Autumn was something bittersweet to Hiruzen.
It certainly is beautiful, he thought, as he clambered up the side of the mountainside.
It was a small dirt path he was walking, flanked on both sides by trees dancing in the wind. Golden and auburn leaves fluttered and rustled as they glided through the warm breeze. Somewhere a toad croaked amongst the soft chorus of crickets chirping. With a breath of warm air through his nose, he could taste the soft, sweet aroma of hot pastries wafting from the lights down below. The village glowed orange from the setting sun.
Hiruzen smiled.
Nights like these reminded the Hokage there was more to life than sitting behind his desk and signing paperwork. There was an entire world out there—one that was bigger than him. Bigger than Konohagakure, and even Hi no Kuni.
So then, why was it that, every tenth of October, his heart grew so heavy that he could barely breathe?
The old man trudged ahead, scanning the cliffside in the distance. Even with his failing eyesight, he could make out the four distinct carvings of all the Hokage in the rock: Hashirama-Sensei, Tobirama-Sensei, Hiruzen, and Minato.
Minato, I'm sorry.
For a while, the old man walked in silence, relishing in the breeze running through him. Slowly, the splotches of orange on the dirt road faded. The sky melted into twilight, drawing a soft violet from the corners of heaven. Eventually, even that drowned away into a palette of dark blue and black, leaving nothing but the sea of stars twinkling above. Once, perhaps long ago, Hiruzen would have found himself speechless at the expanse of the universe laid bare for his mortal eyes—in fact, he distinctly remembered a familiar moment he'd shared with his dear Biwako just before she'd passed four years ago on this very day.
But now, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fill the hollow emptiness in his heart.
The Hokage was an old man—that much was clear to see. He'd lived through every Shinobi World War thus far, and continued to painfully relive them every night. He'd watched his comrades, friends, and family die; he had even been on the giving side of that cycle. Perhaps it would have made sense if he was callous to the tragedy that was death. Except he wasn't. Every time, it was as if a piece of his heart tore off and disappeared into a blackening void—almost to the point where he sometimes wondered whether he still had any being in his soul to care. He hated the bitterness of violence in his mouth and had hated it from his very first taste. But he couldn't do anything. All he could have done was pray and hope for a world of peace. A world free of suffering and hurt.
A world without pain.
Hiruzen was called the "God of Shinobi," yet he deep down was weak. He had always been too weak, and because of that, everyone he had ever loved had died, were dying, or were going to die.
He hoped soon it would be his turn.
Quite morbid thoughts, Hiruzen chuckled to himself. If Biwako could see him now, she would tease him for being so broody, just like his old friend Danzo.
The Hokage breathed a sigh through his nose, shaking the thoughts from his head when he saw the soft flickering glow of yellow in the woods. Squinting his eyes, he could make out the hazy silhouette of a pitched tent strung onto one of the low-hanging branches, while the air was heavy with a strong smell of fish roasting on a fire. As Hiruzen approached the campsite with a lumbering gait, he was careful to make as much noise as he possibly could—after all, he wouldn't want to scare the inhabitant, would he? And so the leaves and twigs crunching and snapping under his feet were like blaring alarms, and the old man even started to hum one of Asuma's favorite lullabies when he was a child.
"Old Man Hokage, is that you?" a voice called, before a spiky head of blond hair poked out from the folds of the tent. Even though the firelight cast long shadows on the boy's face, Hiruzen was sure he could make out widened eyes and quivering lips.
"It is me, Naruto," Hiruzen said with a chuckle. "You're not scared, are you?"
The two stared at each other for a long moment, the air filled with nothing but the crackling of the nearby fire.
Then Naruto threw his arms up in exasperation, "When you come trampling in making all that noise, how can I not be scared! There are wild animals out here, dattebayo!"
Hiruzen just laughed, ruffling Naruto's hair with his hand.
"What's so funny? I thought you're the strongest shinobi ever. Shinobi are supposed to be quiet!"
"Oh, is that so? How will you ever become a shinobi, then?" Hiruzen said, playfully raising an eye.
"Hey!"
Ignoring the boy's comments on how he was the best at hide-and-seek, the old man crossed over to the burning campfire. The flames crackled and burned high, climbing up the pyramid of sticks to lap at the roasting fish hanging above. Against his bare skin, and even through his cloak, Hiruzen felt the heat of the fire. He breathed in the acrid smoke.
A smile crossed Hiruzen's lips at the thought that a child had been able to pitch a tent and set up a fire on his own. While no big feat on its own, the fact that the boy was only four and had never left the village before certainly put some weight behind that accomplishment. The old man wondered whether perhaps it was some of Naruto's father's genius beginning to shine.
Hiruzen sat at one of the logs around the fire, and Naruto took the seat beside him. For a moment, they sat in silence against the sizzle and crack of the fire. The air grew stifling hot.
Eventually, the boy spoke up.
"So... I'm in trouble?" Naruto said with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh yes, young man, big trouble," Hiruzen said.
Naruto's face visibly paled.
"Or as the youngsters would say, big doo-doo."
This managed to draw a small laugh out of the little child, which Hiruzen couldn't help but smile at.
"Eww, they don't say that!" Naruto managed through his giggles.
"Hmm, they don't? I must be getting old."
"Yeah! You're ancient!"
The two laughed, filling the night sky with a sound that, admittedly, none of them had heard for quite some time.
Hiruzen finally sighed and said, "I'll let this go just once, Naruto. But don't do this again, okay?"
The young boy nodded.
For a moment, they didn't say anything, until Hiruzen reached into the folds of his cloak and produced the gift he'd been waiting all day to give to the child. It was something he knew Naruto had been wanting for a while now, but the villagers being as paranoid as they were would have rather thrown them away than sell them to the boy. Fortunately, being the Hokage had its perks.
In the firelight, the man outstretched his arm, revealing a pair of goggles hanging from his rugged hands.
"Happy birthday, Naruto."
A pair of cracked goggles hung from the boy's neck, the lenses smeared with red streaks. His eyes burned like blood and from his mouth bared piercing fangs. The pure chakra around Naruto tore into the raging wind, scorching the air sharp acid as it thundered around him. The night melted away in a glow of hot orange.
But to Hiruzen, the world was just a blur of colors behind his tearing eyes.
"Naruto..." the old man croaked under his breath, but his words faltered, fading away like embers from a fire.
He clenched his fists. There was no room for any softness—that was his mistake before. He wouldn't be making it again.
"Barrier!" the Hokage roared, his voice erupting from his chest. At his command, four Anbu flanking the sides of the street spread out into a rectangle formation. The shinobi raised their arms in front of them, each pressing their palms together.
"Ninja Art: Four Flames Formation!" they yelled in unison. Immediately, from each of their hands, blinding lights of pink shot outwards towards the other shinobi in the formation, so that each Anbu was a corner-piece in a pink rectangle. The ground trembled. The air between the shinobi grew dark purple, until they were connected by towering walls shimmering translucent.
To the untrained eye, it would have been a strange sight to behold—a massive shimmering box of purple resting in the center of their village. To the jonin, it was a barrier that would have burned anyone with just a single touch, demon or not. While that meant the people outside were safe from the kyuubi as long as the walls were up, it also meant the Hokage was trapped inside with it. The old man wasn't taking any chances tonight. If the demon did manage to fully take over Naruto or to escape its seal, Kami knew they were going to need that barrier. If it really came down to it, only one of them would be leaving tonight.
And that fact nearly sent the old man's stomach leaping out of his mouth.
Hiruzen watched through slits as Naruto bellowed at him, then lowered onto all fours, readying himself to charge. The air around him blistered and blazed, scorching from the intensity of the demon's chakra; it burned like a fire and his body was the kindling, hot red tongues evaporating into the night. Dirt swept into the air. The earth beneath him tremored, before shattering in a violent explosion, sending long fissures spiderwebbing across the ground.
So we meet again, kyuubi.
The boy disappeared in a blast of rising dust. The dirt beneath him became a cracked crater. Suddenly, a blur of red shot through the air towards the old man.
Hiruzen wasted no time.
"Earth Release: Mud Wall!" the Hokage shouted through a series of handsigns. A hot warmth began to fill his body, his chakra pulsing throughout his veins. He slammed his palms into the ground. The ground trembled and cracked before a wall of earth shot upwards between him and Naruto.
This will stop him. I just need to send my chakra—
Before he could finish the thought, the wall exploded in a shower of rock and dust. The Hokage caught a blur of red in the corner of his eye. He stepped aside, narrowly dodging the hurtling claws, close enough that he could feel the heat of the kyuubi's scalding chakra against his cheek as Naruto soared by. The boy rammed his nails into the dirt, leaving a track of smoldering claw marks as he skidded across the road.
Spinning to face the boy, Hiruzen found his hand subconsciously moving upwards to his cheek, which was still warm from Naruto's chakra. Surely if a missing hit could produce that much heat, the Hokage didn't want to even imagine how it would have felt if the boy had actually managed to land a blow on him. Or worse—lock him in a slogging brawl. That would definitely not go over well.
So, Taijutsu was definitely not a favorable method of attack, and Hiruzen wasn't entirely sure any Genjutsu would have worked on the kyuubi—at least not his Genjutsu. That left Ninjutsu. It was certainly the most viable option, and one the Hokage was very well acquainted with. Even still, the old man could feel a heavy chain pulling on him from just the thought of firing a massive fireball at the boy.
He knew what he needed to do, but he didn't know if he had the strength to do it.
Naruto rushed forward in a blast of heat, the ground quaking beneath him. Without another thought, Hiruzen wove the signs for earth Jutsu. Immediately, the dirt around him exploded into a storm of dust.
"Earth Style: Earth Bombardment!"
With the flick of a finger, massive chunks of rock tore themselves from the ground and hurtled toward the boy. Whistling through the frigid air, a wall of stone slammed into Naruto's gut. He let out an exasperated gust of breath. His feet slid backward. Then another chunk slammed into his face, whipping the boy's neck sideways. The hail of earth bombarded him, pummeling his body until he was sent spinning up towards the sky.
Twisting, the boy flipped mid-air, landing on all fours. His eyes seethed. His breath burned. But the old man didn't give him a chance, rapidly flying through another set of handsigns.
"Water Style: Water Chains!"
Streams of water shot out from the ground, wrapping around the boy's wrists and ankles like tendrils. As soon as they touched him, the water began to sizzle and boil from the heat of the kyuubi's chakra. The air burned with hot steam. Hiruzen grit his teeth, instantly feeling the link between him and the jutsu falter, until it completely evaporated. The water fizzled, spilling to the ground in a puddle.
In the blink of an eye, Naruto tore through the dividing space. Instinctively, Hiruzen forced the chakra to his arms as a barrier against the scorching air. Naruto hurtled his fist forwards. The old man swept the attack aside, slamming his own hand into the boy's stomach.
The two continued to clash, Hiruzen covering his body with his own chakra, while Naruto wildly thrashed at the older man. With each blow, the ground shook, and each jutsu sent the night flashing in multitudes of blinding colors. The air burned acid, searing the old man's throat with every breath.
And that was what the problem was. It wasn't as if Naruto was too fast or strong. Hiruzen could have even said he was comfortably outmaneuvering the boy. No, the problem was the kyuubi's chakra cloak, which seemingly poisoned the air around it, burning anything or anyone that got too close. And any jutsu the Hokage threw at him did nothing but slow him down.
At least, any non-lethal jutsu.
The truth was—and he himself knew it—he was scared. He was terrified that once everything was over, he would find out that he had not been the demon fox, but instead had just been beating up the boy. And so, perhaps even consciously, he had put up a barrier of his own dividing the jutsu he could and couldn't use against Naruto.
This, for a brief moment, sent a memory flashing through Hiruzen's mind.
"When are you going to teach me some cool jutsu, Old Man?"
He didn't know why out of all times, now was the moment he was reminiscing. It had been a random memory, back to the night when Naruto had run away because of the villagers' incessant berating of him. Regardless, it had been a time the old man was quite fond of—one that he wasn't sure he could ever go back to.
Hiruzen was thrown back into reality when he saw a flash of orange, and a sudden pain slammed into his gut. The scorching air shredded his skin. The old man was ripped backward, tumbling against the dirt.
With a breath, the Hokage flipped onto his feet just in time to duck under a wild swing. Hiruzen twisted, sweeping the boy's legs from beneath him. He collapsed in a cloud of burning dust.
Hiruzen leaped backward, attempting to create distance between him and the kyuubi. In the corner of his eye, he managed to catch Naruto stumbling to his feet. The old man fired another water jutsu at the boy, who managed to dodge sideways. But the Hokage had anticipated this. Without a moment to spare, he rained a barrage of wind bullets at Naruto. The jutsu slammed into the boy, sending him spiraling upwards.
The Hokage didn't let up, leaping in the air towards Naruto. With a twist, Hiruzen flipped, ramming his heel into the boy's chest. Gravity tore Naruto downwards, slamming his back against the frozen dirt. A cloud of snow plumed upwards, quickly evaporating into steam.
Hiruzen clasped his hands together, channeling a hot wave of chakra from his body into the ground. At his will, the earth cracked and splintered, ripping the dirt beneath him upwards into the sky, away from Naruto's reach.
The boy clawed the air, roaring at Hiruzen through fangs. Yet, despite his ferocity, Naruto dropped to a knee, his chest rapidly rising and falling. From afar, the old man watched a small bead of blood trickle down the side of Naruto's face, and he couldn't help but feel his stomach twist.
But he couldn't stop now. Somehow the boy had lasted this long, but now he was finally hurting. It was this next jutsu that was going to be the one that would put Naruto out. Hiruzen was certain of it.
The Hokage tore out several other massive chunks of stone, sending them into orbit around himself. Cold sweat beaded his forehead, and in the winter wind, he felt both as if he was burning and freezing all at once.
Hiruzen began to hurtle the boulders at the boy, blotting out the pale moonlight with raining earth. The rocks whistled through the air, and as they approached, Naruto leaped upwards atop one of the chunks. Then he jumped to the closest one, and the next, and continued to do so. For a moment, Hiruzen wondered why, until he realized Naruto was using his projectiles as platforms to reach him.
It wasn't that much of a problem, Hiruzen reckoned. All he needed to do was to force Naruto back on the ground.
Kneading some chakra in his gut, the Hokage weaved the signs for a fire jutsu—one that had been particularly famous for its usage within a very renowned clan.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Hiruzen shouted, blasting a massive stream of blazing chakra downwards toward the boy. Everything it touched, the fire consumed in a raging ball of red and orange, quickly filling the man's vision white. The stench of hot sulfur singed his nose. He could feel the intense heat singing his skin, and for a moment, he wondered if he had perhaps gone a little too far.
Until, from of the chaos, shot out a fist, smashing against Hiruzen's face. The punch jarred his skull, cracking throughout his jaw and the rest of his head. White stars flooded his vision. A ringing filled his ears. He felt the soft flutter of wind against his clothes, followed by a twisting lurch in his stomach. Then the world came barreling into view—quite literally. Hiruzen slammed face-first into the earth. Again, his vision flashed, and for a moment, everything began to swarm and swirl in strange patterns around him.
But even worse, from the pulsing tightness and the agonizing burn, he knew his foot was no good. He'd sprained several joints in his long lifetime, enough that he could say with certainty his ankle was sprained. Perhaps even broken.
It took him a moment, but after a while of clutching his head in his hands, the spinning settled, and while the faint ringing continued in his right ear, most of his hearing returned. Hiruzen wheezed, stumbling to his knees. Around him sat piles of cracked stone and dirt, littering the village street with his unused projectiles. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find the boy.
That was until he heard the noise of something shuffling in his good ear. Hiruzen turned to find Naruto, covered in soot and dust, rising to his feet.
The boy was not much better off than he was. Blood trickled down the boy's forehead, soaking his jacket crimson. His legs wobbled under his weight. The kyuubi cloak was gone, revealing his skin, which was burned raw, exposing the bare red and pink underneath. He was hunched over, his arms hanging limp at his side. The boy stared at him, one eye swollen shut, and the other barely open enough to show the slightest hint of blue.
He was nearing his end. Naruto was broken and battered, barely able to stand. He was probably walking on the last leg of energy he had left, and yet, the demon still pushed him forward.
"Why..." Hiruzen whispered, his voice raspy in his throat.
Usually, the Hokage was level-headed, unwavering in his convictions. So to him, it was as if his body was moving on his own when he shut his eyes and slammed his fist against the frozen dirt. Then did it over and over again, until red ran down his knuckles.
But when he looked at his hand, he couldn't tell whether it was even his or Naruto's blood—Naruto, the seven-year-old boy, who in his entire life had longed for nothing more than a family. Now that boy was a near-dead walking vessel for the kyuubi.
A heavy storm thundered in his chest, and he wanted to get it out. So he screamed aloud, to everyone and to no one in particular, until his voice faltered and cracked. But the rage remained.
The kyuubi.
Hiruzen pummeled the ground.
Danzo.
He imagined the man's face on the dirt. He battered it his right fist. Then with his left. They had grown up together. Suffered together. Fought together. For as long as he could remember, Hiruzen had seen Danzo as a friend, one of his only links to his distant past. And yet, was it that the Hokage was nothing but a mere nuisance to Danzo?
Hiruzen had tried so hard to forgive the man for everything he had done. He'd forgiven him after the wars, after the Uchiha Massacre. Hell, he'd even excused him for trying to assassinate him, for Kami's sake! But now, after tonight? After having to slam and drag Naruto's face across the ground, Danzo's name left a sour taste in his mouth. It was a taste he could only wash out with blood.
But his rage for his old friend was nothing compared to who he saw next.
Hiruzen imagined his own face.
And he knew, that this man was truly the one who was at fault. He was the one who had allowed all of this to ever happen in the first place. Hiruzen had even said it himself earlier that night.
Yet, I am the one with the power to act upon it.
Then why could he never save the ones he loved?
He rammed his fists into the ground until he couldn't feel his hands anymore. He poured out the pent-up frustration he had been harboring for years, the flames burning lower and lower until they were smoldering embers in the wind. Eventually he was numb.
He wanted to cry—an actual cry with more than just the tears. But the truth was, he didn't remember how, and he couldn't even remember when the last time he had actually done so. He hadn't when Hashirama-Sensei or Tobirama-Sensei had died, and not even on that night had he managed to.
And so the man let his anger fall on bloodied soil, as the lumbering silhouette of Naruto shambled forward.
Part of him wanted to let Naruto kill him, to finally put the old man's soul to rest. Truthfully, it was more than just a part of him wanting that. It was his entire being that screamed for him to just lie down and die. But he knew if he died, Danzo would become the Hokage. Then the village would suffer much more. Naruto would suffer much more.
Because of this, Hiruzen ducked under Naruto's outstretched arms and shoved him away. The boy tumbled backward, collapsing into the snow.
For a moment, the boy lay still, his back against the ground, before he began to softly shake. Hiruzen furrowed his eyes, his muscles instinctively tensing.
Then he heard it. It began low and soft, almost drowned out against the howling wind. At first, Hiruzen thought he was imagining things, which wouldn't have been so crazy, either, judging by the pounding of his head and the ringing in his ear. But there was certainly no way he was mistaken.
The kyuubi was crying.
No, not the kyuubi.
It was Naruto.
"Thank you, Old Man," the boy managed through cracked sobs.
Hiruzen looked down at him, his face illuminated by the campfire. Somewhere off in the forest, the sound of a roaring animal filled the night.
"For what?" he asked.
Naruto beamed at him. "You saved me."
Author's Note:
FULL STOP. Let me just say, before anything, this chapter would not have been possible without my beta-reader, asthane. Not only are they a great second pair of eyes, but they helped me with Hiruzen's dialogue (the suggestions were so good, I just copied and pasted them) and even inspired a whole new slew of ideas, so just… a huge thank you!
Let me come out and say... THIS CHAPTER WAS A PAIN TO WRITE. I guess that's mainly my fault, because I felt like I had to make it perfect, but in the end, I just decided to write what I wanted, and well... this is how it turned out. So that's why it took me a while to get this out, and it's not even that long, or good, so I'm sorry guys. Anyways, this chapter did go ahead and deal with a lot of baggage our characters are carrying (especially Hiruzen, as the WHOLE chapter is in his perspective), and while they didn't confront it in anyway, you readers are now aware of them. I hope you guys enjoyed, and FOR SURE, I PROMISE there will be happier times in the future!
Definitely.
Maybe.
Of course there will be! ;)
Anyways, I expect the next chapter to be the conclusion to this arc and the transition to the actual main story. Finally, right? If you want to see it, stick around, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!
[Here's the funny thing. This whole section within the brackets is being written immediately after I posted the LAST chapter. I've gotten really great reviews from you guys, and when I say I appreciate it, I mean it. Maybe to some of you, I'm good at writing; let me tell you, I SUCK at expressing my feelings. But guys, it's just overwhelming, and while I'm writing a story I love, I also do this because it's just so awesome to entertain and to connect with you. So thank you, so much.]
Also, please review. It really really makes me happy to hear from you all!
-boringfirelion