Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto and I probably won't, but can't tell for sure. All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto, (who in case you don't know, owns Naruto)

Nine sides of a Mask

Chapter 1: The death of Naruto Uzumaki

"Sasuke, why won't you listen to me? You are like a brother to me!"

"Shut up Naruto. You never knew what it's like to have a family and then all of it taken away from you!"

"You are right. I don't know how that feels, maybe if I had a family then I could at least relate to how you feel, however don't think for a second that I've had it easy just because I don't have a family. So, please come back Sasuke, otherwise... otherwise I'll break every bone in your body and drag you back if I have to!" stated Naruto.

"Like a dobe like you could anyway." finished Sasuke as the sound of 1000 birds started screeching from the tip of his fingers and a blue and silver lightning started to fly of off his fingertips.

Naruto sighed.

"Guess there's no other way." finished Naruto as a bright blue chakra ball, enveloped in malevolent red chakra, began to glow on the palm of Naruto's hand.

Naruto and Sasuke ran straight at each other at speed then can't be seen by normal eyes.

"CHIDORI"

"RASENGAN" Shouted both Sasuke and Naruto, and then when the two powerful jutsus clashed there was a bright flash before the giant explosion.

With that the explosion consumed the Valley of the End, also the location where Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha's final battle took place.

The irony of it, generations later another Uchiha and a distant relative if the Senju battles here again, except this one battle is going to change fate and will go down in history just like Madara and Hashirama final battle.

Konoha

It was raining heavily in Konoha. The usually bright village seemed dull and sad with the grey clouds forbidding any sunlight. At the gates of Konoha were the eternal guards Izumo Kamizuki and his partner Kotetsu Hagane. Usually they would be bored and just be talking to each other; however that wasn't the case this time.

Earlier the two guards had seen Shikamaru Nara, Kiba Inuzuka, Choji Akimichi and Neji Hyuuga all pass by, going straight to the hospital because of the state they were in. All of them were severely injured especially Choji who was currently in a life or death situation.

They were currently awaiting the return of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. They had known about Sasuke running away from the village and the retrieval squad sent out by the Godaime Hokage Tsunade Senju, the team was led by the newly appointed chunin: Shikamaru Nara.

As they look past the main gate they could see a small figure, with what appeared like another figure in its shoulder. As the figure came towards the gate they could see the orange colour growing bigger and bigger, until Naruto stood at the gate with a victorious smile and one battered Uchiha on his shoulders.

"Izumo, Kotetsu... I made it...", and with that Naruto's world went black as he fell backwards, along with Sasuke who also fell with Naruto.

Izumo and Kotetsu just stared at each other blankly before picking up Naruto and Sasuke, then rushing to the hospital.

Konoha Hospital

After regaining consciousness Naruto started to slowly open his eyes. He opened his eyes as the bright sunlight coming through the window tried to blind him. The first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes were the white walls that completely surrounded him, there was a small and simple white table. On the table was a simple brown vase with an assortment of flowers, however the flowers was withered and dead. The window was opened as was the curtains, and he could hear the birds chirping as well as the citizens of Konoha talking whilst getting on with their everyday life.

He then realized that he had to be in a hospital room. He hated coming to the hospital, not that he came here much any way due to the kyuubi's rapid healing. But when he did come here he wasn't very welcome and the nurses or doctors never looked after him properly.

He knew that any moment now a doctor or nurse will come and ask him to leave because he is not injured any more. So why wait for them to ask him to leave. Naruto slowly got up from the bed whilst clutching his chest, where he could feel the bandages covering up the scar left by his friend who plunged a chidori through his chest, inches away from a deadly blow to his heart.

Speaking of Sasuke, he wondered how he was doing. Was he also in the hospital? If so then he should visit him, to see how he was doing, maybe that might not be a bright idea. After all Sasuke was hospitalized because of him so he will most likely be angry at him. So Naruto just decided to go outside instead.

Naruto made his way to the door and went to open it, but before he could open it, the door opened and in came Sakura.

He was happy to see Sakura. Sakura was Naruto's childhood crush. Naruto always asked out Sakura but she did not accept and always punch Naruto or any other form of abuse. Now that he thinks about it, she was never kind to him and always trying to impress the last Uchiha.

When he looked at Sakura, all he can see in her face is rage.

"Hey Sakura, I told you I'll bring back Sasuke.", however Sakura didn't seem to be paying attention to what he was saying. He opens his mouth to say another word but,

SLAP

The noise of hand meeting cheek was audible and echoed through the tiny white room. The slap Sakura gave left Naruto with a reddening cheek.

"...Sakura?"

SLAP

"Shut up Naruto. Look at what you did to Sasuke. You said that you will bring him back safely and promised on that too, have you seen what you did to him. Lady Tsunade said he had marks of rasengan on his stomach. I knew I shouldn't have trust you, you probably tried to kill him and thought if he died I would finally go on a date with you. Now I know I should have trusted my mum, you are a demon after all. Now don't ever talk to me or Sasuke again, I hope I never have to see your face again." said Sakura angrily then before Naruto could even reply she stormed out of the room. Probably to see her Sasuke-kun.

Normally Naruto wouldn't cry, he had gotten over those years ago. Yet warm tears started to roll down his eyes. Every word Sakura had said hurt; it hurt more than a chidori getting shoved through the heart, that's how each word hit him.

That was the breaking point for Naruto.

Naruto fell on his knees, and then fell backwards and clutched is knees, putting him in a human ball position. He then began to think about things then think them over again.

'Why can't anyone tell the difference between a kunai and a scroll?'

'Will I ever be acknowledged here?'

'How can I become the Hokage if everyone thinks I'm a demon, even my teammates think I'm a demon'

Then the final thought: 'am I really a demon'

After 10 minutes, which seemed like hours through the eyes of Naruto, he began to get up, slowly recovering from the human ball position.

After getting up he decides to go to Ichiraku's Ramen, the only place that sees him like a human and treats him like a normal person. Some ramen will cheer him up right...? After all it has for the last 13 years.

But before he gets the chance to leave the room he is interrupted once again, only this time it's by an otter masked ANBU.

"Naruto Uzumaki, you are requested by the Hokage to attend the council immediately." said the ANBU, in what seemed like a voice to intimidate people.

Naruto slowly nods his head because he still hasn't recovered from Sakura's verbal beating.

Konoha - Council Chambers

Naruto and the otter masked ANBU walked down the corridor leading to a large wooden door the seemed ancient yet it looked strong enough to survive an exploding tag, after all it was made by the first Hokage using his wood release.

They then entered into the council room and he could see a large round table. Along the right side he could see the shinobi council, who is the clan heads of the current major clans, which consisted of; Hiashi Hyuuga, Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, Inoichi Yamanaka, Shibi Aburame, and lastly Tsume Inuzuka. He also notice several empty seats in that line, which he guessed belong to the clans that is now dead or has no representative like Uchiha, Sarutobi, Senju and Namikaze.

Along the left side is the civilian council, he remembered some of them as the wealthy merchants in Konoha. Along the left side sat; Kensaku Choshi, Shibuki Haruno, Gaho Hiro, Toshi Nanami, Tai Yamato and Teuchi Saki.

So overall there were 6 civilian members and 6 shinobi members, there were also the three elders who sat in the middle opposite to the Slug Princess. The three elders were Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane who was both Hiruzen Sarutobi's (Sandaime Hokage) team mates. The last of the elder is Danzo Shimura, also known as Shinobi no Yami (The shinobi of darkness), the reason for this is because the old war hawk is always acting from the shadows, one such example is the ROOT programme which was disbanded once the Sandaime heard of the training in the programme, which turns young boys and girls into mindless drones that you call shinobi. His aim was to turn the Kyuubi jinchuuriki into a mindless puppet that obeys him only, but the Sandaime prevented that from happening. He soon realized that his wish can never come true now that Naruto is not as young as he wanted him to be.

Across the table was the Godaime Hokage; Tsunade Senju. A powerful kunoichi in her own rights, she is one of the 3 legendary sannins and also the first ever female Hokage, maybe even the first ever Kage of one of the five major elemental countries. Many young kunoichi and some shinobi look up to her as an idol. She is also the world's best medic; with the help of Katsuyu she can heal an entire army if not distracted.

"Otter thanks for your service; you may leave now." said Tsunade.

"Now can you tell me why this council asked for Naruto to be here, the reports was already given in by Shikamaru." said Tsunade again in a pissed of tone.

*yawn* "Yes I want to know that too, I have my cloud watching to get to with Shikamaru" said (guess who) Shikaku, the lazy Nara, which seems to run through the family.

"Although it isn't the same reason as Shikaku, I would like to know as well, Choji is still in the hospital and I want to go visit my son." said the big-boned Akimichi; Choza.

"The reason is quite simple really, it's about the battle between Uchiha-Sama and the demon stood in front of us today." said Gaho, a fat, wealthy merchant who bought himself into the council, and like many people he lost his wife and two children in the Kyuubi attack 13 years ago, so he still blames Naruto for this.

The air suddenly dropped below 0 degrees and all attention fell towards Tsunade.

"The last time I checked, the Sandaime's law is still in place, so unless you want to spend some time with Ibiki and Anko I suggest following the laws." said an even more pissed off Tsunade.

"H-H-Hai Hokage-Sama!" said the man fearfully. Everyone knew who Ibiki was, heck even shinobi from outside of Konoha knew him, his reputation as 'The Mind Destroyer' can easily scare anyone. He can get an enemy shinobi to spill secrets with 1 hour. And his new assistant doesn't exactly keep anyone calm. The 'Snake Mistress' of Konoha is always looking for a way to spill some blood so her job at the torture and interrogation department suits her the best. With Ibiki and Anko together they can easily break anyone, be it mentally... or physically.

"Enough of this, we called this council meeting because Uchiha-Sama reported that Naruto accessed the kyuubi's chakra and tried to kill him. "Said Koharu.

"How is that a big deal, knowing Sasuke he probably used the cursed mark and tried to kill Naruto. There is scars on Naruto's chest that can only be made with a chidori, and not only that but there is two of that!" said Tsunade clearly not happy with the way the council is going right now.

"But that's because of the cursed mark, Uchiha-Sama can't control his mind with that, it was even reported by Jiraiya-Sama when he took a look at the seal before the chunin exams." Said Kensaku.

"That doesn't mean he didn't have control at all. Jiraiya-Sama put a 4 point suppression seal on the cursed mark, and the only way it can be broken is if Sasuke decides to use the cursed mark." Said Shikaku this time, clearly not in his bored and sleepy mode and in full serious, because he could feel there is more to this than it seems. Like the civilians have already planned something and it's not going to end well.

"But that does not change the fact that thing there, used the kyuubi's chakra, and it could just be the beginning, the Kyuubi may start to break free. I think there is only one solution to this..."contributed Danzo, and the whole council had been paying attention to this, as it isn't every day the old war hawk suggests something unless it's for his own gain.

"...we banish him from Konoha." finished Danzo calmly, like it's an everyday thing.

That must have been the spark that ignited the flame, because the whole council was in an argument of whether to banish him or not. Even the always stoic Hiashi Hyuuga tried to say they shouldn't banish Naruto.

However the person who was affected by this more than anyone was Naruto. It felt like they had taken the air out of the room because suddenly he found it hard to even breathe. His whole life he had wanted nothing more than to become the Hokage, but now it won't happen. All because the village was too stupid to tell the difference between a kunai and the scroll it's sealed in.

"SILENCE!" shouted the slug princess. Suddenly everyone's attention fell to her.

"We are not banishing Naruto and that's final!"

"We can actually banish him..."said Danzo with a knowing smirk. However Tsunade didn't like where this is going at all and Danzo's smirk didn't make it any better, especially since he is a man that shows no emotions.

"... a law made by Nidaime, allows the council to overrule a Hokage's decision if said council had majority of the votes."

"That's a lie, you're lying!" said Tsunade, although the words were to convince herself.

"I'm not lying. So now I call for a vote, how wishes to banish Naruto Uzumaki" Danzo said, bitterly, ever since he didn't get to train him he had despised the boy, it didn't help that he also followed the 'Will Of Fire' crap Hiruzen always went on about.

"Well then, I Hiashi Hyuuga vote against the banishment."

"I Shikaku Nara also votes against the banishment." said Shikaku as he sent a smile towards Naruto, who seem to be zoned out of this.

"I Choza Akimichi, vote against the banishment"

"I'm with Choza and Shikaku, I Inoichi Yamanaka vote against the banishment"

"This village is blinded by hatred, I Tsume Inuzuka vote against the banishment"

"I, Shibi Aburame vote against the banishment"

"Of course I Tsunade Senju vote against the banishment"

At this point all the civilian council members were smirking because if the rest of the council (civilians and elders) vote for the banishment then the demon will be gone at last.

"I Kensaku Choshi, vote for the banishment"

"I Shibuki Haruno, vote for the banishment"

"I Toshi Nanami, vote for the banishment"

"I Tai Yamato, vote for the banishment"

"I Teuchi Saki, vote for the banishment"

"I Homura Mitokado, vote for the banishment"

"I Koharu Utatane, vote for the banishment"

"I don't think that I need to vote any more, as the votes have already shown the results" said Danzo.

And everyone knew that was the truth, because there were seven votes against the banishment and eight votes for the banishment so there was no point for Danzo to vote any more.

Tsunade didn't know what to do, her vision started to get blurry and fresh warm tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I don't know what to do." she said trying her best not to cry.

"There is also another matter that must be taken care of before the banishment, Naruto must cut his ties with the toad summoning. We need to find Jiraiya for this as he is the one carrying the toad summoning contract." said Danzo again. Not only has he made it possible to banish Naruto, but he is also taking away everything from him.

"You can't do that. Isn't banishing him enough?" said Tsunade in a slightly pleading tone.

However Danzo wasn't having any of that so he replied; "Yes we can, the Nidaime's law clearly state that when being banished that person must cut all ties with Konoha and that includes the toad summoning, who has stayed loyal to Konoha for 2 generations."

Whilst this was happening no one seemed to see that Naruto hasn't spoken a single word. The usually loud and hot headed blonde that shouts how he will become the Hokage was so silent; it would have put the Aburames to shame.

"Yeah, take away the contract and give it to Sasuke- Sama", screeched Shibuki.

Tsunade couldn't take it anymore and did what anyone would have in her position, she cried. She cried openly in front of the council, whilst the shinobi side could tell Naruto meant so much to her, the civilian side was having other thoughts. They were happy because they thought that the new Hokage was under their control. The person that was the most happiest was Danzo, he will remember this and one day use it to show their Hokage was weak and try to get the position himself.

Naruto couldn't take it anymore and did what everyone was least expecting.

He bit his thumb and went through five sets of hand seals at a speed that the civilians couldn't follow but the shinobi knew that they were the seals for...

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)" Naruto said in a hollow voice that sounded like it had been through the shinobi wars and lost all off their family.

There was a puff of smoke and when it dispersed you can see a small green toad blinking like he was surprised to be summoned , then he took a look at the surrounding.

"Ahh, you must be our new summoner Naruto-kun, Bunta-kun has told me all about you. I'm quite impressed that you managed to defeat the Ichibi jinchuuriki." Fukasaku said proudly.

"That's a lie. We all know Uchiha-sama defeated the Ichibi" screeched the howler monkey again.

Most the council had to cover their ears to prevent it from becoming deaf.

"Well I don't know who told you that but clearly someone had given you the false information. Anyway moving on to matters at hand; why have you summoned me Naruto-kun?" asked the old toad.

"I would like to break the contract with the toads." Naruto declared in a monotone voice that caused many people in the council to flinch including the stoic Aburame.

"WHAT!" said the old toad, clearly taken back by this reply. Never, had any summoners told they wanted to break their contract, especially the when the summoning we are talking about is the well-known powerful toad clan.

"What he means is, he is getting banished from Konoha and that means cutting all ties with the village, including summoning." Danzo said in a voice that betrayed all emotions.

It took a moment to process the information given. He then looked around and saw that all faces showed full seriousness so he knew it wasn't a joke. His eyes then landed on Naruto. It seemed like the poor boy had gone through so much. His eyes told it all, he was easily able to tell anger, sad, betrayal, and more negative emotions were going through it.

"I won't do it." declared the old toad. He had seen enough to come to a conclusion.

"You have no choice in it" said Danzo;

"You can either break the contract with Naruto or you will have to break the contract with Jiraiya."

"I refuse. There is no law among any summons that make them select one over the other, neither can you make us break our contract. If that is all, I will take my leave." He finished and was about to leave however it seems not everyone was done.

"Fukasaku-sama, can you break the contract. I wish to have no more ties that hold me down to Konoha." Naruto said with a monotone voice which made the ones who truly knew him really sad.

"I would give back the Kyuubi too if I could." He finished, shocking most of the members sat there, and causing a few to gasp at it.

With great sorrow Fukasaku then said; "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but it seems I'm left with no other choice; you can no longer be our summoner.", with that said Fukasaku then went through some hand seals and summoned a large scroll which most assumed was the contract of the toads. He opened the same scroll and quickly scanned it then stopped when he saw the name of one Naruto Uzumaki. He then looked at Naruto one last time before going through another set of hand seals only this time his time green hands began to have a white glow to it. He then placed his hands on the name and said;

"Kai!"

The name slowly started to fade until there was no name on it.

He then turned to the council.

"You have no idea what you have done today. The child of prophecy would either bring peace to the world or destroy it altogether."

After saying what he had to he looked at Naruto for the last time before apologizing to him and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

There was a long silence in the council then it was broken by Koharu, who said;

"You have to leave Konoha by the end of tomorrow."

"That's enough, I think you all got what you wanted now leave before someone ends up in the hospital." shouted Tsunade as she was not going to let this go on for any longer.

Begrudgingly all the members made it out the door. Then there was just Tsunade and Naruto left.

Tsunade turned the sad teen and said; "Don't worry Naruto, believe in me. I will find a way around it and keep you in Konoha. Don't give up, isn't that your nindo?" she said with small smile.

Naruto just replies with a nod and walks out the door.

Time skip- next day

Konoha- Library

Currently sitting in the politics section of the library is our favourite busty Hokage.

"I finally found it. There is a loop around this law, now I can go and tell Naruto this and finally see him smile. Now to find Naruto, knowing him he's probably at Ichiraku's ramen or at a training ground."

She got up and went to her first location; Ichiraku's ramen. Surprisingly he wasn't there,

"Guess he must be at the training ground then"

2 hours

"I wonder where he is. He isn't at the ramen stand or any training grounds"

Naruto isn't the one to wake up late now days. He usually gets up and goes to eat ramen for breakfast or go and train till the afternoon. She then walked up to his apartment and knocked on the door.

"Naruto. It's me Tsunade, I have some good news. You don't have to leave Konoha, the council can't banish you."

After a few moments Tsunade's shinobi side kicked in, she sensed there was something wrong so she kicked the door open and looked inside for Naruto. But what she saw made her realize that she was probably too late. Most of Naruto's clothes were gone, as was the food (guess what it is... yup ramen), and what made her cry was the sight of the Shodai's necklace on top of a piece of paper which she assumed was a letter.

Meanwhile

Outskirts of Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire)

"I hope what you say is true Kurama."

"Don't worry about; it's the only place where you will be safe for now, Naruto."

"... Naruto is no longer alive; the Naruto everyone knew is now dead."

The story is back :)

I have decided to continue this because even if I take a while to update, its so much better then not updating at all.

The first 6 chapters have already been written, but before I upload them Im going to proof read and add any things just to make it even more awesome!

To the people that is new to this story: I had already written this story before and just couldnt think of what to write and had a poor update speed. I then decided to take it down saying It will only be up again when Im ready to write again, and I am now.

It was previously uploaded on a different account of mine, but I decided to create a new one.

So here it is now.

Review what you think and I will respond to you. I have already written the next few chapters but that doesnt mean I cant change it, so tell me what you want to see, what you dont want. If there is improvement you want to see etc.

Also a beta ready would be really helpful. Any volunteers?

Review :D

Update: 05/01/2015