A/N: So, here I am responding to my PM's and suddenly i come across a message asking about this story. It had been so long since I even thought about this story that I had to reread my own last chapter to realize that I wrote some of the most interesting cliff hangers for my one of my stories and haven't thougtht about it since. Well, let me fix that.
Naruto could only look around, the once busy streets of Konoha were ... simply gone. The walls of the arena that he had just overpowered a Bijuu in ... gone.
A pair of men in black cloaks that were covered in red clouds. A pair of cloaked men, a pair of dead man. They came in stole two of his fellow contestants, destroyed his village and left.
Black Cloak with Red Clouds ... just like Itachi and Kisame had worn back when they had ran into them in the Land of Waves, they must all be connected.
It was slow, a single drop of rage sent ripples through his body, then it started to bubble. The rage building from the inside started to explode outwards, as the bubbling anger inside of him started to manifest itself with a red bubbly chakra cloak as the Kyubi's chakra filled Naruto's rage induced body.
But as quickly as it started, it ended with a seal slapped onto the back of Naruto, forcing all of the Kyubi's chakra back into the cage that the actual Kyubi was trapped in.
Naruto glanced back and saw Kakashi standing behind him.
His masked sensei was looking beat up, the lack of his Jonin vest and the entire right sleeve of his undershit was proof that even an elite shinobi like Kakashi has no counter for an jutsu like this "Pain" person had just used.
"Everything is going to be okay, Naruto." Kakashi claimed softly, his lone visible eye bending into a small eye smile.
Naruto looked around at his once great home.
"How do you know that?" asked Naruto, his eyes watering as he looked at all the damage done by a single man.
Kakashi straightened his back and his tone shifted ever so slightly, this was ANBU Captain Kakashi.
"Because he failed to finish the job. He may have laid waste to our village. But he made a mistake, he left us alive. The Will of Fire will burn brighter in this dark moment" answered Kakashi
Naruto nodded as Kakashi rustled his hair.
"Now let's get to work." said Kakashi.
Later that day:
Hiruzen was tired, his old bones were aching in his old body.
The Kazekage and the Raikage were less than pleased with the lose of their Bijuu, A more furious with the loss of Yugito than the Two Tails. Luckily Jiraiya was in the village, with Tsunade in the village. Hiruzen with his two loyal students, managed to give a show of force that made the two Kages leave, at least for the time being.
Hiruzen did promise both of the younger leaders that Konoha would be assisting in getting them their jinchuriki back.
Which lead him to his current situation, a council meeting in a hastily constructed council room while the real one was being reconstructed.
The elderly Hokage sighed, his body protesting him with every breath.
Raising his head, Hiruzen wished he had his pipe to puff on, something to release a little bit of the stress that he was feeling dominate his body.
"I have called this meeting for an obvious reason. We were attacked, in our home village." started Hiruzen slowly, pausing mid sentence multiple times to let everyone know how serious he was.
"We have gotten fat, lazy, content" hissed Hiruzen, the rest of the people in the meeting flinching due to the tone of his words.
Standing up, hiding the pain that it caused his aching body, Hiruzen looked down at the people in the meeting.
"As you may have noticed, there are no civilians in this meeting. That is because, until further notice, they do not matter. We are at war, this is my village. For far too long, i have been patient and kind, letting you run around doing as you pleased. That ends today, I have fought in every world war this land has seen. In a time like this, i am no longer humoring any of you, you will either listen to my orders or put in prison with your chakra sealed." Stated Hiruzen.
"And what if we refuse to live under your martial law?" asked a random clan head.
"If you choose to go against me,you have chosen death" warned Hiruzen, his chakra flaring out, creating a crushing pressure on everyone else.
"I am an old man, i do not have time to time to babysit" said Hiruzen looking around "It is said enough that i have to repeat myself this many time. It is clear to me that i have been far to kind and lackadaisical during my time as Hokage. But that time has everyone is free to leave, except for you Danzo."
The clan head filed out quickly, none of them wanting to test the angry Hokage's will.
"So, i find it strange that you have an elite group of shinobi under your control and yet, they were nowhere to be seen when trouble announced itself today" challenged Hiruzen
"I have no idea-" started Danzo
"Save your silver tongued lies for someone else Danzo. I have many ears who listen for me, i have many eyes who see things for me. Cut the shit. I know all about your little Root organzation, the orphans you sponsor for the academy, who rise to the rank of chunnin before getting desk jobs or disappearing." interrupted .
Danzo said nothing, his single visible eye narrowed on Hiruzen
Hiruzen snapped his fingers and suddenly, Danzo was slapped with a chakra suppression seal on his back by Jiraiys.
Danzo grit his teeth as he felt his chakra drain from his body.
"We were friends for a very long time, you have done things that i have swept under the rug, because we were friends. But the plotting with Orochimaru, the funding of the Hanzo in the Hidden Rain Village, the scheming behind my back. We're nearly 70 years old each, i grow tired of playing games with you Danzo." said Hiruzen with a stern face.
"Why do you ask questions that you already have the answers too?" asked Danzo, his body tightening up on him.
"Because i want you know why you did what you did" answered Hiruzen
"I have done everything for the good of Konoha, even if i could never get the credit for it. I have always protected the village" stated Danzo
Hiruzen sighed "Another tired old lie of yours, you've been lusting after this hate for years."
"I deserve it, I was and am just as worthy as you to be Hokage, it should have been me chosen all those years ago." spat Danzo as he started larboring for air.
"Out of respect for our once friendship, I will simply leave your chakra sealed and determine whether or not to kill you at the end of the war" said Hiruzen, a frown gracing his face as he gestured for the ANBU to take him away.
"You ok, sensei?" asked Jiraiya
"No, no i am not. I am an old man who should be retired, yet instead I am planning to fight in another world war. One that i fear that I will not survive" confessed Hiruzen
Jiraiya just nodded his head.
With Naruto:
He couldn't sleep, not because he didn't have a place to sleep anymore. No he and his clones had quickly gotten to work, rebuilding most of housings places within hours.
No, it was deeper than that. It was the situation that he had found himself in.
He had always said that no matter what, himself before the people in the village.
Yet, the thought of someone coming in and destroying their homes, his clones and him carrying countless civilians to the hospital.
The hate that had fueled him, had lived in his belly, the preverbal fan to his flames was fizzling out.
Slipping out of his sleeping back, Naruto walked aimlessly around the mostly releveled empty field that was Konoha now.
Taking a deep breath, Naruto leaned backwards and landed on his back, facing up at the star filled night sky.
Normally, this did it for him. He was always happy with a night sky filled with stars, but instead of the calming that it usually brought, it filled him with dread.
How could he enjoy a night sky when his people had just been attacked?
How could he feel calm when there was an organzation that was hunting him?
How could he be relaxing when he needed to be strong enough to not only protect himself, but the people around him.
The bloodshed was terrible, it needed to end.
Naruto climbed to his feet and looked towards the one place that had remained untouched, the Hokage Monument.
Climbing up the stairs, Naruto arrived at the top and immediately went over to his father's head, taking a seat on the rounded edge of his father's hair.
"You know, it's time like this that I feel like I could really use you dad" Naruto said out loud.
A soft breaze push Naruto's own hair off to the right and Naruto smiled as he looked down at what was a massive create just hours ago.
It was as Kakashi said, the man who had attacked them failed to finish the job. The man had left in a state that many would mistake for a defeated one.
The flat ground below did little to make Naruto more at ease, the state of the village made him sad.
That along with the lack of the rage that usually filled him, Naruto was left feeling empty.
For so long, the rage had been his source of energy, it fueled him every day.
But now it was gone, there was no fiery energy in the pit of his stomach, only a longing for something else.
"I figured that I would find you up here" said a voice from behind Naruto
Without turning his head, Naruto said "Lord Hokage"
Hiurzen's smile fropped from his face as he received the icy greeting.
Ignoring the social norms, the elderly leader walked up next to Naruto and plopped down next to him, taking a seat over looking the village as well.
"How did you know i would be here?" asked Naruto after a couple minutes of pure silence.
"You used to come here after our training sessions." replied the old Hokage.
The wind blew past them and Hiruzen let out a sigh of relaxation as the cool night wind washed over him.
"Naruto, i want to apologize for my actions" said Hiruzen after another moment of silence
Naruto didn't say anything, but he did turn to look at the elderly Kage for the first time.
His eyes once filled with an unbreakable will, were somber and vulnerable.
Sensing that Naruto was waiting for him to speak, Hiruzen did.
"I know that I have been quite forceful about my demands for you. Pushing you towards becoming Hokage was foolish of me. I saw so much of your father in you, the brilliance, the kindness, the leader. But ... I never stopped to think about what you wanted. I simply saw another Minato before me, never seeing that you were Naruto. I trained you like I would my replacement. I never considered what the villagers did to you, i never thought about the pain and suffering you received from the people around you. I wanted you to detach your self from all of the negative experiences that you were put through for the people who put you through it." said Hiruzen
Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes.
"The social isolation, the inflated prices, the few attacks, the paper bombs placed in your mail. The villagers were monsters towards you, more like a demon than the one they claimed you were. And what was my solution? To train you and task you with protecting them, protecting those who sought to harm you. And yet, here you are, almost a fully grown man, a man with honor that cannot be questioned or challenged. You never struck back, you never turned your back on them, you never let your anger and hatred get in the way of your will of fire." continued Hiruzen.
Naruto hung his head as tears poured freely from his eyes.
"It hurt ... it hurt so much, because it felt like you had chosen them over me. It felt like I was nothing more than a beast on a leash, trained to be throw at enemies but put down if any missteps occurred. It felt like you didn't care about me as a person, only as an asset." started Naruto
Hiruzen tried to cut in but Naruto continued
"But you were right. I was so angry, at the village, at the people, at you. I never once thought about the bigger picture, you didn't owe me anything. Your job and responsiblity was to the village and it's people. I was so filled with rage that i once swore that i would never lift a finger to help a single person in this village. But i watched it get absolutely destroyed by some asshole in a cloak. I felt helpless, I felt angry, not at the villagers or even the attackers. I was mad at myself, because all this time I've been a brat. But I get it now, I get why you wanted me to become Hokage, to protect the villagers. You preached the Will of Fire, even when my own fire was dying out, being snuffed out by my own actions. Before I would dismiss the needs of the people, now I know better. I vow to make sure that the people who think they can harm my people, will pay." said Naruto, tears no longer falling from his eyes, the unbreakable will back in them.
"Hokage eh? I think you'll be best one that this village will ever see" said Hiruzen
The Next Day:
The Hokage Tower was rebuilt, the main hub of the village.
Inside of it was several people.
Obviously, Hiruzen was there, along with his elderly advisors. Danzo, no longer among them.
The Jonin Commander was present, his face a scarred version of his son's.
Also there was Jiraiya, Kakashi, Asuma, Naruto, and Shikamaru.
"I have called you here because the results of the Chunin exams are back. While i wish that all of our village's genin could receive the promotion, not everyone is ready just yet. First, Shikamaru Nara. You displayed the awareness of your own abilities and limitatiions that not many people older than you show. The mind is the sharpest tool that a young shinobi can have." started Hiruzen
Asuma smiled as he heard the praise his father was giving his student.
"Despite the mental talent that you showed, i would still like to see you progress your physical attributes." added Hiruzen "but for the moment, you are indeed a Chunin. Over the next six months, we will test your leadership and abilities. If we find you lacking in any particular issue, you will be placed on probation or demoted to Genin once more."
Shikamaru nodded and took the scroll handed to him before he and his sensei were dismissed."Now, Naruto Uzuamki-Namikaze, you have three options before you. You could simply take this promotion to Chunin. You'll remain on your current team for in village missions but would be placed in an all Chunin squad for war related missions that are coming sooner than later." said Hiruzen as he pulled out a single form.
Naruto looked at it, it sounded so weird to not just take this simple step forward. Why make a mess of something that is basically cut and dry for everyone else.
"The second option is a bit different" started Hiruzen as he placed a blank ANBU mask on the table "They like your abilities and have extended an offer of being part of the Enforcer branch. You would basically stop existing in the village, the next time you would not wear the mask would be when you retire or die"
Naruto just made a face that clearly said that he wasn't interested.
"The final option is an apprenticeship with Jiraiya. You would be his responsibility until he declares that you have mastered whatever he has to teach you. The difference is that with this option, you by pass being a Chunin and go straight to being a Special Jonin, while becoming ineligible for a field promotion and have to wait a full year before you can request a Jonin exam." finished Hiruzen.
Naruto glanced at Kakashi and Jiraiya and said "This isn't an easy decision to make, these are all quality options but i have to do what is best for not just my career but the village as well. I've made up my mind"
Later that night:
Naruto sat on top of his father's stone head, overlooking the once crater turned empty lot turned small growing town. The repair efforts were going better than anyone could have hoped for.
"Do you mind if I take seat?" asked a voice behind him
"By all means" replied Naruto
They sat right next to Naruto, separated by a couple inches of space.
"This view is the best in the village"
"Yeah, I've always come here since I was a kid. I guess it makes sense that my favorite spot was here" said Naruto
"Sitting on your father's head is something all kids like to do"
"I guess" responded Naruto
There was an empty pause
"You made the right decision today"
"You think so?" asked Naruto
"I know so, not many people are willing to do what you are trying to do."
"Some would say that it is doomed from the start." said Naruto
"You aren't just someone, you were born for this"
"I believe that my father walked a similar path."
"He did"
"I'm glad that I get to have you guide me like you did him, Master Jiraiya."
"I wouldn't trade it for the world. When your dad first told me that he got Kushina pregnant, i freaked out. He was like a son to me, and he waas going to have his own kid, so young. But he neevr freaked out, he was calm and ready for it. Said something along the lines of that the most talented burn out fast in our world, wanted to experience being a parent while he could. Then he used the name from my first book and asked me to be your Godfather." said Jiraiya as he looked at the sunset.
"Dad was built different, I guess" replied Naruto
"Something like that, he was the best man I've ever met. I used to thnk that I failed him, leaving you here in the village. But I don't know if I would have done a better job raising you. You've gone full circle by yourself, you've overcome your hatred, all by yourself. I know that Minato would be so proud of you, I know I am as well."
"Thank you" whispered Naruto
"Naruto" called out Kurenai, causing him to turn his head.
"I'll give you some privacy, see you in the morning" said Jiraiya before he hopped down from the head of his student.
Standing up, Naruto turned to look at Kurenai, her ruby eyes making his heart skip a beat.
"I heard that you and one of Asuma's students got promoted. Congrats" said Kurenai brightly, before she pulled him into a tight hug. On the pull back, she kissed him on the cheek, causing both of them to blush.
"Yeah, i got promoted to a Special Jonin today" said Naruto after a moment of comfortable silence.
"Really, I didn't think that you could skip being a Chunin unless you went to ANBU." said Kurenai, clearly puzzled by the strange promotion.
"Well, you can if you are an apprentice to a sage like Lord Jiraiya." answered Naruto to her unasked question.
"That's great"
"I have to leave soon" blurted out Naruto.
"Leave? we all leave the village for missions Naruto"
"Like leave for months, maybe years."
"Years?"
"The max is 2.5 years"
Kurenai frowned "Oh, that is a long time"
"I know"
"What about us"
"Is there an us?" asked Naruto
"I felt there was something here, Naruto. I would say that there is an 'us' here"
Naruto said nothing but turned around and looked over the village.
"Say something" said Kurenai, her frustration spilling over into her tone.
"Kurenai, I like you. But I am about to go on a trip that may take me away from here for years. There is a war on the horizon, the minor villages are pooling together and I need to be ready. I need to be able to stop something like what happened to our village. A single man in a stupid cloak came and flattened our entire village. I need ot leave so that when i come back, I can make sure that he doesn't hurt anyone else, especially the people I care about."
Kurenai put her hand on Naruto's shoulder and pulled him, forcing him to look at her. She didn't say anything but slammed her mouth onot his mouth. The kiss was aggressive and angry, but Naruto met it with the same energy.
It ended after a minute and Kurenai said "I understand that you feel you have to do this. But you never gave me an answer"
Naruto smiled sadly "I don't have an answer for you at the moment, as much as I wish i could simply date you, that would make being away too hard to bare. I can tell you that I will have an answer for you when I come back"
Kurenai blinked away some tears and said "Naruto, I can't wait on an answer that can change over the course of the next couple of months or years. I can't wait for you if you can't wait for me"
Naruto nodded his head, leaving it bowed for a moment. When he raised it, Kurenai was gone.
Naruto tilted backwards and landed on his back, looking up at the starry night sky.
"I am a fucking idiot" he muttered to himself.
The night passed by eventlessly after that, and soon night turned to dawn and then to morning.
Naruto stood at the reconstructed main gates, his backpage on the ground by his feet,
"Well Naruto, this is it." said Jiraiya as he finished talking to the gate keepers.
"Yeah"
"Don't worry brat, we will back before you know it. We need to get you some sage mode training and then we can see where to go from there"
"I'm going to miss this place:
"I know, i always do too"
Naruto picked up his pack and slung it onto his back, before turning his back to the slowly rebuilding village.
"Let's go" said Jiraiya and Naruto nodded and followed, the two of them leaving home for the foreseeable future.
Naruto never turned back to take a last look, he couldn't afford to.
Because despite the fact that she didn't come to see him off in the early morning, Naruto could still feel her eyes on his back. And he knew that if he looked back, he would not be able to leave ... leave her.
A/N: And Chapter is done. This was a weird one to right because I couldn't really do anything to crazy with what i needed to get done for the story.
As usual Naruto is a guy, and we always fuck shit up with the women in our lives. I personally have given terrible answers that stopped several relationships in their tracks. Most recently, moving from Florida to Missori on August 13th of 2020 was one of these mistakes.
The training trip will not be 2.5 years like canon, that is due to several reasons. This Naruto is already strong than the Naruto that came back, there is literally a war about to start, and Naruto really needs Sage Mode to be on equal footing with the other S-Ranked Shinobi in the world. I will not give you the amount of time in the time lapse that will be between this chapter and the next one, but it wouldn't be terribly long.
So that is about it, feel free to PM me, DM me on Twitter, or just drop the review, I typically answer to them.
My twitter is HKM_FF
And goodbye, HighKey_Mars out