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"Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek." - Mario Andretti
Chapter 19: Climbing the Ladder, Burning the Bridge
It was a whole new grind. With his new Anbu mask in place, Naruto blankly glanced around the dimly lit room of the Anbu Headquarters. Barely a dozen steps outside the Hokage's office, Kazumi had found Naruto and gleefully dragged him by the hand to the Anbu HQ, which she referred to as the Anbu lounge. Standing in the room, Naruto could definitely tell why she called it that. The Anbu members in the room were either doing some light conditioning or were just hanging out. The whole image was a pretty jarring sight for Naruto whom expected the Anbu to be hiding in the shadows of the room or at the most, to be playing a 'rivoting' game of Shogi.
When Naruto and Kazumi entered the room, the Anbu in attendance all kindly and politely greeted Kazumi. She happily waved back to each of them as she kept dragging Naruto along.
'Seems like she's really respected around here. Not all that surprising, really.' Naruto thought to himself as he glanced at each individual masked person who seemed to be following his movements in a predatorial manner. 'Alright, that's just fucking creepy. If they think they can keep staring at me like that, they'd better be ready to protect their necks.' The masks only added to the oddity.
For obvious reasons, Naruto was well-known in Konoha, especially among the shinobi. Having heard about five months back that Naruto Uzumaki was more than likely going to become an Anbu member, the current members didn't really know what to think. The fox-eared shinobi had been continuously proving himself to be a very capable ninja. Personal grudges aside, having someone like that, who seemed to have no limits in terms of power, in Anbu would be a significant boost to their forces. When Kazumi, a very well-respected member of Anbu, began getting closer to the jinchuuriki and talking about him in such a positive manner, they began seeing Naruto Uzumaki in a completely different light. In their eyes, he went from a ruthless killer to a bitter shinobi, and that was just fine with all of them.
"Chief! Look who I've got with me." Kazumi called out as soon as she spotted a white cloaked figure with - surprise, surprise - a white porcelain mask.
'This whole mask thing is going to take some getting used to.' Naruto thought to himself. Ironically, he was wearing his own mask, so he fit in pretty well around here.
The man turned to face Kazumi before focusing on Naruto. Since Kazumi called the man 'Chief', Naruto assumed the man was the commander of the Anbu.
"Naruto Uzumaki? Yes, that must be you. The ears make it blatantly obvious." Chief said, still focusing his gaze on Naruto.
With that said, Naruto had to wonder what the purpose of him wearing a mask was. His features were just too unique to be concealed by a simple porcelain mask.
"Yeah, it's me. So, I heard I have to go through some kind of training." Naruto remarked. That was the first thing Hiruzen mentioned after giving Naruto his mask and his uniform.
"Before we do that, Uzumaki, we must conduct a simple test." Chief replied vaguely.
"It's kinda like an initiation. You just gotta fight some of the guys here." Kazumi answered for Naruto after he glanced at her.
Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto spotted each of the Anbu in the room, excluding Kazumi and the Chief, readying themselves for a fight. Naruto sighed and allowed himself some time to enter Sage Mode. He'd probably only get this one chance to enter the state, so he'd better make it count.
"Let's just get this over with." Naruto said impatiently as he stretched his arms and got down into a fighting stance, "Who's first?"
The Chief was thoroughly impressed with Naruto's skills. He had Naruto run a gauntlet, fighting each of the Anbu in attendance one-by-one, while he observed. Even outside of Sage Mode, Naruto was still able to match the other Anbu rather efficiently. The Chief had one pretty great idea that would greatly supplement Naruto's fighting style, and it would only be building from one of Naruto's techniques that he seemed to have a perfect mastery of. On top of that, the Chief figured learning lightning style wouldn't hurt. Naruto had shown a capability to use and combine fire and wind chakra, and Kazumi had informed him earlier that Naruto actually had an affinity to both of those elements. That meant Naruto had two primaries with an open slot for a secondary, and lightning seemed to be a perfect fit.
"That's enough. I've seen all that I've needed to." Chief announced. Naruto and the Anbu he was currently about kick both stopped on a dime and jumped apart, panting softly. Naruto walked over to Chief and looked up to face the man.
"Satisfied?" Naruto asked cheekily, rubbing some blood from his lip.
"Very. That Burst Step of yours, have you ever tried using it for individual parts of your body? Your arms, for example?" Chief inquired. He concealed his amusement when Naruto's eyes widened comically.
'Why the hell haven't I thought of that?' Naruto thought in frustration.
"I'll give it a shot." Naruto responded, creating a dozen clones and readying himself to do just that.
"If you manage to get it down, I'll get you started on learning lightning style." Chief said as glanced over to where Kazumi was chatting with the Anbu who were still sore from fighting a Sage Mode enhanced Naruto.
'Lightning style, huh. I think I got an idea for that if I can master it.' Naruto thought to himself.
Naruto expelled chakra directly from his arm. The chakra acted as a beacon and began pulling his arm toward it with the speed of his Burst Step. Since he was inexperienced in using the Burst Step for individual body parts, he flew forward with the punch. He and his clones repeated the process until they were able to punch without flying forward. After getting that down, they started running around and performing the new supplementary technique.
The Anbu in attendance watched in amusement as about a dozen fox-eared shinobi started dashing around and haphazardly throwing speedy jabs.
It hadn't taken long to perfect that as well, so Naruto and his clones implemented the Rapid Burst Step into the punches. That took significantly longer to perfect, and on multiple occasions, Naruto swore he punched his arm out of place. Naruto didn't dare try this with a kick since he would probably end up swinging his leg faster than he could control and ending up on his back in a daze with a full room of Anbu laughing their asses off at him.
"So, you said something about lightning style?" Naruto asked the Chief as he dispelled his clones and stretched his increasingly sore arms.
"You're finished already? It's been less than thirty minu- How could I forget? The clones." Chief recalled, shaking his head, "Yes, I said I would teach you how to utilize lightning chakra. I can guarantee you won't get that in half an hour." Chief quipped.
"...Is that a challenge?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow. If he seriously wanted to, Naruto could probably create well over a thousand clones that would absolutely amplify his training to a ridiculous degree. Naruto certainly wouldn't master lightning style, but he would definitely get a decent grasp on how to use it. He would go to that trouble just to spite Chief.
"There's no feasible way you can-" Chief stopped himself and stared at Naruto as if measuring him up, "How many clones can you create?"
"About two-thousand, max." Naruto replied, taking a certain level of satisfaction from the look of unabided shock on Chief's face. Well, Naruto assumed Chief's face reflected his shock. Damn masks.
"Follow me, Uzumaki." Chief alerted with a tilt of his head. The two walked off to the nearest training field.
"Lightning chakra is generated by increasing the high frequency vibrations of your chakra. In other words, make your chakra wildly mobile, then when you release it, do so precisely. That is what lightning is all about." Chief explained as he generated lightning to his finger tips as an example.
Naruto nodded his understanding and got right to it. He crossed his fingers, and suddenly the entire field was filled with Narutos.
"Let's get to it."
Fū was selectively and situationally cautious and thoughtful. Take now for example: Just recently, she encountered a boy, a jinchuuriki just like her, who came with a warning and a suggestion. That boy was Naruto Uzumaki. He actively sought her out, spent some time with her, and looked out for her. Now, that was an absolutely foreign concept for Fū. Until then, her own village never even acknowledged her existence. It was as if she wasn't living in the same village as them, and a boy that she had never met from a completely different village cared for her more than her village.
That was fucking sad.
On that premise alone, Fū could definitely convince herself to leave Takigakure, but she would always swing around to that perpetually troubling question: Where would she go? Wandering around aimlessly would only be a temporary fix. The only thing she could think of would be to seek out Naruto. He did tell her he was from Konoha, but that posed a problem in itself.
Fū had no idea where the hell that was!
It was certainly frustrating for her, but it couldn't be helped. Taki never let Fū leave the village, so she didn't know much about anything outside the village. The whole jinchuuriki lockdown thing would be a problem in and of itself if Taki had any reliable shinobi. Their village leader was a cowardly chunin-level shinobi, that speaks volumes about a village's power.
Fū honestly didn't know whether to laugh or cry about that.
"If you stay here, it'll only be a matter of time before the Akatsuki track you down, Fū, and they'll probably just stroll into this village with ease."
'I know that, alright! But if I leave, I won't have anywhere to go.' Fū's desperation was driving her to tears. 'So, what the heck can I do?'
"If there's anything I can do for you, it'd be to advise you to get the hell out of here. Go into hiding or train like a maniac."
'...But there's a third option, Naruto: Find you. Even still, I don't know where Konoha is. I'm stuck.' Fū thought as tears continued falling from her eyes.
"As far as I know, you and I are in the same shitty situation, and that bugs the hell out of me. Just knowing that there are others out there who've had it just as bad or even worse than I had it really troubles me."
At that time, Fū realized that Naruto looked like he had more to say, but he left it at that. What did he want to say?
'Naruto...I don't have another choice.' Fū thought to herself as she furiously wiped away her tears. Her orange eyes shone with her newly instilled resolve. 'I have to find you.'
'Goddamn.' Chief thought to himself as the seemingly inexhaustible juggernaut named Naruto Uzumaki finally ran out of steam. His legion of a thousand dispelled and Naruto collapsed, face-planting in the grass. Chief just stood there for a moment. He was about to go retrieve the boy, but Kazumi beat him to it. She hoisted him up on her back and walked over to where Chief was.
"How'd his training go? Did he beat your challenge?" Kazumi questioned with a grin.
"No. Good thing, too. I would've ripped my hair out from the roots if he had." Chief joked, "Came pretty damn close, though." Chief mumbled under his breath. True enough, thirty-five minutes later after starting, and Naruto was generating lightning. Sure, his lightning was pathetic by any standard, considering the most it would do would be to give you a slight shock like when someone drags their feet against a rug and zaps you. When Chief actually brought up that analogy, Naruto was rightly pissed and he trained even harder. He actually managed to make respectable lightning; respectable in the regard that he had only been training for about nine hours. By any other standard, his lightning was still subpar.
Kazumi giggled softly before situating Naruto properly on her back and setting off. She hummed a catchy tune to herself as she walked with the exhausted, resting Naruto on her back.
The next few weeks went by with very little activity. Naruto refined his use of the Burst Steps with individual parts of his body. He later named this technique the Rapid Strike. In addition to that, he trained his lightning style by using a minimum of one thousand clones a day. Progress wasn't very noteworthy in that regard. He could definitely perform some basic lightning style jutsu, but something like the Chidori was out of the question solely because he just couldn't generate that much power into his lightning attacks. Naruto worked around that using a little subtle skill, ingenuity, and a degree of copying.
Naruto remembered the techniques the Taki invaders used. The Water Whip stood out, and it seemed to be a great idea to utilize that type of shape manipulation with his lightning style. Just yesterday, he managed to create the Lightning Whip Jutsu. The great thing about it was that he didn't have to wrap it around his opponent to stop their movements. Contact alone was enough to limit his opponent's movements in the point of impact. So, overall, this was a pretty solid month of training.
Currently, Naruto was resting up in the branches of a tree close to his apartment with his eyes closed. Everything was moving way too slowly for Naruto's liking. The Akatsuki haven't made an attempt on him for quite some time, Orochimaru was M.I.A, and it all left him feeling incredibly uneasy like the entire world was moving behind the scenes with Naruto, obliviously, standing still. It was unsettling for an impatient person like Naruto who couldn't bear letting everything dance around him.
With his mind on the Akatsuki, Naruto's thoughts drifted over to Fū. He honestly wondered what she decided to do with the advice he gave her, and Naruto placed himself in her situation. Knowing that ridiculously powerful shinobi were actively pursuing him and living in a village where the defense is rather weak, Naruto would definitely peace out in a second if he were Fū.
Naruto's eyes snapped open. 'For a second there, I actually considered leaving Konoha.' Now, that was a thought. A fucking stupid thought, but a thought, nonetheless.
Naruto had to admit that the thought had some merits. If he left, Naruto could take the pace of his life into his own hands. Instead of being hunted like an animal, Naruto could do some hunting of his own. He was a hell of a lot stronger than he was during the second stage of the Chunin Exams. Fighting Itachi and Kisame wouldn't be any easier, but it was possible. Neither of them were indestructible. That same thing went for whoever may be in the Akatsuki
Like Fū, Naruto had no emotional attachment to the village. His closest and probably only friend was Kazumi. He'd be reluctant to leave her so suddenly, but Naruto knew she'd get along just fine without him around. That was generally the case with the few people Naruto could consider to be a friend.
'No one really needs me here. I could go and I'd be the only one faced with consequences, right? My decisions are my own and they affect me and me alone.' Naruto thought to himself honestly, almost as if he was reassuring himself. At least, Naruto couldn't think of any significant consequences for anybody else. Konoha suffers the loss of a jinchuuriki, but honestly, Naruto sure as fuck never saw himself as Konoha's little ace. His former teammates were barely even his friends, so they probably wouldn't even notice if he left. Kazumi genuinely seemed to like him, so she might actually miss him.
'She'd get over-'
"I thought there was a horde of bees here, but it's just all those thoughts buzzing around your head!" Kazumi's voice cut Naruto out of his deep thoughts.
Naruto glanced down where Kazumi was sitting at the base of the tree he was sitting in. "Was there something you needed or what?" Naruto asked gruffly.
Kazumi smiled up at her friend. "What's up? It's rare to see you relaxing like this."
Naruto scoffed, "Even a guy like me needs some time to relax and think."
Kazumi made a humming noise and glanced up at Naruto. "So, what were you thinking about anyway?" Kazumi asked curiously, tossing up a pack of fruit snacks to Naruto who reflexively caught it. She pulled out one for herself and began eating while waiting for Naruto's response.
As he tore open the package and stuffed a few fruit snacks in his mouth, Naruto wondered whether he should tell Kazumi what he was thinking about before she showed up.
"On that mission to Taki, I met up with a girl, a jinchuuriki." Naruto began and Kazumi listened patiently, "Her name was Fū. I told her about the Akatsuki and I told her that they would be coming after her eventually. I advised her to leave that village because she would be in a hell of a lot of danger if she stayed there." Naruto explained.
Kazumi nodded in agreement. She was well-aware of Taki's lack of imposing shinobi figures.
"I also told her that it's better to be in control of the pace of your life. Better to take action than just sit around being hunted, right?" Naruto asked rhetorically, adding a bit of his own problems and thoughts into the mix, "Tell me, do you think I gave her the right advice?" Naruto asked Kazumi.
"That's a really hard question to answer, Naruto." Kazumi said after a slight pause, "I can't say for sure what's right or what's wrong in this situation, but I will say that I'd prefer to be the master of my own life rather than let a crazy bunch like the Akatsuki control the pace of my life." Kazumi gave her opinion.
Naruto nodded slowly. That was just about the type of answer he was expecting.
"You know, as cliché as it sounds, you really just gotta do what you gotta do no matter how crazy it might be." Kazumi concluded.
Naruto sighed softly. 'Do what you must, huh?' Solid advice, truthfully, especially considering how self-destructively insane Naruto's thoughts were at the moment.
"Are you thinking about taking your own advice?"
Naruto stiffened so suddenly that it was hard for Kazumi not to notice. 'That was the exact question I hoped she wouldn't ask.' Naruto thought to himself.
Naruto tried his best to scoff convincingly, "Fū and I have completely different situations." Naruto lied as best as he could.
Kazumi stared at Naruto for a while and Naruto stared back, doing his best to avoid flinching at her unconvinced gaze. "I see. Just remember what I said, alright, Naruto? Don't make the decision that leaves you with regrets. I'd hate to see you like that." Kazumi said sadly. She could tell Naruto wasn't being entirely honest with her. It seemed he wanted her opinion of what he was considering without letting her know that he was actually considering it, and that hurt a bit because it showed Naruto didn't fully trust her.
She stood from the base of the tree and called out a goodbye. Naruto watched her leave, and when she was out of sight, he slumped against the tree and sighed heavily.
"Fuck, that couldn't have turned out any better." Naruto said sarcastically, tightly grasping the fruit snacks Kazumi gave him.
Naruto growled in frustration before he jumped from the tree. He created a couple hundred Shadow Clones who all shared Naruto's scowl.
"I want all of you to come at me all at once. Don't hold back." Naruto uttered in a low voice, brandishing his twin scimitars. Quite a few of the Shadow Clones starting entering Sage Mode. For some reason, the sight just made Naruto want to drop those clones first. With an angry bellow, Naruto charged into the mass, rapidly swiping in every direction where clones happened to be. Naruto knew he wouldn't be walking away unscathed with two hundred mirror copies of himself hurling his own dangerous techniques at him.
How therapeutic.
Time ticked away painfully.
There were just too many sleepless nights and half-heartedly completed daily routines and missions. Fourteen year old, Naruto Uzumaki, was slowly falling into a strange paranoia. It was almost as if he wanted to be attacked. Anything to stop the burning feeling of unease he was feeling would be a welcomed solution.
'There's nothing worse than a false sense of safety when you know that you're anything but safe.' Naruto thought to himself as he sat stock still in the corner of the Anbu headquarters. Gradually, majority of the Anbu departed for missions or went out for some conditioning, and Naruto was left alone. He had just had a few missions back-to-back yesterday, so he assumed the old man was just giving him a break. Not that Naruto really needed it. He wasn't even tired yesterday.
Kazumi was among the many Anbu who were out on missions. She left yesterday and she was due back later today. She and Naruto hadn't spoken much to each other since their conversation at the tree. For some reason, that problem kept Naruto grounded. If Naruto really wanted to leave to take care of all of his problems, he'd feel pretty shitty about leaving when Kazumi was clearly upset about it.
Naruto sighed and stood to leave the room.
"Hey, Naruto?" The voice had Naruto turning around rapidly, "I think we're overdue to hang out, don't you think?" Kazumi said softly with a sad smile as she removed her Anbu mask.
'How the hell does she keep surprising me?' Naruto thought briefly. He quickly shook that thought off and noticed that Kazumi still seemed upset. Naruto nodded in response, and the two left the Anbu headquarters.
For the first time in months, Naruto's thoughts weren't on all the shitty stuff in his life and he didn't feel so uneasy. He felt like he did before his strange paranoia set in. Looking at Kazumi as she happily slurped down a bowl of sweet and sour ramen, Naruto could tell she was feeling better, if only slightly.
But it was inevitable. Naruto knew they would eventually come down to the troubling topic that had created a rift between them for the last several months.
After they finished eating, Kazumi grabbed Naruto's hand and led him out of the ramen hut and into the night. Naruto was confused, but he shrugged and let himself be led. Complaining wouldn't solve a damn thing, and Naruto knew that well enough.
Strangely enough, Naruto found himself in the middle of a training field. He noticed that it was the same training field where he and Kazumi first sparred on the day they first met. Kazumi released his hand and turned to him with a smile. She giggled softly at Naruto's confused expression before getting into a fighting stance.
Naruto's confused expression slowly changed into a smirk as he got down into a fighting stance of his own.
'So that's how it's gonna be, huh?' Naruto thought as he watched his sparring partner.
No words were exchanged between the two upon arriving at the training field, and in the same wordless manner, their spar began as Naruto and Kazumi vanished in blurs and met each other in the middle. The smile and the smirk never once left their faces.
Kazumi briefly noted that Naruto improved significantly in his taijutsu since their first spar. At that time, she was running circles around him, blocking every attack that she couldn't dodge, and batting him around with general ease. Now, it was almost even.
Naruto ducked under a roundhouse kick and Burst Stepped around Kazumi, striking back with a right hook. Kazumi ducked under that and went for a sweep, but Naruto quickly jumped above her leg before it could make contact. While in the air, he Burst Stepped to get back down to the ground faster to avoid another kick from Kazumi.
Naruto performed the Rapid Burst Step to throw Kazumi off, then he Burst Stepped in with a Rapid Strike punch. To his surprise, Kazumi blocked his punch with her palm. She gripped his fist and pulled him inward. Then Kazumi crouched down while pulling Naruto toward her. She kicked him directly in the chin, sending him fairly high in the air. Getting the desired effect, Kazumi quickly vanished and appeared directly behind her airborn sparring partner.
'The Dancing Leaf Shadow, huh?' Naruto thought to himself as he tried to regain his bearings and shake off his disorientation from the heavy kick. Before he could do that, Naruto felt Kazumi grasp his sage cloak tightly and he saw her situating herself for a follow-up combination. Before Kazumi could get off an attack, Naruto shrugged out of his cloak and Burst Stepped back to the ground.
Naruto quickly unsheathed one of his scimitars to block incoming shuriken. Kazumi used the delay to safely land on the ground. She giggled to herself and she threw on Naruto's sage cloak.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you not to take what's not yours?" Naruto questioned as he appeared behind Kazumi. She quickly spun around and blocked Naruto's sword strike with her ninjato.
"I couldn't help it. This thing is so cool!" Kazumi responded, smiling at the look of barely concealed amusement on Naruto's face.
"Become a sage if you love it so much." Naruto said as he jumped back from the sword clash.
"Why would I do that if I can just keep yours? It's not like you can do anything to get it back from me." Kazumi teased her sparring partner.
Naruto simply smirked in response. "We'll see about that." He said, crossing his fingers and filling the training field with mirror copies of himself.
Panting heavily, Naruto and Kazumi jumped apart. They let each other catch his/her breath before relaxing their stances. Naruto was successful in regaining his sage cloak, but he could tell Kazumi wasn't really going to keep it. He had to admit, though. The spar was fun, especially the whole fighting for his clothes thing.
Suddenly, Kazumi pointed at him. "There! That look in your eyes. That shine, never lose it no matter what you choose to do." Kazumi stated seriously, "If you do leave, I'll really miss you, but I'll understand. You're a proactive kind of guy, so it would suck if you had to sit back and wait for the Akatsuki to come after you without you being able to do anything about it."
"It won't be permanent. I'll be back after I take down the Akatsuki and every other bastard stupid enough to actively pursue me." Naruto stated firmly.
"Promise?" Kazumi questioned hopefully, looking for some reassurance. Naruto nodded in response, but that didn't satisfy her. "I want you to say it." Kazumi said, "In fact, I want you to pinky swear."
"You want me to what?" Naruto asked in complete confusion. 'Swear with your pinky? Holy shit, is that like a blood oath. She doesn't want me to cut off my pinky, right?'
"Pinky swear. You just hold out your pinky like this," Kazumi explained, holding out her pinky in demonstration. Then, she walked over to Naruto, who was concerned for his precious pinky finger, grabbed his hand, and pulled his pinky from the rest of his fingers. "And then you lock pinkies like this." She said as she intertwined her pinky with Naruto's. "Now, say it."
Naruto glanced down to where his and Kazumi's pinkies were intertwined. "I promise I'll come back after I take down all of my enemies." Naruto swore after he focused his gaze on Kazumi.
Naruto had a feeling, though he didn't know for sure, that Kazumi made him promise that he would stay alive. It was implied by saying that he would come back, but she really wanted him to promise that he wouldn't die.
They both held that position for some time. Neither looked away from the other as they slowly unlocked their pinkies and let their hands fall.
"I'm sure you've already decided to go, so when do you plan on leaving?" Kazumi asked curiously.
"Probably tomorrow or the day after that. I already know how I'm going to do it. Believe it or not, you gave me the idea." Naruto remarked.
"When did I do that?" Kazumi questioned with genuine confusion. Absently, she racked her brain for any moment where she might have given him an escape plan.
"When you called me the Flying Shadow, I thought about why you chose that name, and when I realized it, I started thinking. Chief helped, too. He showed me that I could use the Burst Step in more creative ways, so I created another technique with the Burst Step that I call Air Dashing." Naruto explained, "The Burst Step uses chakra that I expell as a beacon and I'm dragged toward the chakra. I'm not running when I use the technique, it's really more like flight."
Kazumi's looked at Naruto with awe. "So what you're saying is that you can actually fly?"
"Yeah, in a very weird, very fucking awesome way." Naruto boasted, "Allow me to demonstrate." As soon as he finished that sentence, he vanished and appeared in the air. He Burst Stepped constantly to maintain his altitude and change his position, so he was never in one spot for more than a second. "I can Air Dash my way to outer space if I damn well please." Naruto shouted down to Kazumi as she watched with excitement.
"I'm a genius! I couldn't have picked a better nickname for you!" Kazumi shouted back. True enough, Naruto really did look like a flying shadow dashing through the night sky. He appeared to be nothing more than a black blur when he was motion.
When Naruto had enough showing off, he let himself fall to the ground. Air Dashing was badass and all, but fighting while doing that would be a fucking nightmare. Even so, it opened up a whole new can of dangerous opportunities.
"So, how long do you think it'll take you to take care of all this?" Kazumi asked quietly.
"How the hell should I know? It'll be over once I tear the Akatsuki apart." Naruto scoffed, "It could take a few weeks, a few months, or a fucking decade. All I can say is that it will be taken care of before I return."
Kazumi accepted the answer. She knew it was impossible to tell how long it would take Naruto to defeat the Akatsuki, but she had just hoped it wouldn't take too long because for every day it took was another day she wouldn't be able to see Naruto.
"No fucking way it's taking me a decade. I'll tell you that much." Naruto threw in after a moment.
That managed to get a laugh out of Kazumi before she responded. "I never expected it to."
Naruto walked back to his apartment feeling better than he had in a while. He resolved one issue and now he found himself facing another one.
The old man, the third Hokage, always took care of him in some way back when Naruto was younger and in desperate need of someone like him. Leaving without a single word of explanation or even a simple goodbye would leave Naruto feeling pretty shitty.
An upfront confrontation probably wouldn't work in Naruto's favor, so with a sigh, Naruto pulled out a pen and a piece of paper and began writing.
The next morning, Naruto packed some of his stuff, mostly food, in sealing scrolls and left his apartment without looking back.
Naruto walked silently to the Hokage Monument where he stood on the Fourth Hokage's head and gazed at the village with a blank expression. That single expression essentially summed up how Naruto felt about the village as a whole.
Naruto let out a sigh and started Air Dashing up and forward. When he passed by the Hokage's office, he threw a kunai through the window. Naruto actually chuckled to himself when he realized the window was closed.
With that out of the way, Naruto Air Dashed higher and higher until he could barely make out the villagers. When he reached that desired altitude, Naruto Air Dashed forward and out of the village. He kept going without glancing back.
It was a brand new chapter in Naruto's life. He thought that same thing when he was promoted to Anbu, but that statement was never more true than now. Teetering on the edge of life and death, of excitement and terror, Naruto dashed through the air with a powerful determination.
Hiruzen didn't know how to feel. When his window was broken a kunai, the hokage had sworn he was under attack. That is, until he had noticed the piece of paper tied to the weapon.
After reading the contents of the paper, which he found to be a letter, Hiruzen was even more torn than before. Everything about the letter was entirely irrational, yet so reasonable, and, if Hiruzen were honest with himself, expected.
Hiruzen struggled to come to a beneficial solution. He clutched the letter tightly and sat back down at his desk. He sighed to himself. 'Leave it to Naruto to cause me so much stress with a letter.' Coming from a man who dealt with life-changing, diplomatic letters, that was pretty impactful.
"I didn't leave out of compassion for the village or its people, and I didn't leave out of hatred, so if there was any chance of you getting that impression, curb that shit. I simply decided to take control of my life instead of letting my life be ruled by a group of jinchuuriki-hunting bastards.
Think of it this way: The Akatsuki don't strike me as the type to swoop in and grab me without killing a few innocent people. My leaving is potentially saving the lives of your villagers. Win-win situation, and all that.
Do what you gotta do. That goes for the both of us here. Mark me as a missing-nin if you have to, but don't try to find me. I'll come back, but not before I end the Akatsuki's shit. For now, I'll be toiling in the shadows."
'Naruto...even in the darkest moments, you never cease to amaze me.' Hiruzen thought to himself, 'In the endless flow of conflict, high, flies the one with the unbreakable will.'
And that concludes this one. I tried to vary my writing style in some parts of this chapter. I'm not sure if that shows or what, but either way, I hope this chapter was enjoyable.
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