Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and this is a fanfiction based off another's hard work.

A/N: Point of clarification due to reviewer question – Assume that the only people who know of Naruto's parentage are the three "elders", the Hokage, Jiraiya, and Kakashi.

"Thinking"

"Speaking"

Chapter 3

Naruto started to come too. He felt like crap. Every muscle in his legs ached so much he had a brief thought that cutting them off would be better than enduring this pain. As he moaned he couldn't remember where he was. He finally started looking around and noticed he was in a room. "Where am I? Did he get captured?" Then he heard footsteps coming closer. The door to the room slid open. Staring at him from the door he recognized the woman.

"Naruto-san, you finally woke up!" Tsunami said with relief in her voice.

"Tsunami? How did I get here" replied Naruto.

"You showed up on our doorstep extremely exhausted and you had a lot of blood loss. At least that is what the doctor told us. When you arrived you pleaded for us to hide you and then you passed out. We asked the doctor to come here to look at you and bandage you up. That was two days ago. Can you tell us what happened?" ask Tsunami.

Naruto appeared to be emotionally pained, but he nodded requesting to tell the story once. After Tazuna and Inari arrived he told them what happened, but left out the fact that he is the container of the fox demon he, and that he had no place to go except here. Tazuna patted the boy on the shoulder and said he could stay as long as he wanted.

Once Tazuna left the house he went to the town center and called a meeting of the town leaders.

He gave a brief account of what happened to their hero and the town unanimously decided to cut ties with Konoha, but would wait to make the announcement until they knew it was safe for their hero. They all agreed to keep this silent for Naruto's sake.

Meanwhile, Naruto was able to stand after a while and he eventually was able to eat with Tsunami and Inari. He was quiet the whole meal which the family didn't push the subject and allowed him to eat. Naruto sulked most of the morning away and finally after lunch he decided that he couldn't wallow forever. He needed somewhere to hide and train. He finally got an idea.

He found a clearing in the woods and went through the hand signs "Summoning". In a poof of smoke Gamakichi was now before Naruto.

"Hey bro, how ya doin'?" replied the small toad.

"Great, not enough chakra to summon the boss. Hey 'kichi, you doing ok?" said Naruto.

"Bro, what's wrong?"

After explaining what happened about being banished Naruto finally got to the point of summoning the toad. "Kichi, I need a place to hide and place that I can train. Do you think the toads could help me?"

Gamakichi had a downtrodden look on his face. "Naruto, I'm sorry, but the contract with the toads is a Konoha contract. If you have been banished we cannot have you as a summoner any more. I'm really sorry bro."

With a tear going down his face Naruto took a few moment to gather his resolve. "Gamakichi, it has been an honor to work with you toads. I guess this is good bye." Naruto turned around and started walking away. Gamakichi had one thought before he vanished away, "Pops isn't going to be happy about this".

When Naruto returned to Tazuna's house he didn't respond to either Inari or Tsunami and just went to his room. Inari was going to go after him before he felt his mom's hand on his shoulder and she shook her head.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back in Konoha – Hidden Root base

There was no response from Danzo as he stared as at his Root that had been evaded by the weapon.

"Failures, all of you" though you couldn't see it the Root team were nervous. After all they were trained to not show any emotions.

"Teams, 5, 10, and 7; you are to head out now and attempt to find the weapon. I want him back now" yelled Danzo.

The three teams immediately left fearing any further outburst.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After dinner Tazuna finally had enough of the silent treatment and decided to talk to the boy. "Naruto, tell me, what do you need? What are you going to do?"

After a few seconds Tazuna and family thought that they weren't going to get an answer when Naruto finally spoke, albeit very softly.

"I need a place to hide and a place to train and get stronger. For what purpose I don't know yet, but I just feel like I need to do this. If you have a hidden place that I can run to, I would appreciate it."

"Naruto, follow me" said Tazuna.

Curious Naruto followed Tazuna. He led the boy around the town in an attempt to avoid too many people knowing he was there (I mean who wouldn't want to greet their hero). He finally arrived at the docks. "Naruto that boat there on the last dock is going to what we call the 'New Land'. However, there are settlements there just like here, but we don't know much about it. The trip is 6 months there via boat and to my knowledge there are no other boats that go to the 'New Land'. I can arrange for you to be on that boat, but it leaves in the morning at five and you will need to help out on the ship if needed. If anyone were to find out that you did take that boat then the earliest they could reach the new land would be a year from now and by then you could be anywhere you want."

Naruto thought about it for a few minutes and decided that it would be the best option for him. If anything he could at least buy him a year of training before anyone could even hope to find him. "I'll take that offer old man, and thank you. I will pay you back for his".

"There is no need to pay me back, you have done so much for our land and besides, I'm the Mayor now and the taxes are more than enough for me to take care of myself and my family."

Naruto smiled just a little and that did not go unnoticed by Tazuna.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As morning came Naruto found Tazuna and his family at the front door with some money and pack of supplies for him. "Naruto, I don't know if the money will be accepted there, but here you go and the supplies should last you a week once you arrive. Everything on the boat will be taken care off as long as you pull your weight."

"Thank you, I cannot say that enough for all you have done for me."

"Thank nothing of it Naruto, it is you we owe our town and lives too. We wish you luck" replied Tsunami.

Inari gave Naruto a hug and Naruto left. Hopefully for a better life.