The sun was setting, and Naruto was seen traveling along a small, town road. He wore his traditional cape over his tan and black jacket along with his black cargo pants. His hair began to grow out and hung just below his neck, and his bangs shadowing his eyes. His eyes looked sharply at the path ahead, gazing at all that even glanced at him, making them turn away. His expression screamed dangerous to any of those who dared to approach him. The town he was in was another merchant hub, mainly for supplying those traveling across the mountains of the Land of Earth.

There were multiple vendors on the streets, trying to hassle some money out of travelers who weren't very money-savvy. He looked in a corner shop, reading the label of a shelf "Updated Bingo Book!" Naruto was curious, as anyone could be and went inside. In there, he picked up a copy of the book and found a bookmark for new entries. He looked through, seeing a few C-Rank missing nin here and there, but eventually, he got to the B-Rank section and found his name.

Uzumaki Naruto

Rank: B

Reward: 135,000 yen

Appearance: Wears a dark cloak with a tan and black jacket, black cargo pants, black shinobi sandals, spikey blonde hair, and blue eyes. Also contains 3 whisker marks on each cheek

Known Abilities: Can use a variation of wind manipulation that heats up the wind, making attacking at range dangerous. Can destroy solid concrete with attacks and managed to dry out an area of a mountain range.

Other information: Confirmed to be the Jinchuriki of the 9 Tails, be warned before attacking. Only Jonin are advised to attack

Wanted in the Hidden Stone Village

Naruto was a bit shocked, but not at the fact he was in the bingo books. He was shocked that they found out his full identity so fast, and that he was the Kyubi Jinchuriki. It also seemed he was wanted for a decent amount of money, most likely for the fox in his gut. Thankfully, they didn't have much info on his abilities, but he needed to get stronger. If Jonin were sent after him, he needed to be able to fend them off. He also needed to leave the Land of Earth. Thankfully, while looking at a map, he found a small country on it's borders called the Land of Steam. If he flees there, Stone Hunter Nin shouldn't be able to pursue him.

Naruto put the book back down and exited the shop. After eating at a small restaurant nearby and buying a few more meals for the road, he was off. First, he needed to leave the country. Leaving it wasn't so bad, he could just sneak inside the country. The issue was evading Anbu patrol. But, Naruto had a solution to this.

"This is a stupid idea, why did I even bother to try this." Naruto was cursing himself for doing this. He knew if he messed it up he would most certainly die. And he had never done anything like this before. His genius plan was to put half of his chakra into launching him thousands of feet in the air with wind chakra and using the other half to stop his descend when he was close to the ground. He thought of it on the spot, but it was possible and could work, which is why he was here.

"Stupid. Stupid. Nevermind, let's go." He hyped himself up long enough and began to gather chakra. For a solid minute he was gathering the wind chakra necessary to launch him into the palm of his hands, compressing it like a cannon. Then, afterwards, he looked up and released it all.

A sonic boom erupted as Naruto skyrocketed into the air at high speeds, quickly reaching the clouds. His trajectory put him just above where there was uninhabited land in the Land of Steam, so no one should see him. He looks down and for a few seconds, he felt weightless in the air, more free than anyone in the world. Then he started to plummet, making him gather chakra into his hands again. He broke through the clouds and could see a tropical forest beneath him, approaching fast. He waited for the land second until he was no less than 100 feet up and let out the chakra, canceling his fall. He still fell down, but it wasn't fatal.

Naruto crashed into a tree, breaking wood on impact. His body went straight through and crashed into the dirt, making Naruto gasp in pain. After a few seconds, he stopped skidding through dirt and sat up, his head dizzy. He looked back to see the mountain ranges he was near far away in the distance now and smiled, "Ha! Take that! Catch me now you pricks!" He layed back laughing at the fact he lived, smiling and enjoying the adrenaline rush. Of course, Naruto soon found out that he couldn't stand up, as his legs broke from the impact. He hobbled over to a small cave and sat down, needing rest. Soon enough the Kyubi would heal him and he would be back up in a few days.

Elsewhere

Hiruzen Sarutobi had fallen from grace. His days used to be filled with dangerous missions to save the village, fulfilling his duty to Hashirama and Tobirama Sensei. He remembered his days on the team with Danzo and Homura, where they all were taught the way of Shinobi. He remembered the day he was promoted Hokage by Tobirama, who had resigned and eventually died to the Kikaku Force (or whatever it was called). And now, the "God of Shinobi" and the "Professor of Ninjutsu" now sat in an office filling out papers. Instead of a positive and radiant aura around him, it was replaced by boredom and displeasure. He began to feel more and more how the village had strayed from the beliefs of Hashirama. How the town people had turned this place into a more of a civilian village than a shinobi one. But, his power had been usurped long ago and now it felt like he was just a figurehead behind the council.

After reports of Naruto's death, the civilians managed to squeeze more and more power from Hiruzen, even making the civilian council able to help decide in Shinobi matters, which ruined the flow of life as a shinobi. Current graduates from the academy were of less and less quality each year, and only the most recent year made up for that slightly with the clan head's children, the class Naruto would have been in.

But, when Sasuke left the village, Sakura and Ino left the shinobi forces and disgraced their family name. Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba's Sensei, fell into a fit of depression when Sasuke left, sometimes not even showing up for missions anymore. The mental toll of his life was too much to handle, and after losing his friends, comrades, Obito, Rin, Minato, and now Sasuke, he committed suicide, following in the footsteps of his father. That day, Hiruzen lost one of his best shinobi, and one that he trusted with almost everything.

And of the batch of rookies, a civilian child names Kenji who took Naruto's place had died on a mission, lowering the whole moral of the mini group. Now, the shinobi in there were unmotivated and undetermined to even live. However, after their parents forcing them to continue, they did, enduring the fall of Konaha. They each were taking almost 10 missions a week, C Rank and more. They were all exhausted and were only a husk of their former personality. Most likely, that is why Sasuke Uchiha became rouge, as it all devolved.

Another bad thing was the Kyubi. After Naruto was announced dead, Hiruzen had to keep at least 100 shinobi present in the village at all times incased it materialized inside the village. And they had no new optimal host. They would need to seal it into a newborn child and buy themselves a few years until the newborn died. And Danzo and himself were the only ones capable of sealing a bijuu, besides Jiraya who almost stopped returning to Konaha at this point.

A knock on his door, and Hiruzen allowed them entry inside the office, it being the receptionists for him. "Hokage-sama! Uzumaki Naruto is alive, and has a bounty in the Land of Earth." Hiruzen's eyes went wide as he snatched the bingo book and flipped to the bookmarker. There, he read the entry with increasing surprise. He put the book down and, for the first time in almost two years, smiled. His surrogate grandson was alive.

Then, he remembered Danzo, the one who reported the body. Anger then raised inside him, making the receptionist leave the room in a panic. The killing intent radiating off of him made the hidden Anbu sweat. He got up from his desk and ordered Danzo to report to the office. After a few minutes, Danzo arrived.

He held up the book in his hands, and Danzo flinched slightly. The jig was up, and Danzo wasn't ready yet. He was ready, but he didn't want to do this now, and not this way. Before Hiruzen's eyes, the room was covered in a lime and gold seal pattern, and Hiruzen found access to his chakra to be cut. All of his hidden Anbu dropped down, but they all wore the old Root masks. It was a trap.

"Hiruzen, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to find out just yet."

"What are you doing, Danzo! This is treason, attacking the Hokage." Hiruzen was enraged at Danzo, to pull a stunt like this. When Hiruzen made the motion to attack Danzo, the root stepped in and blocked him. Because of his lack of access to chakra, Hiruzen was no more than a strong old man, but not stronger than the Root Anbu who had access to chakra.

"Hiruzen!" Danzo's voice snapped him out of his struggle.

"Hiruzen, do you remember Tobirama Sensei's words to us, on the day of the waterfall?" This caught him off guard, and Hiruzen started to remember the day.

Flashback

It cuts to when team Tobirama was standing above a waterfall, with Hiruzen, Danzo, and Homura behind him. All three were drenched in water as Tobirama was making them do water walking on the vicious currents. Their simple goal was to get across the water, nothing more, while Tobirama would use his water release to change up the water. Hiruzen was mad at Danzo, who was the only one dry.

Danzo had used Hiruzen as leverage and hopped over him, arriving at the other side of the water, while Hiruzen fell in. "Tobirama Sensei! You didn't say that was part of the exercise." Tobirama looked at him decisively. "No, I didn't. However, the only rule was to get to the other side of the water. Danzo didn't cheat, and he abided by an old shinobi rule."

"And what would that be, Tobirama Sensei."

"To achieve your goal, at any means necessary, even at the cost of your comrades." Hiruzen looked at Tobirama spectically, it felt against what he wanted. He felt that comrades should be before yourself, but his sensei said otherwise. Meanwhile, Danzo looked at Tobirama in appreciation, and took that value to heart.

Flashback End

Hiruzen's eyes widened at the prospect of what was about to happen. "You can't be serious, Danzo. Would you really go this far, just for this." Hiruzen pointed at his hat, which hung solemnly on his head. Danzo merely fixed his eyes on Hiruzen.

"Hiruzen, as much as we both lived up to Hashirama and Tobirama Sensei's words, you take them too much to heart. A shinobi's life is built on sacrifice, but not for one's comrades, but for the village. Us shinobi dedicate any last bit of free will and determination to ensuring the safety of the village. And you, old friend, have lost sight in that. You have let this village grow weak, the modern ninja only pathetic shells of the former glory. Our sensei would be ashamed looked at what Konaha has become. And I am the only one with the vision to fix it. So, with those final words, I am truly sorry for what I must do."

Hiruzen watched in horror as Danzo pulled out a tanto and quickly slit Hiruzen's throat, killing the old man. Danzo sheathed the blade and burned it, erasing all evidence of it. He quickly picked up the body and ordered his team to clean the room of any traces of him, and replace it with the smell of Stone shinobi. If he could pin the blame on the Stone Village, maybe he could instigate a war and dominate over them. Yes, it was all coming together.

After a day, the news of the assassination's of Konoha's Hokage spread over the entire Elemental Nations, sparking concerns and glee from different people. Chaos erupted in Konaha, as rumors of the Stone village assassinating's their Hokage made them grow furious at the rival village, sparking tension.

With no other viable candidate, Danzo was chosen as the fifth Hokage, with reluctance from the shinobi side of the council. His opening speech consisted of a variety of changes that would be made to the village, preparing it for conflict. The academy was upgraded heavily and the current shinobi were to undergo intense root training in order to make them efficient killing machines. Of course, he had to compensate by not removing their emotions, but it was a start. He also began to reject trading and business from the Land of Earth and sent a promise of paying them back for their treasonous actions.

However, Danzo received a letter back shorty.

"This letter is from the Tsuchikage from the Hidden Stone Village. Your claims are preposterous and invalid, with no real lead to pin the blame on us. Canceling agreements prior to this also was a bad step, meaning as of now, the Village Hidden in the Stone declare war on the Village Hidden in the Leaf." Instead of panic, Danzo only smiled at this. He wasn't afraid of them invading. In fact, he had root on Uzumaki's tail right now and were planning to have him attack the Stone village and level it to the ground. For now, he sent shinobi to completely trap and rig the outer and inner edges of the Land of Fire, not even he could get through it when it was done.

All that was left to do was wait, wait until their enemies were all destroyed by the 9 Tailed Fox. And after all of this, Konaha would reign supreme.

...

Thanks for reading this chapter. The next few chapters won't focus at all on this development, so don't get too hyped yet. I have something else planned in the meantime, something even better. Thanks for reading and have a good rest of your day.