The day was warm and the forest shone as the fading sunlight filtered through the greenery. A group of masked nin landed silently just outside of Konoha village, perching quietly in the branches of a tree like three exotic birds. One man, wearing a decorative mask depicting the grinning face of a fox, pulled a scroll from his pouch and signaled to the others, 'go home, rest, Ill take care of this.' The two nin nodded and the next moment they were gone.
Naruto grinned behind the mask as he walked down the hall, Tsunade-baa san had begun to anticipate his window entrances so he would surprise her by taking the more well-traveled rout. He twisted the mask to the side, reveling bright blue eyes and characteristic whisker marks as he reached for the door but his hand paused before pushing it open.
"-a lost cause." It was Tsunade talking. "As you all know, we simply cant waist our resources or our people on rounding up a single missing nin that is the job of the hunters." Naruto held his breath, who were they planning to send the hunter nin after?
"I'm sure we all understand but we need to take into account the situation," a new speaker, was that Jiraya? "Have you ever known the boy to break his word to anyone, and I do mean anyone?"
"That's right," Kakashi now? "Do you remember the time he swore to eat at Ichiraku's for an entire year, he ran out of money and went hungry for a week." They must be talking about him now but why, the blond's eyebrows scrunched together and he leaned closer to the wooden door involuntarily.
"We have discussed this in detail and I will not discuss it further with any of you." Tsunade again. "We need to get back to the task at hand, how will we divide up the Uchiha land?" The door had swung open as the Hokage said these last words, pushed by her attendant, who droped an entire tray of teacups, alerting everyone to his presence and allowing Naruto a perfect vantage point of the entire room and its guilty occupants.
Tsunade would never forget the look on the boy's face, she had come to think him very close to her and it hurt, his eyes begged her to deny everything he had just heard. There was complete silence for almost two minuets and then Naruto's eyes hardened.
"Fine." He said it very quietly in a strained voice he loosened his grip on the scroll.
"Naru-" she didn't have time even to flinch as the scroll whizzed by her face and buried itself deep in the wall beside her head. Naruto was gone.
No one saw the blond that night or the next morning, Tsunade and many of Naruto's friends were afraid that the blond had already left and the village was put on high alert for any sine of the boy. It wasn't until late that evening that Naruto was seen calmly walking through the not quite deserted streets, people- civilians and fellow ninja alike- moving out of his way. One of them must have informed the Hokage because she met Naruto at the gate. He walked right past her.
"Naruto!" Her voice was hard although he could hear the underlying desperation. The boy stopped but did not turn. He was still wearing the ANBU uniform, mask tied to his pack. "Naruto, don't do this. Don't leave; you will be throwing away everything you have ever worked so hard to achieve." He didn't move. Tsunade figured she must be getting somewhere with him so she turned to face his back. "If you leave, I won't be able to help you, you won't ever be welcome here again and nothing I say will be able to change that." The desperation was thick in her throat now and she was not bothering to hide it.
"Is that why you gave up on Sasuke? Because you don't think you could change his fate? It would just be easier to label him a missing nin and let someone else kill him? So you don't have to deal with it and you don't have it hanging over your head?" He had half turned, not really looking back at all. When he didn't get an answer Naruto started walking again. If he had looked back he would have seen the tears slip down the Hokage's face but he didn't turn and he didn't see.
Naruto walked out of Konoha, out of his past and out of the life he would have had and he didn't plan on coming back. They could 'distribute' the Uzumaki property just as easily as the Uchiha.