At the Naka Shrine.
All the eight members of Akatsuki were standing beside each other waiting for their leader to say something as he read what was written on the stone tablet. The atmosphere in there was a very quiet and tense one. The aim...the objective...the reason of existence of Akatsuki...everything was depending on what was written on it. Everyone noted the expression their leader Nagato had as he read it. One could tell just by looking at him that he was under great conflict inside his mind. "Nagato what did it read?" Konan asked to break the suffocating silence created around them.
Nagato remained silent even after Konan's question. He looked behind at his group and gawked at the whole group for a while "From tomorrow it starts. The beginning of the end of Akatsuki...also the beginning of success of Akatsuki's goals."
The short message of Nagato gave an idea to the whole group of what was their aim. "Tomorrow we will start the the hunt....the first is ONE TAILS and TWO TAILS" said Nagato. "We will go then" Deidara and Sasori volunteered themselves "It will be our honor to be the first one" they said. "Nagato what did it say? Tell us exactly what did it say?" Konan asked him again. "Not here Konan. Konoha might be sending reinforcement here soon and Crow alone can't handle them. We will first go to our place" soon after Nagato said the whole group started walking towards the exit.
..............
Minato along with some shinobis came running towards the Naka Shrine. As soon as they reached the place they were shocked by seeing their comrades lying on the ground brutally beaten though none of them seemed to be dead. "There they are Hokage-sama" Neji said as he directed his finger at the 8 Akatsuki members who were leaving the place. "They are leaving don't let them escape!" ordered Minato as the group rushed towards the Akatsukis.
"AMATERASU!"
Soon black colored flames covered the whole group in circle. "Amaterasu! The infamous black flames that are inextinguishable....this is the first time I am seeing it. Everyone don't try to cross it or else you will be persihed." Minato ordered as everyone stopped. " So you did this huh?....The Crow. Don't tell me you defeated Itachi Nii-san also." Sasuke looked above the tree at a Akatsuki member who was sitting on the tree branch. The person was hiding his face under a one-eyed mask glaring his Sharingan eye which had blood dripping out of it. "He has Mangekyou Sharingan....this explains how you were able to defeat him".
"Sorry Sasuke I don't have time to chat with you. Maybe next time." after saying this the Crow vanished from the place.
After a while the black flames finally died down. The group helped their fallen comrades get back on their legs and provided medic to them. Some who were in worse condition were being taken to Hospital. Soon from the woods Sasuke walked out with his brother Itachi who was walking by his support.
"Hokage-sama I found him deep inside the woods near the entrance of the Shrine. He must have had a hard fight with the Crow." said Sasuke.
"Sorry Hokage-sama I was not able to hold them until your arrival." Itachi apologized at his state. "Don't apologize Itachi you did your best. And about this thing......there is a lot we need to discuss"....
...............
At Namikaze house.
As Narumi and Menma went out for the battle the mantle of cleaning the guest room fell on Kushina. "Kushina-san let me do it. You are sick so you should rest. As I am the one who will be using the room I should clean it myself." Naruto then grabbed the mop from Kushina's hand and started cleaning the room.
As Naruto cleaned the room Kushina asked him many questions about his hobbies and favorities. It didn't took a lot of time for Naruto to get comfortable with this lady who was so humble to allow a complete stranger live in her house. It was like a dream for Kushina...having a nice chat with her son was something she always missed. Whatever was happening in the village didn't matter to Kushina. All she wanted was to live this moment forever .
"So Kushina-san?" asked Naruto. Her heart would crack little everytime Naruto would call her like that instead of 'Kaa-san'. She knew she can't speed things unnecessarily. She convinced herself that someday she would be able to hear Naruto calling her mom....and till then she will wait just like she has been doing. "What is it Naruto?" Kushina finally replied after being spacing out. "Are these attacks frequent in this village?" Naruto asked.
"No this is the first time that they have attacked our village. That is maybe because they learned that this is the last day for village to be without barriers" said Kushina. Naruto couldn't understand her at first time but then he recalled about the village barrier Sasuke told him. "So they knew about village barriers" murmered Naruto.
"You know Naruto there is a ghost in our village. Not a literal ghost but it is a spy from Akatsuki that is hiding inside the village." Naruto's eyes widened after he heard this. "Only top shinobis of this village actually knew about installation of barriers. So the Ghost is someone from these shinobis who informed Akatsuki about this. But the problem is that all these shinobis are so close that none of them can be suspected. This is why we have named him as Ghost."...
...............
At the Hokage office.
After the recent attack Minato called all the top important shinobis for a meeting. This meeting was being attended by Anbu Head Danzo, Hyuga Head Hiashi, Uchiha Head Fugaku, Orochimaru, Tsunade, Kakashi Hatake, Anbu Captain Itachi. "So the Naka Shrine was attacked huh...what are these Akatsuki upto?" said Danzo.
"I think they came to read what was written on the stone tablet" said Hiashi but he was quickly proved wrong by Fugaku "that's not possible Hiashi. Only one who could read it was Madara Uchiha because he had Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. A normal Sharingan eye can't decipher it".
"Is...is there any chance of them having someone with that eye?" asked Minato. The room went silent after this. It was true that none of them can strongly deny that possibility. And the fact that Akatsuki attacked it might be for some reason. "I wonder what is written on it. It is said that Madara Uchiha set to massacre his own clan after he read it. If it is something that concerns Uchiha then the Six-Tails chakra scroll must be shifted to Hyugas" said Danzo. Everyone seemed to agree on this point.
"They attacked exactly before installation of Barriers" continued Itachi "if we don't find out who is the Ghost then Akatsuki will never stop. All of our missions to ambush them were failed because they already had the intel on us.".
"Soemthing which concerns me more is The Crow. He has Mangekyou Sharingan and only person who had it after Madara was......Obito" said Kakashi. "So we were right. Obito is still alive and is operating his schemes with Akatsuki." said Danzo.
"He and Madara are responsible for deaths of so many Uchihas. We can't give them justice until we eliminate this Akatsuki" Fugaku said with anger visible on his face. "You know it right Hokage-sama what we have to do if they are after the Tailed-Beasts chakra scrolls?" Minato nodded at Danzo's words and said "We will have to seal Nine-Tails chakra in Menma....the prophecy left behind Jiraiya sensei. Your son is the key and the only one who can nest Nine-Tails chakra is him". Minato remembered Jiraiya's words with tears forming in his eyes.
"The prophecy was made by Great Toad of Mt Myoboku so there is no way it would be wrong. Also he is an Uzumaki so he has an enormous chakra pool" Said Danzo.
...............
After 1 Hour.
At Namikaze house.
Naruto was lying on the bed in his new room which he had just recieved. Lying down there he was taking a quick recap of everything that happened today. From running out of Hinata's proposal ceremony to shifting to Hokage's house, he couldn't believe this was happening.
Soon his eyes got heavier and heavier and eventually he fell asleep thinking about about the day.
"Naruto!..."
"Kurama what...what is happening to you?"
"Naruto hurry! Run!. They must not find you. You are the key"
"Don't leave me Kurama! Don't leave me alone"
"You are our hope Naruto. You need to run...NOW!"
With a sudden scream Naruto shot up from his bed. He was sweating all over his body even in the cold winter. 'What kind of dream was it. A nightmare?' Naruto was scared by the dream he had but....was it really a dream?. After that Naruto tried his hard to sleep but he just couldn't. That dream was playing in his mind like a loop.
He grabbed his red sweater that was hanging on the door and covered his body with it. He had very limited number of clothes to wear...and for this winter he had this only sweater which he had woven himself to protect him from cold.
He slowly cat-walked out of the house in order to not to wake up the family and started walking to a random direction. As he walked up the elevated path he reached to higher lands. He then noticed a place which had a bench over a cliff. 'The scenery from there would be really nice. Maybe I will sit there for a while looking at stars'. As he walked closer he saw a lady already sitting over there. He was amazed that someone at this hour would be here so he walked closer to see. 'If I request her to make some space for me that should be fine'.
"Excuse me, may I sit beside you? Just a little space will do" Naruto said as he placed his hand on the person's shoulder. As the lady turned her head behind Naruto's eyes widened "Oh it's you Hinata!".
Hinata who was still staring at his orange-blue eyes under the moonlight didn't utter any word. "May I sit here Hinata?" Naruto asked politely. "Y-y-yes su-sure" Hinata snapped out of her stare and made some space for Naruto to sit. "I didn't expect to see you at this hour." Said Naruto as he sat down.
"Oh it's because the Six-Tails chakra scroll was shifted to Hyugas so we got late in dinner today. And it's my habit to go for a walk after dinner." she replied.
Naruto got an idea that it might be something about today's attack so he decided to not ask anything about that.
Suddenly a cold breeze blew around the place causing Hinata to shiver. "You are feeling cold even after wearing a sweater?" Naruto teased her just to recieve a pout from her. "Look who is talking. Just a day ago you were the one
shivering in cold" she teased him back.
"Oh come on that was because I was starving and cold was adding more to it". Naruto defended himself.
Naruto noticed that Hinata was holding tight on her sweater still shivering. So he removed his sweater and covered it around Hinata's shoulders. Hinata was taken offguard by this sudden act of Naruto. She looked at Naruto who was scratching his cheeks with a pinkish shade on it "I made it pretty thick so it should work" he said. "You crafted it yourself? It's good" Hinata complimented the cloth as she held tight to it.
"Aren't you feeling cold? Look at your shirt it's too exposing for winter. You should get some clothes for winter" said Hinata.
"Don't worry about me. I am used to this cold it's nothing for me. And about clothes...Kushina-san said that she would give me Menma's unused clothes to wear. Well she actually insisted to go out shopping with her to buy new clothes but I said that I will buy them with my own money. I can't be more of a burden to them than I already am".
Hinata who was listening to all this with a confused face had no idea about what he was saying so she asked "Wait what? Kushina-san? What is happening?"
Naruto then explained her all the events that took place after they ran out of her place and how he ended up living in Hokage's house. "So what are you doing here so late?" Hinata asked to continue the conversation. "I had a dream...more like nightmare" he continue "Hey Hinata, can someone totally remember a dream like he has lived it?". Hinata couldn't answer the question he asked. It was like a one sided question Naruto asked to himself. "I can remember every single detail of the dream I just had. There was a huge Tailed Fox like creature asking me to run. It was like I have seen him before".
"You said you remember nothing from 6 years ago right?. Maybe these are your memories that are coming in form of dream" said Hinata. Naruto seemed to accept what Hinata was saying and somewhere he was feeling unsecure of these dreams or return of memories. Will he change after he regains his every memory was what he was thinking.
"It's too late now I have to go" said Hinata as she got up from the wooden bench. "Umm..well...Naruto?" Naruto looked at Hinata who seemed to be struggling to say something "can I borrow this?" she asked pointing towards the sweater Naruto wrapped around her. "Of course no need to ask." replied Naruto with a smile. Soon both of them bid each other farewell and Hinata walked towards her home while Naruto stayed on the bench.
As Hinata walked back to her house she would every now and then take a look at the cloth she just borrowed. Looking at the nature of her's, borrowing something from someone would be the last thing she would do...but this time she did. Maybe it was just on whim but now she was not going to give it back soon. She didn't realise that she was smiling all the way to her home, her heart has already fallen for Naruto...the only thing remaining was her mind to accept it. 'I just borrowed it because it's really cold not because I wanted to keep something from him with me. He said he is fine right? So it's okay' she tried to convince herself.
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