Author Note:
Hi All.
It's been a really long time hasn't it.
First off I would like to sincerely apologise for how long it has been since you last had an update. I am really sorry.
I have been busy during this period, trying to organise a variety of things in my personal life which has prevented me from writing part 4.
I feel I should warn you as well that I have a lot more things to organise in my personal life over the next three weeks and I may be cut off from the internet, meaning I may not be able to provide you with updates.
However, I promise to work as hard as I can to write and release at my usual pace of 5 chapters per week but I would like to stress I cannot promise anything.
Anyway, that's enough excuses, I have some more things to explain.
Part 4 has been inspired largely by combining requests and criticisms that have been made in the reviews. It was not in my original plan for the story so I apologist if it feels like it has been forced in. It will focus on the period between two different parts that I had planned to write originally. That said, I have enjoyed writing it and would like to thank you all for your help in inspiring it. If it is not to your liking then you can always skip over this relatively short part and return for part 5, you will not have missed anything too significant to the plot.
With that said, please enjoy Part 4: Rebirth of the Leaf
Thanks,
Cbehrills
REBIRTH OF THE LEAF – WINNERS AND LOSERS
The Hidden Leaf's Hill
The sun shines brightly as a group of five shinobi climbs the hill assigned to the hidden leaf village. Throughout the Captained Six challenge, this is where the shinobi who weren't competing watched those who were. Some of the observers watched their friends, like Mitsuki and Shikamaru. Some of the observers watched their family, like Biwako and Hiruzen. Though something links them all, each and every one of them was watching over someone that they care about.
The group of five climbs, finally arriving over the highest peak of the hill and coming into the sight of their loved ones. The five shinobi are among the most elite, not just in the hidden leaf but in all of shinobi history. Senju Tobirama, the 2nd Hokage and a new jinchuriki for one of the three nine-tailed beasts. Sarutobi Mirai, a woman who can do things that nobody else has ever done, who can fuse elements together with but a click of her fingers. Hatake Kakashi, the inheritor of Uchiha Obito's powers, the man who went on to become the 6th Hokage. Senju Hashirama, the 1st Hokage, he who has come the closest of anyone to perfecting sage mode, who uses it to wield a power greater than any from his own time period. Lastly, Uzumaki Naruto, the 7th Hokage who inspired a generation, the only person from this world to understand the power of the invading forces.
"Uh" Naruto awkwardly speaks as he scratches the rear of his head, it has been a while since he last had to deal with a situation like this and it has not become any easier. Finally, he takes a deep breath as he settles on what to say to his friends.
"We won".
A mixture of cheers and applause fills the air as Naruto declares the Hidden Leaf's victory. For so long the villages had to fight a hopeless fight against the leaders. Countless shinobi have fallen in the war, so many died thinking there was no hope at all. Then Uchiha Sarada changed everything when she summoned a group of legends from the past. Bringing forward both the Hokage and their loved ones has proved a masterstroke on her part. After so long, the war is finally over. Against all the odds, the Hidden Leaf Village has won.
Himawari walks to the front of the group and tightly hugs her father. Naruto is not even at the age where he first had children, he is far from it. The 7th Hokage has been thrust into the future and introduced to many people who were inspired by him, who befriended him, who succeeded him and who love him. Despite the tremendous mental strain, he won and what's more, the first thing he spoke of was Himawari's birthday.
"Thank you" Naruto's daughter whispers in his ear, "Thank you".
The next of many to step forward from the group of observers is the 5th Hokage, Senju Tsunade. After the first battle against Peterson, the decision was quickly made that Tsunade would be best off not competing in the contest, instead she made room for someone better suited to combat. As well as that, she saved the life of Uzumaki Naruto, she brought him back to full power, perhaps the greatest contribution of anybody.
Tsunade immediately uses her medical ninjutsu to tend to the wounds of Hashirama, to the wounds of her grandfather.
"Tsunade…" he mutters.
"You're wounded, you don't get to argue with your doctor" the 5th Hokage quickly interrupts him.
The recently glum 1st Hokage smiles sincerely, the warmest smile he has smiled in a long time, "Thank you".
Biwako embraces her granddaughter, Mirai. The tight embrace shows no signs of their complex relationship. Biwako had yet to have children in the past and has instead been brought to the future alongside her husband, only to meet her future granddaughter. Despite their similar ages, the embrace is genuine, reflecting their relationship as grandmother and granddaughter.
"Well done" Biwako congratulates her descendent, "I'm really proud of you for what you have done today".
A groan escapes Mirai's lips as she is squashed by Biwako.
"Are you OK" Biwako asks as she looks strangely at her granddaughter out of the corner of her eye.
"Yeah" Mirai nods, "I just hurt my back slightly".
The 3rd Hokage's wife quickly releases her granddaughter and puts her hands down by her side. "Right, sorry, I didn't even think about it". Not knowing how to properly apologise for being inconsiderate momentarily she instead mirrors Tsunade in using medical ninjutsu on her relative. Applying treatment to Mirai's back she smiles, "Let me do this for you, you have done so much for us".
"Thanks" Mirai smiles as she exchanges a 'thumbs up' with her grandfather.
It turned a few heads when Hiruzen decided he would give his spot in this contest to Mirai. Many secretly believed that if he was determined to forfeit his spot then he should instead pass it on to Tsunade who wasn't already listed as competing. However, his decision has paid off, Mirai performed valiantly in the contest. She may not have won her individual match but she came very close and come the final match she more than played her part. As part of the final three, alongside Hashirama and Naruto, she managed to defeat a weakened Colonel Sheer, something that was an essential element of the Hidden Leaf's victory.
Approaching his father, Naruto places a hand on his chest. "Dad…".
Minato looks down at Naruto's hand in awe, it is covered in a pure white energy, an energy that he cannot feel like he can chakra, but knows is there. Naruto condenses that energy onto Minato's chest before pulling his hand away, with it comes a small mauve crystal. This is the poison that has been circulating through his father's body. The poison that Martin has used to cause them so much trouble. The 7th Hokage takes the mauve crystal in hand and crushes it.
"Thank you" Minato smiles to his son.
He would embrace his son but his wife beats him to it. Kushina throws her arms around Naruto and holds him to her. A scene of embrace between mother and son that Naruto has been deprived of since he was a baby. In spite of all their difficulties and tribulations, here they share a moment of mutual love.
"Mom…" Naruto smiles.
"Please don't eve fight like that again" she says weakly, through what sound like the beginnings of tears.
Naruto starts before the smile returns to his face. It is the first time he considered it but there are many times that he nearly lost. Kurama had not been the only one to be worried, he should have been the least worried of anyone, instead it would be his family who were most concerned with him.
Naruto chuckles lightly. "I will do my best, mom".
"Where are Boruto and Sarada?" Hinata asks of her husband from the future. While throughout the battle she has been greatly concerned for his wellbeing, she has been even more worried about Boruto's fate. Boruto is not only weaker than Naruto but his mental state is considerably more fragile at this time, thus it's only natural that his mother would worry about him.
"Boruto was fairly angry that I let Clyde live" Naruto explains, "He ran off, so Sarada chased after him".
"Still, what a drag" Shikamaru moans using words that are familiar but welcome to his friends from the past, "Did you really have to let them live Naruto?"
"Now, now" Kakashi places a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder. "If he didn't, the other Generals would have found out about Clyde's death and following him here. After that it would only be so long before we run into trouble".
"That may be" Shikamaru accepts this logic, indeed, they have been fighting all this time to earn the General's co-operation in their attempt at survival. Otherwise they would have killed Peterson when Naruto defeated him the first time. "Still, they only needed to send one General in the first place".
"So?" Kakashi shrugs.
"They are expecting an easy victory, they will only wait so long before they come and investigate anyway" Shikamaru declares with a frown on his face, "It may have been just as well to kill them when you had the chance".
Naruto snaps, shaking his head and throwing his hand out to his side. "No way. I don't think they're bad people and if I killed them, wouldn't I become the bad guy".
Naruto's philosophy has changed little over the years. It is based upon the principles of never giving up, of trying to save everyone. His logic has always been that if cannot even save a friend then he could never truly become Hokage. Combining this with the ease with which he befriends people, it makes a difficult set of principles to live by. The principles are difficult but they are fair and just, they are the principles that have inspired a generation, that redefined what it means to be a shinobi.
"Honestly" Shikamaru sighs, "You've always been like that. Well, at least you are still the same Naruto".
Hiruzen smiles as he speaks to the group as a whole. "Come on everyone, let's go back to the villagers".
"Let's go home".
A Nearby Forest
The trees rustle slightly but noticeably, one after another they shake and one or two leaves drop from them. This is because Uzumaki Boruto is jumping between them. Normally he would take great pains not to shake the trees, to be as delicate as he can but that is not necessary here. Even if it were, he wouldn't care, for at this moment he is engulfed by his own emotions.
"Where are you going?" Sarada calls as she chases after Boruto.
The Uzumaki clansmen ignores his Hokage as he continues to jump from branch to branch.
"Boruto stop!" she shouts, finally brining to a halt.
As Boruto comes to a standing position on the ground, Sarada jumps down from a treetop to stand beside him. "What's wrong with you?" she asks emotionally.
His head snaps around. "What's wrong with me" he repeats the question as if it is the most stupid he has ever heard, "I'll tell you what's wrong with me, we're letting them live!".
The shadow Hokage's eyes drill into the ground, clearly, he is furious with this decision. It has been a long hard journey for him to get this far, where so many of his friends have died. Those friends died hating the enemy, wishing for a painful death upon the enemy and when they had finally had a chance to fulfil that wish, they had let it pass.
"They won't hurt us anymore" Sarada explains, doing her best to look into Boruto's intense eyes, "Your dad said that they are good people heart".
"Good people at heart". Boruto gathers the saliva in his mouth and spits it out. He doesn't know whether he should scream or laugh at this statement. After all that has happened. "What a joke, have you had those brilliant eyes of yours shut for the last few years, Lord 9th?".
"Boruto…" she stammers in reply.
"You were there when their mindless warriors overran the village" he shouts as he steps closer to Sarada. "You were there when Konohamaru sensei gave his life to stop them, have you forgotten?".
"No…" she says.
"Have you forgotten the day you ordered me to lead a group of shinobi against them?".
"No…" she says.
"I was the only one who survived that day" Boruto swings his arm around, almost expecting it to fly into the distance yet not caring about it in the least. "I woke up around a collection of corpses, the only survivor".
"Do you know what I saw?" he asks rhetorically, on the verge of tears, "That day I sensed a peculiarity with the Byakugan. Something I didn't see again until we battled against your father".
Sarada starts as she realises what this means. The mindless warriors that they have been fighting against until this point. Dead hidden leaf shinobi were amongst them.
"That's right, they were being transformed into those mindless warriors that they control" Boruto furiously announces, "They were probably the ones who attacked the hidden leaf that day. Have you forgotten…".
"Of course I haven't forgotten!".
Sarada finally explodes with deep emotions of her own. This is the inevitability she knew deep-down when she decided to follow Boruto. The two of them have contrasting experiences, contrasting ideologies and contrasting mentors. There is no way that they wouldn't have some opinions that differ from one another, it is fixed that this extreme scenario would pull these conflicting emotions out of them.
Sarada grabs Boruto's collar as she continues. "Do you know which Hokage oversaw the destruction of the Hidden Leaf, that was me".
"I know that I wasn't there" the 9th regretfully admits, "But don't you dare act like I haven't suffered at the invaders hands".
"Then how can you forgive them so easily!?".
"I haven't forgiven them!".
"Then why… why let them live, you must realise that this isn't the end, that we will be attacked again, if not by them by someone else?".
"Because…" Sarada shouts before calming herself.
She realises in this moment just how aggressive she was just now. She let's go of Boruto's collar and allow some space between the two of them. She lowers her voice as she finishes what she was saying. "That is because if you become defined by killing, then I may lose you".
Boruto gasps as a million images and stories of the past rush into his head at once. Stories that his father told him about his relationship with Sasuke, stories from his master about his regret in betraying the Hidden Leaf Village and lastly, images of his history with Sarada, of all they have been through together.
"These are mistakes that my father made in the past and he was nearly lost to the world" Sarada explains tearfully, "Now you're the only one I have left, I can't afford to lose you too".
Finally, as if all the energy has left her body in a single moment, Sarada slumps to her knees. Her dishevelled appearance reflects the physical and emotional hell she has been through over the last few days, finding out about her father's true fate, about Boruto's priorities and battling against a mighty invasion force.
Boruto takes a deep breath of air and sits down next to Sarada. He wraps a single arm around her shoulder and pulls her towards him, her head coming to rest on his shoulder. "I understand now" he says with a forced smile, "I can't promise to put my hatred behind me but I can promise that I will put you first, Sarada".
A long moment of silence persists between the pair.
"Can we stay like this?" Sarada asks.
"Yeah" her shadow Hokage replies, "For as long as you need".
The Land of Thunder
"Sir, are you alright?" Dred asks as he sprints over to the injured Clyde.
Dred has worked hard to bring the captains here as quickly as possible, to reunite with their commanders. It has been an emotional experience for him and the other captains. Never before has Dred seen any of them lose to a local, it is something he never believed he would have to experience. At the beginning the invaders were brimming with confidence yet at the end it was replaced with fear, fear for their superior's lives. No matter how many obstacles were placed in front of Naruto, he had overcome all of them. Despite that, despite everything, they had survived, all of the Colonels and the General have survived.
Clyde gives a nod to Sisto who has been supporting him until this moment. The water user acknowledges the gesture before taking his shoulder's out from under his commander's arm, leaving the General to stand on his own two feet.
Clyde approaches Dred under his own esteem and smiles to him. "I'm doing better, thank you for your concern, Dred".
"Thank god you're alright" Dred sighs as he places his hands on his knees. It is not the physical activity that has forced him into this state of breathlessness, instead it is the genuine concern he feels for a commanding officer who has shown him nothing but love and respect throughout his tenure.
"I don't know if we will be in such good condition when Martin return" Clyde smiles awkwardly as if resigning himself to the fate that is second worst.
"If he brings his sister with him, we're finished" Peterson nods in agreement.
Grace stamps her foot, "Damn, are we really going to die after all this".
"Calm down" Clyde harrumphs at his two youngest Colonels, "Martin won't return for a while yet, if there is one thing I know about that family, it's that they are cowards. He won't return without backup".
Dred chuckles and shakes his head, "That's not very comforting sir".
"You misunderstand". Clyde walks over to Dred and places a hand on his shoulder, "They will want backup on the General level, do you see what I am saying?".
"I see" Sheer is the first of the Colonel's to fathom the thoughts of their leader. The wind-user has always been the most intellectually gifted of the group and when that is combined with her extensive experience, it is only natural she would understand. "She won't be able to come back for several years".
The General nods, "She will have to wait for a General to finish their invasion. Plus, we're not the only ones who dislike her, she will have to wait for a General she is friends with to help her".
"She has powerful friends" Peterson notes, "Even if we all work together we wouldn't be able to beat two General's".
"Perhaps not" Clyde admits with a shrug of his shoulders, "But Uzumaki Naruto can".
A wave of disbelief floods over the invading forces. After all the dispute between the two groups, it seems that Clyde is going to depend on Uzumaki Naruto to get them out of this tough situation. This is unthinkable when one considers how much pain and suffering the shinobi have had to endure at the hands of the invaders. Furthermore, to them, it is a strategy that makes very little sense.
"Sir" Grace groans, "He can barely beat you".
"Grace, how old are you?" Clyde asks in reply.
"About 800".
"Indeed, Peterson, you are the youngest amongst us, how old are you?".
"Just under 500 years old sir".
"Naruto was able to defeat me and do you know how old he is" Clyde asks rhetorically but with a grin on his face.
"He is not yet 20 years old" he declares, answering his own question, "In the time it will likely take for Martin to return, he can win".
"Why" Dred asks, his expression a demonstration of his awe, "Why is he able to train so fast. I've trained for 1000 years and I'm only just about to breakthrough to the Colonel level".
"I don't know" Clyde answers honestly, "But I intend to find out".