Scroll 02: The Truth

Disclaimer: Will never ever own Naruto

It was a mere sunny day in the afternoon. Naruto had nothing to do. Sakura had just come home and he had no idea about what he could do. There was nothing interesting outside. Although Tsunade allowed him to take a walk, she strictly forbids him not to move around too much, do heavy activities, and the most disappointing: she didn't allow Naruto to eat ramen or any heavy foods like meats. She said his stomach wasn't strong enough yet to eat heavy foods. But he knew that it was a mere reason to make him eat vegetables and fruit. Damn adults. Always overprotective.

He was sitting on a chair beside the window and watching doctors, nurses, medical ninjas, and patients moving around in the hospital yard. Looking at them just made his mood worse. He had to do something. No matter what it was. So he decided to take a walk. A little walk won't hurt, will it?

So he stood up and slipped his legs to a pair of not-so-stylish-ordinary sandals. He decided to go to a silent and where there were no people around place. Not long, his legs automatically brought him to the hospital roof.

Naruto sighed. "Roof, what a lovely place to spend with when you want to be alone…"

"I agree with that." A voice came from behind and up Naruto, squashing the thought of he was being alone. The blonde turned and found a familiar green hair.

"Mr. Ice-cube! What are you doing here?" Naruto asked. Rhaera, who sat with legs crossing on the small roof above the stair, faced him with a disagreed expression.

"I should be the one who ask that. I have been here since morning and then you came and rudely interrogated me," said Rhaera coldly.

"Have been here since morning?" exclaimed the blonde unbelievably. "What you have been doing?"

"Waiting." Rhaera answered plainly and honestly.

"For who?" asked Naruto.

"Akaki," the archer said as he gazed or rather… faced to the sky once more.

"Who is that?" asked Naruto curiously.

"A blue glow flower spirit. Don't ask anything again. You are asking too much," said the archer, slightly annoyed. Naruto pouted. Knowing the fact that Rhaera was an onmyouji was explaining enough to not ask.

"Fine! I'll leave you to your own world! Is curious is a crime now?" Naruto asked to nobody as he took a seat as far as possible from the plain as paper archer. He faintly heard Rhaera was murmuring something like: "Yes, to me" but decided to let it passed. He looked to the village through the fence. Konoha was so lively outside, he wished Tsunade had been softer enough to allow him do his daily activities such as eating one or two bowls of ramen, training, do some mission, etc.

After bored seeing the city, Naruto laid his body down, put his hands under his head to make it serve as a pillow, turned his gaze to the blue sky. A single black bird whatever it was, it was too far to recognize its kind flew in a circle above Konoha. How lucky the bird was, being able to fly and has nothing to worry beside food and how to life. Sometimes it was nice to imagine the 'I-can-fly' thing but it always ended up as a mere imagination. He had ever experienced the long time fall (thanks to Jiraiya) but never fly. And his high jump that nearly like flying was still different from flying.

"Hey." Rhaera's voice interrupted his thought.

"What?" Naruto asked curtly. He was trying to think in peace and successful doing that but that archer ruined his moments!

"Why do you want to be a Hokage?" asked Rhaera.

"What kind of question is that?" asked Naruto.

"Now asking is a crime for you…" the archer pointed.

"Shut up! Like you, I have the rights to do that!" yelled Naruto furiously.

"And I have the rights to question and to be answered," said the archer.

"I hate you," hissed the blonde.

Rhaera seemed didn't mind. "Go on, as long as it's free to hate somebody."

"GEEZ!" after yelling that, Naruto continued his sightseeing. He couldn't stand the archer! Everything the green haired boy said was right!

"So?" asked Rhaera.

"'So' what?" Naruto began to lose his patience.

"Your answer."

"Fine! I want to be admitted by everyone! Satisfied?"

Rhaera looked thoughtful for a moment. "So, to put it vulgarly, you want medals?"

Naruto immediately sat up. "I never dream let alone say that!"

"But unconsciously, you do. There are more than enough ways to be admitted besides being a Hokage," said Rhaera.

"Shut up! I have the rights to choose whether I want to be a Hokage or not!" yelled Naruto furiously. His cheeks and ears became red from anger.

"You're right. But what are you going to do after being Hokage? Do you will give up your job as soon as your head engraved on that mountain?" asked Rhaera coldly and sarcastically.

Okay. That got Naruto's temper. The blonde suddenly got up and faced Rhaera with furious face. He had never been this mad before. His lips quivered from bit his anger back, face flushed red like a volcano that was ready anytime to explode. How could HE, a blind boy, moreover at the same age like him, insult his dream and talked like he was the more experienced one?

"You… why you…" Naruto was too angry to let the words out of his mouth.

"Why? Because you won't know how hard it is to be a leader. Do you even realize this when you choose the path to be a Hokage?"

To these words, Naruto fell silent. Rhaera was right. He never thought of it. Being Hokage was a hard job everybody knows that. But still, he wants to be a Hokage. Why? He asked himself. Then he found the answer.

"You are right that I didn't realize it. But become a Hokage is the only way to make my existence known as Naruto Uzumaki, not the Ninetail demon fox," said the blonde.

"Well? Isn't that Kyuubi problem has gotten rid of? You don't need to worry about that anymore," said Rhaera.

Naruto couldn't reply this sentence.

"Besides, you can't and won't become a Hokage," added the archer.

"WHAT? Why?" yelled Naruto.

"Two reasons. First, you won't be happy if you become a Hokage. Secondly, you are not qualified to," explained Rhaera.

"Who are you to decide things like that? You are not my God!" exclaimed Naruto.

"It's right that I'm not your God. But I'm just telling what's the truth," said Rhaera.

Naruto became more and more furious. "What kind of truth is that?"

"If you are not satisfied, tell me what the truth is." After said that, Rhaera got down, there was a challenging expression on his face. Knowing what it means, Naruto set his fighting pose too.

"With pleasure." With that, Naruto lunched forward to Rhaera.

The fight had been short. Strangely, Naruto's blow rarely landed on Rhaera, but it seemed that Rhaera's speed was the same as ever. Even if it landed, it had done nothing to the archer. With Rhaera in the upper hands, Naruto could do nothing but kept attacking the archer with no success.

"Will you ever understand? Your body isn't the same anymore!" shouted the archer as he moved to his side to dodge Naruto's punch.

"Shut up!" shouted Naruto.

"Stop deceiving yourself! You feel it, right? The decreasing stamina, accuracy, and agility—" he dodged a kick, "—even health. You know that the Kyuubi had taken more than just its freedom!"

"Silence!" yelled Naruto, still trying to ignore Rhaera's words. But deep in his heart, he knew that the archer was right. He was weaker, slower, and moreover easy to hurt. A mere punch from Rhaera he got earlier was more than enough to make his head spin. Usually, it requires more than five punches from opponent to make him feel the same thing. Maybe it was right that he was too relying to the Kyuubi's power. But still, without it he could summon Gamabunta. So…

"Do you still want me to tell you the truth that I've been trying to hide for your own good?" yelled Rhaera back.

"I.say.I.know.what.is.the.real.TRUTH!" shouted Naruto.

"Fine! Besides all of the previous ones I said, your life won't be much longer than three years!"

That stopped Naruto's moves.

"Other people may not see it, but I did see it." The archer said his words as if it was something that was very simple.

"What—" Naruto hissed, his voice trembled a little, "—did you see, you blind human!" shouted the blonde as he charged again. The green haired archer easily dodged the careless attack.

"I know you won't believe this, but I have the ability—" he dashed to his right to dodge another Naruto's uncontrolled attack.

"Shut up! I won't hear, let alone believe you!" yelled Naruto as he threw his punch to his opponent but again, missed the target. Rhaera took this as an opportunity to stop the blonde's movements by caught Naruto's punching hand. Naruto threw his free hand only to be caught by the archer again.

"I may blind but I have this cursed ability to see how long a person cans life!" yelled Rhaera as he struggled to keep Naruto's hand from reaching their target.

"Do you think I'll believe a foreigner like you! Your onmyouji crap you've brought is more than enough to make a person distrust you!" shouted Naruto as he kept trying to punch Rhaera.

That hit Rhaera's nerve. "Onmyoujitsu is not a crap! I know it's hard to believe but—"

"So that's really you, Reikage-sama." A cold voice came from above. Believing his fighting sense, Rhaera dodged (bringing Naruto with him) just before a wave of energy smashed the floor they used to be there.

Rhaera turned his head and found it was the dark-grey haired man that was the kidnapper of Naruto. He watched the two boys from his place on the fence with gleam of amusement in his red eyes. He wore a Noshi with blue patterns minus the tall black hat now.

"Oh, you." Rhaera said it with a (if Naruto's ears were in the right condition) bored tone.

"Wow, you remembered me. I'm feeling honored," said the man with a (surely not a pure) pleasant tone.

"How could I forget a person that has tried to use a weak soul to possess me, kidnapped my partner under my nose, and left without a proper good-bye. And now you attacked someone who supposed to be your leader. Or former leader, I realized," said Rhaera with a matter of fact tone.

The man whistled. "Clever minds you got, Reikage-san."

Rhaera looked at the man with a frowning face. "Do you think why and how I became a Reikage?"

"Not by bribe I suppose," answered the man.

"Glad you have brain, Mr. Pain-in-ass," said Rhaera mockingly.

"Hey, I have a name, you know! It's Tsukihiro Miyabi."

Naruto stared at him. "You are a man, right?"

The man snapped to the blonde. "Of course! Can't you see that I'm as masculine as a tiger? What's that question supposed to mean?"

Rhaera tried hard not to snicker. "It's just your name is as feminine as a girl."

"Aren't you the same?" asked Naruto before Miyabi could retort.

"Well, that's a different story. By the way Miyabi-kun (Rhaera put a lot of stress in the 'kun' word), what kind of business you have with us until you have to stick with the fence?" asked Rhaera.

"Finally you asked that. As you know, I am one of the rebellion members of Reigakure."

"So? You want to kill me thus your rebellion would be a success?" asked Rhaera, frowned.

"Well, yes. But I'm no match for you so I'm ordered to take that earrings of yours," said Miyabi as he pointed his index finger to Rhaera.

"I'm sorry, but your request is unavailable for now and forever," said Rhaera as he prepared to strike anytime.

Miyabi sighed. "Too bad, I was hoping you would have been easy to cooperate. But I guess I can't help it. You are Reikage after all…" and he too, prepared to fight.

"Naruto, stay back," ordered the archer.

"What!" but before the blonde could sound the rest of his protest, Rhaera spoke again.

"Don't be ridiculous. You can't even beat a regular genin now, let alone this guy. His level is far above yours and you'll be nothing but nuisance! Besides, I have more experience fighting someone from Reigakure. So stay back," said the archer strictly.

Naruto was taken aback by Rhaera's remark. Like it or not, the green-haired archer was right. He was far weaker than before and he never fought someone from foreign land before. He had no choice but complied with Rhaera. He drew back as far as possible from the two Rei village's villagers and waited. He never likes to be a helpless audience.

The wind blew Miyabi's black hat off from its owner's head. As the hat fell back to the floor, the battle started.

Miyabi jumped as high as possible and threw some paper charms. Rhaera easily dodged it. The charms hit the floor and embedded on it like a kunai would. It was the archer's turn now. Rhaera drew three of his arrows and fired it to Miyabi — which the man had a near escape from those. One of those arrows managed to scratch Miyabi's perfect cheek.

Rhaera smirked. "Not bad for a rebel." And he fired again his arrows like before. Miyabi had just landed but had a near escape from those too, but this time he wasn't as lucky as before. One of those arrows tore his neat sleeve and deeply scratched his arm.

"Shit!" cursed Miyabi as he drew five paper charms, made them formed five points in the air, and activated them. Each paper let out a ray of light and shaped a star like draw. It acted as a shield that protected Miyabi from another row of attack from Rhaera's archery assault. But it immediately broke because Rhaera's arrows were too strong. But it was a fortune for him because his shield managed to stop the arrows.

/Leader is right. I can't underestimate someone who holds the title as leader./ thought Miyabi. It was a matter of time before he lost. Rhaera hadn't even used half of his power and skill. For the Reikage, this might be just a warming up. He had to use his best ability or he couldn't even get near to Rhaera.

He had decided it. Miyabi drew a string of brown beads and round it around his arms as his hands formed a hand seal.

Rhaera stopped his movement as Miyabi chanted sentences in odd language. "Already do a calling? I think you are greater than I expect. Or… you want to end this quickly? I won't let you!" Rhaera fired his arrows again but this time Miyabi was ready. Without stopping his chants Miyabi dodged the attack. This time the arrow managed to scratch his shoulder.

"Shit!" Rhaera cursed. He was taking too easy and it was already too late. The spirit Miyabi managed to call had answered the man's call.

Naruto shivered. Suddenly it was terribly freezing. It was so cold until he was sure if another degree was reduced, his blood would freeze. He hugged himself to keep his body warm as he tried to watch the battle. He thanked to the hospital because hospital pajamas were thicker and warmer than his normal clothes. But what came next was out of his imagination. Clouds were getting in the way of sunlight. It was almost as dark as early night. But darkness wasn't the thing that made Naruto wasn't sure if he had not been dreaming.

It was snowing. More than snowing, it was a blizzard. Correction, a local blizzard because it happened in hospital area only. Konoha was located in a TROPICAL area and there was no way snow would fall. But it was falling, so why?

It was not long before a woman figure appeared. She was slim and tall. But she was no normal woman. Her skin was white like a snow and her eyes were red like ruby. Her long hair was also white and glowing because the massive white aura that radiated from her body. She wore a long, white kimono that flapped wildly because the cold wind. She was very beautiful but another thing that made a man wouldn't believe that she was a human that she was floating.

"Yuki Onna (Snow Woman)? What a troublesome spirit you have chosen…" moaned Rhaera. The problem was not that it was a hard spirit to shoo away, but it was attracting attention.

As if on cue, Tsunade appeared after kicked the poor door open. She was followed by other medical ninjas.

"What's going on here?" asked Tsunade to anyone who could answer. She needed to shout because the blizzard was so hard. She needed to shield her face from the snow so she could remain able to see.

"As you can see, snows in the wrong place!" replied Rhaera by shouting too. He tried his best not to let his saliva frozen and not to be blown off by the wind.

Tsunade moaned. She had been transfusing blood to one of her patients when the cold air came and froze the blood.

"Tsunade-san! Take Naruto and go away from here!" shouted Rhaera as he dodged the ice spears from the Snow Woman.

"Okay! But can't you make this place warmer? This hospital isn't a battlefield!" shouted Tsunade. Then she ran to Naruto and helped the almost freezing blonde.

"I can, but I won't guarantee that it would safe! You should empty the first and second upper floor— no. I mean the whole hospital!" shouted Rhaera as he smashed the ice spears that were mean to his head.

"I understand! But give me fifteen minutes!" with that, Tsunade managed to escape the freezing battlefield with Naruto.

Miyabi smirked. "Ten minutes, huh? Well, that's more than enough. Reikage! If you don't want anybody to be harmed, give those earrings!"

"What!" exclaimed Rhaera. Couldn't he possibly..!

Miyabi read his face. "Your expectation is right! I'm going to order the Snow Woman to give some solid rain! Don't think I can't do that!"

"You can't!" shouted Rhaera.

"Want some proof?" then Miyabi shouted to the Snow Woman. "Yuki Onna! Use your ice rain!"

"No!" yelled Rhaera as he fired a burning arrow to the snow woman. But it died before it reached the snow spirit. Shit! He was too underestimating him!

Blocks of ice with random shape began to fall all over Konoha village. Their sizes were quite small, from as small as a golf ball to as big as a soccer ball. But they were more than enough to knock a person unconscious or smashed some shop name's board until it broke into two or three pieces and fell. People panicked and began to find place to shelter them from the blocks of ice.

Kakashi was reading his beloved Icha-Icha Tactics book when something hit right on the top of his head. He thought that it might be Sakura or any other naughty children but he began to doubt it when he knew what hit his head.

"Ice?" he asked himself.

It was as small as gravel was. No matter how naughty a child, he or she wouldn't waste his or her time to collect ices before hit him. So there was only one another option. He looked up to the sky and saw a small white dot that became bigger and bigger until it was as big as a soccer ball and he recognized that it was an irregular ice block that was on its way to his head. It was a miraculous fortune or smartness that he looked up to the sky in the right time or he wouldn't have the time to dodge it. The ice smashed the ground and broke into pieces.

Kakashi sighed, "That was close. If I hadn't look up, my head was the one that had broken into pieces…"

But the silver haired jounin had no time to relax as another wave of ice blocks assaulted him. He managed to escape the big ones but the smaller ones sometimes hit him. It didn't cause a serious injury, but it still hurt and annoying. Kakashi thought it was better to search the cause than search for shelter because when something strange happens it bound to be worse. Who knows if the blocks of ice became as big as a boat? Hopefully it would not.

Kakashi was a good situation forecaster but a bad hoper. What he expected (seriously) happened. It didn't take long when a very big ice that had the power to smash down a house into rubbles fell down.

"Kakashi! We need help here!" the silver haired jounin heard Kurenai's voice. He turned and found Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai, were doing their best to break the ice into pieces to shield the non-ninjas villagers. Without a second thought, Kakashi rushed to the crowded part of the village and helped the other jounins to do their task.

"What the hell is going on here?" asked Kakashi with shout to overcome the sounds of breaking ice.

"I'm glad you asked that, but unfortunately, I don't have the answer either!" shouted Asuma as he used his fist to break a block of big as table ice.

"Hey, Kakashi! How about the challenge of 'who's the one that break ice with the greatest number'?" asked Gai with his glittering teeth.

Asuma and Kurenai sweat-dropped. "Gai, this isn't the time!" said Kurenai.

Kakashi with his bored face, said, "Do as your wish."

"Yahoo! You are as I can expect from my rival!" yelled Gai with cocky and wide smile that was showing his teeth.

/Hopefully it'll spur the two of them…/ sighed Kurenai mentally.

Back to Rhaera and Miyabi. Rhaera's whole body nearly covered with snow. The Snow Woman kept blowing her blizzard attack. He had to wait until all the hospital occupants evacuated. But he couldn't wait any longer, fifteen minutes was enough for the Snow Woman to turn the whole Konoha into rubbles!

"What's the matter with you, Reikage! Isn't the snow woman is no match for you?" shouted Miyabi mockingly. Well, he was right. Rhaera could get rid the spirit in a blink of eye, but the energy pressure would be too much for the building. Snow Woman might not a high level spirit, but in this village, no building had one or more energy mufflers! Nothing would absorb the radiating energy and the hospital building might collapsed!

"Or do you afraid that your work will damage the building and harm the people in it? You don't need to worry, because I'll do it first! Yuki Onna! Freeze this village!" ordered Miyabi.

The Snow Woman complied. She began to freeze the hospital. The ice spread quickly from the roof to the floors below it. The evacuating people began to panic.

"Don't panic! Just walk quickly!" ordered Tsunade and the people complied. They walked as fast as possible. /Rhaera, just wait a little longer/ said Tsunade mentally.

But before the Snow Woman could finish her task, an arrow flew through her chest from her back. The snow spirit body started to melt and evaporated but not vanished. Apparently, the arrow was equipped with a strong fire charm.

"What the—!" cursed Miyabi as he turned to see who was the attacker.

It was more than one attacker. People in shikifuku (an onmyouji's ceremony dress) were riding a bird shaped shikigami (spirit animals made from paper charms). One of them still hold his bow, apparently he was the one who attacked the Snow Woman, People below (who were safe enough from the ice blocks) were pointing to them and wondering who they were.

A woman with long brown hair and black eyes (who apparently the leader) took a scroll and read it. "Tsukihiro Miyabi. One of the rebels, formerly in the Seiryu legion as one of the snow mountains guardian team leaders. Your status was missing. The last time you were sighted was last year at the first month of winter. But there was a rumor that you are still alive and a part of the rebellion team. And it turned out to be true," she stared at Miyabi with filthy look, "right?"

"Haguma Yatsuki from Suzaku legion, eh? I used to admire you, but too bad when I finally meet you we face each other as enemies." Miyabi's voice sounded calm but Rhaera knew that he was trying to hide his panic. Only a stupid person that was dare to challenge a whole team that contains five people when they were as experienced as you or even more.

"So? Do you want to give up?" asked Yatsuki. "The truth is I don't like to fight with traitors."

Miyabi snickered. "Hmph! Give up? After all I sacrifice?"

"You could still go back now, before too late," said Rhaera.

"Oh yes, Reikage-sama. You are the one who made the rule right? That we must not go out of the village unless you order it. And that happens one every twenty years. Do you think all of the villagers are happy to live deep under the dark and cold sea? We are human, we need sun and fresh dry land, you know," said Miyabi with anger.

Rhaera lifted his eyebrows. "That's why you and your friends rebel?" he asked as if it was a very simple thing.

"Yes! We are humans like those ninjas but why we must live in a very dark sea? We deserved sunlight, you know!" said Miyabi, repeating his sentences.

"It looks like you and your leader didn't learn well, did you? It's mentioned in the Geographical and History subject that IF the villagers want to see sun and beg it to their leader, the Reikage will be more than pleased to bring the sunlight to the Reigakure. SO, all you must do is just beg to me. Isn't it simple?" asked Rhaera.

"Don't make me laugh! How could a human bring sunlight to the deep sea?" asked Miyabi.

"Well then," Rhaera shrugged. "that means you don't believe in me. You are free to attack, Yatsuki."

Yatsuki bowed to Rhaera. "Yes, Reikage-sama." And then she began to attack.

It didn't take long to make Miyabi cornered. But luck was with the rebel. His companions came and saved Miyabi after they made chaos enough to distract the Rei villagers. Miyabi escaped, leaving a nearly destroyed Konoha.

"What a chaos…" commented Tsunade who realized that the battle was over (judging from the lack of blizzard) and realized that the hospital was far from its original shape so was Konoha. It was a miracle that it could still stand. Well, it was a miracle that snow would appear in Konoha at the first place.

Tsunade sighed.

/I guess I know what our first and second Hokage felt when they built Konoha…/

"Well, Akaki. Why did you bring a bunch of Suzaku army when I asked you to bring a scroll?" asked Rhaera when he made sure that no one except the other Reigakure villagers heard them. As if the Konoha villagers cared. They were shocked enough by the falling ice blocks.

Akaki gasped. She realized that she had failed her given task.

"Well… I… I… uhh…" she blabbered nervously.

"It's not her fault. We followed her without her knowing." Yatsuki interrupted Akaki. Akaki turned her head sharply and stared at her. Why the woman defended her?

Rhaera turned his back to face the people. "It's useless to defend her. I know that you forced her to tell you where am I."

Yatsuki flinched to the words.

"And you doubt that I am the Reikage, aren't you?" he added.

"I…" Yatsuki started.

"That's okay. It's understandable. I've not shown my face to the villagers for the last twenty years, after all. Besides, I know you all are very surprised to see this child form, right? In fact, I'm older than you all. But as you wish, I won't blame her. Akaki, where is the scroll? I'll deal with you all later," said Rhaera as he turned his face back to face them.

Akaki went near to Rhaera and gave the black scroll to the Reikage. The green-haired archer opened the seal and read through it. It wondered the people of how could he read the scroll when he couldn't see anything. But he was full of mysteries at the first place anyway. He nodded several times and closed the scroll back.

"Uhm… master? Can I ask, why did you read the list of the death people?" asked Akaki.

Rhaera turned his face to the sky. "To make sure that if the Yondaime no Hokage has died or not."

Answer to Review:

Dragon Man 180 I know it's a bit confusing, but it'll get clear later. I promise. It's more like that this story has no connection with my previous one, that's what one of my friends said.

Announcement:

I won't update till May. I have the Try Out tests, Pre-School and National examination, etc. I even may not update till June. I'm still a schoolgirl, you know. And I need to pass these examinations to continue to the Senior High School. Think about examination, that reminds me of the still genin Naruto. Good-Bye.

PS: Thank you to those who reviewed!