Chapter 27
Naruto Sarutobi
The truck hitting a pothole woke Naruto up from his slumber. He opened his eyes to see the darkness that surrounded him. His back ached from the makeshift bed of hard boxes and torn, popped bubble wrap. Though he couldn’t see, he could hear the snoring of Jiraiya next to him and Orichimaru’s occasional snore a bit farther away, each of them sleeping on their own makeshift beds.
They had been in the back of a truck for two days. Covered in darkness, being driven by a stranger that Orichimaru controlled using his telepathic quirk. Naruto remembered the day they decided to get in the 18-wheeler. All three of them were at a truck stop miles away from Sarutobi High. Orichimaru had suggested that he use his mind control to get a truck and Jiraiya agreed, but Naruto protested. The idea of having an innocent man drive him around without his consent bothered Naruto. Innocent people died because of him. Hiruzen died because of him.
“I don’t want someone else to die,” Naruto whined. “What if we get caught? They’ll kill him!”
“Naruto,” Jiraiya had said. “We’re fugitives now. Our faces are all over national television and we have no friends- at least, no friends that can smuggle us from one place to another. I understand not wanting to involve innocent people into this, but it’s either them or us.”
Naruto wished he had said more then, but Orichimaru had already used his quirk and controlled the mind of the truck driver. In a couple minutes, the three were in the back of his 18-wheeler and driving across the country.
Police were everywhere and the public all hated him. They thought of him as a murderer. An ungrateful, orphan murderer who killed the only chance at fatherhood he was ever going to get. Madara was quick to put his face all over the city. Immediately, wanted posters and billboards went up with his evil face on them. The news ran segment after segment going into much detail regarding his past- at least they claimed was his past. His past was fabricated. The news made claims that he had been adopted multiple times, he had been to jail before for assault- one news channel said he would take pleasure in the harm of animals when he was younger. All lies but the news didn’t care. Whatever Madara was probably telling them, the news wouldn’t question it.
Because of this, everything required extreme caution. When Naruto had awoken after passing out on the day of the rally, he woke up in a small, dirty studio apartment. The windows were covered by thick curtains so no light would come in, and the lightbulbs that lit the home were incredibly dim. To see anything was a hassle. He had woken up on a rough, scratchy green couch. There was a suffocating odor of liquor that filled the apartment. He saw empty bottles, and trash everywhere. The apartment had very few furniture- only a coffee table, television with a tv stand, and a couple of odd, mismatched chairs were inside. Even the bed that sat in the corner did not have a bed frame, the mattress laying on the dirty floor. On that mattress Jiraiya slept. Orichimaru sat in a chair that was in between the couch and the mattress.
When Orichimaru noticed Naruto awake, he said “This was Tsunadae’s old apartment.”
“It’s… where is she?”
“She’s dead,” Orichamaru said bluntly. He had a sharpening stone placed on the coffee table in front of him and was sharpening a kunai.
“How’d she die?”
“She was killed in the fight with Madara,” Orichimaru never looked up from his kunai.
His voice bothered Naruto. It was raspy, high pitched, and cold.
“She was what?”
“You’ve been out for about 12 hours,” Orichimaru said, still sharpening the kunai. “Hiruzen and Tsunadae are both dead. They were killed by Madara Uchiha.”
When Naruto heard it, he couldn’t believe it to be true. He denied and denied and started crying for the truth, till Orichimaru, seemingly annoyed by this, woke Jiraiya up to talk with Naruto. He calmed him down.
When the initial shock and grief passed him, all that remained was anger.
They didn’t stay long in the apartment. Only for four days. Initially, they thought it was a safe spot to be in for a while. According to Jiraiya, the apartment she lived in was paid only in cash and not under her name. Apparently, she had lived in a previous apartment, but they were planning on increasing her rent exponentially upon the end of her lease. She planned on moving out of that apartment but her terrible credit (from gambling too much), a history of evictions, and her somewhat known history being part of the Sanin, an extremely controversial covert military squad, she ended up not finding a home by the end of her lease, forcing her to live here. It was lucky because there were not many options for them housing wise. The first place they would look for would be Jiraiya’s and Hiruzen’s homes. Sure, they’d eventually find out about Tsunadae’s home, but by then they’d be long gone. Or so they thought.
They tried to eat the food that Tsunadae had left behind, but most of it was spoiled, her fridge filled with expired frozen foods, leftovers, and alcohol. Orichimaru had to slip away and return with food each day.
On the fourth day, he left but came back only a couple of minutes later.
“We need to go,” Orichimaru said with a tone that brokered no argument.
Jiraiya didn’t even question it. He grabbed his brown duffle bag, already packed. Jiraiya had always made sure to be prepared to leave immediately.
“Why are we leaving,” Naruto had said, which Orichimaru replied, “Some investigators are in the lobby, talking with the landlord. I controlled the investigators and the landlords mind and put them to sleep, but that’ll only last for so long. They know I have a mind control quirk, so these investigators might be already expecting it. It’s harder to keep people under when they know it’s coming.”
That’s when the three heard the lock on the door turn.
Orichamaru muttered something under his breath. The door unlocked but nobody opened it. Everyone in the apartment was frozen.
“I thought you control-,” Naruto started but Orichimaru shushed him. He then reached into his pouch that hung from his waist and pulled out a kunai.
“No!” Naruto yelled, unsure why.
The door opened, and the landlord with the three investigators stood in the doorway.
The landlord was a short, stocky, elderly woman, with grey curly hair. Small reading glasses hung from her neck collar. Old as she was, she looked to be strong as an ox.
“The woman hasn’t been here in days,” the landlord told the three investigators. Each investigator wore a black suit, just like Madara’s guards but they looked different in appearance. One was a man maybe in his 30s, unkempt black hair, clean shaven, and dark eyes. Too his right was a pale-skinned woman with blond hair that tied back into a ponytail about the same age. To his left, a massive man, taller than the doorframe. He was bald except for a single lock of curly blond hair and had a thick, blond handlebar mustache that completely covered his upper lip.
But their demeanors were all similar to each other. Outside of appearance, they looked to be clones. Their backs straight, shoulders back, faces grim.
Their eyes staring at Orichimaru.
The landlord didn’t seem to notice anyone. “Young lady are you in here,” she yelled from the doorway, into the apartment. “She’s not really that young,” she whispered to the three investigators. “But I like to give compliments to my tenants. Makes them less likely to miss rent, I’ve noticed. Plus, everyone’s young compared to my old ass,” she gave a cheeky grin and a quick chuckle.
The investigators paid her no mind. They glared at Orichimaru. Naruto looked closely and saw that one with messy hair had sweat coming down his forehead. He looked almost scared. Unlike the other investigators, he wore white gloves with some strange, red circular design on them.
“What’s wrong,” the landlord said when she noticed this. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
The white gloved, nervous investigator didn’t respond. Is he… struggling? His muscles looked tense, and his face occasionally had a twitch to it.
“He’s stronger mentally than the other two,” Orichimaru told Jiraiya. “I’m not going to hold them like this much longer.”
“Make the landlord leave,” Jiraiya said.
“Can’t,” Orichimaru said. “I have four people under control and one of them is slipping. I’m trying to have all three forget they saw us, but only the landlord is under complete control. The others, I can only keep them still.”
“Excuse me sir, are you okay? You’ve gone awfully silent,” the landlord said to the investigator. Naruto could see the man had gotten a thumb free.
“I don’t want to get the lady involved,” Jiraiya said. “Let’s run!”
“You’re scaring me,” the landlord said.
Naruto saw that the man’s middle finger was also free. His free finger and thumb reached for each other.
“Can’t run, cause he’s free,” Orichimaru said. He threw his kunai.
Naruto heard a snap.
The apartment became engulfed in fire.
Jiraiya was quick. Though he stood on the other side of the apartment, next to the mattress, his hair managed to wrap around Naruto and pull him away from the blast, barely missing it. The heat from the fire was so hot that Naruto was sure he was burned but luckily, when Jiraiya dropped him on the dirty mattress, he found himself unscathed.
The landlord wasn’t. When the initial blast went away, all that was left of her was ashes, her glasses, and charred bones
“Put them under again,” Jiraiya yelled to Orichimaru, but the investigators were all free. The blond-haired woman investigator had her pistol out and started firing into the apartment, through the doorway. Naruto ducked his head, face burying into the mattress, bullets whizzing above and landing in the wall behind him.
“We can’t kill the kid,” the white gloved one yelled over the gunfire.
“I’m providing cover fire, Colonel. You know as well as I do that my aim is better than this. Also, you almost killed him yourself.”
“My apologies, Lieutenant.”
Regardless of whether she was aiming to kill or not, the bullets whizzed by dangerously close. Jiraiya’s hair formed a shield in front. Thick layers of hair caught bullets aimed at Jiraiya.
Why hasn’t Orichimaru put them under control yet? Naruto thought before the massive investigator rushed through the doorway and tackled Orichimaru with great force, the two landing in the kitchen area. The mustached man held Orichimaru down and started choking him. Orichimaru began to lose the little color he had in his face. The white gloved man snapped again. A smaller, concentrated fire blast barely missed Jiraiya. The apartment was on fire. The couch, the walls, the floor burned. The woman reloaded her pistol. Jiraiya’s hair zoomed past the white gloved man and knocked ponytailed investigator off her feet. She slammed against the wall behind her.
“Lieutenant!” The white gloved investigator snapped his fingers again. Another fire blast came shortly after. Jiraiya grabbed the coffee table with his hair and threw it in the way of the blast. The table exploded, chunks of wood flying everywhere. One of the chunks lodged deep into the mustached man’s shoulder. He yelled at the pain. Blood poured out of his shoulder. Orichimaru pushed him off. Another snap. Fire rushed towards Jiraiya. He used his hair to cover himself, but the blast knocked him back hard against the burning apartment wall. Parts of the roof began to fall from the fire. Naruto knew another snap was coming.
“Put them under,” Jiraiya yelled, his hair now burning.
“I can’t focus,” Orichimaru said. He almost died but his tone remains the same. Indifferent and cold.
The big man pulled the wood out from his shoulder. Orichimaru grabbed another kunai from his pouch. He can’t concentrate and if another snap comes, we’re dead, thought Naruto.
“Behind you,” the blond-haired woman yelled to the white gloved man. The white gloved man turned around.
No one was there.
When he turned back around, the woman punched him, knocking him back. He snapped his fingers and the blast of fire removed Naruto’s clone of the blond-haired woman.
“Your tricks won’t work one me,” the white gloved man said.
But it did. Burning hair wrapped around each of his wrists. The hair then wrapped around each finger, preventing him from snapping.
“Damn it, Orichimaru, put them under!” The flames on Jiraiya’s hair were slowly working its way towards his scalp. Jiraiya kept his hair up and away from his body to prevent his clothes catching fire.
The massive man had pinned Orichimaru down again and was choking him. More of the ceiling was falling because of the fire. The blond-haired woman was getting up again. It seemed hopeless.
Naruto grabbed one of the aflame chunks of coffee table. He ran towards the muscular man and hit him in the face hard with it. It knocked him back. A clone of Naruto’s jumped atop him. Then another clone. Another. He tried making as many clones as possible to overwhelm him, each clone grabbing, biting, and scratching the massive investigator. By clone 10, he was close to passing out until Orichimaru grabbed him and said, “They’re under again.”
The three rushed out of the burning apartment. When they escaped and came onto the outside parking lot, Jiraiya extended his burning hair even further away from him. His hair stretched far, some of it reaching the edges of the lot. Orichimaru then hastily cut Jiraiya’s hair at the scalp, and not just hair. In his haste, he accidentally cut the scalp in some places. Blood trickled down Jiraiya’s head, dying the little hair he had left in a dark, red color. They then ran towards the nearest bus stop, leaving the hair to burn in the lot.
The bus luckily came within the minute and was empty save for a family of three. Orichimaru put the bus’s passengers and driver under his mind control and soon they were at the truck stop and in the back of the truck.
The truck wasn’t entirely safe. Yesterday, the government started setting up checkpoints right outside most major cities. Guards would stop cars from entering the city and check the vehicle for any sign of fugitives. Orichimaru made quick work of these guards. His telepathic quirk was unlike anything Naruto had ever witnessed. A guard- or even two guards- would open the trunk and see the three “criminals”, and yet, would close the trunk and tell whoever their superior was that nothing was inside the trunk. It amazed but also scared Naruto. A man with this much power able to make any person do his bidding would make any other man go insane or become evil. Orichimaru could turn over both Jiraiya and Naruto without having to fight either of them. Hell, he could force Naruto to go to sleep and the boy would wake up in a jail cell without any memory of how he’d gotten there. This man- a man that Naruto had never met who possessed this great power- was supposed to be trusted with the task of protecting the boy? He found it baffling but what other choice he had? He couldn’t go home or back to Sarutobi High. Any chance at a normal life was taken from him by that murderer Madara Uchiha. The president he once thought highly of took away his only chance at family. Naruto had finally become closer with Hiruzen. He finally had a father. Madara took that away.
Anger filled the boy as he thought about it. When Jiraiya explained to him what happened, the fox spirit almost had been triggered by his shock and rage. He felt his skin get hot and a being wanting to break free from within him, but he managed to keep it down due to Jiraiya’s comforting words. “It’s okay,” he had said or “I know it hurts, I’m hurting too,” or “calm down,” when Naruto’s crying had switched to anger.
But what else was Naruto to feel? He had been an orphan for most of his life and when he finally had a parent, it was ripped away from him violently.
He took everything from me, Naruto thought. Madara will pay for this. I will make him pay. And Sasuke too.
Naruto’s anger did not discriminate. It was Sasuke, Sakura, and their group of friends that had lured him to Madara. They were all guilty. All deserving of his wrath. Anyone involved, from his classmates to the guards that search for him, would all reap what they sowed; he swore. The fire of vengeance that burned within him kept him alive. It kept him from jumping out of the truck as it drove. The fire burned all fear in him. When the guard had opened the trunk, Naruto was not afraid. He wouldn’t be even if Orichimaru did not possess such a powerful quirk. Nobody was going to stop him bringing justice.
“Do you want to go back to sleep,” Orichimaru said, somewhere in the darkness of the truck’s trunk.
“No…” Naruto responded, tense. He wouldn’t even have to ask me if he wanted to put me to sleep.
“You’re scared of me,” Orichimaru said, no warmth in his tone.
No point in lying. “Yeah I am.”
“My quirk is quite powerful. You wonder if I can be trusted.”
“… Did you read my mind to find that out?”
“For men like me, I do not need to read minds to figure out what another is thinking.”
Naruto pondered on that. An ex-Sanin member probably could infer thoughts from people based on their actions or faces. A military squad of that caliber would need to be highly intelligent and can rely on their mind as much as their quirk.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Naruto said, still nervous.
Orichimaru sighed. “No, I did not.”
The truck came to a stop and then the engine turned off. After a few moments, the trunk opened. The light was blinding, but after a few moments, Naruto’s eyes became adjusted. They were on the side of a two-way road that was in the middle of a forest. Trees surrounded them, and the road was empty. In the distance, Naruto could see mountains that looked eerily familiar. The weather was cold, the icy wind biting Naruto’s face. White steam came out of the mouths of everyone as they breathed. The truck driver stood in the door with a blank, unthinking face, completely unbothered as Naruto shivered.
Jiraiya yawned and stretched. His hair had already grown back. “Are they here too,” he said as the three stepped out of the truck.
“Yes, but kid should go to Ame. This won’t work,” Orichimaru said.
“It’ll work,” Jiraiya said. “Can you put them under?”
“If I put the leader of a clan under, it would be found out soon enough. But I can’t do it regardless. He brought his own telepath with him. He’s blocking my quirk with his.”
As they walked towards the front of the truck, waiting for them in the middle of the road were a group of five white SUVs that blocked the road ahead. Men stood guard in both the front and back of the vehicles, wearing thick white fur coats that lay over blue armor and a black suit. The guards in front of the cars were gathered around two people. One was an aging man, bald, in the same apparel as the guards. He had his hand placed on the back of who Naruto knew was the leader. The leader was tall, tanned skin, and his center parted hair reached all the way down to his waist. He was old for sure, but still looked strong. His body was built like an ox and there were only a few whites in his hair. He wore the same white fur coat as his guards, but instead of blue armor, it was red. On the armor was a small, blue symbol. The symbol of the Senju Clan.
We’re in the Senju’s territory, Naruto realized. That’s why I recognize the mountain. The mountains were where the Senjus lived. They were a tough clan of people known for their warriors. Senjus are trained since birth in the ways of war. Strategy and combat. Their culture is that of fighting. Hiruzen had talked highly of them when he was still alive. He used to say we’d visit here one day, Naruto thought.
“Hashirama Senju,” Jiraiya said to the leader in red armor. “Thank you for seeing us.”
Hashirama Senju was the leader of the clan. He gave a big smile. “I only see you out of respect to the late Hiruzen. I’ve also been dying to see Minato’s son.”
“Hashirama, you know that we’ve been framed by Madara,” Jiraiya continued. “He means to kill the innocent boy-.”
“-Who has a weapon in him,” Hashirama said. “He’s not just a random boy, I’m well aware, I had my telepath read Madara’s thoughts when he visited two days ago.”
“He was here?” Jiraiya looked shocked.
“Indeed, he was. He’s been making appearances to each of the clans to keep up good relations and get possible endorsements now that the Uzumaki Party has retracted theirs,” he laughed. The laugh was hearty and filled the forest. “To use Uzumaki’s as a scapegoat is a quite baffling strategy to me. But I’m not a political man. The Senjus have been responsible for this country’s military, nothing more. I told Madara that our short-lived streak with politics ended with my brother resigning early, before his term ended.” He looked at Naruto. “He was the president right before your dad was, young man.”
Shit, Naruto thought. The Senjus are friends with Madara, what were they thinking.
“So, you’ve endorsed him then,” Orichimaru said.
“Still making a decision,” Hashirama said. “We told him we probably will. He was satisfied with that answer.”
“The Uchihas and Senjus have a history of hate between each other,” Jiraiya said. “Before this country was unified Mena Uzumaki, the two clans warred constantly between each other. And have warred many times since then.”
“Thousands of years ago,” Hashirama shrugged. “But truthfully, we aren’t convinced that it was the young boy that killed Hiruzen. Minato was a good-natured man, I’m sure that passed down to the kid too, regardless of what weapon’s inside of him.” Hashirama looked at Naruto and gave him a warm smile.
“Hashirama you have always had a good heart,” Jiraiya said. “We’re begging you. We have nowhere else to go.”
“You do,” Hashirama looked back to Jiraiya. “I’m unsure why you’re even wanting to meet with me here.”
“Hiruzen….” Jiraiya sighed. “His intentions changed towards the end of his life. The fate that awaits the boy in Ame isn’t the one that Hiruzen wanted for him. He wants to have a normal life.”
“Take him to Kiri then.”
“No money,” Orichimaru said.
“What am I, a charity,” Hashirama laughed that same hearty laugh again.
“If you protect Naruto, Madara will leave the kid alone,” Jiraiya said. “It’s an election year. Madara will need the Senjus. With your clan behind us, Madara can’t do anything.”
“Madara may not win reelection,” Orichimaru said.
“He might leave the kid alone,” Hashirama began. “But he might not. Madara has been amassing political influence over the years. I might not be a politically minded man, but I know that if Madara is willing to throw away an important political party’s endorsement, it’s because he’s confident that he doesn’t need it. Tobirama was the first president to leave before his term ended, and out of shame, we’ve avoided politics, but our staying out of it has cost us. Madara has slowly found ways to strip us of our political influence. Us, who oversee the military, can’t even vote on certain legislation!” He gave a sigh. “It’s too risky to do what you ask, Jiraiya. Our position is weak as is, and right now, we can’t risk that.”
“Hmm…” Orichimaru murmured.
“Why meet with us then,” Jiraiya said. “It’s a risk to even be here.”
“Please, my telepath is almost as good as Orichimaru,” Hashirama patted the bald man on his side’s arm. The bald man still hadn’t let go of Hashirama. “And I have ten more almost as good as baldy.”
“Please don’t call me that sir,” The bald man said.
“Sorry,” Hashirama smiled again. “This whole place has been on lock down. Nobody has moved in or out of Senju territory except you three. Had my telepaths scour the whole area with teams of scouts to make sure it was safe. Sure though, it was a lot of effort. But it’s because I was friends with Hiruzen and more importantly, now more than ever, my clan needs Naruto in the Ame Kingdom.”
“Shit,” Orichimaru said as a couple guards approached.
“But Hiruzen-,” Jiraiya started.
“I know his wishes changed, but his wishes didn’t account for our own plans. Naruto’s fate will change the course of history, especially for our clan. I promise not to harm any of you on the grave of my younger brother, Tobirama. The Senjus still have honor, unlike other clans. In fact, when you’re dropped off, you’re free to go wherever you want to. But you will be dropped off at the Kingdom of Ame. Also, do not resist my guards and have me break my promise.”