Chapter 8: Many threads to sever and tie.

Naruto stared up at the Uzukage's tower for a long time, letting the flood of new emotions wash over him. He looked in wonder, basking in the silhouette as it stood mighty against the setting sun. That is until his stomach growled at him.

With a frown, Naruto looked down at his gut. "You've dealt with worse, shut up." He grumbled before looking around. Drawing his hands together into a familiar hand sign Naruto yelled out. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" before a flash of smoke surrounded him, once the smoke dissipated he stood in a crowd of 8 of shadow clones. Now that Hige-san was… gone… Naruto didn't have any reason to not use his 'ninja magic.'

"Ok guys, you go look for bamboo shoots and dig up some kudzu roots. I'm pretty sure Iruka-sensei said they were edible if you boiled them." Naruto said before pointing to one clone in particular. "You, look through some of the houses here, see if you can find some pots or anything of use."

"What are you gonna do boss?" One of the clones asked.

"I'm gonna look in the Kage tower, this is our home, we need to learn about it."

All of the clones nodded in understanding.

"Mhmm"

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Very wise."

"That's boss for you."

"Yea verily."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Ok, whatever, now split up," he spoke before leaving his clones behind to walk into the tower.

The entryway was trashed, he could see that there was some form of receptionist desk that had been destroyed as concrete and stone rubble lined the floors. For the land of whirlpools, there was a surprising amount of stone and masonry in their buildings. Although Naruto supposed making a tower out of whirlpools would be pretty hard.

Naruto drew his hands together again and summoned 2 more clones. "Ok guys, split up and look around," he ordered before going upstairs. The two clones began to look more in-depth around the rooms on the ground floor.

Climbing up the tower Naruto saw ruined room after ruined room. The place was covered in a thick layer of dust, not having been disturbed in years. There were several papers strewn about, but they were all decayed and crumbled in his hands when he tried to pick them up, from the looks of them though they were just records of various missions and such.

Continuing to climb up from floor to floor, Naruto searched every nook and cranny but didn't find much. Finally, Naruto reached the top floor, or rather, what was currently the top floor. Everything that had been above the current floor had been destroyed somehow. Naruto looked up into the sky and frowned. He had been hoping for more, of course, he knew that the ruins of a village that had been pillaged and destroyed over a decade ago wouldn't be in the best condition, but he thought there would be something.

"Boss!" A voice cried out excitedly from him. "Come check out what we found!"

Turning around, Naruto saw one of his clones beckoning him down the stairs. "Which one are you?" He asked.

"I'm one of the ones that was supposed to look on the main floor, we found something cool looking."

Naruto nodded. "Sweet," he mumbled before following the clone down to the ground floor. Walking into the room behind the reception area Naruto looked at one of his clones as he was ripping up the carpets.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.

"There was a bump under the carpet so I cut it open, there's a hidden door dude! It's probably got gold or something in there!" The clone replied happily as he continued to rip up the carpet, finally revealing the entirety of the trap door. "Here, help me open it, it looks real heavy."

Naruto walked over to his clone and looked at the door. It was a simple stone slab with metal rings inlaid in 2 of the corners to make it easier to lift. It was laid flush with the rest of the floor.

"How the hell did you find this thing?" Naruto asked the clone as he gripped one of the rings.
"Uhhh-"

"He tripped and landed on it face first." Clone 2 interrupted with a smirk before the first could respond.

"Shut up dude! You promised you wouldn't tell!" Clone 1 protested. The second clone just shrugged and laughed a little.

Naruto laughed a little too but shook his head. "Focus guys. Here, help me with this."

Clone 1 nodded before gripping the second metal ring. Looking to each other Clone 1 and Naruto nodded as they counted down.

"One, two, three!" They grunted as they lifted the stone slab and placed it aside. Looking down Naruto saw what looked like a bottomless pit. "Not it," he mumbled.

"Not it!" Clone 1 shouted before looking to Clone 2. "Looks like you're up."

Clone 2 frowned but sighed. "Alright fine." He grumbled before stepping up to the square pit and looking down. Without a word, he jumped down into the abyss. Naruto and Clone 1 stared down the pit for several minutes before looking back to each other.

"Think he's dead?" Clone 1 asked.

"Dunno, but as the boss, I volunteer you to find out," Naruto replied. Clone 1 nodded with a resigned look.

"Fine, guess it's my turn to-"

"Hey, boss!" Clone 2 shouted up from deep in the hole. "You're gonna wanna see this!"

UN:PoA

Sasuke grit his teeth slightly. Orochimaru had been called away on 'village business' again and he was far from happy about it. The snake had given Sasuke some scrolls containing lightning and fire-based chakra manipulation techniques and told him to practice. With his eyes he could easily copy any jutsu he saw, but the efficiency he used the jutsu with was entirely dependent on his chakra control. He had always struggled to mold chakra, his thoughts drifted back to his time in Wave country, where he had barely managed to outpace the dead-last fool Naruto with the tree-climbing exercise. Naruto was renowned for his terrible chakra control but had managed to keep up with Sasuke, he didn't want to think about what that meant for his chakra control. The Karin girl was helpful, however, although he knew it was partially due to her orders that she helped him. She apparently had some sort of gift when it came to chakra molding. The loud popping sound of the light bulb in his hand exploding drew him out of his thoughts, tiny shards of glass bouncing off of his protective goggles. "Shit!" He cursed loudly, having lost focus again.

"You're being too rough with it Sasuke-kun," the girl said as he threw the shattered bulb aside and onto an ever-growing pile. "Don't think of it as pushing lightning into the bulb. Pour it out into the bulb gently, let it flow naturally. Lightning and water may be considered near opposites, but they behave very similarly. They both hate being constrained or put under pressure and will flow out naturally when given the chance. Don't push, pour," she said gently.

Sasuke looked at her with a glare, his sour mood only slightly lightened by her soft voice and smile. Her appearance drove something about him off, however. It was like she was a combination of Sakura and Naruto. Her hair reminded him of Sakura, but her face reminded him of Naruto. It was bizarre, to say the least. While her physical appearance reminded him of his former teammates, her personality and attitude did anything but. Naruto was brash and annoyingly loud, with Sakura behaving very similarly whenever she wasn't addressing Sasuke directly. Karin though was gentle, and never brought her voice above a whisper. It almost reminded him of the Hyuuga girl, except Karin was clearly more self-confident, not having a stutter and willing to look him in the eyes.

"I'm aware of that," he growled picking up another bulb "but I'm not exactly pushing, I'm opening and trying to let it flow, but it all just rushes out and- Oh come on!" He shouted as another bulb popped. He threw it so hard it hit the wall on the other side of the training room that had been designated as his personal playground.

Karin pouted a little, looking down at the floor to try and think as she sat on the floor. "Hmmmm~" she hummed to herself. "Sasuke-kun, you're under too much pressure. Well, you're putting your chakra under too much pressure, but that's most likely a subconscious action your performing due to stress."

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at the girl, the way she spoke was clinical but still warm. It was like Kabuto had decided to grow a personality. "Meaning?" He asked.

"How much sleep have you been getting? When was the last time you ate? How does your mark feel?" She asked one question after the other.

"I'm sleeping and eating fine, and my mark hurts a little like it always does." He lied. The truth was his sleep schedule was shot to shit. Ever since he'd met Karin he'd started having nightmares about killing Naruto, what little work he had done to suppress his emotions on the subject had been destroyed when he saw her face.

Yeah, he hated Naruto, he had really hated Naruto, but the brat had still been the closest thing he could call a friend; the fact that his death had unlocked his Mangekyo Sharingan was a testimony to that. While he wouldn't say he regretted Naruto's death, he certainly wasn't happy about it. He had told himself that he would gladly bear the sin of fratricide so long as it meant he could kill Itachi, but he had underestimated the guilt that would eat at him. He suspected that if it hadn't been for Karin, he would have been able to suppress his consciousness completely, but the redheaded Uzumaki girl was a constant reminder to what he had done to the only person in Konoha that had understood him.

"Are you sure about that?" Karin asked, placing a hand on his forehead. "You don't look so good. You wait here and I'll grab us both something small from the cafeteria." She said before handing him another light bulb and walking off. "Remember Sasuke-kun, pour don't push!" She reminded him before leaving the room.

Sasuke frowned after her before returning his attention to his training. He scowled at the glass bulb in his hand as he tried to 'pour' his lightning chakra into it. The light flickered brightly for a second.

"Holy shit, I did-" He began before the bulb exploded, sending glass shards flying into his face. "Gods dammit."

UN:PoA

Naruto wasn't entirely sure if the low whistle had come from him or one of his clones, but it was well deserved. He hadn't expected the electricity to still work after all these years, but the first clone down had flipped a nearby switch and the small rectangular room lit up with the pale lights of florescent bulbs humming back to life, granted the majority of them didn't turn on, but enough did that he and his 2 clones could see what was in front of them.

The room itself was entirely bare and appeared to have been carved out of a single massive block of stone, upon closer examination however it appeared that it was just concrete that had been polished to have a stone-like appearance. Of course, the quality of the building material wasn't what had impressed the three Narutos.

On the far side of the room, opposite to where they had jumped down, was the most complicated seal matrix that Naruto had ever seen. There was barely more than half an inch of non-carved surface anywhere across the wall, and in the center was the colossal symbol of his people, protruding out from the carved in seal-matrix like a beacon.

"I dare ya to touch it," one of the clones from behind him whispered before pushing him forward slightly, causing him to stumble towards the stone mural.

While normally Naruto would have been rather pissed at whichever clone had pushed him, for some reason he was inexplicably drawn towards the wall like a moth to a flame. He salivated as something in his chest tightened. With step after step, Naruto made his way to the carved concrete, his eyes drawn to the flowing characters that danced off from the central spiral-like rays off of a sun. He didn't know how many spokes emitted from the central point that was the Uzumaki swirl, but he estimated that it numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands.

"Hey boss, I'm pretty sure he was kidding, you should probably let one of us do it first to make sure it's safe, y'know?" A voice spoke from behind him as a hand was placed on his shoulder. Naruto shrugged the hand away and mumbled under his breath.

Looking under the central swirl Naruto noticed a small shallow bowl carved into the stone at about his head height. It was about the perfect size to fit an adult hand… or a child's hand if needed.

Naruto looked down at his hand, when had he started reaching out for the wall? He didn't have time to answer his question. As his hand made contact with the cool smooth stone the carvings on the wall suddenly shone with brilliant red, yellow, and blue lights. His screams echoed throughout the room as he felt the burning sensation of a strangely familiar chakra make it's way up his arm before spreading through the rest of his body.

His soul was on fire.

UN:PoA

Hinata marched down the streets of Konoha and towards the great hall of her family's home, biting the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood.

She knew it was not proper to think ill of her superiors, but Kakashi had been infuriating. After summoning several of his hounds to help Shino and Kiba with their tracking and evasion training she had hoped that she would get to practice her Jyuuken on someone with a Sharingan. Instead, he had sat her down and talked to her about two of his friends, Obito and Rin, he talked about their deaths and about overcoming depression, steps of grief, and moving on. She had focused on watching Shino and Kiba with her Byakugan. Sure, the deaths of his teammates had been tragic, but in relation to what had happened to Naruto, it was only tangentially similar at best. Obito had died in the war to save a comrade and Rin had effectively taken her own life. Naruto had been betrayed. By the village, but his team, but most definitely by her. Oh, she nodded and 'hmm'-ed at all the right times, but that was only to get Kakashi to leave her be, if he wouldn't train her then she would be better off sparring with branch members. She didn't have time to philosophize about acceptance of loss, she had to get stronger. She had a dream, well not so much of a dream as it was a goal: to become strong enough to kill a certain person.

Sasuke Uchiha.

She had worked it back, mulled it over within her head at least a thousand times before she had discovered Naruto's empty grave, and a thousand more in the days since. Sasuke was the keystone of the entire tragedy that was Naruto's death and desecration.

If Kakashi had let her practice against a Sharingan armed opponent, she would have been that much closer to being capable of fulfilling her goal. Instead, he had waxed long with platitudes and tried to get her to 'open up.' To let her know that she could 'talk to him about anything.' What use were words when the cause of her pain was half a continent away and several times stronger than her? She had to avenge the loss of her love before she could take the time to grieve, her honor demanded it. Naruto's honor demanded it.

Hinata stopped in front of the large double doors that lead to the Hyuuga's great hall. She had been told to report to her father as soon as her day's training was up, so she did. Opening the door her heart stopped at what she saw. Her father sat in his ceremonial seat and standing in front of him was Hanabi.

"F-father," Hinata began, stuttering for the first time in days "why have you called me?"

"You have made leaps and bounds in recent weeks Hinata-chan, having made progress that I quite frankly thought impossible of you. Yet it appears as though the recent stall in your strength has broken, and has allowed you to spring forward. For this reason, I and several of the elders believe you are finally ready to take up the role as matriarch of the clan. Some of the elders, however, are wary that your recent growth is an illusion, a series of flukes. For this reason we have come to the conclusion that one final fight between you and your sister shall take place. The loser will be branded with the cursed seal, and placed into the branch house."

Hinata's form stiffened at her father's monologue. This couldn't be happening.

"But father-" she began.

"This is not open for debate Hinata," Hiashi interrupted "the elders are tired of waiting, and put bluntly I am as well."

"F-father I just returned from training, and am tired, it would not be fair to make me fight now." Hinata bluffed. Maybe if she could stall she could think of something to prevent either her or her sister from being branded. "At least give me some time to-"

"I had someone follow you today Hinata. All you did in training was talk to Kakashi-san. You will fight, and you will fight today." Her father interrupted sourly. "This decision has been delayed long enough."

"Father, is this formality required?" Hanabi inquired in a haughty tone, smirking and looking at Hinata out of the corner of her eye. "We both know that Hinata-chan is not capable of defeating me if she's scared we should let her forfeit."

Hiashi gave a subtle frown and turned to look at Hinata again. "Very well, Hinata, do you choose to forfeit your birthright?" He asked.

Hinata's mind was running at 1000 miles an hour. She swore to her mother that she would protect her little sister, but if she was branded in Hanabi's place she would never have the freedom to seek revenge on Naruto's behalf. Her life was stuck at a crossroads, and she had to pick which path to take. This was all happening so fast, she was supposed to have more time, she needed to find a way so that neither she nor Hanabi would be branded. She needed to-

"Hinata, answer me. Do you forfeit your birthright?" Hiashi asked with a grunt, not caring for the panic that was going on in Hinata's eyes. Hinata breathed deeply. She needed to avenge Naruto, to get his body back and put it to rest properly. She needed to find Sasuke and bring him to justice. She needed to protect her little sister. "I will fight," Hinata whispered, so softly it was barely audible. "I will take my rightful place as heir." She said, this time more forcefully.

Hanabi scoffed and stood across from Hinata, taking the traditional Jyuuken stance. "Very well, father, tell us when you are ready." The younger sister said stoically.

Hiashi looked to Hinata before nodding slowly as she sunk into her stance as well. "Very well," he stated simply as he leaned back in his seat. "begin."

Hanabi charged forward towards her older sister with a small shout as she prepared to end the spar quickly, just as she always did. To Hinata it was if she was moving in slow motion, tiny cold pin-pricks covered her body as though her entire body had fallen asleep.

Quickly stepping to the side Hinata took a deep breath as she saw Hanabi's strike move past her. She had decided what she must do, but she wouldn't revel in it.

Gripping Hanabi's hand by the wrist Hinata pushed her off balance before placing a single delicate Jyuuken strike at the base of Hanabi's skull. Hanabi let out a soft gasp before she fell face-first onto the floor, unable to move anything below her neck.

"How long?" Hinata's head snapped from her sister up to her father's gaze as he spoke. "How long did you plan on letting the charade play?" He asked simply, eyes downcast as he stared at the stunned Hanabi. The skill with which Hinata had taken care of Hanabi was obvious. True, she may be far from a master, but she was not as incompetent as she had led her father and her elders to believe all these years.

"As long as possible," Hinata said sadly before bowing to her father. "I will be in my room if you need me, father." She whispered before standing up and walking towards the exit.

"It is a tradition that heirs watch their siblings be sealed so that-"

The sliding door shut with a loud thud, interrupting Hiashi as Hinata ran with tears in her eyes. She was crying again, she had accepted that she would still cry sometimes, but at the very least she could hide it.

"I see… I couldn't watch either." Hiashi said softly to himself as he kneeled to place a hand on the back of Hanabi's neck, unblocking her chakra passage to allow her to move again. She shook gently on the floor. "F-father… There must be some mistake, this was a fluke, I can't be sealed, it is my fate to become the matriarch of our clan."

"It appears as though the ties of fate are more easily severed and rebound than we thought. Take your time to collect yourself, I will have our seal masters collect you in a few hours."

Hanabi's prone form shot up and grabbed her father's hand. "No!" She interjected. "P-please! You can't seal me! I can't be one of… them." She said the distaste for the branch family was clear in her voice.

"Such is our way, Hanabi, such is our culture. This is how it has been, and how it always will be in our clan." He whispered as he gently pried her fingers off his wrist. "As I said, take some time to collect yourself, all I can give you if a few hours."

Hanabi curled into a ball on the floor as the last shards of her perception of the world shattered into dust.

UN:PoA

Naruto sat on top of the head of the Fourth Hokage, eating an ice cream cone with Sakura by his side. He couldn't remember how he got here, but that wasn't a big deal… was it?

"What'cha thinking about cutie?" Sakura asked with a giggle before she kissed his cheek. "Your mom and dad said you didn't have to go back home until tonight, it's not like you to worry over nothing. Especially when you've finally saved up enough money to take me out on a date~" She giggled again, punching his arm playfully and taking a bite of her ice cream.

Naruto's mouth opened and words came of their own volition. "I'm just wondering what Sasuke's doing." He answered, the words echoing in his head as they came.

Sakura's face turned into a scowl and she made a *blegh* sound. "That jerk? Listen, Naruto-kun, just because his score was just under yours after we graduated the academy doesn't mean you need to worry about him. He clearly wants to be your best friend or something, but he's too angsty to admit it. He looks up to you, he's not a threat or anything."

Naruto shook his head, an action that felt like he was moving through syrup. "No, I just… I hope he's ok. He's all alone y'know? A lot of girls like him, but he doesn't really have anyone to talk to. Ever since we got put on a team with him I've been worried about him."

"Worried about him?" Sakura asked, resting her head on Naruto's shoulder, "He'll be fine Naruto-kun, Kakashi-sensei helps him with a ton of stuff and we have time to practice together while they do! It's perfect really."

"I know." Naruto began, resting his head on top of Sakura's. "Mom and dad say I worry too much, that everything's fine, but there are no missions for us with how calm everything's been and I get a little pent up sometimes. I'm sorry if I made you worry, I just need to do some training to clear my head."

"Isn't 'too much peace' a good thing?" Sakura asked, letting out a yawn as her finished ice cream fell out of her hands. "Heh, yeah, I guess it is," Naruto replied

UN:PoA

"What the fuck is going on!?" Clone 1 asked quickly as Naruto began to scream, he tried to reach out to grab Naruto but was instantly blasted back by some kind of chakra pulse. It was a minor miracle that he hadn't popped right then and there.

"How should I know!? You're the one that told him to touch it!" Clone 2 responded angrily before running to the back of the room. "I'm getting more clones for help, try to do… something!" He shouted before jumping back up the access hatch.

UN:PoA

Naruto sobbed as he held Sasuke's dead body in his arms. "I'm s-sorry. I didn't mean for it to end like this. I j-just wanted to bring you home!" He shouted into his corpse as the rain poured over the both of them. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up he saw the single sad eye of his sensei.

"K-Kakashi-sensei! You can heal him right!? It's not too late, right? C-can we still save him!?" Naruto asked, almost begged as he turned to grip at Kakashi's wet vest.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I thought I could course-correct Sasuke, but it looks like I was wrong. I'm sorry I'm late again, but you did the right thing, we couldn't allow Sasuke to get into Orochimaru's hands." Kakashi said as he moved past Naruto and scooped Sasuke off of the ground. "Come with me, you need to get looked at, that's a nasty wound on your shoulder."

"He was aiming for my chest… I just deflected and..." Naruto started standing up before immediately falling back down onto the wet stone covered ground. Everything was upside down, and inside out. His head was folding in on itself. There was and wasn't. This wasn't it, was it? Or maybe the other it wasn't it and this was the it that-"

UN:PoA

Clone 2 ran through the desolate streets of Uzushiogakure yelling at the top of his lungs. "Emergency at the tower! Emergency at the tower! Everyone get off your ass and get back to Naruto!"

Several of the clones that had been tasked with gathering roots panicked for a moment before quickly dropping what they had collected and made their way towards the Uzukage tower.

UN:PoA

"Hey, I'm Naruto, and when I grow up, I'm gonna be Hokage! What's your name?" Naruto asked with a broad grin as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"H-H-Hinata." The shy girl in front of him asked. She was really pretty, almost as pretty as Sakura-chan!

"Hi, Hinata! I'm sorry those kids were bullying you, my dad said that bullies are bad guys and it's ok if I beat them up. He said my mom used to beat up bullies when she was alive. I wanna be just like my mom and beat up bullies and help cute people like you!" Naruto announced

"Y-you think I'm cute?" Hinata asked demurely. "R-really?"

"Uh-oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to come off as a pervert or something! Dad always says to treat ladies nice and not be a pervert like his Sensei is. I did mean it though, you're real pretty, but I promise I only mean it in a nice way!" Naruto spoke, even more nervously than before.

"N-no! I'm not mad!" Hinata gasped, standing up and looking at the small rabble of bullies that Naruto had beat up to protect her. "I'm… thank you… you look nice too, and you're very brave. What did you say your name was again?"

"Naruto! Naruto Namikaze!"

Hinata's eyes widened and she berated herself for being so dense. It was the Hokage's son! She quickly bowed and mumbled an apology. "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry I didn't recognize you, young master. I promise I meant no offense Namikaze-sama!"

Naruto frowned. "N-no it's fine!" He said, placating her. Why was she upset? This didn't seem right. People weren't nice to him. And his family name was Uzumaki, not Namikaze. Why was she calling him a young master? His head hurt.

UN:PoA

Clone 1 was blasted against the wall again before Clone 2 and several others jumped down the access hatch. "Any updates!?" Clone 2 asked in a panic. Clone 1 just shook his head.

"Every time I try to reach him I get blasted back!" Clone 1 shouted.

Suddenly all the clones stiffened and gripped their heads as they each lived multiple lifetimes. They were ninjas, chefs, merchants, thieves. They were orphans, they were only children, they had many younger siblings. They were alone, they were loved, they loved. They loved Sakura, they loved Hinata, they loved Ino. Each one lived different lives, each wave of lives hurting more than the last. Soon the clones began to pop from the pain until there was only the original Naruto left. Hand still placed against the seal covered wall, his voice ran horse as he screamed. Suddenly he too was blasted away from the wall and landed like a broken doll onto the floor. He wasn't entirely sure if it was real when he heard words spoken from the wall.

"There are many fates for you Uzukage-sama. Choose wisely."

The seal-covered wall let out the loud groan of stone grinding on stone as it slowly opened up, receding into the sides of the wall to reveal a massive library full of tomes and books in mint condition.

Naruto merely looked at the opening and blinked slowly. "Great," he slurred. "How'm I s'posed to deal with all this shit?"

UN:PoA

Author's Notes

Wow, this took forever to put out. I'm not making excuses but long story short I don't have a beta anymore. If anyone is interested in beta-ing this story please say so and I would greatly appreciate it. I also want to state that I hold absolutely zero ill will towards my previous beta. There wasn't a fight or anything (Although if there was a fight I would have totally won) just two separate lives going separate ways.

I've also been dealing with a lot of real-life stuff so that's prevented me from really giving this the time it deserves. Sorry for the wait, and thank you for your patience.