One and a half years later.
Naruto sighed. So much could happen in one year. Their number had swollen by three score, most coming from Suna in search of their Godaime Kazekage Gaara. The rest either came from Kumo or Iwa. Part of the Tsuchikage's deal.
According to the reports from his spy network, Taki had willingly gave up some land to connect Iwa to Konoha and they now stood as the biggest country in the world, the country of Earth and Fire.
Instantly, Kumo began asking for an alliance between his country and the country of Earth and Fire. When asked what he could offer for the trade, he said he had two Jinchuuriki.
The Raikage was a liar.
Naruto knew that for a fact, simply because both Yugito and Killer Bee had joined his ranks years ago.
The Raikage was also bloodthirsty.
Both the Hokage and the Tsuchikage expressed interest in the 'Jinchuurikis' and wanted to meet them. The Raikage had his trap set perfectly; he had set up two assassins as Jinchuurikis and had them meet the two Kages in the secluded mountains of Kumo. If Naruto didn't have any Exiles in the area, they would no doubt be dead.
After the whole incident, Tsunade sent her thanks and regards, as did the Tsuchikage. Once they returned home, they had a message sent to the Raikage asking if he wanted an all-out war. The Raikage said he didn't and said that an insurrection of his power is what caused the assassination attempt. Naruto thought the same thing as the two Kages, "Yeah right."
"Outcast-sama?" someone said, breaking Naruto from his thoughts. He looked up to see a woman with green hair, red eyes, and carried a large red package on her back. It was Bachiatari (cursed) the Shichibi's (7-tail's) Jincuuriki. On her right arm hung a Taki headband with the ever-present Mark of the Exile. "Gaara-sama is here with the students for their field trip and Taijutsu demonstration."
Naruto stood up, "Thank you, Bachiatari, by the way, has Kouun (Good Luck) been a good husband?"
The Seven-tails container blushed, "That's hardly something you ask a newlywed."
"Aw, come on. Can't a guy fool around with his friends?" Naruto asked as he left his office and headed for the wooden steps that headed to the ground.
When he got almost all the way down, he found Gaara standing in front of a group of twenty eleven-year-olds. Some of them were asking in-depth questions about the founding of the Haven and the rest were writing notes, and for a good reason.
Gaara was the scariest teacher in the whole Haven.
Any prank pulled on his was first blocked by his sand, and then retribution was imminent. Naruto remember when Gaara held three students by their feet with Sand tentacles that stretched over some of the trees on the island.
"And that, students, is why we still are willing to protect the village we came from, even though our loyalties are to the Outcast first."
"Gaara-san!" Naruto said to him, the Sand Exile turned to Naruto and smiled.
"Outcast-san!" Gaara said.
Naruto jumped over the rail, skipping the rest of the steps. "So these are the new Exiles, are they?"
"They better hope so." Gaara said, smiling sadistically, sending chills down the spines of most of the students. "Anyways, if you can give them the usual founding stuff, that'll be good."
Naruto smiled, "Then we can move on to our spar?"
"Absolutely." Gaara said.
"Well, it all began about five years ago," Naruto said, turning to the students. "I was Naruto, a ninja of Konoha. One of my teammates, then betrayed the village and I went after him. When he defeated me, I was brought back to Konoha. I was unconscious at the time, so I didn't know what was happening in the village.
"When I woke up from my nap, the Hokage told me that the counsel was exiling me. So, to make a long story short, I left with a heavy heart. So by and by, I began to wander in the forest, training on several jutsus that my teacher left for me. One day, while practicing those jutsus, I accidently made the lake and the Island. It was this same day that I met Vara and his team. For those of you who don't know, Vara has a very rare bloodline that allows him to copy and predict another person's personality, movements, and jutsus by having his eye color match theirs; this makes him an incredible spy and warrior. His partners, Niligol, and Ondu, are twin brothers who share a powerful skill with weaponry and are know for a bloodlust-state where they are nearly unstoppable.
"They were about my age when we met, and we immediately hit it off. After some conversation, I found out that they, like myself were exiled because of a 'mistake'. So we thought about it and we began to found the Haven.
"As the years passed, and as news of the Haven spread, more and more people began to join the Haven, coming for a place to finally be accepted.
"Probably one of our main contributors is Kiri, because of their bloodline wars, all of the hidden bloodline user have come to the Haven for security. And…that's pretty much it…"
"That's it?" One of the students asked.
"Well, the Haven is only four years old," Naruto said, "given time it will have a history of its own. But now for the main event." He put his hands together and mumbled, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."
Suddenly, another Naruto appeared, and he stood before the students, as the real Naruto and Gaara both moved away from them a bit. "Ladies and Gentlemen." The Naruto clone said, "today is an epic day, two mighty forces, two Jinchuuriki, two unstoppable powers will meet today on the battle field." The clone pointed to Gaara, "From Suna, joining the Haven four years ago, we have the ex-Godaime Kazekage, the Ichibi Jinchuuriki, Gaara the Exile!"
Many of the students cheered, to which Gaara turned and said, "You won't get extra credit for cheering for me." The cheering died down.
"And then, the Original Exile," The Naruto clone said, pointing to the real Naruto, "The founder of the Haven, the maker of a Taijutsu style that your eyes will be blessed with, the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki. The one, the only, the Outcast!" This time there were some sincere cheers.
"Thank you, thank you, you're too kind." The real Naruto said, bowing slightly.
"And now," the clone said, "The Undisputed," he said holding his left hand to Naruto, "The Undefeated," He said, holding his other hand towards Gaara. "in 3! 2! 1!" Suddenly, the clone burst into smoke as the two combatants began their fight.
Naruto slipped into a altered version of the Goken stance, holding his hands out stretched before they suddenly burst into flame. "Hoken.*" Naruto said. Gaara's sand bega to form tentacles which quickly began make their way towards Naruto. When the first one was in range, Naruto hit it, spreading his flames into the sand, turning it to clear glass. Gaara then began to move, himself. He ran in, covering his fist with sand and compressing it to make it harder. He took a swing at Naruto, who suddenly changed stances, and dodged the blow in a quick graceful motion.
The flames were gone, and in their place was two perfect sphere of water, which slowly began to elongate into two whips of water, "Mizuken.*"
Gaara attacked with his sand tentacles again, only for Naruto's graceful movements cause the whips to wrap around the sand and get it wet. Gaara's sand began to get sluggish and clumpy, now moving slower.
Naruto smiled as he then slipped into a third stance, where his left arm, facing Gaara, was bent so that his fist could almost touch his shoulder, his left leg was bent slightly, and his right limbs stood ready to use. Some of the more attentive students saw Naruto's fists turn brown. "Tsuchiken.*"
Gaara charged again, a sand-covered fist coming in to hit Naruto. The fist Naruto's bent arm, and Naruto didn't even move. Suddenly, his right hand surged forward, trying to return Gaara's blow for another. Gaara quickly dodged, knowing that a punch from this style could dent steel. For a while, they fought like that, Gaara's sand saving him from the powerful, earth-chakra punches.
Suddenly, Naruto jumped back, and drew his sword.
Gaara reacted by putting himself in a huge dome of sand. "No, Un-uh. I'm not finishing this unless you put your sword away." Gaara's muffled voice said in the dome.
"Oh, come, on Gaara, I'm testing it out for the Raiken style." Naruto said.
"I'd rather die than get caught in a sword fight with you, even though they'd probably end the same way."
Naruto mumbled, before speaking up, "Fine, I'll skip the Raiken." Naruto said, putting his sword away.
The dome of sand began to recede. "Thank you, Outcast-sama."
"Thank me later," Naruto said, before calling out the name of the last style, "Kazeken!" suddenly, blades of wind began to swirl around his outstretched arms, originating from his flat palms. Naruto suddenly seemed to become faster dodging the sand and then attacking him before retreating.
They kept going on like this for a while, before Gaara lifted his hand. "Alright, alright, enough." He said.
"Aw, but we were just getting to the fun part." Naruto said, a smile on his face. He did however, concede. "Fine. So class," Naruto said turning to the students, "Any questions?"
They all had their mouths hanging open, and their eyes were wide.
"I'll take that as a no."
Tsunade sighed.
A lot could happen in one and a half years. Hiashi was losing power in the Hyuuga clan, and the Elders were exercising their power more and more often. Danzou was pushing his 'weapons' program, and the other clans were on bad terms with the village.
Tsunade sighed, one attack would probably send Konoha into chaos that it could not recover from.
On the bright side, some things were looking up. One of them was Hinata. The girl had gone from silent and melancholy to smiling and talkative in just one day. The change had shocked everyone in Konoha, or those who cared at least. But when anyone asked her what had caused the change, she only smiled and said, "The day, I guess."
It drove people insane.
Except Kiba, who was happy to finally have a good conversation with a teammate that wasn't an animal.
Shino was also relieved, almost overcome with relief that his teammate was finally getting back to her old self, and then improving.
Tsunade's smile faded before she sighed. One small light in a sea of darkness. The Raikage wanted everything, Kiri was with him. Konoha was on the brink, and if Konoha went, then Iwa could only stand a little longer, Suna was being ruled mercilessly by a tyrant who dared call himself the Kazekage, and, if Jiraiya's spy network was correct, which it normally was, Itachi went missing, and Sasuke had joined the Atakusuki, hell-bent on burning Konoha to the ground because Itachi had managed to escape because of the Village for some reason.
She knew there was only one real hope for Konoha. But he was gone. Forced out of the village by the pigs in the council. It was a kind of poetic justice. The one who saved the village was kicked out, and now he's the only one who could save them again, and this time, he was nowhere to be found.
She hung her head over her desk, and did something she had not done in a long time.
She prayed.
"Whoever is up there…please…please keep Naruto safe. My heart tells me he still has a part to play in this before the end."
Somewhere, northeast of Konoha, a seventeen-year-old leader felt…safe.
Hinata hummed to herself.
A lot could happen in a year and a half. Of course, she wouldn't know, she had spent the last eighteen months training like crazy, doing nothing but improving her taijutsu, strength, endurance, and stamina.
She made herself into someone that would make Naruto proud.
She now stood, over the beaten form of her opponent, barely breaking a sweat. Her Byakugan eyes looked cold, before they warmed up and she took a medical ointment to him. She had been using katars instead of chakra for these fights. She had originally been trying to find a way to keep from hurting someone's organs and she chose to use dulled katars, the elders at first didn't approve, until they saw exactly what she could do with them, and now they wouldn't have it any other way.
A medic nin came over and quickly carried the boy away.
Hinata sighed. Sometimes she wished she had never picked those things up, but it was better than killing him with a strike that moved its way to her opponent's liver.
One of the Elders approached her, "You are doing extremely well, Hinata-sama."
"Thank you, Manobi-sama (to be stupid)." She said, bowing to him.
"I think you'll make a fine clan head one day," Hinata beamed as he said that "as long as you don't follow your father's stupid idolizing of the Namikaze demon child."
Hinata sent a very powerful Jyuuken strike to Manobi's stomach, and he fell over, doubled in pain. "Don't you ever say that about him ever again!" Hinata screamed, kicking the man in his nuts before stomping off to her room.
She sat on her bed for a while, angry as a hornet, before a gentle knock sounded on her door.
Hinata collected herself to calmness before saying, "Come in."
Her father's gentle face appeared in the doorway, "There's a message from the Hokage requesting your presence." He said with a half smile. That was all he could manage now days.
She looked at him with sorrow filling her eyes, he still could not forgive himself, and it was ripping her apart. "Thank you." She said, before standing up.
She made her way out of the compound, noticing the lack of people crossing her path, apparently, newsof what happened to Manobi's pain had spread quickly. "Well it was his own fault."
She put the thought from her mind and concentrated on why the Hokage wanted to see her, she hoped it was a mission, especially one outside of the village. The Hokage had not given her a mission like that for a year now and it was killing her.
The very fact that Naruto was lurking in the forest was enough to make her go insane. She wanted to leave the village and join him, but she knew that he would be disappointed with her if she did.
She stepped into the tower and began to walk up the stairs to the Hokage's office. Tsunade sat at her desk, giving mission to her teammates when she came in. "Ah, Hinata, finally chose to join us did you?"
"Sorry, Hokage-sama, I was just thinking about something."
"Well stop it, you guys have a mission, I need some recon done one our border with Kumo, they seem to have a lot of movement going on there, and I need you guys to make sure that nothing is happening that could hinder us."
"Yes Hokage-sama." Kiba said, before Hinata pushed herself in front of him.
"When do we leave?" She asked excitedly.
Tsunade blinked at her forwardness. "You have an hour to pack-."
"Understood." Hinata said, before grabbing her partners and dragging them out the door."Come on, you slow pokes! Move!"
Tsuande watched her open door, wondering what on earth just happened.
Hinata led her team through the forest, finally happy to be under Naruto's gaze again. Finally happy to be in his forest, under his protection. She had never felt happier. Her she was safe, here she could lock out the worries of this life and relax, knowing that Naruto would protect her.
Kiba, on the other hand felt uneasy. He felt like a dangerous yet, benevolent presence was watching him. It was like a creature that could rip him apart if he got it mad, yet it chose to endure him.
Shino felt the same.
Hinata on the other hand, felt like she was ten feet off the ground. She was with Naruto.
That night, they set up camp. Hinata humming a tune to herself while Kiba remained uncharacteristically silent, and Shino was just as quiet.
Hinata quickly fell asleep, while Kiba and Shino took a while.
The next morning, Hinata woke up with a squeal. Kiba and Shino instantly went on high alert. "What!? What is it? Are we under attack?" Kiba said, as he drowsily stood up.
Hinata was kneeling on her sleeping bag. "No, no. Sorry I woke you up." Her hands were behind her back.
"So were not under attack?" Kiab asked.
"No." Hinata said.
"Good." Kiba said, before falling face down on his sleeping bag.
Hinata turned around and looked at the thing she had in her hand. It was a small necklace, with the Mark of the Exile printed on the pendant.
Naruto sat in the trees above the campsite. "I really should tell her." He thought.
One week later.
Hinata felt sad.
She had not seen hide nor tail of Naruto since the first night. But she knew he was there, watching her, she could feel it, and it was exhilarating.
"Back to the mission." Her mind thought. "The border was found empty, except for signs of a large battle." She thought as she rehearsed the speech to Tsunade.
Team began to set up camp. When Hinata felt her bladder ask for relief. "Hey, guys, I'll be right back." She said, before heading into the forest.
After relieving herself, she headed back for camp, when suddenly she heard a voice behind her. "Ask Tsunade about Kyuubi."
Hinata turned suddenly, but only found air. Hinata quickly made her way back to camp. "That was creepy."
What that voice said nagged at her for the whole trip.
Tsunade sat through the report, listening somewhat intently to the report. Apparently, the Outcast had beaten her to the defense of Konoha. "Thank you. You may go."
Kba and Shino went out, and Hinata headed for the door when the voice came back to her. "Ask her."
"Um…Tsunade-sama…?"
"Yes Hinata."
"What happened to Kyuubi?"
Tsunade's eyes went wide, but she remained silent. Should she tell her? Could she bring herself to ruin Naruto's reputation.
Hinata turned. "What happened to him, really?"
"He…he…was sealed." She said, finally giving in. "He was sealed into Naruto."
Hinata's eyes went wide. "What?"
"Naruto was to be sacrificed to the Kyuubi in order that Konoha might live." Tsunade said. "He had to become a Jinchuuriki in order to save us all, and we treated him like dirt. He was our hero, and we spat in his face. We were idiots. I'm sorry Hinata. I'm sorry."
Hinata only stared at the Hokage, before she turned and ran from the office.
He stood outside of the Village.
A lot could happen in ten and a half years.
The wind blew at his long ponytail, making it wave in the wind. His slashed Konoha headband was sporting a few new bruises.
He looked at Konoha with longing eyes, watching it carefully.
"Who am I kidding?" he thought "I can never go back. I'm an outcast, an exile. I can never go back home."
He sighed before heading Northeast.
"And soon I shall become a real Exile."
I'm sorry this took so long, please forgive me. But I had a lot of work to do over the weekend.
*I realize that using the Kanji form of the word with 'ken' may or may not be the right use for it, but I don't care, it sounds cool.