Chapter 7: The Siege on the Leaf
There was only one way to describe the state of the village as Naruto and his teammates made their way to the hospital. Chaos. Pure and utter chaos. Everywhere Naruto looked he saw battles as sound and sand ninja fought the outnumbered leaf forces 3 to one. He saw most of the leaf ninja engaging the enemies were ANBU along with the jonin. Most of the regular forces were either evacuating or protecting valuable locations like the Hokage tower or the village archive as was normal protocol for such situations. Naruto let out a grimace as he noticed how slowly they were moving through the village streets. 'We're sitting ducks out here.' So far they had rescued a total of 10 civilians that had been trapped under debris from damaged buildings or those who were too scared to move on their own. Naruto noticed a sound ninja land in front of the group going through some hand seals, the masked ninja brought his hand up to his face as he took a deep breath.
"Fire Style: Fire Bullet Jutsu!" Naruto cursed as he dashed to the front of the group as he ran through his own hand seals.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall Jutsu!" A wall of earth rose up protecting the group as the light of the fire could be seen from the other side of the earth wall. Naruto created two clones as he rushed up the side and around the wall. He rushed at the enemy ninja from different directions catching the sound ninja off guard. Naruto took a closer look at his enemy and saw he was covered from head to toe in camouflage with his hands and eyes being the only things not covered with clothing of some kind. One clone sprinted from the left as the other threw a shuriken, Naruto himself body flickered behind him as he jumped back to avoid the shuriken and the rushing clone. He was met with a kunai to the back of his head courtesy of the whiskered blond. As the sound ninja fell Naruto could see the light in his eyes get snuffed out as death claimed him. The blond took a breath to compose himself as his stomach churned with discomfort as bile threatened to escape. "I can deal with my problems later, focus." Naruto whispered to himself. The earth wall fell as the group came forward most of his classmates stared at the dead body with a mixture of emotions, many of the civilians lost their lunch as they were not used to such situations. The whole exchange lasted no more than 10 seconds. "Let's keep going." Nobody argued with the blond though the pace was significantly faster as many of the civilians picked up their pace not wanting to be out in the open longer than necessary. Naruto stumbled and almost threw up again as he got the memories of some of his clones.
'So many dead bodies' Naruto thought as he saw himself ambush several ninjas in many different ways. Some used kunai others used jutsu but the blond could remember every detail as they died. He also saw how he saved groups of civilians from attacking sound ninja, though some were not so lucky and from what he could see, some of the sound ninjas liked to play with their victims. 'They're monsters, there no better than the thugs Gato hired in Wave.' Ino who was in the middle of the group helping some of the injured move saw her fellow blond stumble.
"Are you alright?" Naruto didn't look at the platinum blond as he responded, his eyes never stopping as he scanned the area for more enemies once he centered himself.
"No, but I'll deal with it as soon as we're all safe." Ino nodded but still sent concerned glances at Naruto. Shino stepped up next to the blond as he led the group to the hospital with Shikamaru.
"I have sent a perimeter around us with my insects, it should give us ample warning to enemy movement and help us to avoid any more conflict."
"Were about 5 blocks away from the hospital." Shikamaru said to his two friends.
"Right, we need to be more careful, if we've gotten lucky that the ANBU and the other higher ranked leaf ninja have mostly cleared the area and are keeping the rest distracted." The two nodded as they went back to the right and left of the group respectively. Naruto traded places with Kiba who was now leading the group so he could sniff out any threats as the blond went to the middle so he could more easily maneuver to confront any enemy that slipped by their defenses. The group made good progress and was a block away from the hospital when they heard giant explosions coming from the edges of the village. Naruto saw that there were giant three-headed snakes attacking the walls as scores of sound ninja made their way inside the village. Naruto let out a curse as he created enough clones to carry all the civilians plus Hinata and Lee. 'There's no point in going on foot to avoid the battles if we're going to be surrounded!. Damn it!' Naruto looked at the remaining genin. "Let's go we don't want to be caught out here when the enemy reaches us!" Naruto received various nods as the group made it to the hospital, it was surrounded by other genin and scores of chuunin that were guarding the area. The injured were swiftly taken inside as the rest of the genin were set up as reserves if anyone got past the chuunin guard. Naruto saw that the snakes were taken care of by Jiraiya who had summoned some Gamabunta sized toads.
"Hey, we need a squad to come with us to search for more survivors!" The blond turned and saw a brown-haired chuunin speaking to a group of chuunins who were acting as a rear guard. Several chuunins went forward to form squads and Naruto himself also decided to volunteer so he could help out where he could. The chuunin looked at the blond before shrugging, the situation was dire and they needed all the help they could get. "Good, Right now the leaf village higher-ups are organizing a counterattack while the jonin and the ANBU hold of the enemy, we shall pick up any civilians that maybe be out there and take any injured leaf ninja back here." The chuunin looked at Naruto for a second. "This is a serious situation, while we won't be actively engaging the enemy there is no doubt fights will happen."
"I'll be fine, I can handle myself." The chuunin grunted as he turned to the group of ten chuunin.
"Let's get moving, remember that our top priority is evacuation but don't hesitate to help out anyone in need." The group started making their way to the wall and Naruto saw countless jonin and chuunin come out of nowhere along with full squadrons of ANBU, they began to push the enemy beyond the wall of the village.
It was half an hour later where Naruto had taken dozen of injured ninja away when he saw the barrier around the Hokage's booth fell. It was ten minutes after the barrier fell that the enemy forces began retreating from the village. Naruto had killed five more enemies in the time since he left with the squad of chuunin. Naruto made his way to the hospital carrying a fellow leaf ninja on his back, it was some dark-haired chuunin who had been caught by an enemies fire jutsu and had burns all over his body. The blond dropped off the older ninja whose name he didn't know at the hospital and went back to continue looking. There was still a large amount of sound ninja who had stayed even after their sand allies left. He quickly found another Leaf kunoichi fighting a group of three sound ninjas. She had wild brown hair with the rectangular face tattoos that were so famous in the Inuzuka clan. Naruto watched as she took a kunai to the leg and he quickly created five clones as he cut off the closest sound ninja. He was wielding a tanto and he was about to stab the downed kunoichi. He brought out his kunai and the steel sparked as the blades meet. He held the man back as his clone picked up the women and backed away as Naruto's other clones tag-teamed their own targets. The blond and the sound Ninja broke their struggle as the older man rushed at the shorter blond with a wide swing of his tanto. Naruto seeing this ducked under the swing only to be kneed in the face. It was only thanks to him listening to his instincts that he brought up his kunai to block a strike from the sound ninja. Naruto spun around displacing his weight making his enemy stumble forward as he slashed his knee. The sound dropped unable to support his own weight as the blond jammed his kunai into his neck and ripping it out. Naruto body flickered beside another sound ninja and as he and his clone both managed to stab him in the chest, he was taken by surprise not expecting another blond to show up and his shock was visible in his eyes as he collapsed to the ground. He turned to the final sound ninja and saw his clone kill him before all of them dispelled. Naruto walked to where his first clone and the kunoichi were at. She had the same slit eyes as Kiba. She looked at the blond with a wild smirk.
"Thanks for the save there. I usually have my ninja dogs fighting with me but they got injured earlier and I was making my way back to the hospital to see if I could help anyone there as the fighting is dying down when that group managed to ambush me. My names Hana Inuzuka"
"No problem, my name's Naruto Uzumaki. I've been helping wherever I can taking any injured I see to the hospital." The two made their way to the hospital as more and more people showed up and medical tents were set up outside to take care of those who only had flesh wounds as to leave the inside for those who truly needed it. It was already dusk when Naruto was given orders by the jonin who had taken command of the area for all genin to go home and that they would all be gathered tomorrow early at the plaza to be given further orders. Naruto barely heard the man as he started walking to his home a cold, numb feeling spread throughout his body. The news had spread started to spread recently and the entire village received terrible news.
The third Hokage had been killed in battle.
The blond entered his home and thanked his lucky stars it was intact, this area had been full of fighting and many buildings on the block had been damaged. There were plenty of people staying at the shelters for the next couple days as repairs were made from all over the village. Naruto made his way to his bed and for the first time since he was a child, he truly cried. He let out the sorrow in his soul as he thought about the man he admired most and he thought about the people he had killed, so he cried. The next days were spent mostly on auto-pilot for Naruto as he along with other genin patrolled the inside of the village as most chuunin and jonin hunted down any Sound ninja in the country. The Sand village had been very quiet after the attack and things were very tense between the two once allies. Naruto hadn't teamed up with anyone he knew during the patrols and five days after the battle the village gathered for the thirds funeral. Naruto was one of the first people to show up, he had seen Konohamaru with Ebisu and he walked next to him. The young Sarutobi took one glance at the blond before throwing himself at him as he started to bawl. Naruto patted the younger boys head as the two grieved as more and more people started to show up. It took several hours before the funeral was over, the sky began to darken as the rain started to fall. Naruto was headed home when he was tapped on his shoulder by his team sensei Kakashi. The two stared at each other as the rain pelted the two ninjas.
"We'll be meeting at 7 tomorrow. How are you holding up?" Naruto looked at Kakashi before shrugging.
"I'll live." With his quick reply Naruto body flickered away, he was in no mood to deal with his teammates right now. Naruto ended up wandering the village for a while as his mind wondered, all but the most necessary shops were closed for today as the village mourned. The village looked deserted as the rain kept pouring and by now he had been walking for an hour, he was soaked to the bone.
"Hey, Naruto." The blond turned around as he spotted Ino behind him under an umbrella, still dressed in black from the funeral.
"Hey." Ino walked closer to her fellow blond as she brought her umbrella so it could cover both of them.
"What are you doing out here, you're completely drenched." Naruto shrugged his shoulders. Ino could see how down her fellow blond looked so she took his arm and started dragging him to his home. They walked in silence with Naruto's gaze never leaving the black sky. They made it to the whiskered blonds apartment as the winds began to pick up and went inside quickly. "Go take a shower before you get sick." Ino's tone was stern and normally Naruto would put up more of a fight with being ordered around in his own home but he didn't have it in him today. Naruto came back out to Ino carrying two cups of his instant ramen. Both blonds sat on the couch as they ate in silence. Eventually, Naruto put his empty cup down as he glanced at Ino, he took a moment before speaking.
"Thanks." Naruto's voice was soft and quiet.
"You're welcome." Ino's response was also quiet as she looked around the blonds apartment. "How are you doing?" Naruto had to hold back tears as he thought about the third and all the lives he had taken the events were still fresh in his mind and today's funeral made everything real.
"I'll be fine." The platinum blond didn't believe Naruto if her face was anything to go by. She saw how he was shuddering slightly and his eyes clouded over as he tried his damnedest not to cry. Ino struggled internally before she brought him into a hug, Naruto stiffened for a moment before tears began to fall from his eyes. The two sat there for sometime before the blonds separated. "You know, the third was the only person I had growing up. When I was younger some things happened at the orphanage I was staying at that forced me to come live by myself." Ino listened closely as the blond spoke about the third. "He would come by whenever he could to check on me." Naruto let out a small watery smile. "It was a surreal experience to me at the time. Any adult I would meet would ignore me and all the children were told by their parents to stay away. Having him there was like seeing color for the first time. I asked him why he cared about me one day when he visited. It just didn't make any sense to me, who had been ignored by all others that this man would show such love. Do you know what his answer was?" Naruto turned to look at Ino who shook her head. "He told me that it was because he was Hokage and that the entire village was his family. I didn't really know what the Hokage was at the time but I wanted to be it. Can you imagine it? Having an entire village as your family. It was an amazing dream. As I grew I learned what the Hokage was and what they did. My dream never changed but my reason did. I originally wanted to be Hokage because then I'd have a massive family, and as a 6-year old orphan that was an amazing concept. When I got older I wanted to be Hokage so I could protect him, so I could protect the Ichirakus who feed me on days I didn't have enough money because I mismanaged it." Naruto looked at Ino who was staring intently at him. "But I failed. He was my hero and I wasn't there to help him when he needed it the most." Naruto clenched his fist in self-hate.
"You can't blame yourself for that Naruto. From what I heard even the ANBU couldn't get through that weird purple barrier. There was nothing any of us could have done." Ino brought the blond into another hug. "He would be proud of you."
"I just miss him so much." Naruto's voice was soft as he said this. He looked at his fellow blond as he spoke. "Thank you Ino."
"You're welcome." The two sat there quietly as the storm outside continued to rage on and eventually the two fell asleep as the day's fatigue took its toll.
The two blonds woke up the next morning with Ino resting her head on Naruto's shoulder and the whiskered blond resting his head on hers. Ino groaned as she saw had fallen asleep.
"My parents are going to kill me." Naruto got up and stretched as he made his way over to the kitchen and started making breakfast. He looked at the other blond who sprawled herself on his couch.
"Do you want any eggs?" Ino groaned again before responding.
"Scrambled please." Naruto nodded.
"Do you want me to talk to your parents so you don't get in trouble." Ino just shook her head vigorously.
"No! I can handle it, if daddy finds out I spent the night at a boys house he'll kill us both. I'll just tell him I spent the night at Sakura's." Naruto nodded again and then after the two ate they left, it was 8:30 by then. Naruto stopped just outside his apartment and turned to Ino.
"Thanks again Ino. I really needed to talk to someone last night." Ino just nodded before hugging Naruto who returned the hug.
"Don't mention it." The blonds separated from the hug as Ino had a stern face on. "Seriously though, don't say anything. If my dad finds out I'll be grounded until I'm thirty." Naruto nodded as the two split ways and Naruto made his way to training ground 7. The blond took his time to get to the training ground looking around seeing how the village was almost done with the outer repairs. The village walls that had been knocked down by Orochimaru's summons were already fixed with the bulk of the workforce fixing the housing situation. He arrived at the bridge near training ground 7 and saw a Sasuke and Sakura just staring off into space.
'Weird.' Thought Naruto before sitting some distance away from the two. While he and his team were waiting, Sakura, who had finally noticed the Naruto, sent a small wave to the blond and he responded with a polite nod. This caught the attention of Sasuke who scowled hard when he saw him. The two stared at each other before the avenger scoffed and turned to look away, a dark look crossing his face. It was ten minutes later that Naruto was pulled from his thoughts by his teammate who had walked to stand in front of the blond.
"Fight me." The blond looked at Sasuke and saw an intense look in his eye. It was the same look he had in the forest of death.
"No." His reply was cold and lacked any emotion. Sakura looked on with concern dancing in her eyes.
"Why not? You scared?" Sasuke taunted the blond.
"And why would I be scared of fighting you?" The blonds eye's had frozen over in anger and Sasuke activated his Sharingan.
"Why hello my cute little genins." Kakashi appeared in front of his team breaking the tension that had been building up. Sakura looked relieved and the male members of team 7 looked away with a huff.
"You're late Kakashi." Naruto said, his patience with his team suddenly gone thanks to the confrontation with his raven-haired teammate.
"On my way here a giant sea tortoise needed help finding the bathroom and I just had to help." Sakura sweatdropped at her sensei's excuse, Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose, and Sasuke glared at their sensei.
"Enough, are we going to do any training today?" Sasuke looked expectantly at his sensei.
"No, all genin are to report to the mission office. You'll be assigned missions for the next week in the village while the higher ups deal with the fall out of the Sand-Sound invasion. I myself will be going on a mission later today and won't be back for at least three days." Naruto saw his raven-haired teammate's frown deepen. "Naruto, first congratulations on winning the tournament." The blond nodded. "You're required to be at the Hokage's office in 20 minutes. Anyway, we'll resume team practice and missions a week from now. Later." Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke as an awkward silence fell onto the trio. Sasuke tsk'd and shoved his hands in his pockets before he left. Sakura looked on as Sasuke walked away and Naruto took the chance to body flicker away himself. Naruto made it to the Hokage's tower where he was let into the office. He saw the Thirds old advisors Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado alongside Jiraya.
"Genin Uzumaki, welcome." Said Utatane. Naruto bowed to the elders internally grimacing at having to be formal but figured it was for the best, he knew the two were very old-fashioned.
"Hello, elder Utatane, elder Mitokado. You called for me." The two elders nodded back.
"Yes, we have tasked Jiraya with the mission to go find his old teammate Tsunade so she can become the Fifth Hokage. We were going to send a team of ANBU with him but he insisted you go with him instead." Naruto looked at the white-haired man surprised.
"That's right kiddo, but before that here this belongs to you." Jiraiya threw a scroll at Naruto who caught it and opened it. His eyes widened when the scroll exploded in smoke, and out of the smoke fell out a forest green flak jacket that the blond caught with both his hands.
"I got promoted." Was the shocked reply of the blond. Elder Mitokado cleared her throat to bring the blonds attention to her.
"That's right, we along with the ninja council decided to promote you for your performance in the chuunin exam and your services during the attack. We received various reports on your actions from many of our ninja that you saved." The blond swallowed thickly as he took off his burnt orange hoodie and put on his new flak jacket.
'I need to add some orange to my outfit.' Thought Naruto as he saw his reflection. Jiraiya took the opportunity to pat the blond on the back.
"Enjoy it, you deserved it. The old man would be proud." Naruto's eyes watered slightly as he blinked and nodded with determination. "We'll be leaving at noon so you have two hours to get your gear ready and meet me at the gate. Make sure to pack for about two weeks of travel, I don't expect to be gone that long but it never hurts to be prepared."
"Right. I'll see you there." Naruto saluted the elders as he went to his apartment to get his supplies ready. As Naruto was walking through the shopping district he saw a flash of orange in the corner of his eye. When he turned to look he saw an orange sash about three feet long in a discount bin. Naruto quickly picked it up and paid for it at the register when he was inside. Naruto looked at himself in the mirror. 'I look good.' Naruto thought as he saw the orange sash now tied around his waist. He was wearing his black pants and sandals. His newly acquired chuunin vest a lighter tone to his dark green shirt along with his long black headband that replaced his old one. Naruto made it too his house ate a quick lunch before he set off to the gate with his supplies sealed in a storage scroll he made as practice for learning the Kanji necessary for the five element seal. He was almost to the gate when he spotted team 8 doing work clearing some debris off a house that had been recently repaired. The whole in the house was fixed but the new wood had not been painted yet. As he got closer Kiba who had just dumped some trash in the nearby container looked at him, rubbed his eyes and looked at him again.
"Holy Shit! You got Promoted!" Kiba's yell had brought the attention of his sensei and his teammates.
"Kiba! Langue." Kiba apologized to his sensei as his teammate came closer to the blond who simply waved at all of them.
"Congratulations Naruto. You are worthy of your new position." Naruto nodded slightly at Shino.
'Geez, always so serious.' Thought Naruto. "Thanks, Shino, They just told me this morning."
"C-congratulations N-Naruto." Naruto turned to the shy Hyuga and gave her a small smile.
"Thanks, Hinata, I'm sorry I wasn't able to see you after everything got crazy but how are you feeling?"
"I-I'm fine. Most o-of my injuries ar-are healed." Naruto nodded at the slightly red-faced girl.
"I can't believe they promoted you before any of us. Man, the world is unfair." Naruto just ignored the Inuzuka as he wallowed in despair. Kurenai smacked her genin before turning to the newly promoted chuunin.
"Did they assign you a mission yet? I know that almost everyone has been asked to take more missions as a lot of the ANBU and jonin are being sent to the border for the next couple days to patrol the borders until the negotiations with the sand are done." Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, I'm leaving now I'm supposed to be at the main gate by noon." The raven-haired jonin nodded before team 8 said their goodbyes and Naruto made it to the gate minutes before noon.
"Good, I'm glad you didn't pick up Kakashi's bad habit of always being late." Jiraiya was leaning against the giant gate. "Let's go if we hurry we can make it to the next town by nightfall. Naruto nodded as he followed Jiraya as they jumped through the trees.