Author Note:
Hi All,
I'm back (again). This time I will be back to writing much more regularly, I promise.
All the things that were causing me delays have been dealt with, so I have much more time to write.
This chapter isn't the most thrilling one to return with, so I'm sorry about that. (I'm not selling myself very well am I?).
However, this story will really be picking up soon, so I hope you can tolerate it again.
Thanks for reading,
Cbehrills
WAR NEVER ENDS – THE HOKAGE'S RESOLVE
The Circle
Looking around the circle, one could see the perfect representation it gives. The first seat, empty, it's occupant deceased. The second seat and sixth seat filled by two beaten and battered men. The third, fourth and fifth seats, filled with men and women racking their brains for ways to help the village even a little bit. Struggling with their own inability to do anything, their own incompetents. The seat of 9th Hokage filled with one struggling to overcome her grief, her own losses as she looked like a lost child. Lastly, the 7th seat, the seat they all looked to for guidance, the seat of hope, filled with the youngest of them all.
Shikadai sighs to himself as he looks around the table, forward or back, left or right, it isn't looking good no matter what direction he looks in. Tobirama and Kakashi particularly catch his eye. Neither the 2nd nor 6th Hokage had been particularly injured during the recent events yet each of them were sporting fresh wounds. Something had happened to them but it wasn't his place to pry. The two silver-maned Hokage were the quiet type but they were unlikely to withhold any vital information.
"OK" Shikadai begins. "I know it's not what anyone wants to talk about but we need to speak about damages today".
"There have been civilian casualties" Hiruzen explains, his eyes fixed to the table, "Biwako has been dealing with them".
"I've been helping at much as I can in that regard" Tsunade says, "I am in a situation where I have to switch between my Hokage duties and helping out, it's been a struggle. I believe you are in the same situation Lord 7th".
The eyes in the room all turn to that man. People swivel in their seats as his name is mentioned. Even the 4th Hokage and the 6th Hokage whom Naruto has looked up to before, they now look to him with those expectant eyes. It's as if people revere him, the fabled 7th Hokage.
Tsunade's question is answered with silence. Much like Hiruzen's eyes had been, Naruto's eyes are fixed to the table in front of him. In recent days he has seen so much, experienced losses one after another, very personal losses. He has endured the same look everywhere he has gone. He had first seen it in the children, looking to him after their academy's leader had died. He had expected the look to stop but it didn't, it persisted even when he returned to the village. A look from children, from villagers, from shinobi, even from Hokage, one look.
"Lord 7th" Shikadai called, "Have you been helping Biwako too?".
Naruto raises his head and sees it once again, those looks. "Yeah, it hasn't been easy".
Tsunade can't help but shudder internally. She has been working as long and hard as she can despite her tremendous personal losses and it has been truly draining for her. She looks at Naruto and it puts it all into perspective. He had been working even longer hours, thousands of times over with his clones, saving people that even she couldn't save. She sees a monster, a monster who can push himself further than anybody should be able to.
"Public confidence in us is low lately" Minato admits, "It's not hard to see why".
Sarada agrees, she too has experienced this. "Of course, if they are hurt because of enemy action, it's our fault".
"Indeed, this reflects our inability to protect them" declares the Kazekage. He hates this feeling, this helplessness, "After three years, to still not be too weak is our failing".
Tobirama feels duty-bound to make an announcement, to declare what he and Kakashi have done. "Lord 6th and I have bad news as well".
"Is it related to your injuries?" Minato asks.
"Yes. Yesterday we went outside the village to see if we could track Lord Shadow 9th".
Sarada's head perks up. "Did you find anything?".
"No" Kakashi answers, "Even with my visual prowess and Lord 2nd's sensory powers, we were unable to find anything. Instead we were attacked, another enemy general, a new one".
"Another one is here?".
"A new one?".
The circle was engulfed in whispers and speculation for a few moments. The situation seems to the Kage to have a persistent ability to be worse than they thought possible.
"He claimed his name was General Blackburn. He overwhelmed us. He would have killed us if we weren't so lucky".
"What do you mean?" Shikadai asks, "How did you get lucky?".
"An old adversary" says Tobirama, "General Clyde saver oud lives".
"General Clyde saved you?". Tsunade rose to her feet, her hands flat to the table.
"That's right, he wasn't in the mood to talk though" Kakashi explained. "He only said that we should make sure you are prepared for what is to come, Naruto".
Once more the name is called.
Once more the look heads in his direction.
Once more he doesn't answer.
"Lord 7…".
"I get it OK!" Naruto shouts, rising to his feet as he slams his fist into the desk.
Silence descends. They haven't seen him like this before. He hasn't lost his temper in such a dramatic fashion in the circle previously.
"I get that you all think I'm this kind of superhero" he shouts, his eyes closed and his fists curled into a tight ball, "I get it, I get that you think I'm going to save you all".
He opens his eyes and the others present see him for what he really is. He is afraid.
"You're wrong about me. I'm not a superhero, I'm just the Hokage. The hero who can save everyone, that man isn't me".
Tipping his chair as he storms past Sarada, Naruto leaves the room. The 9th Hokage quickly leaves in pursuit, leaving the others to their realisations.
Air leaves Shikadai's lungs as he throws his papers to the side. "Perhaps that was too much".
"It's easy for us to forget he is the youngest here" Kakashi reminds his fellow Kage. "While he has been our hero before, he is only 20 years old. The pressure he is feeling right now must be insane".
The room full of the greatest shinobi in the history of the Hidden Leaf is left to ponder their own actions. They are left to speculate and deliberate, after all the attacks, have they destroyed their own hero? Will the downfall of the village be their own fault?
Outside
Sarada looks around her in every direction, panicking, furious, enraged. After a few seconds she realises that things have changed since she entered the circle. While previously the sun was rising over the village, clouds now cover the skies. As the water pours down Sarada's skin she swears she can feel it evaporating. She feels so agitated, like her body heat could melt concrete.
She impatiently grinds her teeth before taking off into the village. Despite the bad weather the village is full of people. Shinobi watch her run past, trying to attract her attention to enquire about the situation. Villagers call out to her, begging for help, for assurance for their loved ones. Little do they know that she is just as lost as they are, she needs that consolation just as much.
Seconds pass, quickly turning to minutes. The 9th Hokage swears that she has run through the entire village, a much smaller place than it was in her youth. Shaking her head in realisation she activates her rinnegan, why hadn't she done this before? She looks left and right, examining the landscape, looking for her target, for that man who had run away. She espies him sitting atop the Hokage monument. Of course, he would be there, where else would he be, why hadn't she thought of that before?
As a child approaches her she ignores him completely, she doesn't even see him with the rinnegan, nor does she hear his call for help. With several powerful kicks from her leg she leaps from roof to roof, just as she had berated Boruto for doing in his youth. To get to the Hokage monument would take around 20 minutes for the average citizen but she manages it in seconds.
She approaches from Naruto's back, from the rear of the monument. She sees how he is watching, even now. While he has suffered and exploded in anger his clones have persisted, just as he has, to watch the hidden leaf. He keeps going, no matter what, even if others stop, even if she stops.
"Hey" Sarada shouts at his back, "What the hell was that in there? What do you think you were doing?".
Naruto raises his head slightly to acknowledge her. He had detected her previously but had hoped to maintain silence between them. Undoubtedly, they were the two who felt most responsible for Boruto's loss, he was hoping that would be enough to reach an understanding. That isn't the case, things aren't so simple when you are the Hokage.
"… I left because I should have done" Naruto says.
"Don't give me that rubbish. Are you just going to give up now? Are you just going to stay here and sulk? Do you think you have done enough?".
Naruto thought that was an interesting thing to ask. In recent years he had heard people tell him time and again that he had done enough. While other people told him to relax, to take a break, he kept moving forward. He fought one more enemy, he ran one more lap. Even Sasuke couldn't understand what kept his friend moving. Sarada was different though, she was someone who he had inspired, who adopted his philosophy of never giving up.
"No. I won't give up" Naruto begins, "But I can't be the hero you think I can. I can't be the hero that everyone needs".
Sarada's anger is rising by the second. She approaches Naruto and lifts him up by his jumpsuit, "Then who can?".
Silence!
"I'm disappointed in you. I thought you were someone worthy of calling my master, someone on par with my father". Sarada shakes him as she shouts, unable to control herself. "But what will happen now, what will happen while you are too miserable to act?".
Silence!
"… are you…" she continues, "are you going to let Boruto die!?".
"SHUT THE HELL UP". With a strong palm to Sarada's shoulder, Naruto sends her stumbling backwards.
They look into one another's eyes. The blue of Naruto's iris, so similar to Boruto's, a constant reminder of their father-son relationship. The purple of Sarada's, the rinnegan just the same as it had been to Naruto in the past. Looking at the rinnegan now, Sarada reminded Naruto more of Pain than Sasuke. She was probing him with questions that he couldn't answer.
When Naruto first met his son, he saw him fighting an enemy captain. It seems so trivial to him now. Back then he said words that pierced Naruto's very soul, 'welcome to despair good captain, welcome to our world'. Perhaps the youngest Hokage hadn't grown accustom to that truth yet, perhaps he is not yet part of this world.
"I think you are right Sarada" he says, "I am a disappointment, they are all right".
He sighs as he continues.
"Do you know what I hear, everywhere I go?".
"It doesn't matter how bad it gets, Naruto will save us".
"I know it's bad but don't worry, Naruto will save us".
"Please Lord 7th, it can't get any worse, please save us".
"I'm not scared because Naruto will save us".
"Naruto" he mutters to himself, his voice getting louder with each repetition. "Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, NARUTO… WHY ME!".
Sarada's fist shakes as she listens. How could he say that? She had watched him deal with that sort of adoration her entire life. She had grown up watching him receive praise like that. She had craved to be the same, to be someone that people could look to in their troubles, to be someone that people could rely on no matter what. She couldn't be that person when it mattered, she was unable to protect the village against the invaders so she called on him and now he is just the same as her.
Even the Hokage has limits.
"Is that really going to stop you" she asks, "Is that really what is going to finish you?".
"I'm pathetic Sarada" he says, "I couldn't save Mito before. I couldn't save Dan. I couldn't save the villagers and I couldn't save Boruto. What sort of hero am I?".
"Then maybe you are right" Sarada says, her shoulders dropping. "Maybe you are pathetic. Maybe you aren't the Hokage I remember. In this state though, you are worse than pathetic, you are useless".
A moment of silence passes between the two of them. Neither knows what to say. Naruto cannot refute her, he himself recognised the hopelessness of the situation before she did. Sarada has nothing left she can say, all she can do is look to the heavens and pray for a miracle, for a saviour.
Then, a hand touches her shoulder.
"What the hell do you…" she begins as she turns.
She is stopped dead in her tracks as she sees who has arrived. It isn't a normal shinobi or a citizen as she had expected. It's her would-be mother-in-law.
"Hinata…".
Sarada, feeling relieved, empties the air from her lungs. If there is one person who can get through to Naruto in this situation it is Hinata. Still, the look on her face goes unnoticed despite Sarada's rinnegan. If the Uchiha were of logical mind she would have noticed Hinata's the same as she is, angry.
"Good" Sarada says, "Perhaps you can talk some sense into him".
Slap!
The stinging sound of Hinata's hand on Sarada's face, it stuns the raven-haired Hokage.
"I may not have known my son for as long as you have. I may not have spent so much time at his side" Hinata begins, "Perhaps even the bond you share with my son is stronger than the one I do. But, I know him well enough to say this…".
Hinata's next words would devastate Sarada, the truth stings, even for the Hokage.
"Boruto would be ashamed of you right now Sarada, as would Sasuke and Sakura".
The trio of names are enough to sober Sarada's attitude. Since this has started she has lost all three of them in some way. Her mother died at the hands of her father. Her father died twice, once at her own hands. Her fiancée had been kidnapped right in front of her eyes by an enemy who couldn't even be bothered to kill her. Sarada knows that Hinata is right though, all three of them had an unwavering belief in Naruto but they also respected that he was only human. All three of them had supported him when he was down.
"Go, you have to calm down before talking to him again" Hinata says.
Sarada takes a deep breath before nodding. Hinata is right. Even if Naruto weren't a hero in her opinion, the way she is acting towards him has been deplorable. This tantrum, this anger, it is not the way to get Naruto back to what he was. With a muttered apology to her master, Sarada turns her back to him and leaves Boruto's parents in peace.
Hinata walks up to the kneeling Naruto, his eyes have not risen from the floor since Sarada called him useless. She kneels in front of him and hugs him tightly, knowing that if it were required, she would never let go.
"I'm here Naruto" she says.
"Did my dad send you?".
"Yes".
"I assume you heard what we both said before".
"I did".
Naruto sighs. He regrets that he ever said what he said. Whether or not he is that omnipotent hero, he wants to keep saying the right things and doing the right things. For Hinata, for his parents, for the village, for his pupil.
"It's honestly how I feel Hinata. It feels like no matter what I try nothing can go right anymore".
"Naruto, there is no such thing as an omnipotent hero who can save everyone" she says, gently rubbing his back with her hand. "And while it may sound like everyone is expecting the world of you, that isn't the case".
"It isn't" he asks.
Hinata shakes her head. "Everyone knows that you try harder than anybody else. They are confident that if you never give up you will do better than anybody else could. That's why they place so much faith in you".
Many people had claimed 'never give up' as their mantra in life. This was because the most famous shinobi around, Uzumaki Naruto, had it as his ninja way. The blonde shinobi had never once considered that it would become such a curse, such a burden. He had expected it to make things difficult, he had expected it to help him become the Hokage but he couldn't anticipate what would follow. His ninja way would put him on a plateau above even the Hokage.
"Aren't they relying on me?" he asks.
"They're believing in you" Hinata says, she pulls her hand back and runs her thumb along Naruto's whisker marks, "They're believing in you just like I am. Just like Sarada is, deep down inside".
With a huff, Naruto gets to his feet. Hinata smiles slightly as she feels that attitude from him, that attitude she has felt many times before. She can hear the young Naruto shouting, 'one more time'.
"So, Naruto, what will you do, will you give up?" she asks with a smile.
"… I will never give up?".
"Then what will you do, Lord 7th?".
Hinata is curious to know but surprised when Naruto walks past her. He doesn't look back but at a steady pace walks in a straight line away from the village.
"I'm going to find out where our son is" he answers.
Hinata can't help but like that. She gets to her own feet and runs after him, slowing to a walk as she reaches his side.
"You know it may be dangerous what I'm about to do" Naruto says as he continues his walk, "I can't guarantee you will be safe".
"That's fine, I'm willing to risk my life to find our son".
"Let's go then" come the words of the resolute Hokage. Once more, Uzumaki Naruto has been found. "Let's find Boruto".