Behind the Waterfall

#4 Hunt

The darkness came with the moon. As soon as Naruto had stopped running to set up camp his thoughts finally caught up with him. Having nothing to distract him, he curled up on his sleeping bag as the events of the day replayed in his mind. Taking out the headband he had gotten from Mizuki, he scoffed, letting his finger glide over the metal leaf symbol sadly.

The tears came quickly as well.

"It's alright. We will get through this." Kurama tried to calm the boy down.

"I just don't understand. Why would they hate me? Why would Jiji let this happen?" The boy asked, sobbing interrupting his voice.

"They don't know the difference between a kunai and it's scroll." Kurama stated, referring to the first question.

"But Jiji does! Why would he let this happen?" Naruto asked again.

"I don't know. I really don't know."

"Hi Hiruzen." Danzo called out, as the Hokage came into his office, after he had taken the day off, having had no sleep the night before because of the whole situation with Mizuki and Naruto. The old man instantly grew weary, the councilmember was never so cheerful.

"Hello Danzo. To what do I owe the pleasure?" The Hokage asked, sitting down behind his desk.

"Well, since you took yesterday off, the council thought it best if we just handle the interrogation of the traitors without you. I was just hoping for you to sign the orders for their punishment." Danzo stated, a small smile still lingering on his lips. It actually wasn't uncommon for the council to take over in the absence of their Kage, however they would usually keep important stuff, like interrogating and sentencing a traitor, on hold until the Hokage came back from whatever was keeping him busy. Taking the scroll from Danzo, Hiruzen's brow furrowed. He was fine with Mizuki getting life in prison, but he was confused when he saw that the scroll went further. That was when he replayed the words of the one eyed man again, and stopped reading.

"What do you mean traitors? Plural? Mizuki was working alone as far as I know." The Hokage asked, his eyes narrowing. The old hawk was keeping something from him.

"Well when we interrogated Mizuki Touji he confessed that he had a partner that was helping him in his pursuit of the scroll of sealing. Rather than life in prison, seeing the age of his collaborator we opted to banish him instead of putting him in prison for life, since that would just mean that we would waste a place in our prison for the duration of his life." Danzo explained, making Hiruzen's eyes widen. He was certain that he already knew who the man was talking about but needed to be absolutely sure, so he quickly picked the scroll back up and skimmed over the lines, until the name Naruto Uzumaki caught his eye.

Drawing a shaky breath, he tried to contain his anger.

"Anbu!" He called out. Instantly a group of four Anbu appeared next to Danzo, kneeling at his command.

"Find Naruto Uzumaki and bring him back. He will be delivered directly to me, no one else." He ordered, as he put down the scroll.

"There will be consequences for you all." Hiruzen stated, before dismissing the still smiling Danzo with a wave of his hand.

Making a quick hand sign he pulsed his chakra. The Hokage didn't have to wait long for two squads of Anbu to arrive.

"Neko, Tora, take your squads and place surveillance on the small council. Neko will have overall command. Do not move against anything they do, just report what they do to me." He ordered, earning nods from the eight shinobi in front of him, before they disappeared in a quick shushin.

"Please be safe Naruto."

"So where do we go from here?" Naruto asked, as he jumped through the trees. He had been going in a straight line from Konoha, but it was clear that he had to decide where he wanted to go, if only to have somewhat of a plan for the foreseeable future.