Chapter 3: The Renegade
On the outskirts of the leaf village three figures were moving toward it, they had bands identifying them as kumogakure shinobi.
"Are you seeing what I do?" asked the only man in the trio, he was a man of medium height, young, dark-skinned, and in a standard kumo uniform; "Definitely," a red-haired girl replied in an altered manner; "See, I told you not to throw stones, surely the one you threw hit a bigger one that in turn hit another one until it caused an avalanche that has destroyed the village of the leaf" said the dark-haired man with a conspiratorial voice, "NO!, I didn't want to, it wasn't my intention, it must be a mistake" said the redhead while looking scared and nervous when thinking about her partner's words, "Enough is enough!" said an authoritative blonde girl, who was apparently the leader of the group, "the blade must have suffered an invasion, or something like that, we must go to the village and deliver the message of raikage-sama, plus we have to investigate what happened in the village to inform kumo", the more boisterous members of the squad were silent and nodded to the leader of this group, thus resuming their journey to the village and hoping to deliver their leader's message.
Naruto had a huge headache, it had been eight hours since he was named hokage and he hadn't rested for a minute, he was exhausted and all the information from his clones wasn't helping his head, he had done most of the immediate paperwork and shikaku had agreed to take a break. He had talked to the man about telling his friends and sensei about his position, but shikaku said that he should keep it quiet for at least these three days, so only the daimyo's assistants, the daimyo himself, the elders, shikaku and the anbu operations corps knew of his hokage title, he felt bad for hiding such a secret from his friends but he had no choice, he knew it was the best thing and it wouldn't be for long, giving a sigh that he didn't know it contained, Naruto cleared his mind, in an hour he would have a meeting with some kumogakure shinobi, which was quite unexpected even under normal circumstances, so he should be calm and wait for anything they had to tell him.
The kumo ninjas entered and the village and saw destruction, almost the entire village was destroyed, in fact they only knew that they were in konoha because of the mountain of the hokages that surprisingly did not suffer damage, upon entering they realized how hectic things were, hundreds of ninjas were going from side to side doing their part for the reconstruction, Even civilians were helping and despite the situation you could see good spirits and a smile on the face of most of the inhabitants, which surprised the ninjas of Kumo, which led them to conclude that somehow they were victorious from some invasion, the walk of the three shinobi had to be interrupted when an Anbu squad appeared in front of them and asked them the reason for their visit, To which they were escorted out of a tent with the fire kanji, where their audience with the Hokage would take place in a few moments.
"Please come in", came the voice of a tired and lazy-looking shinobi with hair combed like a pineapple of apparently middle-aged, to which the three ninjas got up and followed the man inside the tent, what they saw when they entered left them bewildered, because behind the desk there was a blond boy apparently his age and who seemed to be the hokage if the tablecloth behind him with the kanji For Rokudaime, it was an indication.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm the new hokage, I'd like to know if you'll be so kind as to tell me what business kumo has with us" Naruto spoke in a calm but serious voice, "it's a pleasure to meet you hokage-sama" said the three ninjas at the same time while nodding a nod, "My name is Samui and my two companions are Homoi and Karui", Both shinobi gave another nod upon hearing his name, "the reason for this meeting is with the aim of delivering a message from A-sama, our raikage, it was originally intended for Tsunade-sama, but because you are the new hokage it is most convenient for you to receive the message", Samui took a few seconds to analyze the young kage's pensive expression before continuing "although they are actually two hokage-sama messages, the first one is a personal request from the raikage and the second one is on this scroll" having said this he showed a small scroll in his hands and walked over to leave it on the table of the hokage with a slight bow, Naruto looked at the scroll and examined it for a moment before raising his head and speaking "and what would be that personal request of your raikage? Samui replied again to the hokage "raikage-sama I would like to ask you the favor if you can send any information about all the akatsuki members you have available", Naruto was surprised at this before regaining his composure and answering "what is the reason for this request of the raikage, besides all the information of this group was shared to the nations with jinchurikis some time ago by jiraiya-sensei" said the blond with a calculating look at the three ninjas, "answering your question hokage-sama I must inform you that 'Killer Bee' the eight-tailed container was captured by akatsuki", at this the kumo shinobi bowed their heads sadly, and Naruto, well he was having a dilemma in his head, this was very bad, if this was true, which apparently it is, It means that Akatsuki owns eight of the nine Biju, which places him as the main target at the moment, he frowned, he was at a critical point and didn't know what to do, but the blond girl kept talking "As you can see Hokage-sama, the subject is sensitive and the reason why the Raikage asks you is that it is his brother who was captured", if Naruro was surprised he didn't show it, now it all made sense, the sudden visit was because the raikage wanted help or information to be able to save his brother and who better to help than the village that had defeated the most members of the organization, he was about to speak when Samui continued "and regarding jiraiya-sama's information we have reviewed it and the member who attacked Bee is not in Naruto was thoughtful, as he didn't know anything about new members to akatsuki, but if they came for information they must know who the ninja is and maybe it was some renegade ninja or someone who had ties to the blade "by any chance could you tell me who this new member of akatsuki is?" Naruto said intrigued, to which Samui replied "Yes, his name is Uchiha Sasuke."
Sakura was sitting next to the bed of her sensei who was currently in a coma and didn't know when she would wake up, she hadn't left the tent since the invasion ended and she was aware of Tsunade along with Shizune, she had only been able to talk for a while with Ino who stopped by to say hello and see Tsunade's condition, But apart from that she hadn't talked to anyone else and she already felt exhausted and distressed by this situation, she didn't know where the idiot of her blond partner was but when she saw him she would give him a good blow for not coming to see her, she needs him right now, she wanted to see that smile and for him to tell her that everything would be fine, after all, no one knew better than Naruto how to lift his spirits.
Shikaku was worried about Naruto's reaction, honestly he had also been surprised to hear that Sasuke had joined the most dangerous criminal organization in the present, so he expected an outburst from Naruto or at least try to defend and refute kumo shinobi's words, but seeing him so quiet and thoughtful surprised him even more. Naruto was stunned, he wanted to scream, shout to the world that Sasuke was his friend and he would never do anything like that, that he would come back and all this would be a misunderstanding, but deep down he knew it was true, the words of the shinobi in front were true and no matter how painful it was he had to face it, he had a village to protect and if Sasuke was part of the enemies he would have to pay for his actions no matter what he wanted. It was too late for forgiveness and he felt guilty, if he had been stronger earlier he would have been able to bring Sasuke and none of this would happen, but he could only move on and learn from his mistakes, he leaned forward slightly and spoke "I see, are you sure of that information?", "that's Hokage-sama, several shinobi saw him fight alongside Killer Bee" replied the blonde, "if so, Sasuke will be put in the Bingo book as a missing S-rank ninja, and as for if we have information, there are only files from before he deserted the village, but I will gladly give them to him if he helps him in any way" Naruto said, "Thank you very much Hokage-sama, we are students of Killer Bee and we want to do everything possible to make the culprit pay for what he did" said the redhead with a sad and angry look, "if it serves you as a consolation, maybe his sensei is still alive, since the extraction of a biju takes some time and with the few members the process should have been lengthy" Naruto replied with a sympathetic smile, "Thank you very much" said the three Shinobi at the same time, "regarding the Hokage-Sama scroll we will wait for a response from you before leaving to inform Raikage-sama" Samui said, "of course, one of my anbu will take it to a place where they can rest and give them Sasuke's file" After these words an anbu appeared out of nowhere and with nod the three Shinibi left the place after the anbu, Naruto gave a quick hand signal and an anbu with a cat mask appeared, "Cat, I want you to put Uchiha Sasuke in the Bingo book as an S-rank shinobi, I also want you to put the same reward on him that was held for Itachi", with this said Cat went out to fulfill his order and the room fell silent, until Shikaku intervened "you know you did the right thing, I know it must be difficult but it's a leader's decisions, you avoided tensions with kumo and opened the door for future conversations, that's something very worthy of a kage", Naruto sighed, "I know, but it's still difficult, I still think he could have done more for him, But it's too late."
Sakura was checking Tsunade next to Shizune when an unusually serene Shikamaru entered the tent and asked her to talk alone, she was shocked, but quickly gave Shizune a look looking for permission to retreat and when she gave it to her she went out in search of lazy Nara. "What do you need to talk about Shikamaru?" asked Sakura with genuine surprise, "I've heard some important information and I think you should know it, so please listen to me everything I'm going to tell you without interruptions", Sakura was even more surprised but gave a nod indicating Shikamaru to follow, "In the afternoon some kumo shinobi arrived at the village, At first I didn't think much of it but when I heard my father talking to two anbu I found out that they were coming to see the hokage and give him a message, I was surprised since I didn't know that we already had a new hokage, but what I heard my father say was what really worried me, I want you to take this easy Sakura, apparently Sasuke joined the akatsuki and has captured the eight-tails, so the new hokage labeled him as a missing S-rank ninja", "NO!, it's impossible, Sasuke would never do something like that, it must be a mistake" Sakura pleaded with tears about to fall, "it's the truth, I checked myself and it is indeed in the Bingo book, but now the important thing is to make a decision Sakura, I decided to tell you this because you are her teammate, we rookies will have a meeting in the evening, so don't miss and don't mention any of this to Naruto" without saying more Shikamaru turned and left, leaving behind a devastated Sakura inside, Tears came out of his eyes when he heard this information, he wanted Naruto to be here, surely he would tell him that it is a lie and that they would save Sasuke together.
It was late at night and a group of shinobi were gathered alone in a restaurant, Shikamaru had just spoken and exposed Sasuke's situation to the others and the reactions had been very varied, Ino and Sakura had tried to deny this situation but the evidence was almost irrefutable, once they had both calmed down, Shikamaru spoke again "As you will see we must make a decision, now Sasuke is in the group of people who are looking for Naruto to hunt him down, the same group that destroyed the village and the same one that murdered Asuma sensei, I know it will sound difficult and probably Naruto will not agree, but if he doesn't we must kill Sasuke", At these words everyone showed surprise, some more than others, Sakura began to cry and Ino spoke "how can you say that Shikamaru?!, Sasuke is our friend, we should try to bring him back instead of thinking about killing him", the restaurant was silent for a moment, but surprisingly the stoic Shino intervened "Ino what Shikamaru says is true, Naruto is our friend, he is a comrade and he is always there for us, we can't wait for Sasuke to reconsider, if I have to decide between Naruto and Sasuke, my decision is already made and I will not hesitate to protect someone who has earned it," Shikamaru smiled, he knew that Shino would be one of those who would understand and support his cause, followed by this Neji spoke "You're right, Naruto has earned my respect and changed me as a person, I won't let a twisted emo end his dreams after everything he's fought", Kiba and Lee were the next to speak in favor of Naruto and the others continued to be in favor, until Sakura said "I know, Naruto doesn't deserve to be hunted down by his best friend, I just ask that we please ask Sasuke before we do anything else, please" Sakura was already in tears again, to which Shikamaru replied "we will try to talk to him, but if he refuses, we have already made a decision and it is time for us to protect Naruto this time".