XX||.
"N - Naruto-kun…!" Hinata calls out, but then covers her mouth once she saw the sight of the unfamiliar friend she used to know. A dead deer lay amongst the snow, blood surrounding all over the outline of it's body. At the husk, Naruto had his face buried deep inside it. His teeth were razor sharp as he cut through it's organs, blood spurting out in the process. Hinata, having a phobia of blood despite being a ninja, couldn't look without wanting to legitimately throw up. The sight alone was scarring, but her childhood friend doing it? Had hit the nail right in the coffin for her.
"P - Please, come back to Konoha…" She pleaded, deactivating her Byakugan before it could hurt her eye. When Naruto looked up animalistically, even Sakura, the bravest of the three, almost considered calling the mission to a close. The thing bared it's teeth, it's fangs out on full display. From his nails burst out blood and fox-like claws. Red chakra surrounded him, causing the snow around him to melt until it was just watery grass underneath.
'The Nine Tails!' Sai thinks, leaping back to the trees along with his team mates. It roars, causing the whole ground to shake and for the team to hold their hands over their ears. The sound alone was almost unbearable; rendering them almost deaf. Once he quieted down, his whole body went limp against the carcass.
The Hyuga had her head buried into Sakura's shoulder; sobbing quietly as the seconds ticked by. Sai stood impassively, but even he seemed a little on edge. "Naruto! I don't know why you're wearing those robes...and I don't know what exactly happened to you, but we're bringing you back!" The blonde - or the thing that looked like him - growled back angrily and continued shoving it's face into the bloody stomach. Sai took an uneasy step forward. This was his sense of duty, he wouldn't let this charismatic boy fall deep into the darkness, like his teammate had.
"Naruto! You wish to stay here, where the Akatsuki could easily take you, if they haven't already!" He reasoned, still keeping a distance so as to not burn alive from the immense heat radiating off the boy. It was almost like the scorching sun was right in front of the face. "Once we're back, we won't promise you safety. Come with us, now, so that the ROOT and ANBU won't kill you once given the chance."
Naruto's red eyes gradually turned into blue; losing the Kyuubi's power in a matter of seconds. Hinata looked up and burst into tears. "Naruto-kun! Please…" The Hyuga shouts in tears, shaking her head; her voice mostly muffled in Sakura's collar. "I'm sorry, guys…" He says, snapping back into his senses. It was only now that he realized where he was and who he was talking to. A metallic taste filled his mouth. Blood?
"You're no different than Sasuke-kun if you leave, you BAKA!" Sakura shouted; gritting her teeth. Her wild, pink hair flew about in all sorts of directions. "H - he left me, too...he wanted you both to leave together. Don't you dare do this to us! Your friends; your family!"
'Wait...is that Sakura-chan?' His eyes widen once he realized who it was. It was her! He couldn't help but let a big smile stretch across his face. Staring at her was so nostalgic. It was like three years ago all over again, when they were just thirteen year olds exploring the world and learning what it means to become a ninja. "Sakura-chan!" He jumps out of the deer carcass and onto her. She catches him and holds him steady; with Hinata taking a step back to keep her bearings.
"B - baka..." She smiles down at him, whacking him on the head. "When I saw you transform earlier, I thought for sure you'd - " She looks like she's about to say something else, but then stops herself. "Oh, never mind. You're safe and sound...that's all that matters. Let's get back into business. Are you on his side?"
'S - Sasuke? What's she on about? I knew it! That bastard has something to do with this.'
"Well, are you?" She pressed for answers, shaking him roughly. "Because he's a rogue nin, I can't let you be with someone as dangerous as him! So you have to come with us!"
'Sasuke? Dangerous? Sure, he's kinda weird an' all, but he ain't a threat ta me. Not with me to stop him, he isn't!'
"Look, I'm stayin' here! I promised Sasuke I'd leave with him no matter what! Even if it's the Leaf I'm leaving behind." He says with such sincerity that it shocks all three of them. 'What are you saying?' Sakura thinks, her face going gaunt. 'You'd never say something like that...'
"Y - You will, won't you." She choked, looking away with betrayal written right across her face. She pulls out a kunai from behind.
"I'll kill you, you traitor!"
"I don't care whether my ANBU or ROOT are rogue or not. I'll send them regardless to get the boy back."
Kakashi's one good eye glared at the hokage. Never before had he seen someone so stupid entitled to leading the village. The Third wouldn't have risked such a thing. And maybe the Fourth, his sensei, would've made a compromise so that no lives were taken in the process. "You should care! What if he wounds up dead because of your foolish decisions! We don't need yet another shinobi to die. We already had more than enough lives taken…"
'Including one of the closest people to me, my own team.'
For the first time in months, Kakashi looked dead serious. That silly ol' pervert was there no more. Perhaps missing team mates does this to someone. "I sure as hell know what I'm doing," Hatake says quietly. "If you truly want Naruto to come home safe, then please reconsider, hokage-sama."
Even as he stared at her, he could see the thousands of bottles behind her. A visible vein throbs in her forehead, as she screams. "Leave me alone!" Tsunade slammed a fist on her desk, cracking it in two. "Just - just go away, Hatake-san. You're dismissed. I need a moment to think it over." She drunkenly watched as he reluctantly heads out the door and then throws her head on the table. "Milady, are you alright?" Her assistant asks with worry. Massaging her temples, her eye glanced over to the other unfinished sake.
"Gimme more," she slurs, making grabby-grabby motions with her hands. Shizune nodded, handing it over to the young woman. "Mmm," Tsunade says, chugging the bottle down with a satisfying sigh and belching. From behind her, someone appeared in a poof of smoke. "You like it, lady hokage?" Danzo asked, eyeing her carefully. She nodded. "That -URP - hit the spot. Delicious..."
"So, I was thinking about your position as...hokage," he spat the last word like acid, "tell me, are you really serious about your profession?"
She burps slightly.
"Well, Danzo-san…" she hicups and glares daggers at the man opposite her, "I so happen to enjoy what I do for a living. Is that so bad? What can I say? I love my job, and my village. That's why I work hard to protect it. I wish you and the other council members would understand that already. They can't overthrow me for the most ludicrous of reasons...I mean c'mon…"
"Your super-strength throws people off. Not to mention that, when you drink, you tend to lose your head."
"HEY!" Tsunade snaps, ready to punch him in the face if need be. "Only...sometimes." She admitted after a moment. "They think a true leader of Konoha should act like one. All you've been doing is drinking, gambling, and - and getting temper tantrums. We're charging you on your, what, 100th broken object this month? You're just not fit for the title, hokage-sama." That snapped the blonde out of her reverie. Her beady eyes glared at the offending man beside her.
"'Not fit for the title!' Are you insane! I've been doing this for years while you've been sitting on your lazy ass! Don't tell me I've got the wrong job now." In response, she chucks her bottle across the wall opposite them, her assistant rushing to clean up the pieces.
"Damnit!" She cries, and grumbles to herself about 'insufferable wannabes'. "There, there," He soothes, struggling to hide a smile. The young woman was right under his fingertips. "I'm so sorry, Danzo-san. It's been poisoning her mind slowly but surely. Every day, her condition just gets worse and worse." Shizune whispers into his ear, "I worry about her well being sometimes..."
'Oh...really?' Danzo smirked. Yes, perhaps he could use this to his advantage...
"I - I really don't want to kill you, Naruto!" Sakura yelped, readying into a fighting stance and about to throw the kunai at him. Her hands were shaking as she gripped onto the handle."As your teammate, I can't do something like that. O - our mission was to bring you back dead or alive because you're a missing nin. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. Not to my best friend."
"Stop, Sakura," Sai scolds, holding a hand to silence her, "Just, let him go. We'll just say he's...still on the run or something. If he wants to be free of the village, it's not in our place to stop him from what he wants. Mission or not, he's still a friend."
"B - but-" She looks between her teammate and her former friend, unsure of what to do. "Naruto, is it the demon sealed inside of you?" Sai asked seriously with a frown. "We saw you go Kyuubi earlier."
"Y - Yeah," Naruto says, trembling slightly, "I - I can't control Kurama's power. I had to leave. A - and the villagers don't want me to return anyway. I'm sorry, Sakura…Sai…Hinata." He looked to Hinata and Sai and they nodded at him, even though they looked like their whole world had just shattered into a thousand pieces. Sakura, on the other hand...
"Who the hell cares? Just shut up, Naruto! I'm going to take you back to the hokage no matter what!" She growls, glaring at him with killing intent flashing in her eyes. "Go, Naruto! GO!" Sai shouts, urging him to leave before their leader could possibly kill him. But, somehow, he couldn't.
"No." He says firmly, taking a step forward; the snow crunching under his feet. "I'll come with you." All three look at him and gasp. "You can't be serious." Sakura gaped at him, "Are you for real, you idiot?! You're...actually coming back with us?"
"I know what I said." Naruto frowned at her. "Take me home." And they did.
