Scroll 03: The 4th Hokage, has died or not?

"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."

"What?" asked a confused Akaki.

"Why would a Reikage like you, care for the other kage's village?" asked Yatsuki.

"Because—" whatever Rhaera was going to say was interrupted by Tsunade's entrance. She tapped her right feet and set a frowning face to indicate her confusion, resent, and angry. Some of the ninjas appeared later and took place behind her. And the Reikage knew, if he didn't straighten things out, that pose of the Hokage meant to be a bad sign.

Rhaera faced her for a moment. "I know I'm more than owe all of you some explanation."

Tsunade stopped her tapping and lessen her frown but didn't let her suspicious eyes down. She turned her head to the ninjas, more specifically ANBU team, and nodded her head. The team of ANBU responded with a light nod and suddenly jumped to the archer's sides and seized him, putting his hands to his back. The onmyoujis and Akaki went alert and prepared to strike. But Rhaera stopped them.

"Don't! We've caused trouble enough for us to be accused as threat!" commanded the archer.

"But—!" Yatsuki tried to protest.

"They have the reason, Yatsuki. I'll be okay. They have the reason to arrest me, but they don't have the reason to hurt me. And Hokage-san," Rhaera turned his head to Tsunade. "Don't touch them." Rhaera's voice was low and deadly when he said it.

Tsunade got the clue and nodded. "I guarantee their safety," she said shortly but really meant it.

Rhaera let the ANBUs guide him. He was followed by the helpless stare of his followers.

oOoOo

Naruto opened his eyes and saw the blue sky of Konoha's. He knew that he was on a comfortable bed, but how could he see the sky? There was surprisingly cold air too. Suddenly he heard a soft squeak and he turned his head to the direction of the sound. It was Hinata. He had no idea why that blue haired girl squeak and had her face red as Sakura's cloth.

"Hinata…" Naruto barely said with his surprisingly hoarse voice.

"Y-yes?" she gasped a little. It had been okay when she watched him sleep, but why she felt so nervous now?

"Why… I can see… the sky..?" asked the blonde slowly and unsurely.

Hinata was confused at Naruto's question at first but then she got what he meant. "It— it's because… there's no safe enough building to stay at…"

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto with a surprised tone, suddenly losing his hoarse voice.

Hinata tried her best to answer fluently. "Don't you remember? The falling ice…"

Naruto immediately got it. "Oh yeah, those damned ice… it done quite something to the village, right?"

Hinata nodded slightly. "Yes. According to the chuunin until jounin's… inspection, almost one hundred percent of the village heavily damaged. Many are injured. But luckily… no one died. The buildings that are still standing are considered not safe enough… so… no one is allowed to enter their houses. The hospital is still standing, but it has the worst condition. That's… why the injured people including Naruto-kun are being treated outside."

He turned his head to another side and saw the sea of beds around him. Hinata was right.

"You are right. By the way, you said that almost all place in Konoha are heavily damaged. So, which place that got light damage?" asked Naruto.

"It is…"

oOoOo

"Out of all places, it seems that the Hokage Tower is the safest place, isn't it?" sighed Tsunade with her eyes locked to the window. "No damage. Even at its front terrace."

"I think I can answer why it survived the ice stampede," said Rhaera casually as if he wasn't being interrogated and guarded by a troop of ANBUs.

"Thank you for your offering but I'll ask you later. Now, explain it to me," said Tsunade as she put her arm under her jaw to support it, while her free hand was tapping its fingers on her desk, impatiently waiting for whatever answer the archer was going to give her.

"Which one you want me to explain first? Who was the attacker or how did the ices appear?" asked Rhaera.

"I want to know WHY he came into Konoha for the first question, then why he dropped the ices all over the village, and HOW he could do that?" asked Tsunade impatiently.

"For the first question, he came after me. Or… the thing that proof me as the leader of Rei-gakure," said Rhaera.

"Proof YOU as the leader of Rei-gakure?" asked Tsunade suspiciously.

"In short, I'm one of the kages like you. My title is Reikage," said Rhaera casually, ignoring the fact that he made all the room attendants stared at him. "That means, a small troop of ANBU would not do anything to me," he added, made the ANBUs flinched a bit.

"And why are you here, in Konoha, at the first place?" asked Tsunade.

"Patience, Tsunade-san. I'll uncover the mysteries one by one," he said plainly. When he was sure that Tsunade closed her mouth, he continued. "For the second question, he dropped the ices all over the village to threat me to give the thing he wants."

Tsunade nodded in understanding.

"And for the third question, as you saw back than, he called a Snow Woman," said Rhaera.

"A— what?" asked Tsunade.

"Snow Woman. One of many kinds of snow spirits. Its ability is to produce ice, bring winter to a place, guard the high mountains, and other cold places like some country at the north. They are weak at heat. The ones that could call snow woman is a C-ranked onmyouji," explained Rhaera. "Don't stare at me. I'm telling the truth." He added.

Deciding to ignore the doubt for a moment, Tsunade asked. "What do you mean by C-ranked?"

"You see, like ninjas, we have our own rank. There are five of them. From the lowest, E — it usually contains of ordinary civilian onmyouji. The ones who are in this rank usually have the basic ability such as the ability to see souls, speak, hear, and touch them. D rank usually contains students or practitioner. C rank usually contains the people who passed the final student exam and are ready to the battlefield or teaching the D rank people. The B rank contains the leaders of a C ranked team. Their tasks are to guard the village along with their lower ranked team. They are mean to attack if necessary, just like the ones you see back then. They are a team with a B ranked leader," explained Rhaera.

Tsunade nodded in understanding. "So, it's like a jounin leading a band of chuunin. You may continue."

"The A rank contains the people who do very serious jobs such as spying and any other things that are vital for the village. They have the direct order from me. The last was S rank. Very few people who can obtain this rank and capable to be a Reikage. Well, as long as I'm not dead yet," said Rhaera as he turned his head to stare the window. "That Yondaime no Hokage had done a very good job to this tower, hadn't he?" he wondered out loud but not loud enough to be clear for Tsunade.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

Rhaera shook his head and faced Tsunade again. "Nothing."

"But!" a familiar man's voice popped in. "Can we trust your story?" asked the voice.

Everybody turned and saw Jiraiya was hanging upside down in front of the window. Everybody would sweat-drop or laugh if the situation was not like this. Jiraiya quickly entered the room and patted the archer.

"You sure you are not making any excuse?" he asked as if he was interrogating a guilty child.

He would see that Rhaera was glaring at him if the archer didn't wear a blindfold. "What for?" he asked.

"It's not like we'll easily believe you. Your story is just… sounds so unbelievable," said Jiraiya.

Tsunade sighed. "I know what you mean, Jiraiya. I can't easily believe him either. But looking at our situation now, it's hard to find the truth. What if his entire story is right? One people from his village enough to make our village turned into rubbles. What if the entire village of him is set to attack us? We are nothing but history…"

Jiraiya stared at Rhaera. "By the way, why do you come here? Spying? Is there anything that threatens you?"

"I have two reasons. First, there's somebody that has violated one of the nature's laws and it's my job to punish that somebody…" explained Rhaera.

"Nature's laws?" asked Jiraiya, lifting his eyebrows.

"Nothing is immortal." Rhaera answered shortly.

"Orochimaru and his immortality jutsu," mumbled Tsunade.

"Then, what's the second reason?" asked Jiraiya.

"The rebellion. I smelled it before I left my village. But I don't want to make decision too quickly so I was planning to make my leave as bait. And they didn't take long to eat it," answered Rhaera.

"May I ask one more question?" asked Tsunade.

"It depends." Rhaera shrugged.

"Why do the rebels rebel?" asked the kunoichi.

Rhaera turned his head. "That's our village's problem. You don't need to stick your nose into it unless you're seeking trouble."

"That means you don't want any external factors, do you?" asked Tsunade.

"You could put it that way." Rhaera was silence for a moment. "Can I ask you?"

"About what?"

"That fourth Hokage of yours…" he paused for a minute, "…has he already died or not?"

Tsunade's eyebrows twitched. Everybody, including the stone like ANBUs, immediately stared to him. "Why do you ask that? Of course he has."

"Really? What's the proof?" asked the archer.

"What are you trying to pull?" asked Jiraiya.

"Nothing, it's just, I know you never saw his dead body directly, am I right?" asked Rhaera.

"Don't say something that you don't know. Yondaime is DEAD. That's the fact," said Tsunade.

"At least that was what Sandaime told to the people, right?" asked Rhaera.

"You…" growled Tsunade. Anyone who was smart enough would run at this very second. "Why do you ask this anyway?"

"I'm just wondering, who is this man since he was very similar to Naruto. I ordered Akaki to investigate this and I found that he was the once fourth Hokage," said Rhaera.

"Then what's the connection of this to your question?" asked Tsunade.

"I couldn't find him at the list of the death people," answered Rhaera simply.

"What?" asked Tsunade and Jiraiya at once.

"I have the authority to guard and read the list. For the short description, no living people will have their name on that list," explained Rhaera.

"You're becoming weirder and weirder every second. I guess it's enough for today. You all," she faced the band of ANBU. "—send him to that place and make sure he doesn't get out of it until I order you."

The ANBUs began to seize him again but the archer yanked his hand off of the ANBU's grip. "That's fine. I could walk myself without stumbling myself."

One of the ANBU looked worriedly to Tsunade. Tsunade nodded her head and the ANBU made no more effort to hold Rhaera.

After they were gone, Tsunade sighed. She wiped her cold sweat from her forehead.

"Could you trust him?" asked her to her comrade.

"Not when he doesn't telling the entire truth," answered Jiraiya simply.

"Yes," Tsunade sighed.

"We can't help it. That's their internal business. We have more than enough troubles…" said Jiraiya.

"Yeah, but not only that…" Jiraiya stared at Tsunade as she continued. "He said he could read the death list. How can he read when he can't see?"

"Right. He hides more than we can expect," said Jiraiya.

And they all fell into silence.

Meanwhile, Naruto was walking near a river's bank, still with his pajamas. Hinata companied him in silence. She couldn't leave Naruto alone when he had just recovered. Who knows he would relapse. Naruto didn't mind. But it was more like he didn't care if he was treated like a three years old child that needed to be guarded since he was in a deep thought. Rhaera was right. Definitely right. And he hated it. He walked without realizing where he would go. Finally, he stopped at the river's bridge.

Hinata looked at Naruto worriedly. Since back from his capture, Naruto had been behaving weirdly. His usual bright, cheerful self was replaced by dark and gloomy nature. Sometimes he would doze and his gaze was blank, staring to the sky. She was wondering what could make Naruto that gloomy, even when Sasuke left, he managed to be cheerful so what kind of problem that made Naruto like this? She wanted to ask, and offer her help to be at least listening, but she knew Naruto wasn't the type that would share his problem when he was asked. So she decided to wait till he told her.

"This is…" Naruto began. Hinata startled and looked to Naruto. He was leaning to the bridge's cement rail fence, gazing down to the flow of clear water. His lips formed a sad smile. "This place is where my team and I used to meet."

Hinata couldn't do anything as she watched Naruto continuing his speech.

"Sasuke and I used to be the first one to be here. I used to try to wake up earlier, and be the first one here. But no matter how early I wake, he would come at the same time as I," said Naruto. The wind blew, ruffling his blonde hair. Talking about hair, Hinata noticed that Naruto's hair was longer. But it might be just her imagination because this was the first time she saw Naruto without his forehead protector.

"And I ended give up of it because I'd have to wait longer for Kakashi-sensei… and Sasuke and I had a silence promise to not to do that childish and tiring thing…" said Naruto as he watched a leaf fell to the river and flowed with the water.

"Hinata…"

Once again, she was startled. "Y-yes, Naruto-kun?" asked her.

"Do your team always argues with each other?" asked Naruto as he turned his head to Hinata. He smiled slightly, as if he was trying to say: 'this happens to every team.'

"Uh…" Hinata thought, searching for the answer.

"I know you never argue, you are the type that would submit to everyone's opinion or whatever. So you rarely get trouble or fight," said Naruto.

Hinata found the ground was very interesting at the moment. "Neji and father said that too…"

Naruto smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. It's not a bad thing to avoid troubles. As long as it's right for you, you may continue with it."

Hinata lifted her head and nodded slightly. "Uhm. I never argue with Kiba or Shino. It's just Kiba, he…" she struggled to find the correct word. "…doesn't want to lose to Shino. He thinks that Shino was a damned cool headed and act as if he was the leader. Meanwhile Shino thinks that it's no matter who is the leader and Kiba is too sensitive and hot headed…"

Naruto turned his head to the river again. This time he stared at the reflection of the bridge with him and Hinata on it. "That's Kiba all right. I always think he and Shino resembles me and Sasuke a bit. So I kind of understand his feelings…"

"Uhm…" Hinata just nodded.

"I used to argue too, with Sasuke. And then Sakura would hit me on the head when I thought Sasuke's idea was bad. Hmph," Naruto snickered. "It's funny to think how ridiculous we were back then…"

Hinata could only stare at Naruto. Why did the blonde talk about this? Naruto, as far she knew, never shared his feelings like this.

"But…" the blonde continued, "Maybe… I can't do that again… even if Sasuke was back…"

Then both of them were silent. Hinata was startled at Naruto's words meanwhile Naruto didn't know how to continue. The only thing they could hear was the rushing water and chirps of birds. Hinata was thinking how to break the silence when Naruto suddenly moved. He turned his back to Hinata.

"I'm going home," he said. Then he started to walk away.

Hinata was going to follow him when he turned and smile slightly.

"You don't have to follow me. I could walk with my own self," he said.

"But..!" Hinata stopped her protest when her white eyes locked to Naruto's beautiful blue but blank orbs. The blue ones seemed pleading to her. Hinata understand.

"F-fine. Be careful… Naruto-kun…" said her with head bowed down.

Naruto didn't answer as he continued his steps.

Naruto walked and walked. He didn't care where he was going. He knew that his apartment were in the same condition as the other Konoha houses. Turned into rubbles. There was nothing he could do at his place. He didn't strong enough to repair it. He would leave it to other villagers and stay out of the way. Yeah, that was better for a weak person like him.

It was a moment before he passed a little shinobi boy with his mother. It seemed they were arguing about a broken kunai.

"Come on, discard it!" commanded the mother.

"No! It's my first kunai!" said the boy as he held the broken kunai to his chest protectively. It seemed that the kunai was broken into half and the boy held its remainings.

"You idiot! You can't use it anymore! It's useless! It has broken!" said the mother.

Naruto suddenly got a sharp and painful pang in his heart.

"B-but!" the kid hesitated. He was torn between submitting to his heart or his mother.

"If you are in a battle or mission, that kunai would be nothing but useless weight! What if you died because you didn't bring another useful kunai?" asked the mother.

Naruto closed his ears with his hands. He didn't want to hear anymore of this. But the voice kept coming back.

"But at least I can keep it at home!" protested the kid.

"But you will soon forget it and it will be a jumble in the house. The best way is to discard it as soon as possible. You have to do it when you are in the mission or battle too. So now, discard it," said the mother slowly but strictly.

The kid silenced. Naruto backed away until he turned and ran as fast as he could. He closed his eyes to prevent the tears from falling. But still, the beads of salty water fell from his eyes. He ran and ran until he ran out of power. He stopped his steps and his knees fell automatically to the ground. He used his hands to support his body and prevent his face from slamming to the ground. His vision was blurred by the tears. The fallen ones were immediately absorbed by the ground. He switch his position so he was now sitting and leaning to a tree, wall, or whatever he didn't care.

"Since when…" he sobbed, "Since when did I become such a crybaby?" he asked to nobody.

"Damn it!" he yelled in frustration as he slammed his fist to the ground over and over until it bleed. Then he remembered something.

"I think… if you have the power to stand again after you fall… that's the real power…" Hinata's voice echoed in his head.

"But!" he yelled, "What if I don't have the power to stand again? What if I have lost all the thing that make me could stand again?"

He sobbed miserably like a child. If Sasuke or Sakura was here, they would mock him for being a crybaby. But he couldn't help it. He already vowed his life to the ninja way and he had no other skill other than that. He was not smart like Sakura. He couldn't cook anything except instant ramen. He wasn't a looker like Sasuke. He couldn't do arts except those graffiti painting on the Hokages' monument. Moreover, he didn't have parents like the others. No one would care for him if he wasn't a ninja anymore. He would be left as a broken kunai. It had no use but useless weight that needed to be discarded.

It was all the kyuubi's fault! But… maybe what Kabuto said was right.

"You were nothing if you had no Kyuubi."

"Am I really nothing without Kyuubi?" he asked himself. Yes he was. He knew that he had his own chakra but Kyuubi had drained it when it came out of his body.

For a long time, he staid there sobbing. He lost the track of time and when he was aware again it was already an early evening. The sun was setting, making the blue sky red as blood. He stood up, figuring that no matter how hopeless he was, he didn't want to stay here for the night. But he realized that he didn't have the urge to come home. He decided to stroll around in this place until he thought it was enough. He looked around and realized that he was in the formerly Uchiha family's residence. How could he get here, he didn't know and didn't bother to want to know.

The place was lifeless and dull now. The 'DO NOT ENTER' yellow tapes were strapped on its entrance. This place was located a little far away from the village so Naruto found no ice blocks in here. This place was bad enough without them anyway. It was no wonder why Sasuke had been so cold, growing in a genius family that used to live far away from the lively part of the village. He stepped his feet on the rock floor of the entrance. He thought two times before entering it. He didn't want to make problems or anything. He just wanted to walk around. He ducked his head to avoid the tapes from sticking into his head.

He took a look to the place. It was surprisingly clean from blood despite the tragedy that had happened years before. He thought that the Sandaime had ordered his ninjas to clean this place. It was no surprise if he was right. Sandaime had been a very kind hearted man. Naruto knew that he wouldn't let a place staid horrible for too long.

This place wasn't like the other places in the Konoha. It was neater and a step more luxurious, as you could expect from the once greatest clan. Naruto knew that Uchihas earned their glory and wealth not by nothing. Aside from those facts, it seemed that they had been talented to clean their houses. The houses appeared to be more luxurious, but they were older looking and their styles were out of date. Maybe they were too genius so they had been often called until they didn't have the time to upgrade their own house or they respected their ancestors so much. Naruto didn't care to find out.

He walked and walked until he found a house that caught his attention. It was the biggest house around. He entered it. He opened the front door easily, finding that it wasn't locked. He looked around. He had no sharp nose like Kiba or Rhaera but he could tell that the house was overwhelmed by the smell of old woods. He didn't bother to remove his shoes from his legs; there would be no one that was going to scold him. He thought as he continued his exploration.

Not long, he found a room. It was a living room. Like all other places, it was dusty. I mean, very dusty. He looked around, not exactly sure why he invaded some dead people's territory. Then his eyes fell to a small wooden picture frame. It had landscape position and was covered with thick dust, preventing him from seeing what the picture it displayed from the distance he was now. He went toward the drawers that had the frame on it and took the frame. He wiped the dust from its glass with his hand and saw a picture of happy family.

He recognized two of the four people in that picture. They were Sasuke and Itachi in their childhood. He noted that Sasuke was a cute child back then, he would want him to be his little brother if the Sasuke he knew wasn't such a pain in ass. And for Itachi, even in his cold mask, Naruto could tell that he loved his little brother as much as a brother would do. It was easy to tell. The way he put one of his hand protectively on his brother's shoulders told enough. It was easy to understand Sasuke's will to revenge too. His once loving big brother that he admired so much turned one hundred and eighty degrees into a cold blooded assassin.

But there was a huge question mark. Why did Itachi do all of this?

Naruto knew he wouldn't get the answer. Besides why would he care for other people's business when he himself needed help?

The blonde put the frame back to its place and walked out of the room. He was just out of the house when he heard a voice.

"…I heard your silent wish…"

It was a woman's voice. She sang a slow and beautiful song. Her voice wasn't that beautiful, but her voice seemed to be merged with the tones.

"…begging to the sea of stars…"

"…to show their pretty diamonds…"

Naruto followed the voice. It came from the farthest part of the residence from the gate.

"But I'm sorry…"

"I can't fulfill your wish…"

"…your simple wish… to be true…"

The voice got louder as Naruto came nearer to the source.

"…I even hurt you…"

"…by leaving you alone to face this beautiful but cruel world…"

Naruto could see who the singer was now. She was a woman in her twenty or so. She has beautiful chocolate colored long hair that was tied into a halfway braid. It easily reached her hip. She was kneeling in front of a big Sakura tree with her back facing Naruto. Her attribute was a little bit foreign. She was wearing a sleeveless and high neck dark purple shirt. But it wasn't the whole purple. It was white colored from the neck to above her chest region. The shirt seemed to cover her body to her knees. She also wore a black belt so the lower part of the shirt seemed to be her 'skirt'. She wore a pair of black pants to match her shirt. As the exchange of the sleeves, she wore a very long black fingerless glove that covered almost of her hands. Her shoes were a bit out of place too. It was rare to see people with knee-high boots and high heels.

"Without a parents' care…

"…You travel this world…"

"I know you would never forgive me…"

"…because I couldn't apologize to you…"

"I understand if you mad at me…"

"…because you suffered till the end…"

"It's all because of me…"

"Forgive me…"

"Forgive me…"

"I say it even if you wouldn't forgive me…"

When she finished singing, Naruto fought the urge to clap his hands. He might surprise the woman. Instead, he made a compliment.

"Nice song," he said in a low voice and tone. It somehow managed to the woman's ear. She turned and Naruto gasped. She was very beautiful. Almost more beautiful than Tsunade (Tsunade was an old grandma but he admitted her beauty). But there was something that prevented her to show all her beauty. Her black eyes were filled with tears. Not only that, the salty water already trailed down to her pale and perfect shaped cheeks. But even so, she was still beautiful.

"Am I… wrong to say that your song is nice?" asked Naruto dumbly. He couldn't find any word to comfort that woman so… did it.

She suddenly went angry. "How come you said it's a nice song? Can't you figure the lyrics meaning?" she asked angrily.

Naruto took a step back fearfully. Why, beautiful females, were scary like demon when they angry but as beautiful as an angel when they didn't? Really, he didn't understand girls or womans.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't judge a song by only see its tone…" Naruto apologized. He didn't want to make any problem now. He had more than enough to face.

The woman's face turned softer and she sighed. She wiped her tears as she said, "No, I should be the one who apologized. My mind and heart weren't in a good mood so I snapped and threw my angriness to you. Once again, I'm sorry." She stood up. Now Naruto could see that she was very tall, almost as tall as Kisame. If you compared her to that shark Akatsuki, her head would reach Kisame's eyes.

"Uh." Naruto nodded. He silenced for a minute, thinking for a reply. "Uhm… miss, what are you doing here?" he asked curiously. He ignored the fact that he had been asking himself before.

"I…" she trailed.

"But if you don't want to tell me, you don't have to!" he quickly interrupted the woman. "I, myself has been wandering around here for no reason, so I figure what are you doing here is none of my concern."

"That's all right. I'm just doing my yearly routine," she said as she glanced to the huge Sakura tree. Naruto could see that a bouquet of aster flower was placed upon its front. "Uchihas are surely stupid, aren't they?" she asked loudly to herself.

"Huh?" asked Naruto with a confused tone.

"They placed a Sakura tree in a tropical zone of their village when it's supposed to be planted in a temperate zone. If they had expected it would bloom, then they are a total idiot." It was true what she said. The tree might be big, but it didn't look had grown greatly and healthily. It had green leafs but the color was a bit dull compared to other tropical plants.

"Maybe… they just wanted a decoration?" guessed the blonde.

"What the use of a flowered plant when it can't bloom its flowers? It's more than nothing but a complete waste of gene and talent," she said with an annoyed tone. "So, what were you doing back then?" she suddenly asked.

"Eh?"

"I saw you, in front of one of the residence's walls, crying," she said plainly.

Naruto blushed in embarrassment. So there was someone who had seen him crying like a pathetic child. Now he couldn't bring his face to face the woman.

The woman crossed her arms in front of her and looked down to Naruto, making her looked a bit bossy. "You don't have to be embarrassed. Humans cry when they feel like it, like I did just now."

"But you are a woman…" Naruto protested stubbornly, refusing that if he followed her advice he would feel better.

"Gender doesn't make a difference. All of us ever cried. Have you ever heard a baby that doesn't cry? I'm not. So are you. It won't hurt to cry," said the woman. She sounded like those thinking-that-he/she-is-wiser oldies.

"But it would hurt my pride," said the blonde bitterly.

SLAP

He didn't prepare for what came next. A hand landed on his cheek hardly enough to give a stung and sent him to the ground. Instead of staring angrily to her like anybody or the person he used to be would do, he only stared to the ground with dull eyes and placed his palm on his wounded cheek. She stared at him with filth.

"I'm very disappointed to all men. Why do they keep their pride so much? Will pride satiate you when you are starving? Will pride save you when you are in danger? Pride is nothing more than a foolish lie to cover your weakness. How come you expect you will be strong when you can't accept the truth? A strong person isn't judge only by the power. There may be people with strong physics but there are people with strong mind or heart. Power is an abstract thing. You can't rely only to your physical power. What's the use of power when you have weak mind? You'll end up like this Sakura tree. A complete waste of talent," said the woman angrily.

Naruto sat up and glared at her furiously. "What do you know about me? Like others said, I'm a stupid and idiot person. The thing I can rely on is my physical power. My talent is only in there! I don't have any other talent to rely on!"

"Being stupid or idiot doesn't mean you have to be foolish." Naruto was taken aback by her words. "If you don't have any other talent, then find it! We humans are blessed with more than one talent. No matter how stupid or idiot or crazy a person is, he or she has got at least two talents."

Naruto found the ground was the most interesting thing in the world now. He knew that there was no way he could win this battle of word and wisdom. "But…" he whispered, loud enough to be heard by the woman. "It's already over for me. I'm a broken kunai. There's no use left in me…"

The woman sighed. "You may have lost your talent, but it doesn't mean you've lost your potential."

Naruto immediately sent her a confused stare. "Eh?"

"Like a broken kunai, it may have lost its usage but it doesn't mean it has lost its potential. You could bring it to a blacksmith and have it disintegrated to a raw steel ore and make it into a new kunai," said her. Naruto's eyes widened as she continued, "This Sakura tree is the same case. The only thing you should do is find a gardener and have it removed to the right place and it will bloom its blossoms." She stared at Naruto to see the blond boy's reaction. Naruto bent down his head in shame. He had been a pathetic crybaby. This woman was right. The only thing he should do was to find another talent within him. Whether it will be cooking, crafting, or whatever it would mean a lot to him.

"Don't forget this. The time when you give up is the end of everything for you. If you fell, then you should stand again. If you met a dead end, then you should turn back and find another way. Success people do fall in their journey to reach their dream," she said as she kneeled in front of him and patted his head like a mother that was comforting her child.

Naruto knew she was right. Back then he had fallen many times, so many times until he lost his count. But he had never been crying pathetically and lost his hope like this. He kept trying to stand whenever he fell. He kept trying to face his enemy even his life was on the edge. And when he succeeded, he felt like he was resurrected. How could he forget something, the feeling that had been keeping him from totally breaking? The satisfaction of complying something, the proud-ness he felt when he succeeded in finishing his missions, the happiness to know that he was getting stronger each time he passed the problems and battles he faced.

She removed her hand from his head and placed her hands upon his shoulders. Her gaze was locked into Naruto's blue eyes. "And you must know. Strength is not important. It's your motive or reason. You could lose your strength but if you had the correct reason, the strength will come back to you, in different kind or not," said her as she tightened her grip on the blonde's shoulder.

"But…" once again, Naruto's head bent down, "…could I find a new talent?" he wasn't sure. He had been nothing but stamina freak and troublemaker back then. If the stamina was gone then what left was his troublesome side.

She smiled. "You won't know until you try, right?"

He stared at her. Somehow, the brunette managed to cheer him up. But… had he met her before? She was very familiar. Her black eyes and chocolate like hair… or maybe it was just his feelings.

The woman smiled wider when Naruto's dull gaze turned to lively.

"Thank you, miss…" came to think of it, they hadn't introduced each other.

"Kozueran," she said as she offered her hand to shake Naruto's hand.

"Uzumaki Naruto," said Naruto as he took her hand. He immediately pulled back.

"What?" asked Kozueran.

"No, it's just… your hand is cold," said Naruto. Her skin was fair and soft, but it felt cold like steel. Her fingers were delicate looking but they surprisingly had strong grip. Naruto didn't notice the coldness when she touched his shoulders because his pajamas were made of thick and warm material. And when she touched his head, he bet he had been boiling in anger so he tolerated it. He stared at her. "Are you sick?" he asked just to make sure. Her skin was pale from the first time he saw her.

"It may be. I haven't been eating well these days," she answered simply as if she didn't feel anything like a sick person supposed to.

Naruto doubted if she had told him the truth. But he shoved that thought away. He was used to be lied.

"Once again, thank you. I'm going home now. Good bye," said Naruto as he started to walk away. He didn't bent his head down like before. He stared to the front, to the future, not crying for his failure like before. He had enough crying. Now it was the time he worked.

"Wait."

Naruto stopped and turned. Kozueran was staring at him intently. It was clear in her face that she was battling between want to say her sentence or not. But it didn't take long before that expression turned into sureness.

"Maybe… I'm able to be your blacksmith."

"Huh?" asked Naruto.

"You said that you are a broken kunai, right?" her question was answered by Naruto's nod. "And I said that you have to find a blacksmith to repair a broken kunai. And I'm willing to be your blacksmith. I'll help you to find your talent."

Naruto's face brightened. "Really?" well, he didn't expect that his chance would come this fast.

"But…" her face darkened, "…before that, I have to make sure that you are willing to take any risk to achieve it. Are you willing to?" asked her.

Naruto smirked with his sure smirk he used to wear. "If that's my only option, I'll do it. Even the chance is very small." He answered surely.

"You could search another way," she said. She was tore between want this boy take her offer or not. She didn't want the boy break but she also didn't want the boy die.

"I may be able to. But isn't it better to work it with another person or people? It's faster that way…" he said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Are you sure?"

"Why won't I? There would be no one except you that will help a weakling like me. Let alone take me as an apprentice or assistance. Besides, when you make a kunai or sword, there's still a risk it would break, right? If I didn't ready, then it was the same as I already give up." He smirked cockily to add his sureness.

She sighed tiredly. No matter how many times she would try, this boy wouldn't change his decision. "Fine. Firstly, I want to know what your problem is…"

Naruto told her everything. And it meant EVERYTHING from the start. He didn't know why could he tell her fluently or why he wanted to tell her everything. Funny was it? He couldn't tell his friends but he could tell it to a stranger he just met. But he felt that if he didn't tell her everything then she couldn't help him completely. She just remained silent when he told his story. After he was finished, she was thoughtful for a moment.

"Well, what can you do?" asked Naruto.

"I can't give you power, but…" she turned to face Naruto. "I can give you the chance to release your true power."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

"Have you ever heard the word berserk?" asked Kozueran.

Naruto nodded. "If my memory isn't failing me, it means a state where a person becomes strong and goes wild because of heavy emotional pressure or something like that. I don't understand much with my thinking capability. But for the summary I think a person become very strong when he or she is angry, scared, or something."

"That's right. In a battle, many shinobi went berserk when they're nearly died or saw their friends killed. At that time they don't think anymore. What in their mind is kills all the enemies with all of your power. I'm thinking, if only I could pull that power without you being nearly die or see your friends die, then you may have your chance," explained Kozueran.

"Well, can you?" asked Naruto.

"I think there's a way. But…" she bent down her head. "…it's very dangerous. The chance of success is 1 from 100 — no — 1000. You could die or even worse."

"But at least it's not zero, right?" said Naruto with a confident smile on his face.

"You DO have no fear, don't you?" asked Kozueran as she stared Naruto.

"It's not I don't scared. I just have to take the risk. I've gone too far to get back," said Naruto.

"You are still young; you got many things to be done. You sure don't want to die that fast, do you?" asked her. She had to make him sure and aware what he was going to through.

"I got many things to be done but unfortunately I got only three years for it, thanks to the Kyuubi. I don't want to die before I make sure all Konoha villagers have known me as their greatest Hokage. I do not want to die in vain. That's…" he grinned cockily. "…my way of ninja."

Kozueran lifted her eyebrows. "You desire for medals?"

Naruto fought the urge to spit in front of the lady. "A very painful in nerve teammate of mine had questioned me the same thing. At that time I couldn't answer him. But now, I know…" he took out his forehead protector and held it in front of him. "…the time when I wore this forehead protector for the first time, I had sworn to protect the ones who acknowledged me, the ones who praised me for my success, and they are the ones who give me happiness." He silenced for a moment then continued, "And not only them, I will protect the innocent ones."

"What's your proof then? That you will protect everyone you know and everybody that's innocent once you get your power," asked Kozueran.

"I won't kill my enemies, no, I won't kill anybody," said Naruto in a very determined tone.

Kozueran was surprised. "How could you protect someone if you didn't kill?" asked her.

"Like Wiseman says, there are thousand roads to the town. I won't kill them but I will make them understand my pain, the pain of not being able to do anything, the feeling of uselessness. And if the luck is with me, they would be the strong ones who protect weak ones, not the strong ones who hurt the weak ones," said Naruto with his confident smile never leaving his face.

"Are you planning to turn the whole world into someone like you?" asked Kozueran mockingly.

"You could put it that way. But my goal is to bring peace to the world," said Naruto.

"How noble, could you do it in three years of your life?" asked Kozueran, now she was smirking like Naruto.

"Dead won't stop me," answered Naruto rather playfully.

"You mean you will continue to protect even as a ghost?" replied Kozueran playfully too.

"That can be arranged." By Rhaera, he added in his mind.

"Enough talking, let's get down into business," her tone was business like. "I will tell you my methods. You are free to disagree and leave once I told you. I will use one of my genjutsu techniques. This is a very special genjutsu. Once it's activated it will last one hundred days long and it's unbreakable. I plan to put your mental into its limit. And because of that, I use this torturing technique," she explained as simple as she could.

"What do you mean by 'torturing technique'?" asked Naruto with a hint of suspicion.

"You are a shinobi so you have more than enough heard that genjutsu is one way of torturing. Interrogators that specialized themselves in genjutsu torture put the captive in a genjutsu state. The victim would see images of their dying friends, their bad memories, and anything that would make the victim in a bad state of mental. Once the victim couldn't take it anymore, he or she would break, and they won't care about anything except their sadness. They would do almost everything that is commanded to them, including spill important information. My genjutsu is the same thing. It never has been my favorite jutsu, but to put someone into berserk, this jutsu is the best. Because there will be no one who would be able to save you except yourself. Do you agree? This is the not best but it's the only option you and I have." She waited for Naruto's reaction.

Naruto closed his eyes. He seemed to be thinking this very hard.

"What happened after one hundred days?" asked the blonde.

"It depends. If you managed to fight back, then you would be able to obtain the power by remembering those feelings that made the power emerged. But if the hundredth day passed and you didn't wake up…" she trailed.

"It's the same as the end of Uzumaki Naruto, eh?" finished Naruto calmly.

"Even you woke up, there's a big possibility you got your mental hurt badly or to put it simple, you had gone crazy."

Naruto went silent.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't offer better option," said Kozueran.

"That's okay. At least you've tried," Naruto paused. "So, are we going to begin or not?"

"Yes." After that she walked to close the range between her and Naruto. She stared to Naruto with unreadable expression.

"Naruto…"

"Yes?"

"Why do you trust me? I could harm you, even kill you…"

"Do you have to?" he asked. Kozueran didn't answer. "Besides, I don't need reason to trust somebody…"

She sighed with relief. "Thank you," she said as she closed her eyes. She seemed in a deep concentration. Naruto waited. He actually asked himself why he easily trusted the woman. He had been hurt by the ones he trust like Mizuki, Kabuto, and Sasuke.

"Look to my eyes," she ordered suddenly.

He looked. And the last thing he saw was two pair of silver orbs before his world seemed to be engulfed with darkness…

oOoOo

Finally it finished. I managed to get a time to write this, but still, the fact that I still have final exams doesn't change and because of that I still won't update frequently. I hope I didn't torture Naruto too much. Tell me if you enjoyed it and I'll be overjoyed to know it (for the simpler meaning, I want review). Thank you to the ones who reviewed me, you have special part in my heart.