Exile
"That is our ultimatum. By next week, give Naruto Uzumaki to us, or we will have to take him."
The Konoha envoy stood up from his chair, and stomped out the room, followed by the nearly unseen ANBU escort. Said escort almost certainly sent to spy out vulnerabilities as well as try to find Naruto.
Garaa was unimpressed, but he did recognize the threat by what it was. The inevitable coming for him. He'd have to tell Naruto he was due to leave soon, though he was concerned by how his fellow jinjuriki and his sister had grown close. He knew Naruto would do right by her, he never betrayed a true friend after all, but he didn't want to lose him and Temari in the same day.
The question was, would she leave with him? How much did she love him?
…
Naruto himself was of course accompanied by Temari, both nestled inside an underground bunker far from prying eyes the moment the envoy had arrived in Suna.
It hadn't taken long for their dinners and lunches together to be called dates, for them to be boyfriend and girlfriend, though they hadn't done anything serious yet. Naruto thought he loved her though. She made him happy, happier than anyone else made him, and she was so brilliant too. Smart, determined, loyal. All the aspect he realised he valued in a person, all that which he needed.
He wouldn't let Konoha take that away. He would fight, and if he couldn't do that he would run, flee from them to keep Temari safe and with him.
Over the month he stayed in Suna, with Temari making his spirits stronger, he had become even stronger. He consulted Jutsu specialists, learning their elements and techniques with the blessing of Garaa. He tested himself against Genjutsu users, increasing his resilience against them. He even fought against multiple Suna ANBU at the same time, to improve his capabilities.
But the most important, most powerful thing was a special and familiar technique he found when he was skulking about the old and mostly abandoned underground Suna archives, a green scroll that had the word hachimon scrawled upon it.
The 8 gates, the power Lee had used to become a force to be reckoned with against Garaa in the chunin exams, and he knew them. Well, 2 of them. He had only had a week and had yet to crack the 3rd, but he already multiplied his combat effectiveness using them. He didn't even feel the mental strain he was supposed to have, and according to some old woman who Garaa got to check on him, there was no brain damage. In fact, she said the chakra pathways were stretching across, energizing the organ and making it stronger. In time, she said he would be able to be better even without using the gates. Naruto thought that was promising.
"I'm going to meet him again. I'd appreciate it if you gave me some privacy."
Temari looked at him, serious expression on her face, and nodded. She knew when Naruto spoke to the 9 tails it was safe to avoid him, though he had never seen him once lose control. He simply sat, and meditated. Calm. She appreciated Naruto's approach to controlling the 9 tails, especially considering it was so much stronger than the tanuki, as impossible as that seemed, but she understood why her brother didn't dare. He had spent so long under its control, he didn't want to lose it again.
When Temari left, Naruto calmed himself and closed his eyes. He thought of the wind outside, the desert dunes shifting. He thought of the crashing waves of the shore, of the blowing leaves of home. Fire, and its burning powerful smell, the blackened char it left behind. And Earth, mud and rocks and stones and mountains, all connected and linked, yet stationary.
He opened his eyes.
He no longer opened them to a sewer, but a passage, a tunnel of vines of grass and rock, spiralling etches of red and blue chakra leading further and further down. He followed it, a light shining up ahead, until he exited to a large expanse, ground a field of picturesque green grass, emerald floor, below a blue sky.
And beyond the gates which stretched far above into the infinite above, there was only black.
"What are you here for, human?"
He countenance had changed, no longer furious, no longer powerful, but evil and spiteful, and weak.
"I don't know, to gloat maybe. Here you are, weak and afraid whilst I stand before you, unstoppable."
A chuckled came from the cage.
"Pitiful little human. You do not realise. Yes, you have taken something from me, but only my form, not my power. You notice you do not look into the eyes of a fox anymore, but shadow? That is because that is what I am inside, what I will always be, and now I will forever be unavailable to you. If you were to enter these gates, and do so at your greatest peril, I could just phase through you. You would not even touch me with your filthy hands.
I am power incarnate, and you are simply an ego filled child, one who believes they can conquer me like you conquered your teammate, force alone. That you can use me like you use your 'friend' Garaa. Deluded."
Naruto scoffed.
"I will find a way to control you, I know it. And when that time comes you will cower in front of me, and beg me not to destroy you completely. And, like you did to those villagers so long ago, I will show you no mercy."
"And that shows how little you know, how tainted with the disease of ignorance you remain. You, with that same ignorance, will never control me."
And then Naruto summoned a book to his hand.
"I read up on you. 'Tales of the sage', and yes, that is The Sage. The legendary warrior that jailed the 10 tails and turned them into your siblings and you."
The fox, now shadow, growled.
"I will find out more, and soon, I will have all of your power. I will take it all for myself, and you will cease to exist, and then the 9 tailed beast will not be some mindless fox, it will be Naruto Uzumaki."
…
"Well that's it then." Naruto stated, looking solemn, annoyed. He wanted to stay in Suna, because he had grown to love the place. Not as much as he loved the leaf, and his fervour was stronger now then it was then, to be the hokage, but he did like the wind blowing, the sun beaming. He had grown tanner over the past month, spending that much time out in the open sun.
Garaa looked at him, with the look of a ruler, one who had become one, and was suited to be one from a young age.
"Will you take Temari with you?"
"I would think so-"
"She is a jonin Naruto, and my sister. If she insists, I will allow her to escort you, but I cannot let you take her."
And Naruto looked betrayed. "What?"
"I know you care for her, but unless she decides to leave, become a missing nin herself, I cannot permit her to abandon her post-"
"That's bullshit! You would leave her in the dust just because she came with me?"
Garaa shook his head, placing a reassuring arm on Naruto's shoulder.
"I would never, like I would never leave you in the dust, but I cannot sacrifice my entire country for her sake. If the Leaf find out I sent a registered jonin with you, it would mean war. I would die, Kankuro would die, and Temari would lose everything. I cannot let that happen to her, so either she leaves with you, or stays here. It is her choice."
Naruto calmed down, now thinking. He had come far from the boisterous teenager he was before, now considering Garaa's words.
"Ok. We'll ask what she wants then. Where is she?"
Garaa sighed.
"Outside. I called her when I called for you, just a little later."
The kazekage motioned, opening the door with his sand, where Temari walked in.
"What is going on here? This isn't the normal kind of meeting, something has happened."
Garaa looked at his sister with care and consideration, and answered.
"The Leaf are demanding Naruto back. The first thing I have to ask, is are you willing to leave the village, go missing nin and escape with him?"
Temari's skin looked pale. She stayed silent, shocked, then stepped over to a chair, collapsing into it, covering her head with her hands.
Naruto didn't know what to do. He wanted to hug her, comfort her, kiss her, tell her everything would be alright, but he couldn't. He can't make this right just by making her not sad.
And Temari's head was swirling, her mind on the precipice between her family and the new love she found in Naruto. She cared about him, she really did, but how the hell did she console that with leaving Garaa and Kankuro? With having to sacrifice all the support she gave Garaa, the help, the leadership, the making sure everyone respected them. If she went missing nin she could squander that all.
And then her face looked up, tears dripping down her face, remorse and pain and impending guilt painting it.
"I-I can't. I can't stop being a jonin, being me, I can't leave my family. Naruto, I'm sorry."
And Naruto knew, almost since the question came, what the answer was. He wasn't worth enough, he wasn't enough, he couldn't be enough for her. For anyone. He was worthless.
And now he was crying.
Temari tackled him in a hug.
"I'm so sorry Naruto. I-I love you but I can't leave my brothers. I-I-"
"I understand Temari. I love you too."
"I'll love you, for however long it takes you to come back."
"I know."
…
After Garaa and Temari had left, 2 ninja, jonin entered.
"Naruto, I assume. We have been told by Lord Garaa t-"
"Yeah, I know. I just have to knock you guys out, right?"
The larger man nodded.
"Yes. After you will-"
Then Naruto moved, body flickering behind him, then smashing his elbow into the back of his skull, dropping him like a fly.
The other jumped back, body's reflexes trying to get him away, but too slow, as Naruto blitzed across the room, leaping into the air and smashing his knee into their skull.
Both down, Naruto smirked too himself. He worked out his frustration at least.
The escape plan had already been made, and he was ready to leave. Leave it all behind.
But why did it need to be a bad thing? Sure, he was being pursued, but he didn't need to care. He was free, and strong enough that it didn't matter who they sent after him. The only person that could beat him was Jiraiya, and he knew how to escape even him. Just avoid any toads, send out a fuck ton of clones, and exhaust him.
And he was free. From commitments, from loss, form everything.
So even though he would miss Temari, even though he would come back for her one day, he wouldn't let that defeat him.
In minutes his sandals, new and Suna made, were skating on sand. He moved through the desert with an insane speed, earned from the weeks of practise, of training.
…
A/N: new chapter, whey
Also this story got 40 reviews
