth of chakra exploding above the ground. Immediately, Karin opened her eyes, but she could still feel the chakra. Her limbs went cold, and tears streamed down her cheeks. The sheer malevolence was so overwhelming, she found herself frozen—but the earth around her shook with a rumble, and Karin knew that if she didn't move, she would be buried alive.

Give me strength, she prayed to the stars.

Making a snake seal with her hands, Karin burrowed as far back as she could, molding apart the earth with her chakra, before shooting aboveground. When she emerged, she found herself just outside of the stadium, and what met her was chaos.

The first thing she noticed was the giant monster with seal markings all over its body crouched inside the stadium. It had a horrifically jagged maw and there was a strange roaring sound coming from it—and Karin realized, her stomach flip-flopping, that it was laughing.

It had a single tail which came crashing down with an explosive sound, tearing through half of the entire stadium. A cloud of thick dust swept through the air, and giant slabs of shattered rock crashed into the ground. With that single sound, the world became unmuted, and Karin realized people were screaming. The civilians who had survived were struggling to escape the stadium, but there were ninja—foreign ninja—suddenly descending upon the chaos, and they slaughtered anyone in their paths.

The Leaf-nin, after an initial scramble to overcome their shock, seemed to have rallied together. They must have somehow been prepared for the possibility of such an onslaught; as Karin watched, several masked ANBU ripped through a mixed gang of Suna and Ame-nin, body parts and blood splattering the broken concrete.

"Karin!"

To her horror, a bloody figure was dragging himself to her. His stomach had been cut open, and he was struggling to contain his slippery guts from spilling out. While it was difficult to make out his features through the blood and dirt coating his face, the body could only belong to one person: Burami, her teammate.

"Karin! Your arm!" he howled, tears and mucus streaming down his face. "Heal me!" Desperately, he reached out for her.

Automatically, Karin started to offer her arm—and then she stopped.

Why?

Why did she need to heal him, when Zōsui wasn't here? When nobody was watching her? When she hated him?

She took a step back, her heart pounding so hard she thought it would burst in her chest.

"No," Karin said, relishing the taste of the word in her mouth.

The freed One-tails beast roared, and enemy ninja rained down from the sky, landing in their village. The ground shook with every step the beast took, and a wall of purple flames flickered on the rooftop, isolating the Hokage and Kazekage.

Before Jiraiya could cry out a warning, one of the ANBU threw themselves at the wall, and let out a scream as they immediately burst into flames.

It was a near impenetrable barrier jutsu, erected into place by four Sound shinobi. And that could only mean one thing: Visible through the wall of flames, before the Kazekage even dug his fingers into his face to rip it away, Jiraiya already knew.

"Orochimaru," he said soberly, looking into the waxen face of his old teammate.

After all these years, it seemed he had finally returned to the Hidden Leaf, to kill their teacher and destroy the village as he had once promised.

Jiraiya had known this day would come, and still, he felt his heart ache. It was his fault he had let it come to this. He hadn't been able to bring himself to hunt Orochimaru down and kill him, as he should have.

Raising his hands, he prepared himself to break through the barrier, even if it cost him his life—when suddenly, a hulking figure landed with a crash beside him.

It was the bodyguard that had been accompanying the fake Kazekage; before Jiraiya's eyes, he burst apart in an array of flying limbs, and he realized it had been a puppet. There was someone else hidden within, controlling its every movement. He was dark and hunched over, and wore the black robes of what Jiraiya now immediately recognized as a sign of his affiliation with the criminal organization Akatsuki.

"Your opponent is me," growled the man.

Plumes of smoke rose in the distance, clouding the sky. There could only be one explanation, and it was what the Hokage had foreseen and yet failed to prevent: An attack on the Hidden Leaf.

"There are enemies straight ahead!" said Hinata, veins bulging around her Byakugan. "Naruto—let me down!"

"I'll take care of this," he replied. "You head on to the village."

With a nod, Hinata leaped down from his arms, disappearing through the canopy into the forest.

The enemies weren't far ahead, and didn't bother trying to hide their presences. Soon, three unfamiliar ninja blocked Naruto's path: Two men, one woman. Sound-nin, by the looks of their attire and hitai-ate.

"We were told to be on the lookout for you," said one of the men, a tall, smirking ninja with spiky black hair.

The second, a female with long hair, added, "You'll have to get past us if you want to enter the village."

Despite the chaos that must have been waiting for him ahead, Naruto felt oddly distant. Everything that could have gone wrong was going wrong, but he felt cold and unreachable.

The two ninja advanced upon him, their confidence in their own abilities bolstered by their superior numbers.

Naruto felt his eyes glazing over. Running wind chakra down his tantō, he dropped his body low to the ground, and disappeared.

When he reappeared behind them, the pair collapsed in two identical spurts of blood.

Since the day he had first killed, Naruto had taken many lives without a second thought. He'd told himself it was because it was easier that way; that it was the only way to live as a ninja. But now, his head was filled with thoughts about what he had just done, and he knew: These two who he had just slain, they must have had missions of their own, team members they wanted to protect, ambitions they'd longed to achieve.

He had taken all that away in a single instant, and the more he thought about it, the more Naruto realized that he felt absolutely nothing.

He really only did care about himself. Everything he had ever done had been for himself. He had only wanted to be acknowledged by his village so that they would look at him. He had only wanted to protect his teammates so that he wouldn't be alone.

They had all been right about him.

The third member of the cell, a man with a bandaged face, looked stunned. He must've realized that there was nothing he could do, for he was frozen. His gaze inched up until they met Naruto's—and in a flash, the man fled.

Maybe even just a few hours ago, Naruto would have finished the job. Now, however, he didn't bother to pursue him. Instead, he directed his gaze back to the village. An inhuman roar came from beyond its walls, and he knew that the tailed beast within the Hidden Sand's jinchūriki must have been released.

How many villages had linked hands to launch this siege against the Hidden Leaf? An attack on this scale was unprecedented. Despite all their intel and preparations for an attack, how many casualties must there already be? Would there still be a village left standing after all this?

…Did it matter?

"We endure."

Naruto had spent the last few years trying to figure out the meaning of these words, and somewhere along the way, he may have come to terms with it. But he realized now, it wasn't that he had nothing to endure for. It was that he had no reason to endure.

There was a hole inside of Naruto. He had tried to fill himself up with his training, his missions, even the people he'd cared about—but no matter what he put in, he knew he would never be able to fill it up.

His whole body had become ice cold. He raised a foot to step forward—and then, he lowered it back down.

Why was he rushing to return to the village? What did the Hidden Leaf's fate mean to him?

Another distant roar echoed from beyond the village gates. Black smoke filled the sky, a pyre's smoke preceding a burial.

Slowly, the sound of his heartbeat slowing in his ears, Naruto began to turn away.

And then, in that instant, he felt the familiar sensation of memories flooding his mind—the memories of the clone he had left behind in the village before he'd set out on his escort mission.

The door to his apartment opened with a creak, revealing a masked ninja.

"Hm? Naruto?" Kakashi seemed surprised to see him. "Why are you still here? Weren't you sent out on a mission?" A pause. "Oh, you're a clone, aren't you?"

"You'd think you'd have learned by now," said Naruto's clone. "What're you sneaking into my apartment for again?"

With a flourish, Kakashi pulled a book out from his breast pocket. "I'm just here to return this. I'm done with the read. Has Jiraiya-sama told you when the next will be coming out?"

"Why don't you ask the man yourself?"

Muttering something about not wanting to interrupt such a busy and important person, Kakashi thrust the book into Naruto's hands. Before he left, he asked, "Assuming Naruto doesn't come back in time, will you be coming to watch the third exam?"

"Yes—I'll be in the audience."

"Alright. I'll see you then. I've got a training session to..."

Kakashi's voice faded away, replaced by another memory that followed a well-trodden path past a training ground.

A lone figure stood in front of the Memorial Stone, his face awash with the light from the setting sun. To the clone's surprise, it was Menma, dressed in civilian clothes. He held a white carnation in his hand, and kneeling, he carefully laid it to rest in front of the stone.

"So you're the one who's been leaving these," said Naruto's clone.

Menma jumped at the sound of his voice, and his face coloring, he nodded. "My aunt runs a flower shop, so it's no trouble for me." He paused. "I heard about your promotion to jōnin. Congratulations—you deserve it."

In a splash of color, Menma's uncharacteristically embarrassed face faded into black, and then Naruto found himself in a stadium full of chattering people.

Ignoring the looks from the others in the audience, Naruto's clone seated himself on a bleacher. He would have been content to have been left alone, but soon, a large shadow fell over him. He looked up to see a tired-looking Jiraiya heave himself into the seat beside him.

"Where have you been?" the clone asked.

"I've been keeping busy," Jiraiya grunted, clearly not in the mood to talk. "What about you— you're a clone, right? Where's Naruto?"

"On a mission."

Jiraiya seemed surprised. "I'd thought Sarutobi-sensei was going to put that off until after the exams… Well, let's enjoy the show, shall we?"

His surroundings froze—and in a jarring shift, Jiraiya disappeared, and the stadium was in shambles.

Screams. Chaos.

It was pandemonium, and for a moment, Naruto's clone dumbly watched the tailed beast roaring into the sky.

Was that how monstrous he had appeared when he lost control over the Nine-tails?

"Protect the lords!" shouted an ANBU commander. His agents, who had burst into action from their scattered posts, leaped to his bidding.

In a flash, Kakashi appeared in front of him. "Sakura, Menma! Get the civilians away from here! Sasuke and Naruto—with me! If we want to stop that tailed beast, our best bet is going to be to wake up that jinchūriki!"

Sound-nin had appeared over the village walls, and were now flooding into the arena. Nearby, an Ame-nin was exchanging blows with a Leaf-nin, and a Suna-nin charged towards Naruto's clone.

Sidestepping the enemy ninja, Naruto's clone killed him with a slash of his tantō, before returning his attention to the unfolding battles around him.

The hidden villages of the Sound, the Rain, and the Sand—they were all betraying the Hidden Leaf? What about the Grass and Rock villages?

"Kakashi-sensei—" started the clone.

He stopped.

A kunai gleamed in front of Kakashi's neck. The jōnin's eyes widened in shock; there was a ninja behind him, wearing a swirling orange mask. Where had he come from?

"I'll be taking this back," said the masked ninja, pulling up Kakashi's hitai-ate—and then in a single motion, he ripped the jōnin's left eye out.

Kakashi let out an anguished cry as blood streamed down the side of his face.

Shoving the jōnin away, the masked ninja turned towards Naruto's clone. "Now...is this the jinchūriki, or is this one of those infamous shadow clones?" He raised another kunai. "Only one way to find out."

The tailed beast roared, thrashing its tail and shattering another section of the stadium.

Down on the shaking ground, his face contorted in pain, Kakashi gritted out, "Naruto...run."

Naruto's clone raised his tantō to defend himself—but in the blink of an eye, the masked ninja disappeared, and before he could react, he could feel the cold certainty of steel bite into his neck —

Naruto opened his eyes.

For a moment, he didn't move. He stood stock still, breathing.

Inhale. Exhale.

You're empty, remember? he reminded himself.

Lightning sparked.

Blood was rushing to his head; his face felt hot. Naruto felt the earth below him crack as his heels dug into the ground.

And then, he was moving. Faster than he had ever moved before, he raced towards the smoking village.

The jumble of confused thoughts had all faded away. Naruto moved now at the bidding of a single thought, a single purpose:

Kakashi-sensei.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and feedback! Even if I don't respond personally (though I try to), every review is fuel for my motivation to keep writing.

As for KH3…. Well, I'm still in Toy Box...

Thanks to blueandgold for beta-ing.