"Normal speech"

'Thoughts'

Chapter 2:

The situation in Konoha hasn't been the best in the last three years, ever since the execution of Naruto Uzumaki.

While the citizens of Konoha mostly hate Naruto, and wanted his death ever since Nine-Tails was sealed inside of him, the same can't be said for the people from the other nations, whose lives have been touched by Naruto, in one way or another.

The citizens of countries like, Wave, Wind, and Spring, have all grown to like Naruto and respect him a lot for what he has done for them during his short life as Konoha shinobi, which is why they were not happy when they heard about Naruto's execution. No, they were pissed off as all hell.

As such, it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone, when they all broke off the alliances and trade agreements with Konoha and the Land of Fire. For those in the Land of Fire and Konoha, it was a shock to them when it happened. They didn't understand why it happened in the first, and when they found out that it was because of what they did to Naruto, they were confused at first, but then Konoha residents, started cursing Naruto's name even more than they already did, as they thought that he is tormenting them even from hell, where they thought he is there, as they believe him to be a demon.

They were confused, because Naruto was never mentioned in any reports, about helping anyone in any country. Instead, Kakashi, the Third Hokage and the village elders were changing the reports, making it look like everything good that Naruto did for other villages, was in fact, done by Sasuke. So, all in all, the people of Konoha, both civilians and ninja alike, think that Sasuke is the one who saved Wave Country from Gato, that he is the one who defeated Gaara and saved the village when Gaara released the One-Tail, and finally, that Sasuke is the main reason behind Doto's defeat and the saving of Princess Koyuki Kazahana.

When the alliances were broken, it was revealed that they were broken because of what happened to Naruto, but the reason behind why all those villages and country's respect Naruto so much, was kept quiet by the higher-ups of Konoha. They wanted everyone to believe that Sasuke is the one who saved those countries, while Naruto had nothing to do that, and because of that, Konoha and the Land of Fire have been slowly degrading over the years.

At the time of Naruto's death, Konoha was the strongest Hidden Village in the EN, while Land of Fire was the most prosperous country, but, after Naruto's death, and the broken alliances, the lack of money because of the decrease in missions, has caused Konoha to fall down on the third place among the Five Great Hidden Villages, with Cloud and Stone being the first and second, and Sand and Mist fourth and fifth.

Just like Konoha who has suffered because of the lack of money as there were less and less missions as the time was passing, Land of Fire was suffering equally from the lack of trade and zero alliances, as everyone has turned their backs on them after the Fire Daimyō has been revealed to have supported Naruto's execution. It was not revealed why he allowed it, but he did, and just like those in Konoha, he is now having problems coming up with the money to run the country.

Several months after Naruto's execution, Tsunade suffered a mental breakdown, and was sent to a mental institution, while Danzo has been named as the Sixth Hokage.

Danzo being made a Hokage, didn't help Konoha one bit. Instead, it actually made things worse for them, because people from the other countries knew who he was, and what his wishes were, so they stayed away from Konoha, but were preparing themselves in case of the invasion by Konoha, which, knowing Danzo, wouldn't have surprised anyone.

If Tsunade has stayed the Hokage, the situation would still be bad, but maybe there would be some countries who would be willing to do something to help, since she is actually liked and respected all over the EN, even by Konoha's enemies. The moment Tsunade had a mental breakdown, was the moment the countdown to Konoha's doom, has started.

No one knows the reason behind Tsunade's mental breakdown, but those who knew her and of her close, mother-son, relationship with Naruto, assumed it was because of what happened to him. To this day, three years after Naruto's execution, no one knows why Tsunade went with it, and didn't try to stop the execution. In the minds of all of Konoha's citizens, her blank face from when she was standing on top of the execution platform, was engraved forever.

Many have theorized that she tried to stop the execution, but when the council and Daimyo overruled her, she snapped, and only was able to hold herself from going completely under, for a few months, before she finally broke completely. Unfortunately, they weren't sure if it was that, or was it something else, so they just decided to let it go, and learned to live with it.

With Danzo as Hokage, he implemented his Root program, and made the village more militarized then it was, which led to the other nations also increasing the military power. All of that increase in shinobi in all five great nations, along with some smaller ones as well, turned the whole EN into a giant bomb, just waiting to explode and send everything straight to hell.

As the things are now, all Five Great Nations, are standing alone, without alliance between two of them, like Leaf and Sand used to have alliance until three years ago. The fact that they are all standing alone, is the reason the great nations haven't started another war, as each country is afraid that if they attack one country, another might use the opportunity to attack them.

Of course, none of the great five are just seating around. On top of them increasing their military potential, by increasing the number of ninja as well as train those they already have to reach their maximal potential; they are also trying to make alliances with smaller countries.

That wasn't going easy, though, because there is mistrust between everyone in the EN, and no country trust another enough to form alliances, but there are a few exceptions, where alliances are formed not based on trust, but mutual need.

One such alliance is between Stone and Sound , where Third Tsuchikage and Orochimaru have formed alliance in order to build power together and eventually bring down Cloud and Konoha, and then go after the rest of the EN.

The only alliance which was built in the last three years, and which didn't have anything with building military power, was the alliance between Sand, Wave and Spring. The alliance was built after they all severed their ties with Konoha, because of what happened to Naruto. It was a respect they all for Naruto, which was a starting point for the meeting between the leaders of the three Nations, which led to an alliance, which was supposed to better the life for everyone in each of the three countries, as each of them had something that the other two would want and find beneficial.

Other than the two alliances, there were some negotiations between some other countries, but nothing was agreed on, as of yet. The closest to reach the agreement for the alliance, are Rain Village, Star Village, Waterfall Village and Grass Village, who are trying to form the alliance to battle against the big nations, in case they decide to use their land as the battle ground like they did in the past.

Rain, is secretly led by the Akatsuki, and that was revealed to the other three nations during the negotiations. The reason the leader of Akatsuki and the Rain, decided to reveal that, was so that the other three nations would realize how powerful Rain actually is, considering that they have 10 S-Rank ninja in the village, which is more than any other village in the Elemental Nation. IF, this alliance is made, then it would be the most powerful alliance of all others in the Elemental Nations, and nothing short of all five great hidden villages, allying, would be able to go up against them.

To make themselves stronger, and to counter possible alliance between, Rain, Star, Waterfall and Grass; Orochimaru sent some of his men to the Village Hidden in the Dreams, to acquire something, which would be powerful enough to make Sound-Stone alliance, capable of battling against Akatsuki and the alliance of four nations.

They were successful, and the Three-Headed Guardian Beast of the Hidden Dreams Village, was sealed inside one of the members of the Uzumaki Clan, Orochimaru had as a ninja in his village. The woman, by the name, Fūka Uzumaki, has officially become the first ever, three-heads jinchūriki.

To try and combat against the overwhelming power and forces, Rain and their allies, along with Sound-Stone alliance, Danzo has sent a team on a mission to retrieve another demon, who was sealed long time ago, and which would give them power to fight back, now that they no longer have Nine-Tails jinchūriki.

Konoha: Three years after Naruto's execution

A team which was sent on a mission to capture and seal a demon known as, Mōryō, was Team 7.

After Naruto's execution, the relationship between Team 7 members was not what one would expect.

In the eyes of the many, Naruto was a menace at best, and a demon, at worst, and Kakashi and Sasuke had the same beliefs. In fact, in their eyes, Naruto's only use was to eventually be killed by Sasuke, so he can awaken Mangekyo Sharingan. Kakashi has been pushing the two to be friends, for that reason, as he knew that in order for him to awaken Mangekyo, Sasuke would have to kill his best friend, Naruto.

To say they were pissed when Naruto said to Sasuke's face during the execution, that he was not his best friend, he didn't even consider him as a friend, for that matter, thus, denying Sasuke his Mangekyo Sharingan.

Since he was denied what he considers his birthright, Sasuke become an even bigger emo then he was, going all over Konoha, demanding everyone he sees and who has some form of power and influence, to train him so he can become strong, and maybe one day find another way to awaken his Mangekyo. Of course, like a good little doggie, Kakashi was following Sasuke everywhere and was spending 90% of his free time training Sasuke, while he spends the remaining 10% of his free time, trying to convince other Konoha ninja to also train Sasuke.

Kakashi wasn't always successful in his endeavors, though. This was because, while regular, no-named ninja, would agree to train Sasuke, they have nothing to offer, which Kakashi doesn't already know and can teach Sasuke himself. On the other hand, those more powerful ninja in the village, like Asuma, Guy and Kurenai, refuse to have anything with Sasuke, or Kakashi, since they don't like them and consider Sasuke a traitor and comrade killer. They were too smart to believe that Sasuke was kidnapped by Orochimaru's man, and know that the little bastard, left on his own accord. The three of them were also some of the people in Konoha who had respect for Naruto, and didn't hate him.

In the end, Sasuke was left with only Kakashi and Danzo to train him. Danzo did try to threaten Asuma, Guy and Kurenai to train Sasuke, or else. They still refused, though, and Danzo couldn't do anything about it, even though he was Hokage. He knew that those three are some of the strongest ninja in the village, along with Kakashi, Jiraiya and himself, so losing them just because they refuse to train Sasuke, was not an option.

While Kakashi and Sasuke were on one side, and always together, training, Sakura was left behind. To find a way to train herself.

Before Naruto's execution, she was planning to ask Tsunade to take her as her own apprentice and teach her medical ninjutsu. Unfortunately, that all went to hell when Naruto was accused of almost killing Sasuke, and executed, after which, Tsunade was never the same as before, and soon after she had a mental breakdown, which gave her one way ticket to asylum.

When it comes to what happened to Naruto, Sakura had mixed feelings.

She never really liked Naruto, some even though she hated him because of how she treated him over the years, and how many times she hit him over the head. But, they were all wrong. Sakura didn't like Naruto, but she didn't hate him either. She was annoyed by him, and thought he was always on the way of her relationship with Sasuke.

When Naruto was accused and sentenced to execution, she was surprised, to say the least. She knew that Naruto wasn't liked in the village, but to go as far as to execute him, after he completed his mission, and returned Sasuke back to the village, even though he did beat him up pretty badly, well, she thought that was too much, and that Naruto didn't deserve that.

She had mixed feeling, because, while she found Naruto annoying and if he was executed, there would be no one standing in between her and Sasuke, she also didn't want to watch Naruto die. In the end, those mixed feelings, along with Kakashi and Sasuke not paying any attention to her, whatsoever, is what strained their team relationship, and eventually led to Sakura going on one side, while Kakashi and Sasuke on the other.

They were still members of Team 7, though, and went together on the missions, but outside of the missions, Sakura barely saw her crush, well, more like former crush, and her sensei.

Sometime after Naruto's death, and after Danzo became Hokage, he had one of his Root agents transferred into Team 7, to replace Naruto, so they can be a full team, once again. And while Kakashi and Sasuke didn't care about Sai, they did train with him, on Danzo's orders, of course. Sakura didn't like the guy from the first time she laid her eyes on him, and saw his fake smile. She thinks that he is even worse than Naruto, as impossible as that might be. With Naruto, she knew that even though she found him annoying, he would always be there and do anything to protect his comrades, while Sai, is an emotionless tool, who comes up with ridiculous and offensive nicknames for people, which is why no one really likes him. On top of that, Sakura feels that Sai would let her die before he tries to save her, while Naruto would risk his life to save, not only her, but all those he thinks of as his friends and comrades.

Because Tsunade was unavailable, Sakura ended up convincing Shizune, to help her with her training and to learn medical jutsu. Shizune didn't have Tsunade's chakra enhanced strength, so she couldn't teach that to Sakura, but something is better than nothing, and Sakura knew that if she doesn't train with Shizune and with some of the other medics in the hospital, she would be left behind, and the only thing left for her, would be to give up on the life of kunoichi and go back to being a civilian, and that is something she didn't want to.

Team 7 was currently standing in the Hokage office, in front of Danzo, who was seating behind his desk, and was looking at them with one eye, since his other was covered by bandages. On the couch, which was to the side of the office, the two village elders, Homura and Koharu, were seating and waiting to hear the report from Team 7, about the mission they were sent on.

Danzo looked at the four ninja in front of him, and frowned at the looks on their faces.

While Sasuke wore a scowl, like he always does, it was the expressions on the faces of the other three, that suggested to him that the mission didn't exactly go as planned and wanted.

Sai's facial expression was blank, which was unusual to Danzo, because Sai has started to wear that infuriating fake smile ever since he was transferred from Root program, to Team 7. Sakura was trying to normal, but Danzo could see she was nervous, but there was also a hint of curiosity to her face. Kakashi wasn't reading his perverted book, and was almost standing at attention. Danzo could also see that he was nervous, but also slightly scared, though if Danzo had to guess, Kakashi wasn't scared of him, but from something related to the mission he just came back from.

Danzo finally decided to stop guessing, and said. "Report."

Kakashi walked in front of his students, before he coughed and said. "The mission to retrieve and seal Mōryō was… a failure.

Short chapter with no dialogue, and only some explanations, but just like in the previous chapter, I wanted to get some things out of the way, before the story really starts.

In the next chapter, we will be going back in time and see what has Naruto been doing since he was sent back to his home dimension.

Goodbye.