Again, everything written between () are my notes.
Prologue:
It's the evening of October 10th, and things are currently relatively calm in Konoha Village, though not for the reasons one might think.
You see, about ten years ago if one had arrived at the village of Konoha they would be seeing the previously famous fox festival which culminated with a wonderful fireworks display, unofficially closing with the fox hunt that had been suspended for at least three years, due to circumstances that many preferred to simply forget.
Today was a black date on the calendar of the leaf village that reminded them of the biggest blunder in recognized history, because in addition to meaning the defeat of the Kyubi, it was also the birthday of the true and unrecognized hero of the village.
Since that day, ten years have already passed as mentioned in the past, ten years that had been more than bitter, full of regret for the person who looked down on the village from the Hokage monument, just like a certain dyed black-haired Genin loved to do, who used to do this to clear his mind when even he looked completely overwhelmed.
Ten years in which more than ever she found herself regretting the decision she had made regarding the poor boy.
The turning point for the village was that day when Sasuke Uchiha, his now recognized stepbrother and who was apparently expelled from the Uchiha clan a year before the massacre, made the incredibly stupid decision to run away to Otogakure to be trained by Orochimaru, and with the power that the idiot brat thought he could obtain from the most deceitful and deceitful Sannin of all, he could finally kill his older brother Itachi Uchiha.
Naruto Uchiha, the now confirmed true heir to said clan even if he was only that because both Fugaku and Mikoto had adopted the child as their own due to miraculous circumstances, had been chosen to be part of the recovery group, where from what he had found out from Sasuke himself, albeit reluctantly, his stepbrother had finally revealed his true strength, achieving his goal of bringing him back... although he never explained how said battle had been.
By the time Kakashi and a couple of medics found the stepbrothers, Naruto was barely able to walk, carrying his stepbrother on his back despite the large fist-sized holes visible on his chest and the fact that he had clearly been bleeding out for some time, compared to his younger brother Sasuke actually had much minor injuries, a mild concussion being what had managed to knock the brat out, a minor injury again compared to his younger brother.
Did Kakashi and the medics care about this? Of course not, his brother had practically been snatched from his hands and carried back to the village at full speed, leaving Naruto alone on his own, forcing him to go at an increasingly slower pace due to the severity of his injuries, he definitely knew that things weren't going to change, he was aware that people even despite what he had achieved would refuse to recognize him for what he was and not what they believed of him, a tragic thought when you consider that while Sasuke had actively tried to kill him with everything in his arsenal, including two Chidoris hit directly in his chest, Naruto had fought solely to subdue his older brother and take him back to the village following the promise he made to his mother that no matter that his father had banished him from the clan he would protect his disgraced brother, even if he hated his brother he could never break the promise he had made to his mother.
At the end of the day, he had been absolutely right… the village never looked upon what he had done with favor.
XxxxX
-Konoha council chambers, two days after the recovery mission-
-Ninja Genin #012607. Uzumaki Naruto. Tsunade's voice was flat, almost as if she didn't trust herself not to break if she spoke a little louder. - It is my duty to inform you that a vote has been held and a majority decision of 17 to 8 has been made in the council, the decision that was reached was to strip you of your rank and banish you from Konoha, this order must be carried out immediately. The reason is that you inflicted severe damage on Uchiha Sasuke despite the fact that your mission was to recover him. Another reason why Tsunade didn't say this out loud was that everyone had sensed Naruto using a dark chakra, many thought he was using the Kyuubi's chakra but she knew better, Naruto himself had told her in confidence that only a younger brother could have an older sister that the Kyuubi was not sealed in his being, he had even shown her the place where according to everyone was the seal that should contain the beast, she had been surprised of course however with Jiraiya refusing to speak, and Naruto being ignorant of what happened to the beast in question there was little or nothing she could do.
(again for them he was Naruto Uchiha until Sasuke finally spoke up and said that he had actually been adopted by his family and that didn't happen until relatively few years ago)
Now returning to the current situation, the young black-haired man had been summoned to the council while he still had many injuries caused by his battle, the council had not even allowed the boy to recover from his wounds to banish him, however, he did not appear dejected while listening to the council's statement, rather he showed resignation almost as if he had expected it, and a bit of disappointment as if he had believed that this would happen much sooner.
All of the civilians and shinobi advisors actually showed him a smug look on their faces, enjoying the fact that the one they called the "demon brat" would finally be gone from their village, and with him his curse would be gone.
Danzo had actually used both of his vows to make sure that was the case, and Naruto was actually upset that the Uchiha's vow was being used against him, he didn't understand why after all as far as she knew Danzo would use the vow until Sasuke was a Jounin or came of age, of course she was aware that the man had his plans to forcibly recruit the supposed Jinchuriki in Root once he left the village, it's not like for some reason Itachi was going to allow that, hell from some rumors she had heard it was the traitor Uchiha who saved Naruto on a couple of truly dangerous occasions, unfortunately Tsunade couldn't ask the man since she had no real way of contacting a traitor shinobi even if she herself had her doubts about the man's guilt.
The last clans to vote for Naruto's banishment were the Kurama and Inuzuka clans who thought Naruto was the Kyubi itself in human form, the former due to popular opinion, and the latter out of pure spite, the rest of the clan heads looked at said clan heads with disdain. Naruto however didn't even spare them a glance. Not that he could for some reason he always covered his eyes and even she hadn't seen what he was hiding, and if she was honest she was genuinely curious as to how he was able to move around blindfolded.
At least until she slowly removed the headband from her face to let it fall to the ground revealing a beautiful pair of bright blue orbs… literally so bright that Tsunade had no doubt that it was a unique style of doujutsu given that she had never heard of eyes like those before in her life.
She soon saw that he was trying to take off the necklace that she herself had given him, however, before he did so she stopped him.
-Keep it, you won it fairly and I hope it helps protect you. Tsunade barely managed to say that with her voice shaking and tears already escaping from her eyes.
Naruto, for the first and only time in his life, had actually given someone a real smile and after giving him a small nod, the boy turned around and left the council room to return home to save his few valuable positions… and to surely find something to cover those beautiful, bright eyes.
Unbeknownst to him before the rabbit was dissolved by the meeting, there was another vote with another overwhelming majority of votes it had been decided that the Sandaime laws regarding Naruto and his supposed status as a container of the Kyubi would be instantly revoked, this would allow the younger generations to know the "truth" and as it could not be otherwise the news spread quickly throughout the world, and the reactions to this news were really varied.
While this was happening Naruto continued his walk to his apartment to pack, and at some point along the way unfortunately for him he met the rest of the Konoha twelve, excluding Sasuke of course.
-That idiot, he deserves to die for hitting Sasuke-kun like that! Sakura's scream hadn't surprised him at all.
-I agree. We should go find that demon and kill it! That scream from Ino and her agreement with Sakura hadn't surprised him either, he actually found it terribly funny, after all it was well known that even if he couldn't use chakra at least not the conventional one he was after Sasuke the strongest of his generation, and Sasuke could easily beat all of them together, while he was the only one who gave his brother a decent fight... not that they knew that in reality things were the other way around and Sasuke was the only one who made him at least take his fights a little seriously.
-He was the fox all along, he should have known, he could smell a putrid scent from him all the time, he should be dead. Kiba had actually hurt a little, they weren't friends, but they weren't enemies either.
-How unyoung! Naruto deceived us all along and he was the Kyubi from the start! Lee's exclamation had actually hurt him, much more than any other comment he had heard in his life, he saw him as a true friend and rival both overcoming the adversity of their conditions, even if Lee's was more real than his own.
And hearing what he was thinking had really hurt him, he hadn't cried since that night, but that one had almost made him cry, at least that was until a new voice caught his attention.
-Shut your mouth Lee! Neji had shouted that so coldly that not even he was surprised by the amount of venom in the normally stoic Hyuga's voice. - He is like me, no his situation is much worse than mine, he has a seal like mine, but a thousand times worse, even with the seal of destiny on my forehead, I am seen as an important person being a ninja recognized as a prodigy, Naruto has the seal that keeps the beast at bay and yet many people in the village despise him for something beyond his control, and yet he always gets back up after each blow, fighting against his destiny imposed by the world, and he even showed me even if he had to force me to see that destiny is not something we should be chained to but something we forge with every action we take. He wasn't sure he had taught Neji that, but his words actually brought out his second honest smile in as many years.
-I can even tell you something, I'm somewhat familiar with seals, you're just idiots, you can't even tell the difference between a scroll and the weapon it contains. Tenten defending him was actually a bit surprising given that they had barely spoken on a couple of occasions.
Hinata was crying, Naruto knew why of course, she was in love with him, he wasn't in love with her, it was sad but that's how things were, he was grateful that his feelings weren't a monster after all, but he couldn't love her because it just wasn't meant to be.
(I got bored of the bullying of Hinata, it was fun at first, but there comes a point where 20 adults kicking a baby gets tiring)
-Troublesome. Shikamaru muttered, he knew that Naruto didn't even have the damn seal to begin with, that sign was noticeable especially given how easily Naruto lost his shirts in battle, and of course he knew that by logic he wasn't the kyubi, however, he didn't know what words to formulate because he was too angry with this injustice.
Chouji was simply standing behind Shikamaru eating a fourth bag of chips, however, if you were a good observer you would see that the boy was sad and upset by the way he was eating, and Naruto was a good observer.
-Thanks… friends. Was all Naruto could say in a weak murmur before continuing on his way to his apartment, he had to pack the little he had after all.
Shino, was left out of this whole event, by the way.
The news had spread quickly throughout the townspeople, they found out that he had been banished, and as a result most of the townspeople were celebrating, kunoichi and shinobi of all kinds were going crazy and celebrating the fact that they would finally get rid of the demon, very few townspeople and shinobi actually took the news that a shinobi was being banished for doing his job poorly, while above the town the people were celebrating.
Naruto however was gathering what little value he had into a small backpack, preparing to leave, when out of nowhere Kakashi and Jiraiya his so called teachers who he could never really trust, simply appeared to tell him that they were disappointed in how he had acted, going so far as to even revoke his toad summoning contract, not that it particularly hurt him he could never summon the damn overgrown frogs.
Once all was said and done he simply laid back on his sleeping bag and closed his eyes waiting expressionlessly for tomorrow, when he finally fell asleep he simply appeared in a mental landscape where he appeared whenever his mind felt alive.
Although he had not the slightest contact with the Kyubi, that did not mean that there was not someone living inside him in some way. He did not know how it had happened, but the woman he had loved the most with all his heart had somehow prevented his soul from crossing over to the afterlife and now he could talk to her in his dreams. He supposed that the love between a mother and a son was so powerful that it simply transcended even death itself.
Mikoto Uchiha the woman who raised him like her own son, who showed him what true mother's love was and supported each of his actions even if she disapproved of some of them, although Fugaku loved him like a father can love a son, he was not far behind or maybe he was and that is why Itachi continued to protect him in the shadows, to tell the truth he did not know but if so he could only wait to see his brother even if it was one last time to be able to say goodbye properly. Returning to the subject of his mother, she taught him everything she knew while she was alive and continued her teachings from her dreams, however due to her circumstances she asked him to never show his abilities, unless he had no other choice.
And so he did, even during the fight against his stepbrother, a fight that had torn his mother apart over how far her middle son had gone, he never showed anything beyond a limited arsenal of Taijutsu and no Jutsu, not that he could use them, his energy for some reason he didn't understand was nothing like the conventional chakra needed to use jutsus…. Although he could do a rudimentary Rasengan. Not that he used it much, per say.
-I'm so sorry, my boy. Said the black-haired woman. - If things hadn't been the way they were, I'm sure you would have had a better life.
-I doubt it, even if dad's coup was successful you can't rule people with fear because sooner or later they will fight. Naruto told her as he dropped down next to her. – At least we're together.
-Not for long, sooner or later even the bond that unites us will not be enough to tie my soul to this world. The woman told him sadly. - And if I had not been so selfish, none of this would have happened.
Naruto knew what he meant, he had confessed to him that he had used Naruto's own energy to regenerate the wounds caused by his eyes during the fight, that being his only advantage during the fight, Sasuke on the other hand had launched himself against him with that frankly grotesque transformation that tripled their powers actually putting them on a fairly similar level, he simply had an advantage in resistance and almost instant healing factor which allowed him to make the battle become one of attrition, fortunately for Naruto, he was much more stubborn than his brother even since they were children and he was not going to break the promise he made to his mother even if to fulfill it he would have to leave the same hell to take care of his idiot brother, and thanks to that stubbornness he managed to create an ideal situation for him in battle, even if that almost cost him his life from hemostatic shock, honestly it would have been a relatively quiet death compared to his many other near deaths.
Sasuke would never admit it, but Naruto was always stronger and even with his greater skill in the field of the variety of Jutsus, and his clear intention to kill his younger brother, if he had landed more blows, Naruto simply had on his side a much superior physical capacity, much more speed, his more than unique variant of the Rasengan, and the forced regeneration that his mother used to keep him alive, after all, for a mother, the life of her son would always come first, that was why she had used her own energy to heal him even if it cost her banishment.
-At least I managed to hurt his false pride. Naruto said in a vain attempt to console himself.
-I don't even know what your brother became anymore. The woman said as she let out a deep sigh. – Still, there is something we need to talk about. She said earning her son's full attention. It's about what to do now, you know as well as I do that that bastard Danzo and many others won't rest until they have you in their clutches, and with Itachi slowly dying from his blood curse… there's only one place where you could be safe, and that in itself is very risky.
-Where is that? The boy asked, choosing not to appear affected by the fact that his older brother didn't have much more time.
-Beyond the wall. The woman said solemnly, causing Naruto to actually tense up quite a bit. – However, before I tell you my plan, I must tell you something that I should have told you a long time ago, something that would have destroyed you and that I didn't want to tell you out of shame, but given the situation, hiding it is no longer worth it.
XxxxX
A few more later, October 10th finally arrived. It was a sunny day in Konoha, nothing special was happening that day, but there was something different in the atmosphere, today the biggest celebration of the year was taking place, the streets were full of very happy people, if someone came to Konoha for the first time today, they would think that the village was probably one of the happiest places in the whole land. (curiously enough, the same as a certain island, if I'm watching One Piece, my god, how slow is Dressrossa)
In fact right now six mysterious figures were entering Konoha for the first time in many, really many years, or they tried to after all ever since a certain ray of sunlight left the village the two gate guards certainly started to do their job better.
-Stop, state your name, rank, and reason for coming to Konoha. One of the guards said as he looked up to see who the figures were, only to faint due to shock, the other guard upon noticing his faithful friend faint simply approached him to see if he was okay.
-Hey Izumo! What happened? Kotetzu asked as he tried to revive him. – What did you do to him? The chinin shouted at them as he tried to see the figures, however when he managed to do so he simply followed his eternal companion and fainted.
-I guess we should have expected that. One of the figures commented.
-That's what you get for being so famous in this town.
-Hey, you were also very famous! A third voice argued, this time a much younger one.
-Still not as famous as Mama! He defended a voice this time much more childish.
-Fine, fine you win, we should keep our hoods up until we get to the Hokage's office, we don't want to start a commotion now. One of the figures said choosing to change the topic due to the loss of the previous argument, the other figures simply nodded in agreement with him so they put their hoods on and began walking towards the village.
Along the way they couldn't help but smile, the village was definitely very lively, children, adults, mothers and fathers were all happy. Everyone was having a great time talking and relaxing, telling jokes and laughing at each other, they even seemed to be having a big celebration throughout the village.
-Today is our birthday, right? One of the figures asked with a small smile.
-Yes, of course, and it seems that the people are celebrating it in style. The tallest of the figures replied with an even bigger smile.
-Oohh, I can't wait to see our baby! One of the female figures said, noticeably excited at the idea.
-Neither can I wait any longer, we should hurry to the office. Said the older man who sounded a little excited at the prospect of seeing someone he had left behind a long time ago.
-he becomes the Hokage some time later-
-I can't believe those bastards are already having that fucking celebration... damn fucking village. Tsunade growled, completely furious and at the same time with great helplessness.
From the moment the villagers learned about Naruto's banishment, they chose to hold the biggest festival of all on his birthday to celebrate the demon's expulsion, when she had found out about that of course she had become completely furious, and had demanded that everyone return to their homes and continue with their daily lives.
In fact there were few people who there were not few people who chose not to participate in this, most being people who knew that Naruto even if he was quite distant with everyone would never do any harm to people even if they hurt him, there was Anko Mitarashi, she didn't know how he knew Naruto considering neither of them had had any contact in their time in the village, Ibiki Morino he was more understandable the man was Konoha's head of intelligence so he evidently had information that Naruto wasn't even the Kyubi's Jinchuriki even if he never revealed it to anyone that she knew, he probably did it to Anko who was his protégé... which would explain why she refused to participate in the celebrations. Genma and Mai Shiranui, he didn't know exactly how or why they didn't participate and refused to say so but neither of them participated in this, the secondary branch of the Hyuga clan as well as Hiashi and his two daughters, surely because thanks to their eyes they knew that he wasn't the Jinchuriki even if the main branch and for some reason Neji thought otherwise due to the damned Konoha rumor factory, Hana Inuzuka who because of this found herself in constant friction with her clan, as well as Yugau Uzuki, along with the entirety of the Aburame and Akimichi clans, and a small part of the Nara clan and the Yamanaka clan, in fact from what he knew Gine Sarutobi was having many conflicts with his brother and had had them with his father for allowing the aberrant treatment that Naruto had in this village since his greatest benefactors died, he refused to say who these benefactors were but from what he had told him they were powerful, there were people who were furious with the festival as were Konohamaru and his friends, from what the boy had told her when she asked him even if Naruto was distant he was always willing to play with them, give them advice and in fact his philosophy of life came from Naruto and Tsunade couldn't help but be amazed by the young man's wisdom.
"People will see what they want to see in you, some may see beyond that, but don't count on many, so live your life according to your law and treasure the few who see the real you"
There were others of course, Shino, Hinata, Neji, Tenten Chouji and Shikamaru had chosen to stay out of it all and not participate in the happy festival, the last two even having a rather unpleasant fight with their sensei and teammate from what he had heard, lastly there was the Ichiraku family who was completely devastated by the loss of Naruto in their lives, even if the boy never paid his bill he was always a welcome customer in their store because although he rarely spoke the few times he did he completely brightened their day. And next to them was the entirety of the red light district of Konoha, ironically the outcasts of society always saw Naruto for what he was, just another person, it was funny in a way, the poorest area, those who had the worst education of all and yet they were the only ones who could see beyond what everyone said was the truth.
-Naruto, I hope you are safe. The woman murmured to herself with deep sadness in her voice.
Just as he finished his thoughts, someone knocked on his door.
-Get out, I won't see anyone today! She shouted with her fury showing in her voice, this would be enough for most people to run away from the place, even most of the low level Jounin would run away, but still people kept banging on the door, something that made the blonde upset and was about to get up to tear the arms off the idiot who seemed not to understand her words.
-Are you one-handed? Just kick the door open! Someone shouted from the other side of the door. And just a few seconds later the door opened to reveal its unwanted visitors.
And when the blonde saw who it was, she couldn't help but start to turn noticeably pale to the point that she ended up fainting from the shock, although she recovered remarkably quickly from the shock only a few minutes later.
-Urgh, what the hell just happened? He groaned as he rubbed his head.
-Well, you saw us and then you fainted. Said one of the figures that had entered the room making Tsunade look towards them to see who it was and when she did her eyes opened once more.
-Minato, Kushina? Is it really you? he asked, hoping with all his might that those people weren't who he thought they were.
-Jiraiya-sensei didn't tell you that we were alive? I thought that when you became Hokage he would tell you. The Yondaime asked, visibly confused.
The blonde simply stood there, completely motionless, not fully understanding what was happening, at least until all the pieces fell into place in her head, and when that happened, blind rage quickly flooded through her.
-So, where is my baby? Kushina asked with an excited voice, excited to meet her son, Minato had the same expression, Tsunade for her part seemed furious something that completely confused both Minato and Kushina.
-Tsunade-Bachan Where is my brother? Said a relatively young voice.
When Tsunade turned back in the direction of the voice, her face actually softened for a few seconds. He was an almost identical copy of Naruto, almost because he had noticeably longer hair and was red.
BAAM! However, the tenderness lasted very little time and in a moment the simple blonde punched the impertinent redhead in the face sending him flying and crashing into the world which collapsed on top of him.
-You have no right to call me that! She roared, completely furious, with tears pouring down her eyes.
-What the hell is wrong with you Sensei?! Kushina asked, upset by the treatment of her eldest son.
-And you lost the right to call me sensei! Tsunade yelled at the older redhead, releasing her killer instinct, causing the other little Namikaze to tremble in fear.
-Why are you reacting like that Tsunade?! Minato demanded who was also a little intimidated by the woman.
The Godaime simply told them each and every reason she had to be furious with them, not omitting the smallest detail she knew, and of course they were completely horrified to hear what Naruto's life had been like, although of course none of them wanted to believe a single word of what they had heard.
They just didn't want to believe it, all their lives they thought Naruto was a hero and instead they were hearing that their son had been beaten to near death on multiple occasions, but they had heard very different things in their travels, they had been to countries like the Wave, the Spring, the Moon or the Bird where Naruto was worshipped almost like a hero, so to them it made sense that his village loved him on the same level, if not much more being his home village, or at least that was the way of thinking of the Namikaze and their children.
-Then why are you celebrating?! Why are you celebrating my son's birthday?! Kushina shouted, she was furious, not angry with the village for everything they did to her son.
-That's because they're celebrating Naruto being banished from the village three months ago. Tsunade told them in just a growl.
-What?! Minato, Kushina and their children screamed so loud that their scream was heard throughout the village and some of its surroundings.
Kushina simply plopped down on the chair behind him, completely dejected, and just when things were getting tense, out of nowhere she released her chains and grabbed someone who was standing at the window. "You're going to explain this to us." The sound was barely a grunt, but the pale Sannin was able to see that he was screwed.
XxxxX
-back to the present-
Minato had to sigh once again, regretting his past naivety and innocence, in the end it turned out that leaving Naruto in the village was a very serious mistake, possibly the most serious of his entire life, Sarutobi had not complied with his request to take care of his son, on the contrary, he had made him the scapegoat of the village.
Listening to Jiraiya was the worst of mistakes, Naruto had a strange chakra it was true, that was why he could not become the Jinchuriki of the kyubi even if his body was the strongest of his older children, instead he divided the beast into two halves between his twin brothers, and according to the advice of his sensei it was better that his two sons trained without interruptions, and that was why he had left Naruto in the village, that was why he had not mentioned to them that they used Naruto as a scapegoat and made him the escape valve for the village's anger and hatred.
He hadn't told Tsunade either because she would have forced them to return to the village for her son or she would have taken him away herself and he needed to have ties with the village, what a joke his son had no ties with the village and the few he had were one-sided because according to Neji Hyuga, Naruto was distant since the day of the Uchiha massacre, not showing anyone what he felt.
Needless to say, after that explanation Tsunade almost beat him to death, in fact it took the intervention of Minato, Kushina... and all of Konoha's Jounin and ANBU to stop her from killing him and they almost succeeded, shortly after that he was forced to take up the position of Hokage again after the resignation of his successor who left the village with Shizune going to live in the country of spring where her daimyo had gladly welcomed them and made her the head of the country's medical industry.
Minato, for his part, began to investigate what happened during his absence and was horrified by each new thing he discovered.
While Naruto was described as "the strongest in physical terms" in his academy records and he was sure that was only because that report couldn't be falsified because literally the parents of his generation peers had heard it from their children, the rest of his catalog was complete garbage. The teachers taught him absolutely nothing, as did his own sensei or worse yet his student, that only left him with one question. How the hell did he do all the feats if he only had his body, powerful it is true but he only had that on his side, along with a horrible fighting style, and soon after a version of the Rasengan with his strange chakra? The worst thing of all is that from what they had heard from Kakashi was that Naruto was legally blind due to the fact that he covered his eyes with his hitayate, that meant that he had somehow pushed his reflexes to limits never before seen in order to fight in that state. Hell, his two brothers Menma and Shio could not have achieved a single one of those feats even with their entire arsenal complete, much less with the limited arsenal that their brother had and especially with the limitation of not being able to see their opponent relying solely on their other senses, that only meant that their missing son was in every possible sense of the word, a prodigy beyond what anyone ever wanted to see.
Of course, when people heard the truth, they felt sorry for everything they had done to him, although not as much as they should have. In fact, as Tsume had told her former friend, why should she feel bad about hunting him at the fox festival, if they themselves had abandoned him worse than a stray dog? Sadly, the woman was right, and because of that, those he once called friends hated him, and with passion.
The previously kind Ichiraku had been kicked out of their place in a horrible way, and those who supported Naruto barely treated them as necessary and that was because they had no other choice.
But that wasn't the worst of it, no way, the worst came when other places found out about Naruto's banishment, something that Kakashi refused to say at the time was that many of the most important alliances in the country and the village by association, not to say practically each and every one of them, had been earned recently, and not because of the most recognized shinobi or the precious Uchiha who had to reluctantly admit that he was Nameless Sasuke and that the true Uchiha heir was his banished stepbrother, but returning to the subject upon learning of the banishment and that the parents of his beloved hero had abandoned him worse than a stray dog and a leper they simply withdrew their alliance.
The waves and the others immediately withdrew their commercial support and preferred the village where Naruto's apparent only true friend resided, this being the village of Suna who by the way also cancelled their alliance claiming to not want to have anything to do with the village that praised the brought as a hero and expelled the true hero, leaving things in a simple non-aggression pact... and that in the best of cases the majority did not even allow them that honor.
Shortly after this, Ozai, the new feudal lord, who although he was more militaristic than his older brother who died without descendants, had withdrawn his support almost entirely as retaliation for having lost their alliances, to tell the truth even if he was harsh with his children the truth is that he would never have been so cruel to them, that is why he disapproved of Minato's actions and had in fact annulled the decision and forced them to remove the boy from the bingo book.
While that was happening, many teams tried to locate the boy in question without much effort, it seemed that the earth had devoured him, in fact the only information they got about him was how the last time he was seen he and his older stepbrother Itachi Uchiha had a brother to brother conversation before the younger of the two retreated into the world beyond the great wall that kept the hidden lands away from the wild outside world.
That wall existed since the times of the first dragon king, a close friend of the Rikudo Sennin, who divided the world, or rather enclosed its continent from the wild outside world, a world that was said to be so immense that the hidden lands did not cover even a tenth of the world, with nations inhabited by unnatural creatures, and demons beyond the comprehension of the shinobi, lands full of eternal conflict and war, in fact the hidden nation home of the shinobi was actually considered a peaceful land in comparison, if his did somehow manage to cross the great wall, in the opinion of the Sannin, he should simply be dead, at best, and at worse... well let's just say that he learned not to talk about that subject in front of Kushina again.
How he crossed the wall was actually completely irrelevant, what was relevant was that unless you were an inhabitant of the outside world, you would simply die within a few days at the hands of any of the beings that inhabited that wild and untamed world.
Although his son didn't do that, at least according to Sasuke who had reluctantly told them about the Uchiha tapestry where every Uchiha alive and dead since the founding of the clan was recorded, and although Naruto had been adopted he was still part of the tapestry with his name and colorful image which only happened if the Uchiha in question was still alive, and since until now his son's name was still on the tapestry then they still had a small chance.
But he had to put those thoughts aside for the moment. He still had many other things to think about, more specifically his sensei's suggestion to overcome their precarious economic situation, currently the only thing that continued to maintain Konoha as one of the great shinobi powers was its past prestige, and that it had three S-rank shinobi, today many knowing that they had banished a man who had brought back their traitor brother alive and barely mistreated simply did not want to know anything more about them.
Minato had used his fortune and that of the Uzumaki clan to keep the situation more or less stable, along with that of the Sannin who used the royalties from his books, in fact even several clans had to do it, with the exception of the Uchiha clan since Sasuke did not have access to it and they doubted very much that Itachi would be willing to help them, call him crazy but the guy who killed his own clan and who seemed to have a good relationship with his banished son should not have much desire to help them, and without the Uchiha fortune the village would not last too long, in fact the village's best chance to get ahead was to win the tournament that would take place in the country of spring.
He wasn't entirely sure how under the tyrant Doto's yoke the tradition of holding a Taijutsu tournament open to any participant remained, though the addition of the possibility of allowing renegades in the tournament might have been one of the main reasons why it remained a good source of tourism, whether it was an unrecognized village or not, and even if it was a wandering fighter, they were typically allowed the chance to fight, normally the prize wouldn't be so flashy, but this year it was a very tempting one, nothing less than a billion Ryos to the winner. He wasn't sure where they had gotten that amount from, but he frankly didn't care.
Although if the rumors that he had heard this time the actress and Daimyo had gotten a big sponsor, being none other than the White Lotus Trading House.
Thinking about them actually made him shudder quite a bit, they were a merchant house that had come from abroad three years ago, quickly gaining fame for their exotic products of great quality and for being the first trade mission of the new government of the outside world, yes new government of the world, because the government house had come with shocking news, the king of one of the most powerful countries, a certain China, had somehow managed to unify the entire damn outside world, thus creating the empire of the rising sun.
Without support and with only the strength of his arms and his apparently special eyes, this king managed to pacify the outer lands and thanks to that, the White Lotus Merchant Guild was finally able to fulfill their dream of trading all over the world... he wasn't sure how they allowed the outside world to enter the wall, but from what he had heard in rumors, in reality the empire had the ability to destroy the wall even before it was an empire, it just never gave a damn about conquering a land that they considered weak.
It had hurt the pride of many, but sadly they were right, leaving that aside, the fact that they sponsored the tournament and could afford such a reward was a pure display of opulence, or perhaps it was the work of the emperor himself who was financing said tournament, in any case, they certainly needed that money urgently, so they would send the best that Konoha had to offer to take the prize money at all costs.
He just hoped that the emperor wouldn't get involved, after all the idea of facing a man who unified a world like that was terrifying.
XxxxX
-Empire of the Rising Sun, capital city of Qin-
Unlike Minato who was quite nervous, the emperor was actually quite calm sitting on his throne, it had been three years since the government had finally stabilized, this was the third anniversary of his victory over the hostile world he found when he came to these lands for the first time, and no less than that today was his twenty-fifth birthday, (if he was exiled at fifteen and ten years have passed, he is 25, if it was mentioned that he was 21 in the clarifications it was because he found out about Mordred at 21) and even if he hated his birthday, his people had chosen to celebrate it with the biggest party that had already been going on for a week or so.
In reality, the celebration in question was only surpassed by the day of unification, which was the day in which the last of the nations finally signed their annexation to the empire... even if Elfrieden and that principality with a name that I still couldn't pronounce well did not unite in an... unconventional way, but with those last two nations the end of the unification war was finally proclaimed.
It had taken the now 25-year-old about five years… six if you counted Elfrieden's strange circumstances, to accomplish such a feat, a feat in which he gained much, but in which he lost even more, his first true friend no less.
-Mommy, are you okay? He had to let out a small smile the moment he heard that voice.
His favorite princess no less… although Tomoe was giving him some good competition, but Mordred would always be special… even with her tendency to call him mommy instead of daddy, but considering the more than curious circumstances of his birth he was certainly more than okay with it.
Mordred was just like her… father, who by the way was his first wife and the first woman he loved with all his heart, a beautiful girl with golden hair and green eyes with beautiful, perfect skin, even if her hair was a mess of untidy tips when she wasn't forced to comb it in a high bun, which was still a disheveled mess... just less so than when it was loose.
He didn't say anything, he simply allowed the girl to jump onto his lap and sit on the throne that… oh who was she kidding? Arturia had made it clear that Mordred would inherit Camelot. Say what you will about his initial reaction to finding out he was a father, but he was a great father… as crazy and uncomfortable as that sounded.
-Happy birthday, Mom. The girl said as she wrapped her arms around the man.
-I don't even know if I should keep trying. The black-haired man said as he stroked his beloved princess's hair.
-The part about celebrating your birthday even if you hate it? Or the part where I call you mommy even though you have that thing in your pants that has no father? The girl asked with that childish naivety that only a girl of that age had, oh right 9 years old could have.
-And I'm definitely beating Yujiro up for corrupting your mind. It wasn't a joke, he was definitely busting the man's head for talking about such things with his daughter.
Mordred was already tomboy enough without his help, thank you very much, in the end he simply let out a sigh of defeat, he would do it later, for now he would have to make sure that Morded did not speak that way in front of his father... he did not like having to explain that he had not been the one who said those things to him, and above all he did not like explaining that he was irresponsible enough to allow his friends to do that... if he simply was not made for this job.
-Anyway, come on love, let's go horseback riding. And with that said he simply took his beloved daughter in his arms and started walking towards the stables, maybe he would pick up Tomoe on the way, and with any luck he would spend the day with his two favorite people in the world away from the party of the day he hated the most in the world.
XxxxX
The next day, and without much luck of having avoided the damn party that was celebrated in every corner of the damn world, the emperor arrived at his office where his right hand man was already waiting for him with the documents he would have to review. Said right hand man was none other than a young man of about 20 years old... okay, he was neither young nor 20 years old, in fact he was like 400 or something like that. The truth is that according to him himself he had no idea how old he was because total immortality had completely screwed up his perception of time. Getting back to the subject, he was black-haired, had equally black eyes and was considerably thin although he was still one of the most powerful men in the empire.
-Good evening, my Emperor. I greet you with a slight touch of sarcasm. – It is a miracle that you honor us with your presence.
-You know I hate my birthday Zeref. The emperor told his best friend in this world.
[Emperor's Right Hand Man - Zeref Dragneel - The Strongest Dark Mage in History - King of the Mages]
(Yes, Zeref is the king of the wizards, and for those who are into fanfiction or WEBNOVEL, come to Wattpad to see the image)
The man in question simply gave him a small smile of understanding, he knew it very well, he himself hated several days of his life due to his past, but even so, his emperor disappearing for a whole day with two of his daughters, was something quite bad. Still, he simply chose to put it aside and focused on the important topic.
-I understand you brother, better than you think, but you must understand that people, even though they know your past, want you to learn to enjoy this day. Said the not so young man as he sat in the chair in front of his best friend's desk. – Now here is the list that you asked me for as a priority. Naruto hadn't actually asked for it.
He had only suggested it since he didn't want to take care of the matter at hand himself, as for the list, this was the list of the 25 participants who could or could not enter the martial arts tournament that was going to take place on the hidden continent... or Australia as it was popularly known outside the great wall, he wasn't sure if some of them wanted to but some hadn't confirmed it yet, they probably had no interest in crushing what Yujiro called them, weakling ninjas.
-Something wrong? Zeref asked at the same time he noticed his best friend's expression was a grimace he only put on when he wanted to beat someone up... usually Yujiro.
-Nothing, just Yujiro corrupting Mordred again. And of course Zeref wasn't surprised when he heard that, in fact he even expected it, apparently he had a personal goal in life to turn the girl into the biggest tomboy in the empire, he wasn't sure why nor did he care to know but he hoped she would stop doing it, his brother adored that girl, and he hit hard... maybe that was why he did it now that he thought about it.
-Be that as it may, brother, I have already taken charge of recruiting the best warriors. The black-haired man told him, choosing to get the subject back on track. Later he would go to inform the tenth king of heaven that his brother wanted to kill him… again.
-The transport is ready. The black-haired man asked.
-For the past week, some of them have actually been drooling at the thought of ripping Rock Lee's leg off… although considering how Pickle is… the dark-haired man said before shaking his head, to be honest he wasn't sure why out of all the possible warriors from the underground village that Yujiro could have chosen he chose the damn cannibal caveman. – I don't like that smile Naruto.
-Ah you can't blame me zef... after all, the idea of pickle eating Lee's leg is extremely funny.
[Naruto Uchiha-Qin Shi Huang-Emperor of the World]
-Your sense of humor sometimes scares me, brother. Zeref said before shaking his head.
Naruto for his part simply gave him a smile, even if he still had his doubts it was time for his triumphant return to the last untamed place in the world, it was time for the greatest king of all time... ego aside of course... to return to the continent that had seen his legend born... but first.
-Yujiro you bastard I'm breaking your skull. And with that statement to the world the king simply stood up and began to follow his own path to find the daughter-corrupting brute… I already mentioned that Naruto rarely used the doors.
-I just repaired those walls. Zeref complained before letting out a sigh, then he simply left the room through the now destroyed wall, he needed to find Athena to help him repair the palace walls again... he just hoped that this time she wouldn't knock down a structural pillar... oh who was he kidding, she was going to do it.
End of chapter.
