Flight of the Jinchūriki
"So," Naruto said, eyeing the fox. "What now?"
"First of all, let's get one thing straight." the fox replied, raising a finger. "If this is gonna work, you're gonna have to do exactly as I say."
"That wasn't part of the deal," Naruto replied, eyes narrowing slightly.
"I know." the fox said, smiling and looking cheeky as ever. "But let's be honest, you have no idea what you're doing."
The fox rested his head on his front paws as he grew serious. "What we're trying to do is actually a lot harder than you think it is and we can't afford to make mistakes. Once you leave, you're gonna be labeled a rogue. I can get us out of here, but you've gotta trust me."
Looking away, Naruto considered what had been said then turned back to the fox. "Fine," he said. "I'll start packing."
"Packing what?"
"My backpack."
"Uhhh, no…"
"What, I'm just gonna leave all of my stuff behind?"
"You're not taking it all with you, that's for sure."
"You've gotta be kidding me," Naruto said, arms crossing all on their own. "I knew this was a bad idea."
"Let me ask you a question." the fox replied, smiling an obviously fake smile. "Do you really think carrying loads of stuff that's gonna weigh you down is a good idea when you're on the run? Hm? Do you?"
Naruto paused, pondering the question then silently mumbled, "I didn't really think about that…"
"Yeah, I know." the fox replied, holding his tight-lipped smile in place. "That's why you should just let me do the thinking. Ok?"
A small huff left Naruto's lips but eventually, he grumbled out, "Fine."
"Good," the fox replied, all nine tails wagging in the darkness behind him. "Now," he continued, cracking his neck both ways. "We're gonna need to start getting ready, so get your wallet."
"Gama-chan?"
"Yeah. You've got some money saved up, right?"
"Yeah, but what do I need it for?"
The fox grinned from ear to ear. "You're gonna do some shopping."
...
Naruto strolled through the village while trying to maintain his inconspicuous profile. It was night now, so the bustling atmosphere provided some much-desired cover. The food stands and outlying shops attracted much attention and it was a huge plus that over half the people in the crowd were taller than him. He was nothing but an orange speck – and that was all he wanted to be. He snaked through the bodies lining the streets until he finally arrived at one of the stores where they sold storage scrolls. The fox's instructions echoed in his mind as he approached the door.
You're going to buy some storage scrolls.
Naruto opened the door to the shop, triggering a dangling set of chimes hooked on the doorway. A ginger looking old lady in a gray kimono was sitting at the front desk waiting for her next customer. "Hi there, young man. Can I help you?"
"Hello," Naruto greeted. "I'm looking to buy a storage scroll."
"Oh, you've come to the right place!" She raised both arms elegantly to showcase the various scrolls littered on wooden shelves all over the shop. "We have an abundance of storage scrolls here. How big would you like?"
For now, just get some that are a bit bigger than the ones you already have. If you need more space in the future, you can upgrade, but for our purposes, we travel light.
"Do you have any medium-sized scrolls?"
The old lady seemed delighted to hear him ask and he heard her feet shuffle against the wooden floor as she scurried to the back. He heard a few boxes sliding around in the back and then, a moment later, she returned from her journey carrying too many scrolls for her frail body. Some of them were way bigger than Naruto needed, but he figured the old lady was just excited to have some business.
"Fancy any of these?" she asked while struggling to set them down in front of him.
Naruto wasted no time looking through them and quickly settled on one with a dark red case. It was a relatively small thing. Portable. Light. Useful. "I think this'll work. Give me two please."
He paid the lady in full and the chimes jingled as he left and started walking towards the next task the fox had given him.
Next, you'll need to stock up on weapons and things like traps. Going rogue is like asking for a fight. You have to make sure you're ready for one.
As Naruto passed the various food stands, toy shops, and apparel boutiques in the village, he kept his head low. His slender figure moved like a shadow through the crowd. He was a dark orange blur to the few who noticed him and completely invisible to the rest. Within a few minutes, he was at his next destination.
He walked into the weapons shop and stopped short as he spotted a familiar face. Tenten was sitting behind the front desk and tracing her finger along the edge of a very elegant kunai as she admired it. Naruto walked into her field of view joking as usual. "Don't cut yourself," he said, both arms tucked into his pants pockets.
"Of course not," Tenten replied with a smile as she tucked the kunai into a hidden thigh holster.
"So, what are you, of all people, doing here?" she asked.
"I just got paid for a mission recently. Thought I'd check out some weapons." He motioned towards the outside and said, "But if I'm not welcome…"
"Of course not!" she blurted out while waving both hands frantically. "You came to the right place Uzumaki!" She spun around to the wall of weapons behind her and began her pitch, motioning to each object as she spoke. "We've got Kunai. We've got Shuriken, Swords, Axes, Bows – you name it! We've also got things like traps." She leaned towards him with one hand pressed against her mouth as if she was telling him a secret. "You're a ninja, so you know what I'm talking about. Explosive tags, tripwires, etc."
Naruto chuckled a bit then examined his options and listed off what he'd be taking. Tenten gladly loaded him up and told him to come again soon as he departed with a handful of weapons and traps. He felt a little guilty knowing he had no plans of being back anytime soon, but the time for sentiment had passed a long time ago. Now was the time for action.
...
When he reached his apartment, he wasted no time in doing as the fox had said.
Stash the weapons in your ninja pouch as usual and any leftovers can go in one of the scrolls you bought.
Within seconds, the scrolls he would be using to pack were sprawled out on the wooden floor. He already had one at home so he now had three total. He worked on the weapons scroll first and it didn't take long for him to pack the weapons in a semi-organized manner. He did notice that the traps seemed to be intent on giving him some trouble though. One of them almost took off a finger when it slammed shut out of nowhere. Good thing he had quick reflexes. When he was done, he sealed the scroll and watched as all of the shiny metal disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a dark, red scroll behind.
The used scroll was a smaller capacity scroll so he used it to carry simpler weapons and some personal effects. When he reached the final scroll, he stopped his work and made three shadow clones. "You know what to do." The three clones nodded and split up, each going to clean a different section of the small apartment. Naruto watched the clones for a moment then returned his attention to the final scroll.
Only the criticals.
Naruto grabbed some underwear and a few changes of casual clothes, opting to leave his other jumpsuit behind. He packed Gama-chan, who now felt a lot skinnier, and strapped his watch onto his wrist. After packing a sleeping bag, a map, and some toiletries, he looked towards his kitchen cupboard with a smirk. A few cups of ramen wouldn't hurt. He packed them nicely and decided to carry the map in his ninja pouch instead. When he was satisfied with how everything was packed away, he sealed the scroll with a final poof of gray smoke. Inhaling deeply, he spun the scroll around in his hand feeling a strange sense of accomplishment from everything he had done. A moment later, it was neatly stashed away in his ninja pouch.
As he rose from his knees, he fidgeted with the ninja pouch until it was secure then gave it a small pat as he let out a content sigh. "Now what?" he asked.
"Now, nothing. You're done. Take a break. Go shower while your clones finish cleaning up. When they're done, we move."
Naruto nodded and raised a hand to salute. "Yes, Sir." His voice was a little tired, so he figured the fox's shower suggestion was spot on. He needed to relax some, especially if the fox was right about the magnitude of what he was about to do.
As he headed to the bathroom, he stopped and took a moment to look around his small apartment. This was the place he called home for most of his life and now he was leaving it behind. The thought saddened him a bit, but he wasn't leaving without reason. And besides, he'd be back one day…and things would be different. While his eyes were still scanning the soon to be abandoned room, they fell onto an old blue notebook with discolored yellow pages from the Academy. He used to doodle in it back then, especially if the class he was in was one of those eternal genjutsu classes. The memory brought a genuine smile to his lips, but as his grin faded, he realized it might be time for one last entry… Before long, he was sitting down at the kitchen table with an orange pencil twirling in his fingers.
"What are you doing?" the fox asked.
Naruto gave a soft smile as he tightened his grip on the pencil. "I'm saying goodbye."
"Are you insane? If you do that, they'll know you left earlier than if you didn't say anything."
The grimace that crossed Naruto's face showed his inner conflict, and the way he froze in his seat showed the brewing turmoil...but he knew it wouldn't stop him. He would have to take the chance. Leaving without saying anything just felt...wrong. "I have to." he finally said, leaning forward and gripping the pencil tighter.
As the pencil started its jerky motion on the paper, the fox sighed and said, "You're gonna have to hightail it."
The only indication that Naruto heard him was a curt nod.
...
It was a cold night tonight. Naruto could feel the goosebumps taking over his arms as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop with the village wall looming in the distance. It was a pale beige colored wall that was probably around 80 feet high, but with his ninja skills, he figured it wouldn't be too much of a challenge to get over. The fox had insisted on going out the city over the wall, which made sense if Naruto thought about it. Who would let some kid leave in the middle of the night through the front gates? Not anyone in their right mind.
Their destination was the Hidden Hot Water Village or at least some caves in that area. The people there were supposed to be very peaceful, so the fox said it was the commonsense choice. They would probably be able to live in peace and no one would bother them about their training. It was a win-win.
As Naruto continued his journey through Konoha's rooftops, he was surprised to find that there was actually a good deal of variety in the rooftops. It was something he had never noticed before. There were shingled rooftops, flat rooftops, angled rooftops, and even rooftops with flimsy colored cloths as roofs. If it weren't for his ninja skills, he would've fallen straight through at least five of them.
After making it through the obstacle course of village rooftops, he reached the base of the wall at last. The pale beige obstacle loomed over him and it seemed to be a worthy barrier standing between him and freedom, but it would not defeat him. With one huge leap, he jumped onto the side and used his chakra to start running up the wall. He took long strides, trying to get over the wall as quickly as possible. The last thing he needed was to be spotted, although he was pretty sure the cover of the night would help a lot in that aspect.
Within a few seconds, he was at the top of the wall and it didn't take him long to start vaulting down the other side. As he landed, the sights, sounds, and smells of the village disappeared. The busy lighted food stands were replaced with green trees darkened by the night, the sound of the bustling crowds was replaced by the silence of the dark forest before him, and the smells were no longer of grilled food but of damp earth and fallen leaves. The lack of light now painted the forest in dim grayscale. If it weren't for the moon illuminating a few small patches of green, it would be unrecognizable. Such was the power of the night.
Naruto glanced left and right then tried to sense out the surrounding area to see if any scouts were nearby. A couple, but not close enough to be a threat. Setting his focus in the direction of the Hot Water, he took a deep breath. Time to do this. Was he insane? Out of his mind? Totally mental? Probably all of the above, but...thinking is overrated. A few dying leaves whirled around under his feet as he broke into a mad dash towards freedom, the trees passing by in a blur.
While he was running, the fox's voice came to him once more. "Take to the trees and stay there."
"The trees?"
"Yeah, and try not to break the branches you land on."
Naruto didn't really understand the point of such careful tree hopping, but he nodded and with a single bound leaped up to a single branch of the army of trees before him. He heard a small crack then looked down to see that he had already caused a small break in the tree branch. Funny what you notice when you actually pay attention. Squinting, he made a mental note to be more careful moving forward. He hopped to another branch as gracefully as possible and heard no crack this time. Progress. He continued in this pattern with meticulous attention to detail. Leap to the next branch. Check for even the slightest crack. Move forward. This process continued until he had mastered the motion and it was then that he disappeared into the night.
Author's Note
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