Claymore Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Red Dawn ❯ The End of a Dream, The Red Dawn Anew ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

His entire body felt numb. He had to use every ounce of power he possessed but it was worth it. This man... No, this monster had brought this upon himself as soon as he decided to endanger those he cared for the most.

Looking down at the corpse before, he almost felt like he would start laughing. This war was finally over and despite what E and the other Kages thought, he was needed on the battle field. Sure, he had disobeyed his orders but he didn't give a damn. He knew this had to be done.

"Uzumaki..." The voice came from the corpse, catching Naruto entirely off guard. "You have won... But remember, you will never know peace as this world is too chaotic. As long as the ninja nations stand, there will always be conflict. I wanted... So badly to change that. To give everyone... True Peace."

Wiping a small amount of blood from his lips, regaining his composure, Naruto took a step closer to the fallen Uchiha. "You have too little faith in us. It may take time, but one day everyone will understand one another and then, peace will finally reign. It may take a thousand years, but it will come."

Madara simply began to laugh at Naruto's response, which in turn made the blonde teenager frown and step even closer, preparing himself for the worse. Without warning, Madara turned and looked Naruto straight into the eyes, his Sharingan tomoe forming something new entirely. "Maybe so, but there will be no peace for you! My legacy will not die!"

"Tsukiyomi!"

Red chakra began to coat his trembling body, expanding into a fox like shape with a single tail forming at the base of his tailbone. A violent scream ripped through his throat as the pain of those memories began to overwhelm him and his body began writhing in utter agony.

Sweat drenched his entire body as Naruto grabbed his head, despite still being caught in his dream, the pain being so great that his body naturally reacted in the only way it could. His screams began to rise in pitch as his body rattled uncontrollably. Blood began to pour from his mouth as he bit down onto his tongue, attempting to quail his own screams.

In the very next moment, the door to his room busted down and his pink hair medic rushed into his room to see what was happening. Sakura was indeed disturbed at the seen, but she had seen in before and immediately knew what she had to do as she slipped out a demonic suppression seal.

But as she neared him, she was knocked back by a surge of yoki as Naruto jumped to his three tailed state. Getting back onto her feet, Sakura fought through the increased ferocity of the fox's yoki and made it to her teammate, slapping the seal onto his forehead. The reaction was immediate and its chakra began to recede, but her work was far from done.

Straddling his waist in order to keep him under control, her hands began to glow a slimy silver, almost as if she stuck her hands into liquid mercury, and placed them onto Naruto's temples. Closing her eyes in concentration, ignoring the fact that Naruto's movement nearly knocked her off of him, she held his head still as the silver chakra began to seep into his skull.

This time the reaction wasn't as immediate, but it could be seen that Naruto's convulsions were slowly beginning to decrease and it seemed as if his pain began to dull. But nonetheless, Naruto was still squirming enough that Sakura to use her immense physical strength just to stay on top and to keep her hands on his temples. And even then it was extraordinarily difficult as Naruto was very powerful especially with Kyuubi's presence still within his system.

After a few minutes, Naruto had finally stopped trembling and his eyes glance up at the worn down Sakura, her body now coated in her own sweat. Panting heavily, the pain still fresh on his mind, he barely had enough time to let out a surprised "UMPH!" as his pink haired teammate collapsed onto him.

Only groaning slightly, he looked into the tuff of pink hair as Sakura was too tired to even look into his face, not that he could blame her. "How bad was it this time?"

"Extremely horrible... You jumped to three tails and your screaming was so loud I don't think anyone in Konoha didn't hear it. Not only that, I had to concentrate on both calming you down and keeping myself from being thrown off... So I'm dead tired." Sakura answered, finally moving her head so their eyes met.

Cursing, not thinking it would get that bad again; Naruto wasn't sure what to do. While both Sakura and Shizune were good medics, they simply could not heal the damage that was caused. That was something only Tsunade could do and she was still hospitalized, in a deep coma after Pein had assaulted their village.

"Shit... If this keeps up, I'm not sure how long it will be before that asshole Hokage we have will try something." Naruto growled and tightened his fists, despite being even further drained then Sakura as the dream along with Kyuubi's yoki had taken a lot out of him.

Sakura could only nod into his chest and attempted to raise herself from Naruto's body, only to fail horribly. Groaning, she simply shook her head as she wasn't moving any time soon. "Shizune and I have been doing our best, but right now I don't know how much longer we can keep him from interfering... I wish Lady Tsunade was awake... Everything would be fine if she was here."

Naruto only nodded in agreement as he was thinking the same. If the old hag was awake, she for one could have healed the damage the fallen Uchiha had done. But even more importantly their government wouldn't be as oppressive as their Hokage, while always a dictator in the sense, was a tyrant who had to rule everything with a tight fist and eliminated or slandered those who contested his power.

Deciding to lighten the mood a bit as it was getting rather depressing, Naruto grinned as he looked at the girl that was still straddling him. "So are you going to stay like that all night? I know we're friends and all, but isn't this going a little too far? People might think we've slept together if they find us like this."

Groaning soon after he said that as Sakura punched him in the side of his gut, Sakura rolled off of him and laid next to him, almost growling at him as her emerald eyes glared into his. "I don't have the energy to get back to my cot. I'm sleeping with you tonight, got it? So no funny business or you will end up missing a pair of jewels."

Mocking fear, something he wasn't very good at, Naruto nodded. "Oh I assure you my fine young lady, I won't do anything. I don't have the energy to anyways..."

"Damn right you don't..." Sakura stated as her eyes slowly began to fade, falling asleep feeling just somewhat disappointed.

"NARUTO! SAKURA!" A shrill scream awoke the two, making them both bolt upwards, hair standing on their necks as they knew they were in a rather compromising position thanks to last night.

Thankfully, at least in their minds, the person that had discovered them really didn't care about that at the moment as there was a far more urgent matter at hand. Being the first to recognize who it was, Sakura immediately stood up, worry beginning to set in. "Shizune?! What's going on? ...Don't tell me the bastard is coming after Naruto?!"

"WORSE!" Shizune screamed, being unable to control the volume of her voice and the dread she was feeling. "He... He's decided... HE'S PULLED THE PLUG ON LADY TSUNADE! SHE'S GONE!"

It was as if the world stopped spinning for Naruto and Sakura. Danzo had given the order to... end Tsunade's life?

"No... It can't be! We are the only ones that have the power to make that decision! He had no right!" Naruto yelled out, standing straight up, rage beginning to build and he could feel the overwhelming urge to pull forth Kyuubi's yoki while he could hear the fox's urging him to release him, promising him no pain as he did two years prior.

Being the calmest, which wasn't saying very much as rage and sorrow were beginning to engulf her being, Sakura slowly stammered as she looked over at her good friend and fellow teacher. "Shizune... What happened?"

Still panicking as she was unsure what to do, Shizune began to sob as she fell to her knees. "I was checking on Lady Tsunade this morning. She seemed better then she had been since being in a coma and I felt rather good. But then he suddenly burst in with his own doctor and had him give a false diagnosis. I tried to tell him otherwise but his Anbu restrained me and then... then..."

Shizune was unable to finish as her grief of watching her master and partner for so many years life was taken before her and she was able to do nothing about it. Her tears ran down her cheeks like a stream as her entire body tremble and began to hiccup, the stress being too much for her.

Sakura was no better as she embraced the sullen nurse and began weep along side her, being unable to hold back her emotions any longer. To think that their master would be taken from them like that was... Was just unacceptable. She didn't even have a chance.

However, despite how badly the two of them were reacting, Naruto's reaction was far harsher. He had fallen onto his knees, tears dripping from his eyes as well. But the sadness he felt paled in comparison to his rage. His entire body shook, just as it did last night but this time there was something different. "This can't be... He had no right! That bastard took us out of the equation!"

Chakra began to dance around him; his muscle began to bulge as the power his anger was summoning began to flow through him like a tornado. His eyes began to alternate between blue, crimson and gold while the tears that were pouring form them moments before began to dry on his cheeks and his eyes finally found one color, sticking to gold. However, the problem was his pupil was a mix between its sage appearance and its dilated form when Kyuubi's yoki filled his being.

Slowly standing back onto his feet, both Sakura and Shizune's attention turned to him as they felt the absurd chakra release from the blonde. But before they could say a word Naruto simply glance at there direction and said one word. "Stay."

Both girls were afraid as their tears streamed down but Naruto cared not. He would deal with them later. He had to deal with this first.

Sitting in his office, dealing with a very light load of paperwork, Danzo was feeling rather good today and he knew it was going to get better. He was also very glad that he cut down the meaningless paperwork that was sent his way by having a few people scan through them before and burning anything that was useless.

He had eliminated a threat to his power in Tsunade as if she recovered she would have taken back her title soon as she was healthy enough to do so. Also the information he gathered about the Rain definitely aided his plans, making him feel all the better as it wouldn't be too long as he brought Konoha back to its former glory as the most powerful village in the land.

However, he also knew there would be some trouble today for the actions he had taken against Tsunade. He should had dealt with Shizune when he had put the fifth down and should have imprisoned her so the information on how the Slug Sannin was put down would be publicized. But there was someone she would tell before anyone else... And he wanted him to know.

Just on cue, the entire tower shook. At first Danzo was rather alarmed, thinking that Tsunade might had survived and was now coming after him, a nightmare scenario he had been battling with as he was deciding whether or not to put her down. But as the cause of the shake began to become clearer, he felt a little better.

His plan was coming to fruition and the blonde was playing into his hand just as the door to his office shattered into pieces. "Too predictable... Such a naive young man you are, Uzumaki."

To his surprised, all of his guard Anbu, AKA his Root, were thrown into his office. Each and every one had been battered, wounded and mauled and there be no chance of them returning to action any time soon, something he actually was hoping for as this could get messy. Then it became worse as Naruto entered the room.

'Oh Shit!' was one of the first things that crossed Danzo's mind as he would be alone in this endeavor and it didn't help that he caught the color and shape of his opponents eyes. Naruto use sage chakra was hard enough to handle, but when he was using purified Kyuubi yoki he was an unstoppable force.

Still Danzo kept his calm, calculated look as he gazed straight into Naruto's eyes. "I see you have heard the news... But I think you are overreacting my dear boy. My Anbu had nothing to do with this and didn't deserve such treatment. I think one or two of them actually have families."

"They were in my way." Naruto simply responded, the mere sound of his voice would had made almost any person tremble with fear as the power he was displaying along with his words added onto the experience.

Danzo, however, feared no one and easily took it in stride as he stayed calmly seated at his desk, gazing at the enraged blonde. "Fair enough. Let's get down to why you are here? Do you actually plan on attacking me? You know what would happen if you do."

"I don't give a damn! You had no right, none at all!" Naruto growled as he rushed the desk, his fist going straight through it as Danzo, on pure instinct, flip it into his trajectory and evaded to the right side of the room.

Leaning against the wall, showing he had no concern over the blonde's abilities, Danzo only shook his head. "I had every right as Hokage. Remember, my word is law and there isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it. If want something done, it is done. I could have just of easily revealed your secret to the younger generation."

This time Danzo barely was able to avoid Naruto's next attack, his speed nearly doubled from what it was before as his fist pierced the wall and he made it to the other side of the room, still acting nonchalant. "She had no chance of recovering, no matter what Shizune had said. The stress of the technique she used to save the villagers almost obliterated her mind to the point not even a Yamanaka could save her. What I did was grant her mercy."

"No!" Naruto yelled out, the chakra around him beginning to build even higher and started to worry Danzo as the boy seemed far more powerful then the information he had on him. "What you did was take away the right for family and friends to decide what was best for her! What you did... What you did was rob her of a chance of living! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT, HOKAGE!"

Before Danzo even had a chance of dodging, Naruto's speed dramatically increased to the point he could no longer see him. The very next moment he found himself flying through the windows of his office and free falling to the ground below.

Crashing as he had no chance to recover as he was stunned, a few droplets of blood leaked from the corner of his lips. He picked himself out of the small crater he had created only to hear a thud directly behind him. He didn't have to look to know who it was and his reaction was to replace himself to get out of the way but there just wasn't enough time.

Skidding across the paved road, leaving a mark through the road as he did, Naruto looked over at Danzo before slowly making his way to the downed Hokage. Everyone that could see what was happening immediately got out of the way, not sure why the present Hokage was dueling with their savior from Pein and Madara, but knew this was something they did not want to get involved with.

"You... All you care for is the power that comes from your position." Naruto stated, moving closer to the Hokage as he lifted himself from the dirt to face him, his Sharingan eye to show to everyone. "You don't give a damn about the people and what your actions could mean to them. Even if you do love this village, your actions say otherwise! Now let's fight, Hokage and I will show you what it means to cross the wrong person!"

As soon as the last word rolled of his tongue, Danzo had let loose a Grand Fireball like none other Naruto had ever seen. It was the street width and anyone nearby and hadn't moved out of the way was being burned almost instantly. Growling as he saw this while the flames approached him, he flicked the flames upward with a single motion of his hand and glared directly into Danzo's two eyes as it burned out above him, painting everything below in red and orange light.

Danzo, while stunned at what he had just witnessed, followed up with a series of hand seals, the bandages on his arm hiding a prosthetic he seemed to possess. This time the earth surrounded Naruto in a dome fashion and dozen of earth spikes pierced into his flesh... Or that was what he wanted to say.

The tip of every single spike shattered against his skin, doing nothing more then leaving a scratch. Danzo was left speechless, not even sure how Naruto had such resistance as that attack would have at least wounded Jiraiya in his sage form if he let it hit him. But somehow... He was unscathed.

What was this boy? Was he even human or had the fox passed on its strength to him?! To add onto his horror, the words that came from Naruto next sent chills down his spine as he began to believe he bit off more then he could chew.

"Is that all?"

In that very moment, what remained of his Root launched an attack from both sides of Naruto to help their Hokage. He was prepared for such and assault as he lifted both of his arms towards them and two orbs of ridiculous proportions formed in his hands and exploded on contact with the remaining Anbu members, catapulting them into and through the buildings they were next to.

It was in that moment Danzo knew he would have to use the dream in order to stand a chance. Everything Sai had reported on him seemed just to general and he greatly underrated the blonde's physical powers and skills. He would have to speak with the young man after this was over.

Soon as he noticed Danzo beginning to unlatch his prosthetic arm, Naruto knew to act as he more then likely had a certain attack he could use with only that arm, especially noticing the Sharingan implanted in his supposed missing eye. Appearing him as he did so, he kicked him in the sternum and lifted him into the air before smacking Danzo on the temple with a vicious back hand.

Watching him crater into the wall, Naruto gave him absolutely no time to get up. He drove his left forearm into his throat and began to press tightly. This was going to end here and he would make sure he suffocated as his other arm grabbed his prosthetic arm and with a single pull, ripped it clean off.

Looking him directly in the eyes, seeing the light within them slowly beginning to die, a strange satisfaction began to fill him. And as it did, Naruto was disgusted and with that he freed Danzo from his grasp and gazed down at him. "I'll grant you life this time, you insect. But know this, everyone will know what you did."

"Kakashi!" Naruto suddenly stated, feeling his sensei along with many other jounin that had arrived in the area to see what had happened, "Take me to the prison. I've broken the law and as such, I will serve my punishment. Kurenai, can I ask you to go get Sakura and Shizune from my apartment... I believe they still are in tears."

Unsure how to really respond, never having anyone willingly give up and want to be taken to jail, Kakashi only nodded as he looked at the scene numbly. Kurenai did as Naruto asked and disappeared, heading straight to his apartment leaving Kakashi to lead Naruto. But something disturbed him about this entire thing.

What caused Naruto to snap like this?

"Sai!" Danzo growled as he now was safely back in their Root headquarters, having his arm reattached. "What is the meaning of this?! How could you not tell me the boy had grown that strong?! He could jeopardize everything now not to mention that he nearly killed me before I could release my ultimate technique!"

Staying quiet as his commander yelled at him, Sai waited knelt down before him for a moment before he finally spoke. "I did not know the full extent of his power. I only knew what I saw from him as he kept most of his training from everyone except for Sakura and Kakashi. Yamato and I only knew the bare basics outside from what he showed."

"That is a lie! I know your abilities better then that and I told you to find out, you would!" Danzo yelled out at him, both from his anger and the pain that the reattachment of the arm was causing. Attaching his nerves to the prosthetic was absolutely brutal.

Keeping his calm as he didn't even fidget, Sai simply responded. "I had to keep some of the information I learned hidden to keep his trust. He knew of my connection with you and if I were to give everything I found out I wouldn't be able to keep gathering information. But I still remain adamant I did not know of his full strength and abilities."

Narrowing his eyes as he bit his lip, the war hawk gazed at the painting ninja. He knew damn well that Sai was lying, but that shouldn't be possible as the seal should keep him from doing so. So that left him in a conundrum as he wasn't sure if he could trust him any longer but he was one of his few Root that was still active after Naruto's rampage.

To make matters worse, the agent he sent to the Rain appeared before him, kneeling besides Sai with his head bowed. "Lord Danzo, not only is she a former member it also seems she is indeed the one that survive your attempt to squash the uprising in the Rain years back with Hanzo. If word of this gets out..."

"I know what it means!" Danzo stated, growling as he wasn't in the greatest moods already with everything that had transpired. "Prepare an assassination team and have it leave under the cover of darkness. If you fail to kill her, you know what you have to do."

Simply nodding and leaving just as he appeared, Sai narrowed his eyes hearing what Danzo had just stayed. "My lord, do your realize what you are doing? The Rain is now an ally and a very useful one thanks to their location."

"Do not question me, Sai!" Danzo yelled out at his subordinate. "You are dismissed and if you fail me again, I will put an end to you myself."

Standing from his knelt position, Sai nodded and turn his back to leave. But just as he was about to leave, he stopped and turn back to Danzo with a fierce look in his eyes. "I will warn you, Lord Danzo. You are making a mistake. If you cross Naruto again and he learns of it, you will die. Of that, I am sure."

With that, Sai flickered away not fearing any retaliation. He had chosen his side.

"Naruto..." Sakura's voice came as he sat on the cold, hard ground in the cell he was in and the doors opened and shut.

She was very disturbed as she looked downed at Naruto as he didn't even move from his spot. He simply stated seated, his arms wrapped around his legs while he laid his head on his knees, his eyes lifelessly gazing at the floor. She would have called it the fetal position but something told her that even in that position, Naruto was anything but defenseless.

Grimacing as there was no response, she turned to the guard and motioned for him to leave so she could get some privacy. Turning back to Naruto as he left, she knelt down and onto her knees before she wrapped her arms around and embraced him. "Naruto... Don't do this to yourself. I'm here to help and everyone is worried about you."

Not even reacting to her touch, Naruto's didn't even advert his gaze despite her warm embrace. "I tried to kill Danzo."

Wincing at his emotionless tone and the lack of any reaction, Sakura held him even closer to her as she laid her head on top of his. "I heard... I wanted to do the same... We should have done it together that way you wouldn't be locked in here."

"I put myself in here, Sakura... I would have killed him. But... But..." Naruto mumbled lightly, his body trembling at Sakura's touch.

Surprised as she had not heard that, Kurenai barely having skimmed over what happened from what she found out and had told them Naruto was in jail, Sakura raised her head and looked at Naruto, worried as something else was bothering Naruto outside of Tsunade's passing. "But what? What happened?"

Trembling, almost beginning to convulse, Naruto took a few deep breathes and calmed himself before finally looking up and into Sakura's emeralds. "I began to enjoy his suffering as I felt him beginning to pass on. ...It sickened me. I felt as I had become like Orochimaru."

Hearing what he had said, her eyes widened and her body stiffened. That was something she had not expected Naruto to have said. Her face dropped, her hair covering her eyes before she shook her head and softly spoke. "I... I have to admit... I would have enjoyed it. ...Outside of you, Lady Tsunade is everything to me. And he took her from me..."

"Sakura!" Naruto sternly responded, his gaze hardening as he looked at the tuff of hair that was blocking her eyes. "Killing is something that should never be enjoyed, you know that! I don't want you to ever, ever say that again imouto!"

Flinching at his reaction, she continued to gaze downward as her dropped even further. She hated when he called her that. She wanted to be seen as something more to prove that she wasn't hung over Sasuke any longer but he just couldn't see her like that any longer. And that hurt even if it paled to the pain she had already endured today.

And it all had become even worse after what she had learned only moments before arriving here. "Naruto... There is something I have to say. ...Something that you won't want to here, but I am the only one that can tell you. ...There was just a meeting between the jounin. A meeting about your future as Hokage."

"They've decided that I can't become the Seventh, haven't they?" Naruto stated more then he asked having felt this would happen as he waited within this cell.

Only nodding, not sure how Naruto was going to respond and was worried it might be very much like it was last night, Sakura was prepared to calm him down as she held him tightly. "Kakashi and I did everything we could along with the rest of our friends, but we couldn't persuade enough despite them understanding what happened to Tsunade. The only thing we managed was to get out of them was an investigation of Danzo's activities to see if he should be impeached."

The reaction she got was not the one she suspected. Naruto began to laugh. The hair on her neck stood on ends as this wasn't how she figured him to react but now here he was laughing and it was no normal laugh. It was a mixture of despair and sorrow, a laugh of someone that was ready to break. "It figures! ...Now I'm beginning to see Madara meant now."

Becoming further worried as Naruto almost never mentioned that name other then when she or Shizune forced him to speak of his nightmares, Sakura reached one hand back and into her pouch, preparing for the worse as this could end badly. But as she did, Naruto lowered his head and sighed. "Put it away... I'm still me... I just don't know what to do any more. Everything is being taken from me and there isn't a damn thing I can do."

Placing both her hands onto his shoulders, making him look at her, Sakura smiled at him despite the tears beginning to build in her eyes. "No matter what you do... I'll be there with you. I will follow you and stand at your side even if you were to leave this village. ...I don't want to lose you like Sasuke."

Naruto found it difficult to continue looking at Sakura. He knew that what she said was true, but it was painful to hear as he still knew she loved Sasuke, maybe not as much but she felt the same nonetheless. But to even think that he would walk out on this village... His home. He found it difficult even with a dictator like Danzo ruling his life.

Sighing and moving Sakura's hands from him, Naruto averted his gaze from her and closed his eyes. "I'm just too confused about everything right now... I need time to think alone. ...Whose there?!"

Seeing Naruto suddenly tense and prepare for the worse, Sakura turned and was ready to fight when a familiar figure stepped forward, three guards slumping to the ground behind him. "Sai?! What have you...?"

"Sorry for the sudden intrusion... But I need your help Naruto as you are the only one that I can trust." Sai responded before he flicked a single photo towards Naruto, letting Naruto know what this was about as he could not tell him thanks to Danzo's seal.

With one look at the picture, Naruto's eyes narrowed. This... this would complicate things. And now... He wasn't sure if he could stay faithful to his village if she would be involved.

Taking a kunai from Sakura's pouch, as his things were confiscated, as he kind of threw them at Kakashi, he drew blood from his palm before he looked at Sakura. "A vial, please. I cannot leave here otherwise it will be suspicious. Summon Gamakichi and have him tell her that she is danger. Only you can do this as they trust you."

Doing as Naruto asked, filling a vial with his blood, Sakura wiped away her tears as she knew this was important. She had only got a glimpse of the picture before Naruto hid it, she knew who it was. "Leave it to me and Sai... We'll try to keep you informed while you're in here."

Watching Sakura leave with Sai, Naruto sat back onto the cold floor of his cell and dropped his head. "Was this what you mean, Madara? Will I never know peace?"

The next morning, Naruto was awoken by the door of his cell opening and the last person he wanted to see entering his cell. It was as if he was gloating, even though he shouldn't be as he had kicked his ass and willing came here. What was he? A masochist? "What is it that you want, Hokage?"

Having expected such hostility, knowing that he would never see eye to eye with him, Danzo simply gazed at Naruto as he stayed on his cell's bed. "I know we will never get along and I accept that... But as much as I hate to say this, I very much need your support. You are the savior of this village, something I cannot ever be."

"Flattery will get you nowhere. You had the woman that was practically a mother to me killed, so I would state your case quickly as your presence sickens me and I can only hold myself back for so long." Naruto retorted, not bothering to even glance at Danzo.

Irritated that the boy would be difficult to reason with, something he knew coming in, Danzo took a deep breath before throwing his equipment pouch to him. "I've decided not to charge you with treason. Doing so would only hurt this village more as you are the only reason it still stands and much of the village would be against me if I were to do such a thing now that I'm linked with Tsunade's disappearance."

"Disappearance?!" Naruto laughed, finally meeting the Hokage's eyes. "What lies have you been telling? You've killed her."

"Or so I thought." Danzo growled, not liking what had transpired yesterday. "But after our little fight, Tsunade's body disappeared and there is no trace of it. To make matters worse, Shizune is no longer around and a lot of the jounin and the general populace believe that I have something to do with it. As such, I am unable to find her and I need your help."

Raising his eyebrow, Naruto simply waited for Danzo to continue as he was actually interested as there might be benefits for him. "I simply want your loyalty as if you are on my side, the people won't be as restless and a lot of the ninja will be at peace. If you do that for me, I will grant you your dream and name you the seventh Hokage when I'm ready to step down."

Naruto scoffed at Danzo's declaration, not believing he would do such a thing. "Hah, the jounin have already decided that I cannot become Hokage..."

"I can easily overturn that as they are only a third of the decision." Danzo stated before explaining. "The Hokage has the right to name any successor, whether the jounin accept them or not, and that is a third of the equation. The other third is the council and with my influence and your record up until now, I can easily influence them giving you majority rule and therefore, becoming the Hokage."

Listening, Naruto's gaze turned from Danzo as he shook his head. He was being given the chance to achieve his life long dream but in order to do it he would have to obey this man... He wasn't sure he could do that. "I... I don't know. I would need time to think about it along with everything else."

Danzo frown for a moment. He had expected the boy to jump at the chance but when he didn't... It was no matter. He was only asking for time to sort out his mind, something any person would need after the events they had gone through. "I'll give you a day. If you do not make your decision I will put you back in here."

With that, Danzo turned and left as spending more time there would only make him sick. He hated those that let emotions rule their lives. They were so weak.

Watching as he left, Naruto strapped on his pack before exiting the cell, the guard only looking at him for a moment before leading him outside. Soon as he walked out, Naruto's face hardened as he noticed Sai standing, waiting for him as he exited. "What happened...?"

"Not here. People will overhear and I am sure I'm being watched." Sai stated, glancing to where he knew one of his fellow Root was at, having sensed him for a while.

Catching this glance, Naruto simply nodded before they both disappeared in a swirl of leaves. The said Root would have followed, but the second he traced where the flicker had led them, he saw a fist connect to his face.

"So what's going on? Why isn't Sakura here?" Naruto asked as he leaned against a tree, seeing the bridge he used to meet the rest of his team at in the horizon.

"I can't say... The seal keeps me from doing so. That is why I came here alone as Sakura doesn't know you are released yet... I needed something so I could barter with you." Sai stated, holding out a scroll with a symbol Naruto recognized immediately. It was the kanji for Rain.

Standing straight, Naruto simply gazed at Sai before moving towards him with blinding speed. Knocking the painter onto his knees, Naruto held onto his head before pulling his tongue out with his other hand. "Sai, this is going to hurt more then you think. Just try and not bite your tongue off."

In the very next moment, Sai began to convulse as Naruto traced a counter seal on his tongue before inserting pressure and a mess of chakra into the said appendage. He was attempting to yell but with is tongue being held like it was along with his head being held in place, it was coming out as just some weird muffled growl.

The process, thankfully, only took a moment before Naruto let go. Sai dropped to the ground, gasping and groaning. That was an experience he did not want to ever have to go through again. "God dammit Naruto! Could you have at least warned me?! And what if I wanted something else instead?!"

"Unlikely. When you said you couldn't say I knew it meant you physically couldn't speak about it as it involved Danzo and anything involving him you cannot speak of. As for warning you... I could have but that was for calling me all those colorful names for these last few years." Naruto responded as he watched Sai writhe a little longer on the ground before finally helping him up to his feet.

Glaring at him for a moment, rather pissed that Naruto actually used that as a reason, Sai took a deep breath. It oddly felt different then before. Maybe it was because the sheer amount of pain the unsealing caused but he doubted that. It felt different because it was his first breath that he had now that he was free.

Smiling, something he didn't do very often, Sai tossed the scroll over to Naruto. "The assassination attempt on her failed. She was easily able to head out and thwart it, using her abilities to their fullest. ...But now she wants to speak with you and will meet you just outside the village tonight. I will take you there as it is a rather secretive point, one you probably don't know of."

Reading over the scroll, seeing that it was indeed her writing, Naruto look over at Sai as it seemed he had a little more to say. "I also have some bad news to inform you... Danzo... He set this entire up. This was all a ploy of his to make you his loyal subject and use you and the fox as a weapon against all that opposed him."

Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously as a low growl grew in his throat. He had done all of this... Just to get his hands on him and the fox. It took all of his control not to release Kyuubi's chakra and tame it. "How... Why would he do all of this just for that?!"

Wincing, afraid as he knew the damage Naruto could cause him, Sai took a deep breath as he had a feeling Naruto wouldn't like this explanation. "That has always been his plan... Ever since he knew the Kyuubi was sealed into you, as he knew of your birth right the moment you were born, he wanted to take you into Root and turn you into his ultimate weapon... A weapon that would make the world bow down to him as all he cares about is Konoha's power and with you... He would have forced the other nations to surrender unconditionally and take control of the Elemental Nations."

"But to make matters worse... Even without you, he has found a new way he can succeed. He is after her as she is the last person that knows were the other seven are sealed. If he is to find them..." Sai finished, hating the man more and more as he spoke as the idea of creating weapons from demon vessels was... Wrong.

As he listened to Sai's words, Naruto stayed oddly quiet. Even his facial expression didn't show what was going on. But his eyes... An unholy fury burned within them as a deep crimson flashed within, the fox hearing everything as well an attempted to try and spur his vessel on to use its power.

Being able to easily keep the fox in check, Naruto turned and moved to leave. "Sai... I leave it up to you. I will need you to take me to her and get me out of here quietly."

"It will be done."

Sitting by herself, waiting in the spot she had requested he would meet her, Konan gazed around at her surroundings.

Moss grew over the walls of the cave, covering most of the cave entrance along with a very wide oak tree. Various insects crawled and flew around her. Under normal circumstance she would never entered such a place but... It was better then a tree made of paper as that was rather conspicuous. It also wouldn't help if any Konoha ninja came by and saw that as they were still rather sore about what Nagato had did to their village, despite reviving everyone after he was done.

She smiled sadly at the thought. In just one meeting with him... Nagato seemed to remember what his true goal was. It was never to inflict the same pain onto others in order to make them understand. His goal had and always was to show everyone the way. He had failed in that... But within Naruto, he saw the same spirit... The same hope.

"I finally understand... He was what you couldn't be. He became your hope, didn't he?" Konan asked to a picture she kept of Nagato, Yahiko standing besides her. "Nagato... Yahiko... I promise not to let either of you down... And I will put all my faith into him."

Hearing rustling at the entrance, Konan put the picture away and stood on guard. Putting out the small fire, just in case, Konan waited until two figures entered the cave. Melding into the side of the cave, hiding behind a rather large stalagmite she held her breath as she only asked for Naruto to come.

The fire suddenly was relit and she sighed in relief as it was Naruto, the painter having accompanied. "I thought I told you to come alone."

"I wouldn't have found this place if I was alone. Very few people know of it, after all." Naruto stated, looking towards the origami princess as she moved from behind the stalagmite, wearing a cloak he hadn't seen in a long time. "So I see you weren't kidding? You truly wish to reform the Akatsuki."

"I do. I know very well what that man is attempting and I won't let him. I won't give him this world so easily." Konan stated, moving to the fire, taking the spot she had previously claimed. "My goals are different from what Madara wanted... But I wish to achieve the same end. I want to create a world were everyone will understand each other... To bring forth a new dawn."

Silently listening, Naruto shook his head as he looked over at the woman. "I can see you are determined to see this through... But what happens if I refuse and I stand on the other side? Could you truly stand against me after what has happened between us?"

"I would not back down. Whether you are with me or not does mean I will just quit. I do not want to live in a world like this and if you do, that's fine. I will bring forth Nagato's dream alone!" Konan stated as she stood, disgusted with the blonde as she had not suspected he would even think about siding with that creature that was the Hokage.

"Sit down Konan... I never said I wouldn't join. I only wanted to see how strong your resolve was." Naruto stated, looking upwards at Konan as he motioned for her to sit back down.

Konan refused to sit as she looked down at him, her eyes narrowed. "I did come here to ask you to join. I came here to beg you to stand and lead us to a new beginning! Jiraiya, Nagato and even I believe that you truly are the one that will bring peace to land! Without you... This world cannot change. Even Madara knew that much!"

Watching from the entrance, Sai was rather shell shocked as he hadn't expected this. Sure, he expected that she would talk about reforming the Akatsuki but to ask Naruto to lead... How would that even work? He was the nine tail vessel!

To his credit, Naruto was rather calm from Konan's outburst and simply motioned for her to take a seat once more, something she did this time as she gaze at him in wonder. "Do you realize what you ask of me? ...You are asking me to abandon all my friends and my dream of becoming Hokage."

"I know." Konan stated, feeling somewhat guilty as she knew of his dreams very well. "What I ask is difficult... But it is the right thing to do. What good is being Hokage in a land full of hatred, lies and deceit? In the end, it would be nothing more then a waste of your life as you can do much more good with us! ...Come back with me and we can bring hope back to the people of this world."

Staying quiet after Konan had finished, Naruto closed his eyes. "There will be war, you know that. No matter what we say or do, the five great nations will be after us, believing us to be an evil entity just as the first dawn was."

Konan nodded, knowing the risks very well. "I know and my village is ready to support us in any way they can, even if it means war. They are willing to risk everything as they believe this world is too dark... Too depressing and they want to change that."

Sighing quietly, Naruto removed his headband before tossing it towards Sai and beckoning for his. "I cannot cross that one out... It means too much to me to do such a thing to Iruka."

Understanding, something Sai from a few years back wouldn't have been able to do, Sai took his off and tossed it to Naruto. "I guess this means I'll be some sort of spy for you then. ...Meh, I can live with that. That's been my job for as long as I can remember."

Scratching out the headband Sai had given him and placing it on, Naruto smiled and nodded. "If you can, I would appreciate it. Just keep Sakura safe for me."

"No! I'm coming with you!" A certain voice came from outside the cave, catching all three off guard before Sakura appeared with a few minor cuts and scrapes. "Danzo knows Konan survived and heard she was heading here, so he sent a team to finish her... I took care of them."

"Even with your skills, I do not think you understand the gravity of such an offer. For one to be a part of the Akatsuki, one must not only possess great skill but also have an unbreakable will and a steadfast belief." Konan reprimanded, knowing Sakura's skills to be great enough but feeling she did not possess what was necessary to be a part of their organization.

"I understand that Naruto is leaving and that means I will follow!" Sakura yelled out at Konan, not going to be told what she couldn't do. "I made him a promise and I will not break it under any circumstances. I will do anything and everything to see his dream come true, even if this is what it is!"

Konan, for the first time that night, was taken aback by Sakura's fierceness. But it was the shine in her eyes that caught her attention. There was something so familiar about them... It seemed the past really did repeat itself. But maybe this time there could be a change.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Konan looked directly into Sakura's emeralds before accepting her as she knew there would be no way to dissuade her now. But even then, she gave it her best attempt. "If that is what you wish, but I will warn you. Your wish will come true... And at the end of it, you may very well be left broken at the end. Is that something you can accept?"

"It is... As I will break if I lose Naruto as I did Sasuke. ...I would lose it without him now." Sakura retorted, gazing straight back into Konan's icy blues, not going to back down as that was the truth.

Nodding in response, Konan reached into her cloak before pulling forth a folded black cloak with various red clouds and presented it to Naruto. "I specially designed this particular cloak for you, to show you are the leader and the one to bring forth our dream."

Taking it from her, Naruto slid it on, it fit his form perfectly. But there was one difference he noticed between his cloak and Konan's. His clouds... They were almost identical to the shape of the Konoha leaf. Smiling and thanking Konan with a nod, Naruto passed by Sai and exited the cave with Sakura and Konan on his heels.

A new dawn was coming and he would be the one to deliver it.