A/N Having awoken to find himself back in the realm of the living, the Yondaime Hokage is exposed to just how lo his beloved village is willing to sink.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, there are owned by Kishimoto-san
Summary: One fateful night in Konohagakure, the Yondaime Hokage chose his village over his only son; only time will tell if he made the right choice. Feral!Naruto, Pairings to be voted on.
Key: Normal, "Speech" 'Thoughts' "Demon Speech" 'Demon Thoughts'
Chapter 5
What have I done?
Konoha HospitalBeeping, that was the first thing he heard when he awoke, the steady bleep of a heart monitor.
'What happened? Was…someone injured?' He tried to open his eyes, only find himself blinded by the bright light, forcing them shut again.
"He-lo?" He spoke out, his voice hoarse and raspy from being unused. He winced as he heard a clipboard smack the ground rather audibly.
"Do-doctor! He's awake! More voices, more shouting, he quickly came to the conclusion that everybody must be partially deaf, either that or he had exceptional hearing. He felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.
"Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama!" The nurse futilely tried to bring him back to consciousness.
'What sort of apparent calls their kid Hokage' was all he could think of before slipping into unconsciousness.
---
"Ah, your awake again, Arashi" An elderly voice spoke, full of concern.
"A-ra-shi?" He tried to speak.
"What?"
"Wa-ter" He said, making a drinking motion with his hand.
"Of course" Moments later he felt a cup being placed into his hand. He quickly sat up and gulped the cool liquid down,
"Better" He gasped, having downed the cup.
"So, how are you feeling?"
"I…more water"
"Here" another cup, more gulping.
"I…Arashi? But, that woman said I was 'Hokage'" The Sandaime's brow furrowed.
"It seems you have a touch of amnesia, I suppose that's a small price to pay. What's the last thing you remember?"
"I, it, white. There were…" The blonde groaned with effort. "People, so many people, we where fighting…for so long"
"I see, that corresponds with what they say about that technique"
"Then, a voice…it sounded…He suddenly started coughing, before downing another glass of water.
"The…contract was broken?" Sarutobi gasped, his mind running rampant with what that could mean.
"Everything after that is a blur, all I knew was…I had to reach Konoha"
"Well you can relax now, you're at Konoha right this moment"
"Ah, that's good" Arashi relaxed, before trying to open his eyes again. It hurt, but he could just make out the figure o an old man. He had a small, white goatee and deep wrinkles, his eyes where full of concern. The fourth gasped, all at his memories returning to him.
"S-Sandaime-sama!"
"Ah, so you remember now, but really, I thought I told you to call me Sarutobi"
"Ehehe, sorry" He rubbed the back of his head meekly.
"No there's the kid I chose as my successor"
"That's right, I was the fourth Hokage, but something happened"
"Yes, the Kyuubi attacked, you sacrificed your life to seal it away" The elder Hokage said, trying to hide his nervousness of the subject. 'I hope he doesn't remember about Naruto yet, in his current mind state who knows what he might do'
"Yes… I used the Shiki-fujin, it was…the only way…but then, where I was fighting, that was inside the Shinigami's stomach, and…that was the Shinigami's voice I heard."
"More than likely"
"And then, the contract, he must have been referring to…the seal!" if it weren't for his weakened body he would have leapt out of bed.
"Calm yourself Arashi!"
"But-the seal must have broken, the Kyuubi! He'll come here for revenge! I-I'm too weak to perform the sealing again, I!"
"I said calm yourself!" The Sandaime said again, his voice hardened and unquestionable.
"The Kyuubi might not be free, don't forget you used three seals to stop the Kyuubi. Even if the Shiki-Fujin broke, the other to would be enough to hold the Kyuubi at bay, it would have been irreversibly bonded to its container by now anyway"
"It's…container?" The blonde asked, his voice taking on an icy tone. Images of the ritual flashed before his eyes, candles, markings, blue eyes, blond hair, a hand clutching his, such a tiny hand…
'Damn it, he's remembered!'Deep blue chakra swirled around him, the window rattled against the force of it. His eyes grew wide and unfocused
"The container…"
"Calm yourself Arashi!" Sarutobi started to panic, the Fourth Hokage had been known as a rather tolerant, however, when he got angry, he was known to demolish the landscape with raw bursts of chakra alone, when he actually focused…Rock was still having nightmares over the massacre of their forces on what happened to be the night Rin was killed before the not-yet Hokage's eyes.
"The container…!"
"Damn it Arashi!"
"Where is he?" Subconsciously, he held his hand to his side, as if holding something.
"Where is Naruto?" His chakra began gathering itself in the palm of his hand, rotating slowly.
"Arashi, your in no condition to do this"
"Where is MY SON!!!?" He leapt out of bed, an incomplete Rasengan in his right hand. His legs faltered for a moment before he reinforced his muscles with chakra.
"WHERE IS HE??" He screamed, throwing the misshapen sphere of chakra at his predecessor, damaging the wall in the process. His mind collapsing in on itself, reverting to his base instinct. He let out a howl and tried to run for the door.
"He's gone Arashi!" The Sandaime called after him. He turned his head slowly to glare at the dishevelled old man. The Sandaime couldn't help but flinch at the killing intent.
"What?"
"The-the villagers, they saw him as the demon incarnate, a pair of chuunin, they kidnapped him, took him to grass country"
"…" The Yondaime's chakra flared in anger, gulping the Sandaime continued.
"We sent out search parties, but they never found more than a trace, we got the kidnappers to confess exactly what they did, the injuries they described, the sheer blood loss alone would have been more than a child could survive, he's been listed as dead for five years now"
"Dead?" He asked, hesitantly. The chakra dissapitated as he collapsed to his knees, the fury that kept him standing replaced by fear and sorrow.
"I'm afraid so" The Sandaime said, walking over to the former 'yellow flash'. Unable to take any more, he broke into tears.
"He-He was supposed to by a hero. How could they? He was just a little child"
"They where hurt over your death, and the loss to their families, they anted someone to blame, he was there" Sarutobi bent down, and held the sobbing man in his arms…
"He spent…his whole life living with hate and fear? But…the Kyuubi couldn't touch him, not unless he wanted it to, Naruto was the one in control"
"I'm afraid they couldn't see that"
"It can't be true, he can't be dead. He can't be, you're wrong, you're lying! What is it that makes you lie?" He was beyond words now, the only sound that could be heard was his endless sorrow, echoing into the night.
They remained that way for several hours. They weren't Hokage, not at the moment, now it was just a man who'd lost his son, and his friend comforting him. When he had eventually cried himself to sleep the Sandaime lifted him back onto his bed and sat down next to him, in case he woke up again.
A/N: Yeah, was meant to happen last chapter but stuff happened, if anyone can guess at what I was hinting at in this chapter you get a mention in the next, actually several thing where hinted at, but the main ones the most subtle, kinda. I'll give you a hint; it has to do with people's assumptions about Naruto.
Pairings Poll:
NaruHina 9
NaruAnko 6
NaruTen 4
NaruKur 1
NaryHana 3
NaruShizu 1
The following are NOT options
Any filler girls
Temari
Ino
Anyone's Mom
Any non-ninja
Any guys
FemHaku
FemKyuubi
Tsunade
Ayame
Tayuya
Kin
Rin (I just said that she's dead)