Beginning of the end or end of the beginning


“Is there a deadlier combination than a bored writer with writers block?” – Kung
Lou


Ch1: Survivors guilt


Naruto strode south, always south. His pace had slowed from a hysterical run to what was now a more measured and methodical pace along a game trail he had been following for the last few days. Vast grasslands surrounded him, reminding him of his travels with Jiraiya years earlier. It was a huge contrast to the endless and ancient forests that surrounded the hidden village of the leaf. But unlike grasslands he had travelled through in the past, he had never visited these lands before, not in all his travels or any of his previous missions, in fact he had not even known land existed so far south across the oceans.

He could feel his vast reserves of chakra ebbing on low now that his hysteria had started to calm and his adrenaline fuelled body started to flush itself of excess biological proteins. Kyuubi’s infernal grumbling was louder in his head now than it had been for years and Naruto had little doubt that his lack of sleep and physical exhaustion contributed to Kyuubi’s rowdiness. His mind tried to shied away for the reason he was trudging so far south through unexplored grasslands. It was as if all his training, his own stores of chakra combined with the might of Kyuubi had availed him nothing.

In the end it had availed him nothing. The images of a giant hydra flanked by a dozen massive snakes crashing through the village walls was forever burned into his mind along with other memories, one more traumatic than the last. Now that his flight south had slowed they crowded his mind in an agonising and a traumatic display of all that he had fled.

At the moment the giant and extremely powerful summons burst through the village’s walls and attacked the leaf shinobi, Naruto had been surrounded by his mentor’s, trainers, friends and backed up by Tsunade’s legendary strength. He had been confident in his own strength and that of his comrades, perhaps overconfident. Still he had been sure that once again the Leaf would triumph and repel their attackers from what he had seen as another testing of their defences, another probing of their borders. Naruto was confident his own strength would easily dominate the then upcoming skirmish, his training had paid off and he had a few new moves he had wanted to try out. No one had expected this attack to be more than previous probes had been.

The skirmish hadn’t gone as well as he had convinced himself it would and he hadn’t been able to try out his new moves, the attack had obviously been planned a lot less haphazardly than previous probes of the leaf defence had been, or perhaps that had been their plan all along, to establish a pattern of weakness to convince the leaf Nins to lower their guard. While he and all his leaf comrades had been focussed on the strength of the attacking force before them, it had been assumed that the walls had remained unbreached, the village secure leaving only the enemies before them. No one thought it possible that the real attack was to come from behind their own lines.

All his strength had been insignificant to the outcome of that conflict. What burned him with shame, grief and an unquenchable rage was that he had been taken out of the fight before he could even begin to lend his might to the people of the Leaf. He had seriously let down his comrades that day and they, rather than he, had payed the ultimate price.

To say he had been surprised, caught off guard, were mere excuses that he would not allow himself, they were excuses unworthy of lessor Nins and he held himself to a higher standard. His tuition under two out of the three legendary Leaf Sannins should have eliminated any recklessness and enhanced his vigilance and readiness to face threats to the Leaf and deal with any unexpected treachery. He had been sloppy and it had put his strength out of the fight when his village had needed it the most.

Not only had he been jumped from behind but he had also seriously underestimated his opponent. He had quickly been manhandled and dominated by his attacker, an attacker that seemed to have developed counters to all of his favourite attacking styles and techniques. He had been unpleasantly reminded that he had let his training lax. The sound of the Hokage monument falling on him, burying him alive from where he had been flung wouldn’t allow him to sleep any more than the memory of what greeted him when he finally dug himself out.

By the time he had freed himself from several tons of debris, the fight had been decided a long time ago. Walking through the remains of the hidden village of the leaf, staring in disbelief at the glinting leaf head guards that adorned the dead, dead that were scattered in unseemly poses that quickly striped any dignity that they had held in life as they intermingled with the dead of their enemy filled Naruto with a grief and rage that would not let him go.

It ate at him, even as it urged him to pick a direction and run. It was a primal and cowardly instinct but he had given into it. South, he had chosen it at random and run, expending the chakra that should have been used defending his village, comrades and friends. That could have been used if he had been a little less arrogant and a little more focused. He ignored a small voice that exclaimed at his cowardess and the silent and bloodthirsty laughter he could feel coming from the demon within him.

He had not even noticed when the ground he ran on turned to liquid, he just automatically compensated for the chakra flow within his legs and feet, paying no mind to the increased expenditure of chakra as it firmed the surface tension beneath his feat. All the while his mind was locked into a guilt driven frenzy, fleeing from the memories of such devastation, death and of his own guilt and incompetence. Neither could be so easily outrun, though he tried.

By the time he had recovered some – enough, reason and control over his faculties he had found himself racing towards a foreign shore over an unknown ocean. Behind him was an endless expanse of water and before him was an unrecognisable shore. Only the amount of chakra he had expended told him how far from home he had run and provided an indication of where he was now. A long way from home, or at least what had been his home. He was unsure if there were any survivors and he had run before he had a chance to look.

The cyclical nature of the images crowding his brain unrelentingly combining with memories of the stench of death and the unnatural quite which permeated throughout the destroyed village quickly quietened any feelings of denial or disbelief that he might have felt. He felt shamed that he hadn’t even looked for survivors among the dead, he had not done what he had never thought he would when faced with such a testing scenario, he had run.

Even more, in his flight out of fire country, he had totally disregarded any sort of defences or scouting. If he had run into the remnants of the army that had attacked the leaf he would have been in trouble, the fact that he hadn’t encountered them in his flight was more likely due to luck rather than any real skill. Naruto shivered as he thought about the possible outcome of being caught off guard a second time, he had no doubt that he would have been killed. No amount of excuses would have helped him then.

Even before stepping onto the solid ground of the foreign shore, he had created two concentric rings of Kage Bunshins to scout for traps, enemies or anything that might tell him where he was now. It was something that he should have done long before the sound had attacked his home. Like everyone else he had been lulled into a false sense of security thinking that their village had remained safe from infiltration. He had been arrogant, convinced of the leaf’s strength – no longer, this defence was one that he would never allow to falter in the future as he had in the past. If he had maintained his scouts in the hidden village of the leaf despite his sense of relative safety then events would have transpired far differently.

That had been a few days ago and none of his clones had reported anything suspicious. Even his outermost ring of scouts had failed to find any evidence of enemy Nin despite travelling for several hours in all directions. It was clear that he hadn’t been followed to wherever he had found himself and he had yet to find anything that provided even a low level threat so there was nothing stopping him from comfortably resting to recover his strength – except the memories he had attempted to flee.

He had long ago mastered the ability to maintain his clones while he slept, which had provided for more restful nights and more than a few failed ambushes. While not as powerful as he, the clones could take on far more powerful Nins when working together, it had amazed Jiraiya the first time they had awoken to a pile of bound and struggling sound Nins. Two Squads of sound Nins had been intercepted by twice their number of Kage bushins three miles from where Naruto and his sage trainer had made camp. No matter how ingrained a teams team work was, nothing could beat a team that thought with the same mind and knew what each other would do before it happened.

It had taken him some hard training, but now he liked to think of his kage bunshins as just another extension of his body. It was what made him such a powerful fighter, only the ease at which his clones were killed and their limited ability to expend chakra restricted the techniques potential.

Tiredly passing orders for his scouts to scatter, hide and stand guard, Naruto settled down for a sleepless night haunted by nightmares and violent memories. It almost felt unfair that he would be fully recovered from his long flight, perhaps even a little more powerful from his exhaustive flight, after a full nights rest. He would recover and continue to grow in strength but his home never would. The guilt that gnawed at him would take a long time to diminish but he knew it would never completely disappear.

$$$$$$$

“My god Tsunade, is there nothing that I can do? It doesn’t seem right that it should end like this. There must be a way to beat this,” Sakura entreated the ancient woman on the stretcher before her. The jutsu that the aged Hokage usually had permanently applied to alter her appearance had long since worn off, exposing her decaying frame for all to see. Nothing that Sukura had learnt to date could help the older woman and Tsunade had refused to answer her student’s probes and not so subtle questions into the area of Kinjutsu’s.

All that Sukura could do was make Tsunade more comfortable in her last days. It broke her heart to see her mentor and teacher so despondent and bitterly resigned to her fate as she had been since the attack on the village by Orochimaru and his cohorts of the sound. The loss of Naruto, the destruction of the village and the massive loss of life seemed to have robbed Tsunade of her will to live, not even Ton-ton could cheer her up these days. “Sakura, you know that the genesis seal extracts a heavy price on the body every time it is used. I have used it one last time, my body has given me no alternative.”

Tsunade’s voice rasped like her throat was half filled with phlegm, her lungs choked with bloody fluid and from what Sukara had seen they probably were. She had seen battlefield injuries before, had seen friends die from injuries more gruesome than she liked to remember in detail. As a medical Nin she had even been there trying to save their life more often than not and so seen their moment of passing. Rarely had she seen someone die of old age. For a hidden village it just didn’t seem right.

Having spent years learning her craft under Tsunade and working closely with her, she was both a friend and teacher. Sukara had seen perhaps more than anyone except Shizune who the real woman behind the mask and beneath the Hokage robe was and to see her like this….

“It seems somehow fitting that I follow Jiraiya and Orochimaru to the grave, the three truly are no more. Orochimaru was a greater prophet than he was villain.” Tsunade’s bitterness was evident to all those within sufficient distance to her last rasping.

“Miss Sukura,” Sukura dragged her eyes away from her dying mentor to the young Gennin gripping her shoulder. He had distracted her just in time, she really couldn’t be seen to beat on the old Hokage, although Tsunade clearly needed some sense knocked into her.

“Shino says there is a squad of sound Nins headed this way. They will attempt to keep them away from the convoy but in case the fight gets out of hand he sent Konohamaru and I to help guard the Hokage.” Udon’s voice had just started to deepen, shaking of the sound of youth. In its place was the strained undertone of a child trying to maintain his courage in the face of uncertainty.

Sakura just shook her head in amazement and despair. It was times like these that she felt old, even though intellectually she knew she was in her prime. She still held memories of the two boys in front of her playing with Naruto as children. It made her wonder how Tsunade felt. “Thanks Udon, Konohamaru, help me with Tsunade,” even as they saluted and moved to help the aged Hokage out of the stretcher to a more easily defendable spot they were stoped by a series of phlegmy coughs and an aged and wrinkled hand. “No, leave me in peace. I don’t have much longer and I wish to see the outcome of my time as Hokage. To think,” Tsunade’s voice broke as tears leaked down and along the wrinkles beneath her eyes, “that I achieved what so many others had dreamed for only to leave the village of the leaf in ruin. Nawaki, Dan, Naruto, I have left your dreams in ruins.”

“Old woman,” Konohamaru’s vicious growl shocked Sakura “I assure you that Leader is not dead.” The young Gennin towered over the Hokage with his hands clenched into fists and his eyes blazing in rage, “and when he returns he will drive the sound before him.” Sakura shook her sadly at the young man’s impossible faith, she had seen the Hokage monument collapse, burying her former team mate alive, no one could have survived that – not even Naruto, though even she had to admit that he had surprised her a few times in the past. She hoped that this time would be another.

“Konohamaru,” her rebuke seemed to cut through his anger and his shoulders slumped tiredly. Even the newly graduated Gennins had been assigned strenuous and often dangerous tasks in an attempt to guide the convoy of injured and beleaguered survivors and civilians to safety. She didn’t say it, but privately she acknowledged and respected the sacrifice Jiraiya and Tsunade had made for the village of the leaf.

When it became obvious that the tide of battle had turned against them, Tsunade had instructed everyone below Jounin rank to flee with the civilians while the two Sannin lead a kamikaze attack on Orochimaru in a desperate bid to end his threat to the Leaf forever and to cover their escape. Few of the Jounin and ANBU that had accompanied the Hokage had managed to catch-up to the convoy though they had succeeded in buying some time.

She was sure that it wasn’t just the Hokage that was feeling so miserable. Looking around at the grubby children watched over by often-bloodied adults was heart wrenching. The number of orphans out numbered the children whose parents had survived. Sukura gripped her kunai firmly in preparation to defend the convoy in case some enemies made it through to the convoy. Strained her ears, she attempted to track the progress of the battle from the sounds through the trees, before giving it up as hopeless. She would just have to deal with the sound Nin if and when they came.

Sukura was lucky in some respects, her role as a senior medic ensured her position in the convoy. Only in the most extreme of circumstances would she be required to fight. It was a privileged position of relative safety. A number of Leaf Nins had died since fleeing their village.

Secretly she hated it though. Her team mates were risking their lives every day, some had already died and the chances of more dying over the coming days were high. If she hadn’t understood her role in the convoy so well she would have rushed to their sides already. It filled her with a reckless frustration.

“Konohamaru, don’t be so hard on Tsunade okay,” Sukura mumbled away from a restlessly dozing Tsunade. “She really did do the best she could under unhappy and difficult circumstances. Like you, I grieve over Naruto’s loss but it is unfair to blame Tsunade for it.” ‘Besides’ she added to herself ‘There will be plenty of time to grieve if we all survive.’

“Sukura,” the young Gennin replied capturing her in his burning gaze. “Leader has survived and I will prove it to you. He is stronger than you know, I had thought that the Hokage understood that or at the very least his former team mate did. When the time comes and he hasn’t found us I will find him. No cheep trick will keep Naruto down for long or prevent him from fighting me for the title of Hokage.”

“Moegi is coming, we should continue moving.” Konohamaru muttered glancing in the direction the sounds of combat had come from. Sukura hadn’t even noticed when they had stopped since she was so focussed on the drive and determination displayed by the Thirds grandson.

She couldn’t help but be amazed at how much the Thirds grandson had grown under her former team mates playful nurturing. He had grown from the annoying brat he had been to the confident Gennin before her. It boosted her confidence in the Leaf’s future even in these dark times knowing that there were such promising children to succeed her. Confirming Moegi’s message of a reduced threat to the convoy, Sukura started the train of survivors moving again.

Just to the east of the village was a little known network of caves. They were easily defendable and would provide an ideal palace to rest and gather strength. It was difficult to make speedy progress with so many injured Nin and civilians making what should have been a three-day journey into a week long haul. By providing such an easy target for the surviving Nins of the sound they had been repelling attacks at all hours.

They were all exhausted and desperately in need of rest. Still they were close and if they continued at the pace they had been travelling at they should reach the caves by nightfall. Already a small number of Gennins had been sent to prepare the caves for habitation. Once the rest of the convoy arrived then the real job of fortification could begin.

“Konohamaru, once the caves have been secured I’m sure that the Hokage won’t mind sending your team on a special mission to find out what happened to Naruto. If he did survive then why hasn’t he caught up with us by now and where the hell have the sand been? We are supposed to be allies damn it!”

Tsunade’s eyes shot open at Sakura’s display of annoyance and frustration. “The sand are in as dire a situation as we are, perhaps even worse. Gaara would not have forgotten his ties to this village so easily.” Sakura frowned as the old woman started to mumble about death and destruction before once again easing into a troubled sleep.

$$$$$

Naruto desperately spun to the side forcing away the last remnants of sleep and ignoring the burning of his skin where he had rolled over the remains of his campfire. In less than a second he had a kunai in one hand and a tightly focused Rasengan shining brightly in the other. His stance favoured both easy defence and rapid attacks as he casually readied himself for anything.

From the moment he had awoken half his clones started to make a beeline in his direction to aid in any potential skirmish while the other half waited for the opportunity to run interference with any potential enemy. Uncertainty and lack of knowledge on the field of battle favoured him and his clones made the most of tilting the battlefield in his favour.

After a few minutes waiting for an attack that had yet to materialise, Naruto began to feel a little foolish. His clones still had not found any evidence of an enemy or even the likelihood of an attack. Still one of his clones had been destroyed by something, which proved that there was something worth investigating. Although his rest had been haunted by the destruction of his home and the amusement of the fox demon dwelling within his belly, he felt emotionally and physically recharged.

His confidence had started to reassert itself and Naruto felt ready to take on the sound army himself if they were to attack him. First however he needed to locate himself, find a way home to wreak vengeance and to investigate whatever had destroyed his scouting clone.

Stashing his Kunai and dispersing the tightly focussed ball of chakra in his hand Naruto started to approach the location his scout had been destroyed. Ordering his clones to remain diligent and to tighten their net around him he readied himself for anything only to find nothing. Or rather nothing more the stone remnants of what looked like an ancient tower. Little remained of the tower but the foundations and knee high stone walls, even then the remains of the walls remained crumbled to nothing in places leaving only the faintest outlines of five rooms and an ancient stairwell.

It amazed Naruto that he or his clones had not stumbled upon the ruins earlier. Sure they were hidden from obvious view by the vast tracks of grasslands but there was little excuse for his scouts being that sloppy. If they had missed something this large and obvious then what chances did they have of finding an enemy Nin determined to conceal his presence. Yet more evidence that he allowed his training to slip, after all any deficiency in his clones were a reflection of his own skill and abilities.

Harmless or not, something had destroyed his clone within these ruins. He had run from one threat already, he was determined not to run from another. ‘After all’ he thought wryly ‘if I am the last living Shinobi of the Leaf, doesn’t that make me Hokage?’

Naruto grinned in anticipation as he thought about the potential for an up and coming fight. Whatever had destroyed his clone within these ruins had managed it in such a way that no information was reported back to him. Only a powerful attack taking his clone by complete surprise could do that. Even with his training slipping, it wasn’t that easy to sneak up on one of his clones. This meant he could completely let lose with his massive strength.

Entering the ruins carefully Naruto noticed that there was no grass or foliage within the ruins. The barren ground seemed to crunch under foot, with the apparent age and degradation of the tower he would have expected that the grass from the surrounding savannah to have completely choked the ruins by now, so why… Naruto frowned in confusion. There seemed to be too many unknowns, to many inconsistencies for comfort. If these grasslands were not so obviously deserted then he would have been suspicious of a trap.

Upon entering the boundaries of the ruins Naruto was surprised to find that the ruins were a lot larger than he had first thought from his outside inspection, almost as if a carefully crafted Genjutsu protected the real size of the ruins. He had encountered traps in the past, which had drawn unsuspecting Nins into what seemed to be a relatively safe region only to have them summarily slaughtered.

It could not have been the case with these ruins though since he had investigated and tried dispelling whatever technique lay over the old stone ruins unsuccessfully and that could only mean that someone infinitely more powerful than Jiraiya was responsible for the trap or that nothing existed and he was imagining it. While he could not dispel the possibility that there existed someone infinitely more powerful than his old mentor he doubted such a person existed. Even with almost full access to Kyuubi demonic reserves he had encountered limits to what he could achieve.

Naruto jerked in astonishment as another clone was destroyed, around him his clones visibly expressed the same astonishment and unease that he did. ‘What was going on?’ he thought. He could feel no evidence of an enemy and yet his clones seemed to be running into something powerful enough to destroy them, an enemy that he should at least be able to see over the empty grasslands and knee high walls. Momentarily flooding the area with a burst of charka, Naruto assured himself that he was not caught in a Genjutsu trap.

Sending a command that would ensure that his clones would only explore the ruins in pairs Nuruto continued his own examination and exploration. Even as he noticed that he was sub-consciously walking towards the centre of the ruins another two of his clones vanished. Naruto growled in frustration, whatever was destroying his clones was not only managing to stay hidden within the ruins by staying hidden from all of his and his clones senses, but also seemed to be getting closer to him.

He didn’t know how that was possible; looking around he could see clearly the barren earth patterned with stone foundations and knee high walls. He didn’t know anyone that could hide without the aid of a Genjutsu in a place like this. Particularly when his clones could examine the contents of every destroyed room in the decayed tower. Naruto had already assured himself that there was no active Genjutsu so what was he facing.

Ordering his clones to gather around him Nartuto continued his inexorable approach towards the centre of the ruins. He didn’t know what lay there but ever since he had entered the ruins he had felt an attraction, almost a guiding hand. Kyuubi’s almost constant rumblings had increased in intensity as he entered the ruined tower and approached the centre of the ruins, Naruto could almost make out what the demon was saying now. Never had he been able to communicate with Kyuubi directly before without first submerging himself into his own mind.

Besides he was curious and he would have made a bet with Tsunade that whatever lay at the centre of these ruins was linked to whatever was destroying his clones. A gut instinct told him that to face the ruins guardians without access to the centre of the ruins would be suicidal. His gut had saved his life before and he wasn’t about to ignore it now. He may be supremely confident in his abilities but he was not suicidal.

Naruto picked up his pace as another pair of clones was destroyed. ‘Anything that could destroy a pair of Kage bunshins in plain sight without revealing itself was too powerful to take lightly’ he thought with a little trepidation. If Naruto or any of his clones had been less focussed on their search for the ruins guardians then they would have noticed that the size of the ruins had grown substantially.

Noticing what had seemed to be the remains of a tower with five rooms and a stairwell expanding to a complex array of halls and expansive rooms would have shocked and unsettled Naruto more than the prospect of facing an overwhelmingly powerful foe. Instead he remained focused on reaching the solid looking mounds of stone that marked the towers central chamber.

Catching a flicker out of the corner of his eyes he watched yet more of his clones explode. Kyuubi seemed to be roaring unintelligibly in his mind and his stomach had started to freeze up in fear. He had not felt this helpless since Susuke had saved his life on his fist C-rank mission. Thoughts of Susuke hardened his resolve as he stepped into what Naruto could only imagine must once have been a magnificent chamber at the centre of this ancient tower in a land that he hadn’t known existed.

“Pay attention you foolish brat!” The shock of hearing Kyuubi scream orders at him unsettled him so much that he almost failed to dodge the charging shadow. Naruto would have rated his reaction time, as amongst the best but in the face of such speed the best he could manage was to partially block the shadows blow with his leaf protector while throwing himself the other way.

Slamming through several walls quickly told Naruto painfully why they were left standing when the rest of the tower seemed to have been destroyed long ago. He almost would have preferred being thrown into the Hokage monument again. Using the rest of his clones to run interference Nuruto regained his feet. Even though that shadow had not touched him directly, his charka coils felt worse than if he had challenged Neji to a fight after a hard days training.

“The stone, it’s our only hope. You must...” Naruto ignored Kyuubi’s almost desperate pleading and focused on the one sided fight with his clones quickly being decimated. He was about to jump the shadowy figure when a glimmer caught his eye.

It must have been the stone the Kyuubi was ranting about, deciding he had nothing to lose against such a powerful opponent Naruto scooped up the stone before collapsing in excruciating pain. Even as he watched the last of his clones fight desperately to keep the indistinct figure away from him through dimming eye sight Naruto swore that if he survived then he would never listen to the damn fox again.


A/N: The hidden village of the leaf has been destroyed and the survivors are on the run. What has happened here?

Beginning of the end or end of the beginning


“The only thing worse than an unmotivated writer is one with an agenda?” – Kung Lou


Ch2: Gai for Hokage?

Tenten stalked through the vast and ancient trees, which made up such a large portion of fire country with the tracts of forest centring on the once powerful and vibrant Hidden Village of the Leaf. Once again, as they had done so often in the long lifetime of their village, these large forests were acting as a protective buffer for the Nins, medics and civilians that made up the hidden village of the leaf.

Only none of the people that these almost impenetrable forests protected were actually in their village, instead they had been driven out by a massive offensive lead by one of their own. Orochimaru had been one of the Leafs most venerated ninja’s in his time and although he had perished with the majority of his troops in the final assault, he had achieved what he set out to do. Destroy the hidden village of the Leaf. All that remained now was rubble and smouldering buildings.

Unconsciously cheeking the readiness of her weapons, Tenten scanned the area for any evidence of the enemy. Along with the rest of her generation of Rookie’s – the ones she had fought with in her first Chuunin exam, those who had survived the assault were being intrusted with keeping their new base of operations safe from enemy ninja’s. It was vital that they keep the immediate area safe from combat so that new and more easily defendable village could be established within the dark caves they had fled to.

Their efforts in keeping a perimeter safe from enemy Nins were vital to the Leaf’s survival. A weak of fighting had tired everyone out and a strong defence needed alert Nin. This meant as many Nin as they could spare were regaining strength under their protection. Although their original village was rubble and ashes the Hidden Village of the Leaf was not dead yet, the Leafs strength did not lie in any single place and this abandoned cave network would be home just as much as the old village had been. It was a truth that she had only just come to understand, a truth she had come to slowly.

It was a truth that had required the sacrifice of her hero for her, and she expected the majority of the Leaf’s inhabitants, to learn. For as long as she could remember she had looked up to Tsunade, wanted to achieve that massive strength of will and vast reservoirs of skill that had marked her out throughout the ninja world. For as long as she could remember she wanted to be Tsunade.

It was her greatest moment when Tsunade became the villages Fifth Hokage, it had proven that she and all the other female Ninja’s out there could make it in this male dominated art and even excel. Yes she mourned the Thirds death like the rest of the village, he had been a great and kind man and in saving the village from destruction he had cemented his place among the heroes of the Leaf.

The time following his death hadn’t been easy for any of the survivors of the sounds initial faint four years ago, with so many other Nin dying in the attack there was more than enough work to go around to keep them all dead on their feet. But she at least took strength from their Hokage, her personal idol, and redoubled her efforts.

Tenten casually double tapped her earpiece, letting the surviving ANBU and Jounins know that she had not made contact with the enemy and that the perimeter remained clear. If any of the Chuunins on guard duty ran into trouble it was up to the surviving ANBU and Jounins who weren’t resting to respond. They would provide a rapid action squad to plug any holes in their perimeter should an attack punch through. It would not make much strategic sense to draw resources away from the perimeter to plug a gap thereby making it easier for an enemy to penetrate their defences elsewhere. She prayed they were enough.

Satisfied that no one had breached the perimeter she continued her silent patrol among the giant trees once again unconsciously cheeking the readiness of her weapons. It was a habit she had picked up in the years following the Thirds death. The heightened readiness of the active Nin and the constant repair work often meant limited time to prepare for missions. Besides, another attack was never ruled out and she felt safer with her weapons than without them.

Training became a priority of the village as it prepared for war, with numbers desperately short they needed to replace their numbers of skilled Nin as soon as they could. Tsunade had revitalized and restructured the village and prepared them for a break in what had been a peaceful time. She had taught the village that the people were their strength not the walls and monuments. It was a lesson that she had only fully grasped when she saw her lead a suicide charge to cover their retreat.

Less than ten percent of Nin at Jounin skill or above had survived the Leaf village, with fewer than forty percent of Chuunin. Gennin survival rate matched civilian rates – children where the lifeblood of their village, to be protected at all cost. The Leaf had been decimated but they would survive, the village had been founded in more trying times than these and with less resources, although not by much.

Even her the famous rookie nine had not remained unscathed over the last few years, Susuke’s defection, Hinata’s removal from active status followed by Naruto and Choji’s death in defence of their already doomed village whittled down their numbers in what remained a dangerous job. She had seen the Hokage monument bury Naruto herself. The defence of the hidden village of the leaf was an amazing display of what four years of frantic preparation can do to the skills of a hidden village and the final attack lead by Tsunade on Orochimaru’s position would go down in history if any of them survived the persistent harrying of their position.

It was Tsunade’s finest moment but Tenten couldn’t help but view the shrivelled crone that remained with pity, it was not a fate that any ninja looked forward to. All her life she had painted a great picture and strove towards it and the feeling that not all of her hero escaped her last battle saddened her no end. She would she decided always keep the triumphant Hokage firmest in her mind and remember her at her finest not at her lowest.

Another double tap into her earpiece and she was once again flying among the trees. It seemed inconceivable that they had been betrayed but she could not explain the battle that so many died in any other way. Their fighting styles had been relentlessly studied and countered, they had been fighting on two fronts from both sides of the village walls and overwhelmed by a numerically superior enemy. It only amazed her that more did not perish though the casualty rates were horrifying enough. Whoever was chosen for the next Hokage had a gigantic task ahead of him.

Just as she landed on a broad branch constantly scanning for any evidence of the enemy and ready to continue her patrol, she was surprised when the entire tree shook itself to pieces. Massive branches from higher up crashed into those further down almost shaking her from her perch. A quick triple tap into her earpiece and she was diving towards the base of the tree already armed with a pair of scythes and ready to throw them as soon as she found an enemy.

Her favourite attacking style was a careful balance of attack and defence. She had mastered many types of weaponry, both conventional and unconventional and carefully created an almost unbeatable style from their use. It didn’t have many weaknesses and in the tree crowded field around her, those weaknesses would be very hard to exploit.

At the base of the tree she found a semi coherent sound Nin embedded into the broad trunk. Quickly finishing him off so that she wouldn’t have a potential enemy at her back she focussed on the seething mass of combat before her. Quickly peppering the area with as most of the kunai and shurikens that she had in her possession, she was surprised when she only hit half of her targets, it had been years since she had missed a target and she didn’t like to think that she was about to start now. Even then she had substantially evened the odds on any potential conflict by thinning the numbers from twelve to a more manageable eight wounded she knew that it would be an interesting fight before reinforcements could arrive.

“Maito Gai,” she gasped in surprise. It had been over a week and they had given up all hope on there being any other survivors. Yet here he was hopelessly out numbered and moving more slowly than she could ever remember him moving in combat. The weights that he normally kept strapped to his limbs even in combat were gone and his bloody drawn face told it’s own story.

Shaking off her surprise she lunched the rest of her projectiles before joining the fray with a pair of kodachi’s, there simply was not enough time for any special techniques, the small amount of time needed to set one up could mean her mentor’s death and besides there were few who could out manoeuvre her with weapons while she was relatively fresh.

It was clear that these nins had been fighting a running battle with Gai for a long time. Only the fact that Gai was so spent himself caused him to have so much trouble with such lower level foes. ‘They must have withdrawn most of their most skilled Nins’ she thought to herself as she casually cut through their ranks. With Gai’s help she evened the odds further and watched as the last three sound Nins left standing broke of and ran.

“The flame of youth never dies, it burns brighter in you every day my Tenten.” Gai announced proudly, posing over the bloody corpses of the squad of sound nins. “But hurry, my everlasting rival Kakashi lies grievously wounded and needs our help.”

It was an outrageous sight, amidst such bloodshed and carnage and in such a trying and dangerous times Tenten could not see the humor in Gai’s obvious attempt to lift her dangerously low spirits. This was not the time to make jokes.

Shaking her head sadly Tenten started to salvage what she could from the battle sight. As low on resources as she and her comrades were, the Leaf needed everything they could lay their hands on. Before she could answer Gai though reinforcements started to appear followed by Sukura. Sukura’s pink hair flashed through the dense foliage making her easy to place, “Sakura will help him Gai, I have to continue my patrol,” she said stoically before resuming a random pattern through the tree’s.

Although she had just fought a major skirmish and rescued a skilled Leaf Nin, there would not be anytime to rest for a long time. Even when the new base was built and operating sufficiently that such large numbers were no longer needed to defend it, their numbers were simply too low and would be for years. Reluctantly she admitted that the skirmish besides Gai had drained her more than she would have liked but there would be no one to replace her while she rested. Gritting her teeth Tenten double tapped her earpiece and resumed her patrol, unconsciously checking the readiness of her weaponry.

5555

Konohamaru slipped though the bustling cave silently, watching the frantic activity of civilians and ninja united in the task of reinforcing the cave against attack and making it liveable. Temporary living quarters were being erected and the sounds of teams of Gennin exploring the depths of the caves echoed from their depths. Just beyond the cave mouth defensive structures and traps were feverishly and hastily being erected.

Just beyond sight he knew that further guard posts were being installed as well as monitoring and alarm jutsu. The leadership were refusing to be surprised again. He would have helped out, after all, his life and that of every one of the people here depended on their preparedness to defend against attack in the short term and make a living in the medium to long term but he was supposed to be resting. Regaining what little strength he had so he could contribute as best he could to the rebuilding effort.

Since they had first arrived to the caves, a rough roster was established among the active Leaf nin to ensure that when an attack came they would at least have a few well rested and prepared higher level Nin to defend them. Those that were not resting were resettling or healing the wounded, fortifying the area in the immediate vicinity of the cave networks they had all retreated to or patrolling a wide swath of land around their position. Until the base had been completed and the current Gennins gained some more experience and skill then they were all in a very precarious situation.

Intellectually he knew that he should have been dead on his feet from working a double shift and a week of tense retreat and protection duty but his body refused to rest. He would still be out there helping if his jounin instructor had not ordered him to rest. Both his mind and body felt twitchy as if demanding immediate action and a solution to their problem. Thus he found himself silently shadowing the frantic but disciplined work throughout the cave. To agitated to rest.

He knew what was causing his insomnia but until Sukura convinced the Fifth to allow his team to go and search for Naruto there was not a lot he could do. Going it alone was suicide with teams of Sound nin marauding Fire country. Even though he refused to believe that Naruto was dead, he couldn’t see his leader being injured so badly that he could not have tracked them down. Nothing had ever kept his boss down for long. He smiled proudly as he remembered some of the stories he had been told about his idol.

Konohamaru could not believe that his self proclaimed leader was not around showing off or creating chaos among the survivors. Every time he turned around he expected Naruto’s laughter or confidence to flood the room, lightening the dark atmosphere that seemed to fill the dark and cold cavern that would be their new home for some time to come. The new Hidden Village of the Leaf.

Before he even became a Gennin, Naruto was gave him and his friends the respect and encouragement that was so hard to come by. Wherea’s the villages measured his potential against his grandfathers, Naruto saw and encouraged the potential in him. It was a turning point in his life and it fundamentally changed his goals. Even after he became a Gennin Naruto was there to provide extra help and support, at least when he had come back from his training trip with Jiraiya. Naruto was more than his leader. To him he was a big brother, family. He was sure that his friends felt the same.

He refused to mourn Naruto’s death, all his life he had seen, perhaps more than anyone else, Naruto’s enormous strength of will and inhuman power. It was as if nothing could stop him, not enemy nin, not Orochimaru, not even the Hokage monument. By now the fate of every missing nin and casualty was known and there were plenty of people who had seen his leader thrown into the Hokage monument so hard that the entire cliff face crumbled, burying him alive. But dead down he knew that his boss lived, he couldn’t imagine Naruto doing anything else.

Besides he was too busy to mourn, even now when he was supposed to be resting his mind would not stop racing about the recent attack and the weak long retreat. It wasn’t pleasant being hunted every step of the way and he wondered if this was how the rabbit felt. He had never been more scared in his life, never had death seemed a more likely possibility. Konohamaru could not help but remember the times that Naruto had washed away similar fears throughout the years and filled him with confidence and wished he was here with him now.

It had saddened him when Naruto left the village to train and envied the opportunity to become stronger under a Sannin’s tutelage. He was determined to let his leader widen the gap between them further however because they would inevitably jhave to fight over the Hokages Hat. When he arrived home he was a Gennin and they even had the chance to work together on missions occasionally. Konohamaru sighed as he remembered old times, good times.

Walking dejectedly back to the depressingly small area that was reserved for the sleeping nin he spotted something that raised his spirits enormously. It was Hyuuga Hiashi arrogantly strutting with his daughter towards where the Hokage lay. He had never liked the arrogant Hyuuga’s but he understood their clans importance to the village and how much political clout they held, especially since the Uchiha’s demise. For them to be meeting the Hokage at this hour meant that something important was being decided.

In his mind the possibility of them discussing a possible rescue mission was a distinct possibility and if they were discussing that then he wanted to be on that mission so he needed to know about it and who would be on it. First though a little information gathering was needed. All thought about his rostered rest time was banished from his mind in favour of the possibility of joining a search and rescue mission. ‘Naruto would never live it down if I rescued him’ Konohamaru thought with a vicious grin ‘I wont let him live it down.’

Continuing his way to the area set aside for sleeping nin Konohamaru silently created a bunshin of a cockroach, Naruto would be so proud he thought with a grin. Spying missions and pranks both needed discrete and silent scheming, at least until it were pulled off.

His leader’s pranks had come in useful even after he was promoted. “….not sure if he will survive, the only choice.” The lone cockroach scurried unnoticed into the meeting and into the middle of the Fifths weak rasp. Konohamaru didn’t even want to think about the young faces in the room. Every clan had been decimated, a whole generation had been whipped from Leaf history.

“You cannot be serious, he will have us all wearing green spandex within a week.” Hyuuga Hiashi haughty tone was unmistakable even if he had not been able to see one of the few only remaining elder clan heads. The balance of power between the clans within the village would take years to readjust to a new equilibrium.

Though Konohamaru could not yet guess what they were discussing. It was clearly not a rescue, nor was permission being sought for him to go after Naruto. After all there had to be a reason that his self proclaimed leader had not yet joined them and he refused to believe that he was dead. Still he waited to see what other information he could pick up. Politics had always interested him and knowledge of it was important for the future Hokage.

“I will not last much longer, the council and clan heads need to choose a new Hokage to provide leadership and direction. Already morale is down and I am not fit to lift it. He is the only possible candidate left alive and ready to take charge.” Konohamaru’s hand gripped the wall painfully when he heard Tsuname’s painful rasping as she tried to convince the council to appoint a new Hokage.

He had always taken for granted that he and Naruto would be fighting over the post some time in the future when the Fifth stepped down. Not even in the height of the attack had he thought that someone else would take the Hat and replace Tsuname- she was just too scary to be forcible replaced. An attack on the village and the decimation of its ninja population changed all that.

“Hey Konohamaru what are doing?” Udon asked wondering over, “aren’t you off roster.”
Konohamaru winced before turning around to face his team member. He didn’t like to admit it but over the last few days Udon had saved his life a few times. Naruto’s training had aided his whole team to differing degrees. It didn’t change the fact that his friend had horrible timing and almost inevitably interrupted his pranks or other nefarious activity..

“Shusssshh Udon, I’m trying to hear. Your gonna get me caught,” Konohamaru whispered harshly as he returned his focus back to the conversation between the fifth, the council and the clan heads through his connection with his cockroach bunshin . Too much had been shared between them for him to tell him to go away, he was much more likely to rope him into any trouble he was about to get himself into.

“….Very well, but are there no better….” He heard before Udon interrupted his concentration again.

“You’re not going to get us in trouble again. This is not really the time to be playing any pranks Konohamaru.” Udon had a concerned look on his face as if remembering a few of their pranks that had backfired. Still it was hardly the same, he wasn’t even planning a prank. All he wanted to know was who they were gonna make next Hokage and besides HIS pranks had never backfired. Though he did remember a time….

Glaring at Udon he refocussed on the conversation. “Maito Gai will you accept the position of Sixth Hokage. You will face….” Konohamaru couldn’t believe it. He was familiar with Maito Gai, or rather he was familiar with Rock Lee but it was the same thing. Tsuname didn’t even pick someone cool like his Leader.

Letting his link with the bunshin die, not worrying that the entire room of clan heads and council members no doubt saw the cloud expended from his vanishing bunshin, he turned and faced Udon. ‘No’ he screamed at himself ‘it should have been leader’. Udon’s concerned faced hovered above his own but all Konohamaru could hear and see was his big brother demonstrating a new technique and declaring his ambition to become Hokage.

Shaking his head he pushed his friend and team mate aside, ‘there’s still no reason he can’t become Hokage, but first I have to find him.’ Still dazed as the reality of there situation struck him Konohamaru headed out of the cave and into the forest. He would find Naruto and everything would be OK.

The last thing he heard was something about the power of youth before everything went dark.


5555555

“Arrogance,” the deep rumbling voice of Kyuubi seemed to rumble and vibrate through Naruto’s head as he faced a familiar set of gates. The massive rusted boundary between the demon and the rest of Naruto’s mind was exactly as Naruto remembered it. Even the Sewers still smelled bad.

“To think that such a fragile heap of mortal flesh would even THINK of taking on a being as ancient as a wraith astonishes me.” Kyuubi had not lost any of his scorn for humanity even after being sealed within one for the last two decades.

“Reckless arrogance,” the words seemed to spit out across the darkness.

“Bloody fox, what the hell do you want and what the hell was that gem.” Naruto stood unflinchingly before the massive gates, no longer an uncertain and boastful preteen. He had seen and done too much to go back to being that naïve. Still he had not expected to find himself before this painful of his past reminder again, not since he had finished swallowing the demons strength.

“Even I, at the height of my power and comfortable in my own realm avoided such ancient beings. They exist as anti-chakra and can simply destroy by touch your ability to create chakra, surely you felt how your coils wreathed and struggled within you even at such proximity. A direct hit would mean certain death for you and oblivion for me.” Even behind the gates Kyuubi’s anger was impressive and frightening.

“And you recklessly ran into battle with one that even I would think twice about crossing,” nine powerful tails raked the rusting gates and shaking the seemingly fragile paper seal binding them together. “Your arrogance will get us both killed,” Kyuubi roared through the gates.

Naruto in an effort not to be cowed by such a fearful display in his own mind struggled to come up with a way to calm the demon. To his knowledge the seal had never been tested so harshly, “I have access to all your chakra demon, what makes you think I couldn’t have taken it on when you yourself admitted that you...”

He trailed of at the sudden stillness and aura of rage that drifted through the sealed gates, this feeling was even more terrifying than what he had faced seconds before. If he had been facing Kyuubi without the seal as a crutch, Naruto would not be sure that he would have held his ground.

“Do you think that such a weak vessel such as you could even come close to wielding a fraction of my power? Your like a metal tap connected to an ocean, fatigue would set in before you tap even a tenth of my power, only your own minute chakra generation makes you stand tall in the mill pond you call home.”

“Surely you have experienced the pain as the tap has cracked when you have turned it to hard, tried to open it to much,” Naruto could. On the occasion he had drawn to deeply of the Kyuubi’s reservoir of power he had felt his body start to destroy itself so quickly that not even his inhuman healing could keep up. That had been years ago.

Naruto he had always been led to believe that the ultimate purpose of the seal that bound Kuubi was to slowly drain the demons chakra and merge it into his own. When he had stopped receiving any additional power from the demon he had assumed that the seal had completed its work and that the occasional whispers from behind the seal were only remnants of the once powerful demon. He had not tried to tap what a reservoir he had thought empty.

In his bones he knew the demon was speaking the truth though, still it was something that went against everything he had been taught and experienced. It was a frightening thought to think that such a powerful demon was bound within him and it still held control over a vast amount of power.

“Then how can I fight this thing then, once I leave here it will have finished destroying my clones and that damned gem was in the process of doing as much damage as that near hit.” If Kyuubi was even a little bit worried then his demand would not make a wit of difference in further agitating the demon.

At once the aura of rage and intimidation turned to one of smugness, “as soon as you touched the gem at the centre of this tower then the atmosphere became poisoness to the wraith. This tower was once a great weapon and the gem is the key to its use. It is one of five that bridged our two dimensions and stood against our destruction by those beings of anti-chakra. We have been unable to destroy them but with these towers we were able to hold the line.”

“Bind?” Naruto frowned at the smug demon, he did not like the sound of that and could not help but feel unsettled by the image of a smug Kyuubi. ‘After so long being sealed here anything that Kyuubi has to feel smug about properly would not be so good for me’ thought Naruto. “Is that a good thing?”

“Do not worry you snivelling pile of mortal flesh with dreams of greatness, the process of binding will not harm you but I will not be surprised if I see you again soon.” Naruto stared at the demon lord in confusion as rumbling laughter shook the smelly sewers. It did not escape his notice that he had not been given any more than the sketchiest details concerning the tower he found himself in, the gem he had grabbed or the ‘Wraith’ that had so easily picked apart his clones.

The details that he had received from the demon lord had only created more questions and worn the confidence that he had once felt about his own power and skills.

555555

An unseen light source reflected from a pair of blood red eyes revealing three black pips in place of an iris. Nothing of the face that the eyes belonged to was visible in the darkness giving the eyes a disembodied appearance.

“All Jounin level and high have been recalled Sasuke sama with the others still harrying the survivors of the leaf” Kabuto’s voice almost hid the sense of superiority he held around himself.

“Good,” Susuke didn’t even blink at what had marked the end of a campaign which had utterly destroyed what had once been his home, the death of people who had once been his friends.

“Why did you betray him Kabuto?” The only sign of his curiosity was the circling of the three dark pips inside the disembodied blood red eyes. “You were his most trusted aide, how can I ever trust that you won’t betray me in turn?”

“Orochimaru had lost sight of his ambitions Susuke sama. You have not and I don’t believe you ever will.”

Fading footsteps signalled Kabuto’s exit, unanswered was his answer to the question of his loyalty.