To the Future

by cbehrills

Uchiha Sarada is the 9th Hokage. A legendary shinobi, the first Uchiha to have become a Hokage. However, her reign is not easy, the village is under attack from a threat greater than any that have come before. When even the Five Kage cannot stop the incoming threat there is only one person who could, Uzumaki Naruto. There is but one problem, he is dead.

216. Defense of Taigai

DECLARATION OF WAR – DEFENSE OF TAIGAI

The War Council Chambers, Taigai, Aturia

One day has passed since Uzumaki Naruto addressed the War Council and nothing has truly changed. They remain where they were, continuing to deliberate over matters of no consequence. They argue arguments that have already been lost and won, delaying the most important discussions, and sometimes not having them at all. Deep in their hearts they know that this is a waste of time, that they no longer truly represent anyone. However, it was made clear to them by very important people a long time ago that the War Council was vital. During the last war, even Furst Jonas himself remarked that the War Council was essential to victory.

Today, they will not be addressed in such a ceremonious matter as they were yesterday.

Today, they will be greeted by the Imperial Guard.

With a thundering crash, the door to the chambers is knocked from it's hinges. Dozens of members of the Aturia Imperial Guard, some captains and some colonels, flood the building, standing in front of the two wings of the building, holding back all of the members of the council. When the dust has settled, their leader enters, the leader of the Aturia Imperial Guard, General Rana.

Rana steps in and walks to the centre of the chamber where she gazes at the man in the big chair, Yuuki Terukatsu. He and the War Council were granted the privilege of remembering their family names, but not the legal right to use it. That at least gives them some manner of recognition beyond the likes of Clyde and Lara, not that Rana pays it any heed.

"Hello to the War Council, the Imperial Guard has some questions for you," Rana says, "Particularly for you, Yuuki Terukatsu. After all, not much happens in this city without you noticing, does it?"

The members of the War Council remain silent about Naruto's presence in the city. While they are not yet ready to support him in a war, they will always champion him over the Imperial Guard when they are confronted with the choice. If Naruto is to be handed over, that is a decision for the leader of the council. That is why they all look to Terukatsu, to see what he will do.

"This is a historic building," Terukatsu remarks, "I hope you're prepared to pay for that door to be fixed Rana."

"Never mind about the door. I have received reports that Uzumaki Naruto is in this city. Is that true?"

"You might not have to worry about it, but we can't demand services like you. We have to pay for them."

"I told you to stop talking about the door."

"That's no ordinary door though. We can't just replace it, it will have to be mended, and refitted. This is an important place for the people of Homeworld."

"Terukatsu, silence!"

"Fine, fine, I'll shut up about the door," Terukatsu shrugs with a smug grin on his face.

"Thank you."

"It will be expensive though."

As the council members begin to chuckle, Rana slams her foot into the ground, shaking the very foundations of the building. As the General for Aturia, she has the second most authority in the entire nation, she is not accustomed to being mocked. The damage that she just caused will likely cost many times more to fix than the door she knocked from its hinges previously.

"Where is Uzumaki Naruto?" she asks, "Is he here?"

"Why listen to me, my sources are surely less reliable than yours General?"

"Don't try to play me Terukatsu. I receive more information about this country than anyone ever has before, but this city is different. Information in Taigai is your domain. So, tell me, is he here?"

Terukatsu shrugs his shoulders.

Rana knows what's going on here. Terukatsu is trying to make a fool of her. If Naruto is in the city, then he is trying to make her go elsewhere. If Naruto isn't in the city, he is trying to waste Imperial Guard time by making them devote partial resources to a city search. Given that Naruto isn't present in this very room, he is probably also correctly reporting that he doesn't know Naruto's whereabouts. Not many people would dare to address a General in this way.

Rana stomps towards Terukatsu, getting into his face and activating her golden 'space' cloak, showing off her class 8 powers.

"I'm giving you one final chance to tell me, where is Naruto?"

Rana thinks she can intimidate him. She is wrong.

Suddenly, the entire council chamber is swimming in energy. The many members of the war council each manifest their god given powers. There are countless powerful warriors amongst them, even more than Rana has brought to the hall. While none of them have an aura quite so powerful as Rana, their numbers alone are enough to allay any threat that she poses to them, that is before the icing on the cake.

Yuuki Terukatsu joins his followers in demonstrating his power. He activates his golden 'silver' cloak. As he manifests his power tiny strands of the precious metal momentarily flash into existence in his cloak, as if to cut any intruders that may move towards him. Yuuki Terukatsu is also a class 8 warrior, and while his aura may be slightly inferior to Rana's, it is definitely close enough to worry her. If she were to fight Yuuki Terukatsu to the bitter end, there is no telling who the victor would be.

"I am not afraid of you, Rana," he says, "This may be your country but it's my city. This is Taigai, where the War Council is at its strongest. If you think you can intimidate me, you are sorely mistaken."

Rana calmly closes her eyes. He is right of course.

Rana deactivates her golden cloak, and this immediately deescalates the situation, with the Imperial Guard and the War Council doing the same.

"Perhaps you are right, you don't need to be afraid of me," Rana admits, "But if you are hiding Uzumaki Naruto and we find out, you will have to be afraid of the King. He doesn't take kindly to treachery."

"Nothing I can do about that," Terukatsu says.

Rana nods. She will have to find another way. She leaves, taking the Imperial Guard with her. She knows a way to flush out a man like Naruto, a way that is guaranteed to work. Yuuki Terukatsu will come to regret having made a fool of her.

The Next Day, Taigai, Aturia

Naruto sits with his legs crossed, slowing his breathing, and contemplating the situation. There must surely be something he can do to make the War Council see the truth, that they need to act. What he doesn't know is that nearby someone else is giving the council plenty of reason to start a war.

Ming Dai bursts in through the door and runs over to Naruto, dragging him to his feet with his enormous strength, shocking him. Naruto looks at Ming Dai and sees the clear shock on his face, clearly something has upset him.

"Naruto."

"Yes."

"It's the hospital that Yuuki Terukatsu showed us the other day."

"The one that he said shows Furst isn't all bad?"

"Yes, that one," Ming Dai says hurriedly, "It's gone, it has been destroyed. Smashed to pieces without any warning."

"What? Why? By who?"

"It was General Rana," Dai says, "Rana must have known that we were here in Taigai. She must have done it to lure you out."

Naruto takes two deep breaths before he walks towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Minato asks.

"Isn't it obvious, I'm going to fight her," Naruto explains. "I know you don't want me to, I know you think that I'm definitely going to die, but there is a limit to everything. I can't be here in Taigai and tell the War Council that they need to declare war and do nothing myself. I need to go there, I need to fight them, and if the War Council stands by and does nothing, then my understanding of people was wrong altogether."

"Are you willing to risk that much?" Dai asks.

"Yes, I am. If I am wrong about this, then I was never the man to fight Furst. Dai, are you coming with me?"

"Yes, you couldn't stop me."

The Uzumaki family stand speechless as the two students of Sora leave the building, presumably walking to their death. They move unperturbed, without looking back as they head towards the city centre where General Rana will surely be waiting for them.

"What do we do?" Minato asks.

"You're the Hokage," Kushina says angrily, "You should be able to work something out!"

"The War Council," Himawari begins, "Dad said that he was expecting them to move, to stop standing by and doing nothing. They might not know though; they are in session at this time of day. If he goes there by himself and Yuuki Terukatsu does nothing, then they are certain to die."

Minato extends his hands to Himawari and Kushina, waiting for them to take hold. Just from the look in one another's eyes they know what they have to do, they know what they intend. This is the day that either the war will begin, or they will all die.

City Centre, Taigai, Aturia

Rana waits in the city centre, at the bottom of the steepest hill in the city, at the end of the longest straight stretch of road in the country. She adjusts her glasses as she believes she spots something at the top of the hill. She is right.

At the top of the hill stand two men, the students of Headmaster Muto Sora.

Normal people would be afraid in this situation. Yuuki Terukatsu remained unafraid because he had an overwhelming numerical advantage on his side. However, these two are not like Yuuki Terukatsu. They are significantly weaker than Rana and the numbers are not on their side at all. However, they are not afraid. This is exactly how Rana expected him to be, how the reports all made him seem. This is Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto and Ming Dai walk down the long hill, down the straight road. They do not slow as they approach, walking all the way until they can see Rana's pupils through her glasses, until they can see the band tying her purple mane behind her head. Even as they get so close their expressions do not change.

Ming Dai stops ten paces from Rana, allowing Naruto to take a further two ahead of him.

"Hey, you," Naruto says, rudely pointing his finger in her direction. "That looks like a general's uniform. You must be General Rana."

"And you must be Uzumaki Naruto."

"Were you the one who did that to the hospital?"

"I am. Are you here to turn yourself in?"

"Turn myself in?" Naruto echoes with confusion.

As Rana gestures to them, two captains from the Imperial Guard approach Naruto. He clocked them with the One True Sense before he had even gotten halfway down the hilly street. The bronze uniforms were all he needed to see to know that their power was far inferior to his.

When the two captains are within reaching distance, Naruto grabs each of them by their clothing. He brings them quickly towards him, slamming their heads together and disorientating them. He immediately releases them and manifests a rasengan in each hand, pressing it firmly into the chests of the two captains who tried to arrest him, knocking them well away.

Neither Ming Dai nor Rana's expressions change as he does this.

"I'm not here to surrender," Naruto announces, "I'm here to kick your ass!"

The War Council Chambers, Taigai, Aturia

Minato teleports into the council chambers. He brings his family with him, Kushina, Himawari and little Mito. He arrives in the spot his secretly marked previously, just inside the door to the chamber. They are especially surprised to find themselves standing atop the fallen door.

"I thought I made myself clear," Terukatsu says, drawing their gaze, "The War Council has already voted. We will not be following Uzumaki Naruto to war, nor contributing to any war that we feel yields no chance of victory."

"You have to help," Minato says, "Naruto has been lured out of hiding by that General. If you don't help him, he and Ming Dai are going to die!"

Terukatsu shakes his head, "If Uzumaki Naruto is that stupid then he was never worth going to war for in the first place."

"Naruto believed you would help him."

"Indeed, how foolish."

Himawari steps in front of her grandfather. "Please, my father didn't act unprovoked. Rana has destroyed an important part of this city. As the War Council you should at least come and see so that you have all the information you need to make your decision."

Terukatsu, while he admires the Uzumaki family, is beginning to get fed up with them. He can tell that Naruto was sincere in his resolve to never give up and it seems that he has influenced the others to do the same. He knows that to them Naruto must appear godlike, but to the War Council he is just another man, the only things going for him his element and his endorsement from Headmaster Sora. Terukatsu believes that Naruto's element probably brought back memories for the headmaster, it probably deluded him into believing in him where others would not.

"What is the harm in it?"

Terukatsu looks to his left. The leader of one of the two wings has just spoken up. He represents an awful lot of people in these chambers. Terukatsu then turns to his right, to see whether or not the leader of the other wing is also willing to go along with what these pocket-worlders are saying.

The leader of the right side also nods approval to Terukatsu.

It seems there is nothing for it then, they are going for a little stroll to see what horrors could possibly have incited the great 7th Hokage.

Terukatsu demands that only the leaders of the North and South Wings come with him so that they may avoid attracting attention of this is genuinely worthy of their attention.

Minato leads them through the streets, doing his best to go quickly, but there is not quickly here. The leaders of the chamber don't believe that there is anything to see, so they take a leisurely stroll and discuss upcoming topics for debate. For them this is a strategic political delay in today's proceedings, a change to get one up on their rivals, a petty tactic.

Eventually, they arrive at the scene.

They arrive at the hospital.

Terukatsu sees the building before them, in ruins. It was previously standing tall with many floors of rooms where people moved to get better. It was a home for the sick and salvation for the weak. Now it is less than four times his own size, and he could move to the peak of the rubble in a measly number of steps.

He knew people in this hospital, medical professionals, people who spent their entire lives here because of diseases afflicting them. Sadly, the horrors before him make it apparent that they never had a chance to get out. The building was simply destroyed from the ground level, with the rest of it above tumbling down.

Terukatsu tries to use the various skills he has learnt throughout his career to see if there any survivors, but he can see none. Neither unfortunately can Himawari. This was no simple demolition job; this was a massacre. This is what Uzumaki Naruto refused to stand by and watch. This was supposed to be the symbol that Furst Jonas isn't so bad, that the empire can improve with time, and it has been destroyed.

Terukatsu walks over to a piece of the rubble and lifts it, he recognises what he finds beneath. There was a patient here, a patient with nobody left whom Terukatsu liked to visit every day. He liked to think that he gave this patient some company, that he could give him some interesting news each day and relieve a bit of his suffering. Beneath this is a pendant that Terukatsu gave him once, a pendant with a photo of his only surviving family members.

Terukatsu lifts the pendant up and looks at it for a few seconds, letting the emotion behind it wash over him. As the moments pass, he knows what he wants to do. He picks up a piece of rubble, easily chopping it with his bear hands until it stands upright. He makes two little grooves in the rubble and hangs the pendant from it, an eternal memorial to the friend that he lost this day.

Amongst all this pain and loss, the nine-tailed fox from within Minato finds one consolation.

"Hey Minato, have you noticed it?"

"Yeah," Minato answers, "His face."

Himawari and Kushina notice it as well. When he makes jokes, when he is being serious or when he is being apologetic, Terukatsu's face remains the same with a militaristic discipline. He is harder to move than anybody they have ever seen. However, his expression has changed for the first time since they met him, now painted with the most unmistakable and powerful emotion present.

It's rage.

Terukatsu is furious.

The Leader of the War Council scrunches his fist into a tight ball and looks to the Leader of the North Wing.

The North Wing Leader nods his approval.

So does the Leader of the South Wing.

Yuuki Terukatsu turns around with a newfound purpose. He sends the Wing Leaders back to the War Council Chambers and begins to move the opposite direction himself. Minato asks Kushina to stay with Mito, meanwhile and Himawari follow Terukatsu in full knowledge of where he is now going.

Yuuki Terukatsu is marching on the city centre.