Naruto had been busy while captive, filing away at his cuffs when he got the chance, and it was the first step of his plan. Over the time he way there, Naruto carefully paid attention to patterns in the guards and overheard conversations about when their shifts end, etc. So, he came up with a plan to get him out. And escaping was actually pretty easy.
First, he needed to file away the cuffs. This part was time consuming, and long. And Naruto needed to be extremely subtle about it not to alert the guards of the cuffs being damaged. He also had to keep his fist clenched around the file at all times, even asleep, which was hard to do. The item wasn't necessarily a file, but it was a broken off piece of metal that fell from the pipes above his head. And Naruto finally broke the cuffs, but still needed to pretend.
Next step was to wait for a certain event. Usually, one of the nobles visited the prison on Wednesdays, and the guards would all leave their posts to escort them out of the prison, for some reason. Apparently it was for safety, but it gave the opportunity. And thus, Naruto broke his cuffs completely on a Wednesday at a selective time.
The final step was to run and get out. His bars were thin enough where his skinny form could slide through them, because of lack of food available. And when he slid through, he had 20 minutes to escape, and he made the best of them. Naruto quickly ran around the facility and jumped out a window somewhere near the guard lounge and obtained his freedom. And now, all he needed to do was head back to the village and think of a plan.
The tropical forest around him provided little terrain advantage in running away, the plants and trees blocking sight of the path ahead. And there were no hills to gaze around the surroundings of the country. So, Naruto thankfully remembered roughly what direction the border was, it was South East, and went there. After a bit of traveling, he managed to make it back to the village.
Along the path, thankfully, Naruto had been able to rip off the muzzle around his mouth, as it wasn't attached too securely. But, there was one big issue, his chakra suppressor. He needed chakra to undo it, and he didn't even know how they worked anyway, so his chakra was completely blocked off until he found someone with a key. Hopefully the villagers had someone that knew seals enough.
He walked back into the same town and immediately ducked back into the shadows. He didn't need a legion of shinobi to attack him without his chakra, he would lose that battle. He remembered the layout of the village enough to where he went inside the same building he was lead into. He opened the door to find what looked like a meeting present, a bunch of people he didn't recognize stood around a table and turned their eyes to him.
"Sato, who is this kid?" One of them asked. Sato looked curious, then was shocked when he recognized him.
"It was the kid that killed a branch of shinobi stationed here awhile ago. How did you escape?" The people around him began to murmur, it seemed he picked up quite the reputation while gone. "Nevermind that, we are glad you are back, your little stunt kicked some things into motion while you were imprisoned."
Naruto quirked an eyebrow at this and Sato continued, "Since there aren't many steam shinobi, taking out a hundred of them made them spread their numbers thinner, meaning less shinobi employed. And because of this, they couldn't monitor us as heavy as before, which is why we are here. This is a council of many village heads, and we plan to overthrow the ruler."
Naruto's eyes widened a bit, but he felt a little prideful that his skirmish caused such an impact, and that he could now help them all. "Thank you, but do any of you have a way to get rid of this chakra suppressing seal." The council all looked at each other, finding that no one answered. It spoke for itself, Naruto didn't have access to his chakra for the time being.
"Look, boy, while you did us a big favor, we ask that you leave for the time being, we will fill you in on your role in this." An older man in the corner interjected. His dark eyes looked at Naruto almost the same way the nobles looked at him, but Naruto left. Besides, they were allies of his now, right. He would just wait and see.
Back in the council room
Sato began by speaking up, "Anyways, what do we have power wise to compete with the nobles?" Another man, muscular and young, handed him a file. Sato opened it and his eyes gleamed in amazement. The paper read list of available arms, or more specifically, the thousands of explosive tags owned by the rebellion. "With this fire power, even the average citizen can throw these and help us out." Sato's words brought a bit of hope to the people around him, and the younger man smiled.
"Sato, back to the topic, when should we decide to attack?" A frail women asked from the chair at the other head of the table. She was petite and small, looking to be in her mid 80s or so. Sato spoke up once again, "I found the perfect time to launch an attack, when all the nobles are gathered. It's a yearly event that occurs, I heard from the many citizens nearby the palace. Apparently, they call it a Red Banquet, where they all gather to discuss the future of Steam. Though the place will be heavily guarded, this is the perfect time to strike. If we win the battle, we win the war and don't need to deal with a prolonged conflict between us and Shinobi."
A round of whispers echoes the room from the council talking to each other, and the meeting started to discuss other topics, like citizen well being and who to enlist to fight. "And after the success, we will finally take back this country and remake it the way we want it to be, and give retribution to the nobles." Sato added, gathering cheers and smiles, but not of happiness, but those of horror and sadism.
Four days passed, preparations were made, and the people were ready. The new revolutionists consisted of mostly civilian soldiers, which didn't stack up to the trained shinobi present. However, they had one thing the other side didn't, explosive. With paper bombs, they could detonate huge explosions and kill massive amounts of enemies with little cost.
And that night, the Red Banquet took place. While the council themselves and most citizens couldn't attend, an average of 5% of each town went, amassing over 2,000 civilian soldiers ready. Each armed with multiple paper bomb kunai and ready for a battle. Naruto and them all stood outside the palace, waiting. The palace was a medieval castle like place, adorned with gold and silver linings even on the outside. Shinobi patrolled around the perimeter, but they would shift change in exactly 5 minutes. Naruto was a bit nervous now.
He had never fought without using chakra, and he hoped that he could find a key quickly. Some palace guards leaked information about the whereabouts of the key, and Naruto was allowed to rush down and obtain it quickly. The black figures racing through tree tops, Steam shinobi, had just dashed out of sight, and that was the signal.
Then, a rain of paper bomb kunai launched from the trees, and soon a humungous explosion engulfed almost half of the castle. That's when the chaos started. The ragtag group of civilian soldiers charged into the opening into the wall, hailing down explosive kunai. Naruto didn't see much of it as he used his speed to dart down to the basement and look for a key. Above Naruto, the shinobi rained down kunai, killing hundreds of civilians right off of the bat.
Naruto found the passage way and descended the stairs, reaching an area full of sealing equipment. However, there was a person down there, the same person who held the person hostage and got him captured. The man looked at him and was scared for a second, then saw his seal and smiled. "So, kid, do you really think you can beat a Jonin without your fancy jutsu, let me educate you."
A kunai was tossed at Naruto, but he caught it mid air and dashed with it in his hands, slashing at the man. The jonin leaned back and bent over backwards into a leg sweep, but Naruto jumped over it and closed the distance farther. The jonin had to block a barrage of kunai slashes from Naruto, who was faster and stronger than the man himself.
The shinobi did a substitution and Naruto looked back to see him doing hand signs. "Hidden Technique: Steaming Environment!" The air around Naruto began to turn thick and white, steam. The shinobi seemed to vanish into thin air, possibly due to the obstruction in vision. Naruto dashed around the room in random direction, upwards, to the side, ducking, evading.
His movements allowed him to evade and throw off the jonin, who he discovered can't see in the steam either. Naruto used this to his advantage. He surprised the man and thrusted his kunai, but it was parried and Naruto felt the tip of the man's kunai impale his shoulder.
Naruto dropped the kunai instinctively, but held the kunai inside his shoulder and landed a strong blow to the man's neck. He fell back, gasping for air, canceling the steam. Naruto picked up his dropped kunai and charged once again.
The two soon went back to trading blows and slashes with kunai, the man's speed able to keep up due to Naruto's injury. However, cockiness got the hold of him. Naruto made the man overextend his arm, and he tripped the man up. The man fell and Naruto threw his kunai down, the man rolling away and it impaling his gut.
Both stood looking at each other, blood pooling at the ground beneath them. The man flew through more hand signs, a longer list of them. Naruto waited to counter, he couldn't be hasty. "Invisibility Genjutsu" The man disappeared into thin air, for real this time. Naruto tried to disrupt his chakra, but he couldn't due to the seal. Naruto actually felt panicked at this, a simple genjutsu shifting the tide completely.
A right hook nailed Naruto in the chin, from his side, sending him backwards. A kick to the gut had him coughing out a bit of blood and making his shoulder injury worsen. He then felt the kunai be shoved deeper into his shoulder, making Naruto cry in pain slightly. However, he knew where the man was.
With an unpredictable motion, Naruto swiveled around and plunged the kunai into the air, getting a strangled gasp of air. The man reappeared and had the kunai lunged into his throat, his dead body slumping down. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and quickly went to find the seal. His vision was getting blurry and dark, meaning he was losing too much blood.
He eventually found the marked seal and undid it, his chakra flow returning to normal. The Kyubi chakra enveloped his body and wound, healing him. Naruto smiled as the familiar warm feeling took his body in storm and put it back together. After only a few minutes, he was healed and ready to go. Naruto dashed upstairs and saw a horrific scene unfolding.
The civilian army was utterly massacred, except for a few. Only a couple hundred at most were alive out of the 2000 that entered the original invasion. The corpses piled across the room, actually creating mountains and hills from the sheer number of them. The shinobi looked to be in bad health, but there were still massive amounts of them left, maybe 300. Rage enveloped Naruto as orange chakra covered his body, and his emotions went haywire.
He felt insane amounts of fury looking at the piled bodies of innocent people, all trying to fight for equality. His features turned more feral and his eyes blinked red. Kyubi cloak Naruto went through a few hand signs and his deep and gravely voice said two words, "Afterimage Flicker."
After only 15 seconds, the shinobi were all dead. The Kyubi only increased the speed and slow motion present, and Naruto was punching holes through people. Blood sprayed everywhere, and the floors became a lake of human fluids and organs. Naruto moved so fast that his body created miniature sonic booms that nearly deafened the alive civilians. And Naruto eventually canceled the technique, his legs nearly broken. The civilians put down their weapons as Naruto stopped.
They had won
There wasn't cheering, or celebration, only sorrow. You could see the horrified and downcast expressions, from losing fellow friends, loved ones, and people in the battle. In the carnage, the Ruler of Steam was captured by the rebels, and most nobles were killed in the initial explosion. The rebels had did it, a swift and bloody strike that gave them a decisive victory.
Naruto proceeded to pass out and medics rushed the injured and those still alive to hospitals in the capital. What happened after the situation cooled down would forever change the Land of Steam. Naruto woke up and was greeted by Sato, who only said to meet him at the palace entrance at the evening.
Naruto followed that and arrive there, to see a podium and Sato giving a speech. "Greetings, citizens of Steam. Yesterday night, a battle took place at the palace, a battle for freedom and prosperity. What you guys may not know, is the oppression the Kage of the Steam Village showed to us outlining villages. He would cut out supplies and starve us, our lives dependent on what animals we could catch! You may know him as a charismatic ruler, but we know him as a tyrant! And we decided to take the fate into our own hands, by killing the Kage!"
This little speech obviously didn't go as planned. The citizens around Naruto began to protest and try to storm the stage, in a mixture of rage and sorrow. Naruto was amazed, and a girl next to him filled him in. "The people next to the capital lived lives of luxury and prosperity, they knew the man as a great Kage and that he looked out for the people. But he ignored and disrespected us, for which he needs to die."
As if on cue, the man himself was brought into the stage, tied up and a bag over his head. The bag was removed to see the horrified and crying face of the man, bloodied and bruised all over. His body contained so many scars he couldn't count them, and they were all fresh. What did they do to him.
"This will go down as the day Steam finally freed itself and became a united people!" Sato's last sentence made the crowd gasp. Because at the same time, a noose was brought onto stage. The noble ruler of Steam was lifted to it and tied. Then, they kicked the barrel from under him and his neck snapped. The woman led Naruto away as it happened, and the shock resonated through the crowd.
"We thank you for your participation in the Land of Steam, but we advise you to leave, as we need time to rebuild. Have a safe journey!" Her smile was fake, and Naruto looked over his shoulder. In the corner of his vision, the people were rioting on stage, and were being massacred by the Sato and his men.
Smoke soon started to rise as the city was burned in riot and protest. Naruto looked back once more to see the sky orange and yellow from the heat and fire, and the woman looking at it in a sadistic pleasure. He quickly shoed him away and he was on the road, and his conscious was ruined.
It looked like Sato had killed all the citizens on that disapproved, but that couldn't be so. After all, he was distasteful of men who used their power to rule over others like a tyrant. And the city in the background. And he couldn't get over the sadistic pleasure of the woman when the buildings were lit on fire and smoke rose.
Was this the people he helped? Did he merely switch one tyrant for another? All Naruto knew is he couldn't come back. The only remembrance of the place would be the symbol of Steam engraved on his chest, a sign of his shame. He merely switched an evil for a worse evil. And it was all his fault.
This little moral dilemma made him think about what to do. He needed somewhere to go, other than here. Naruto thought and thought and found the answer he wanted. He would go back to Konaha to see Hiruzen and tell him what happened. Maybe the old man wouldn't be too mad and let him back into the Shinobi corp. Naruto started his journey back to the Land of Fire with a smile on his face, happy to see his surrogate grandfather.
...
Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed. I am trying right now to write better chapters that would be more interesting to you viewers, so let me know some things I could do better or something you liked. Anyways, have a good rest of your day.