Orders and seals are a part of life for a shinobi. Orders are taken and seals are broken. When an order is fufilled, the servant's master is pleased. When a seal is broken, the user in more powerfull. When a human breaks all his seals, the subconcious automatically assumes orders as its most important duty. The mind and bosdy addapt.
It was raining…it always seemed to be raining at that time of night for as long as he could remember. 'Sasuke…Sakura….Kakashi-sensie…master. I'll be home soon'. The dark figure dragged on through the forests of the great fire country. He tried his best to remember why he was there, or where he was at all. The only thing driving him forward were his instincts. He had left this place almost 3 years ago.
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"WHY! Why do you have to leave! You brought me back so I could be stronger…stronger with you and Sakura! You said we could accomplish our goals together!" Sasuke shouted angrily at the orange clad figure about to depart from the Konoha Hidden Village gates. "ANSWER ME!"
"…" Naruto met his shouts with an awkward silence. He hid his features inside the large shadow of the gates, the moonlight already obstructed by the rain clouds overhead.
"I have to do this Sasuke…" The shaded figure said in a cold tone, but underneath that tone, Sasuke could detect just a bit of remorse and sadness. "I have to accomplish our goals…"
"OUR goals! WHAT DO YOU MEAN? " Sasuke shouted angrily.
Just as soon as the dark haired shinobi finished his sentence, the orange figure was already speeding his way out the gates…to the forest.
"Goodbye my friends…I will see you again. I will accomplish our goals first, and then…only then…will I be accepted as what I've become. Wait for me…I have miles to go before I sleep, and dreams to crush before my feet". The darkened figure, already out of hearing range of anyone, muttered to himself, racing past the forest and the rain.
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Anbu were always on steady watch during the night, covering almost every 50 or so yards of the gate. After the prized Uchiha prodigy of the village had unceremoniously left in the middle of the night three years ago, the Hokage had beefed up security. Not that it mattered anymore, because the Anbu were told that someone had beaten the crap out of their prodigy to bring him back. Afterwards, the cursed seal on the boys shoulder was removed and he was promptly forgiven. The Hokage had deduced that the seal had affected his mind as well as his charka.
"Slow night, like always…" Said the teal marked weasel maksed Anbu to another.
"Eh, not like it makes any difference." Replied the Red marked ape Anbu. "after all, since word got out about the beefed up defences, no one would be stupid enough to ever attempt coming here at this ti…" Just then, the ape Anbu froze in mid sentence.
"Wha…" The weasel Anbu froze, almost imitating his friend.
"This charka…its huge! Sound the alarm and being preparations for a defensive! There must be more than fourty out there to make this kind of signature!" The ape Anbu rechecked his surroundings, preparing for an imminent attack. Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the charka signature vanished from both Anbu's senses.
"What the f…" Said the weasel Anbu, once again pausing mid sentence. The ape Anbu realized that a figure was now standing directly beneath the gates of Konoha, standing there.
"WHO ARE YOU? STATE YOUR BUSINESS!" Said the ape Anbu, trying to discern the characteristics of the figure before the gates. It was after midnight and raining, after all.
The ape Anbu could sense no murderous intentions from the new comer, and could also feel no strong charka coming from him. He decided to jump to the ground to survey the situation better.
The ape Anbu was giving a critical eye towards the new comer. He was wearing an open pitch black cloak with a high colar. On his right shoulder, lay a shoulder pad that rose even higher than the collar to cover the mans left cheek, stopping just before the eyes, and the rest of the shoulder guard seemed to take the shape of the rest of his shoulder, pointing out slightly where the shoulder had stopped (reminiscent of a gladiator). His face was covered entirely by a hood that was attached to the cloak. What the Anbu saw next shocked him a little into a defensive stance.
He noticed that the figure was carrying…or rather dragging…two things in his hands. One, which set up suspicion but not alarm from the ape Anbu, was a brown bag with no discernable markings on it. At first, he sought of a possible smuggler, but he changed his opinion when he saw what was in the stranger's other hand. The stranger held a 6ft thin blade, absolutely dripping with blood. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the stranger's cloak had some dried blood on it as well. His black baggy pants also had dried blood on them, as did his grey netted shirt under his black overshirt. Even his Kunai and Shuriken holsters, attacked to his right and left chest pockets, were stained with blood.
Just as his defensive stance kicked in with instinct, so did the alarms of Konoha.
"I must see the Hokage…I must sleep…I have traveled miles before I slept, and now I can finally sleep" said the stranger in a low and raspy voice.
"No one sees the Hokage without an inv" Just before the Ape Anbu could finish speaking, the stranger had appeared behind him. The Anbu did not even see how the stranger appeared there. Before he could even react, a katana hilt sent him unconscious with a blow to the back of his head. The weasel Anbu was also sent flying backwards in a similar fashion when he tried to detain the stranger, but did not receive a blow to the head, and hence not a concusion. Instead, he had broken more than six ribs from an impact he couldn't even see.
"YOU….you wont…get…far" He said before he passed out.
"Miles….and miles I have traveled…I have crushed many other's dream to fufill the dreams…of my master…now I can sleep soon" Said the figure.
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The entire town was on alert. Within minutes, the civilians had been woken and evacuated into safe zones. Konoha's preparation speed had increased since the Sound had declared war on them. Anbu were now swarming around the center of the village in front of the Hokage tower, where a circle was formed around their unwelcome guest. Minutes later, Jounin and Chunnin were also present in the circle, ready to mete out the death of whoever it was that seemed to think they could destroy Konoha by themselves.
Rain was pouring down on them, and darkness seemed to cover all. The figure in the center of the circle was kneeling down on his sword, cloak covering even his arms. The bag he was carrying was beside him.
"Surely you realize this is futile." Said the Godaime Hokage. She had been awoken rather rudely by Kakashi and Jiraya when the alarms went off. Luckily, Kakashi had no missions, and since the declaration of war came from the sound, Jiraiya had taken up permanent residence inside the village walls, opting to defend his home from their former teammate and fellow Sannin, Orochimaru. "You HAVE to be completely insane to think you can take us with on by yourself. I don't know who you are, but if you lay down your weapons, we will go easi…"
"I have traveled for miles and miles and I did not sleep. I have crushed the dreams of many to achieve that of ours. Do not deny me sleep…master." Interrupted the figure coldly. A nagging sensation began to work its way up to the Hokage's mind. 'What does he mean by OUR dream? And why did he call me 'master'? Exactly who is this guy?'. "I will say this one last time. Who are you, and what do you want with the Hidden Village of the Leaf?"
An awkward silence ensued.
The figure moved his right hand and placed it over the bag. He threw the bag toward the feet of the Hokage. 'Hah, must be one of Orochimaru's assassination attempts…probably snakes in the bag' "You think I'de be stupid enough to fall for such an obvious trap?"
Just then, she noticed something sparkle behind the black cloak of the stranger. Through the small opening on his cloak, she could see a necklace. The Hokage immediately remembered that shine very well, as it was with her almost all her life. "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT NECKLACE! WHO DID YOU KILL TO GET IT?" She shouted anger apparent on every one of her mannuerisims.
"…" Another silent pause.
'Something is wrong…I need to see whats in the bag. I have a feeling its not a trap'. "Kakashi, use your sharingan to tell me whats in the bag". Kakashi did what he was told. He lifted the Hidden Leaf headband over his left eye. His eyes widened in shock, which he did not hide from others. "What? What's in there!" said the Goadaime, in reply to her subordinate's obvious shock.
"The bag contains no traps of any kind…its just that, whats inside the bag…" Kakshi paused, regaining his composure. "is a human head".
'Oh God…..god no…god no…please don't let the head be him…don't let it be Naruto'.
"IF WHATEVER IS IN THIS BAG IS WHO I THINK IT IS, WHICH WOULD EXPLAIN MY NECKLACE ON YOUR NECK, YOUR DEATH WILL LAST FOR MONTHS!" Raged the Hokage, almost losing what little control she had over her blinding rage.
"Kakashi, tell me whos head it is". Kakashi's Sharingan could only confirm the silhouette of the contents and confirm the lack of traps. So he proceeded to the bag to open it.
Jiraya, standing next to the Hokage was also in a blind rage, for only he knew of the necklace and it being given to Naruto.
Jiraiya's thoughts were plucked from his mind when he heard a loud gasp from Kakashi when he peeked inside. His eyes widened to almost inhuman size. He immedialty looked pale. "Oh….my….God.." were the only audible speech patterns coming from the Jounin.
"This…this is impossible! There is no way!" Said Kakshi frantically.
"KAKASHI!" countered the Hokage, trying to snap Kakashi out of his shocked stupor. "WHOS HEAD IS IT?"
Kakashi looked around him and regained his composure. Although those next to him could tell he was still shivering. He reached inside the bag and grabbed the hair of the dismembered head. "It belongs to…" he then lifted the head up for all so see
"The snake is dead, Orochimaru has fallen." Interrupted the stranger with a raspy breath. Everyone, officially abhorred and shocked that Orochimaru's head was indeed the one in the bag, began to shift their gaze to the stranger, "With him the Akatsuki met their demise as well when they opposed me during our fight."
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!" The Hokage screamed, finally losing to her anger and fear of who this stranger was.
The stranger started to rise. It was now visible that his right hand was tied tightly in bandages, covering every other knuckle. His left hand had a long sleeve shirt on it in comparison to his right. Both the sleeve and bandages were pitch black. His right hand started to rise to his head, towards the hood of his cloak.
"And now I that my master's foes have been banished from this world…their dreams crushed beneath my feet…I will now sleep, with your permission Hokage-sama…my master." Said the stranger as he slowly undid his hood. "Your dreams have been accomplished through the destruction of other's." The cloak fell around his neck. What was visible was that the stranger had short spiked blonde hair and a horsetail at the back, also as spiky as his head. He had three large whisker marks on the right side of his face that looked as is they were painted on, because they were blood red. In the end, his eyes gave him away. That sky blue lake could only belong to one person, and that person was…
"NARUTO!" The Hokage let out as a gasp, and strated to close the distance between them.
"We thought you were dead!" She said as she hugged him, noticing his height was now 6ft, and well beyond her own.
"I'm…sorry…I took…so long…master." He said between breaths.
The world went black to him. He could only feel himself being light as a feather, which meant he was already suffering from the side effects of his body's healing.
"He's finally back…" Said the Hokage.now shedding her tears of joy.
"SEND FOR THE MEDICAL TEAM IMMEDIATELY!" said the Hokage, after witnessing Naruto fall down and leave a remarkably large crater in the pavement from impact.
Elsewhere in the crowd, several figures seemed to be sharing a set of jumbled emotions. The Panda masked Anbu with pink hair, the blue haired white eyed Jounin instructor, the white haired Kakashi, the long blond haired Chunin, the long black haired and white eyed Jounin, the green clad bowl cut Chunin, and the dark haired Fox masked sharingan user were all frightened, worried, stupefied, and happy that their friend was back.
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