Chapter 5: New Places

"How often, you wonder, has the direction of your life been shaped by such misunderstandings? How many opportunities have you been denied-or, for that matter, awarded-because someone failed to see you properly? How many friends have you lost, how many have you gained, because they glimpsed some element of your personality that shone through for only an instant, and in circumstances you could never reproduce? An illusion of water shimmering at the far bend of a highway."

- ?

When Naruto woke up, he expected himself to be in a cell of some kind or maybe with a bunch of shadow covered figures watching him from high above. Instead, Naruto woke up in a rather comfortable bed in light grey robes with his other robes folded in a neat pile next to the bed. Standing up, Naruto realized he was underground somewhere and there were several concentrations of chakra placed on the wooden door, which spread into the rocky walls. Putting his robes back on, the red haired boy walked over to the door and slowly began to move his hands across it, trying to locate the origin point of the chakra that spread into the walls. With only a small grin to show his success, Naruto began to drain the chakra from its source before the door literally fell apart.

Without a second glance, Naruto walked out into the hallway and looked down to both ends of the hallway, trying to find the best way out of this place. The hallways covered in metal, which was very different from where he had just woken up, but the red haired boy had more pressing issues. With no particular path to walk down, Naruto turned right and just kept going until he found a rather large door. Kaguya said that leaders liked to have large doors, something about compensating, whatever that meant. Sending chakra to his eyes, Naruto saw through the door and found a single person inside, and their chakra level was close to Naruto's own. Pushing the door open, he found a man sitting on a stone throne staring at him with even stranger eyes than Naruto's own.

"Ah, so you've awoken, I hope you slept well?" asked the man, his voice deep and rich while his strange eyes narrowed at Naruto, while the majority of his body remained in the shadows, hidden even from Naruto's gaze.

"Were you the one who made me feel pain?" the question was simple, and Naruto proved just how intimidating a twelve year old could be, especially when his chakra could shake the room and make cracks spread all over the metal walls.

"Pain, ah you must be referring to the Genjutsu you had been placed under when we retrieved you from those Konohagakure Shinobi. A rather nasty Genjutsu, which one would expect to only be used on a very powerful individual, although your chakra has proven you to perhaps fall into that category," said the man, standing to reveal his black cloak, which was decorated by red clouds, but he still kept his face hidden in shadow.

"Genjutsu? What's Genjutsu?" asked Naruto, his chakra calming and the white aura around his body fading as he did so.

"Before we continue this conversation, I ask to know your name. I feel that a conversation shared between two individuals can become rather strained when they don't even know each other's name. For instance, my name is Madara Uchiha," said the man, stepping out of the shadows to show he wore a strange orange mask but had a single right eye hole with a glowing red eye staring right at Naruto.

"Naruto," Madara found it strange that this child didn't even so much as blink at his name, had he not heard of Madara Uchiha, the second most feared Shinobi ever to exist and a man who was said to rival Hashirama Senju in power?

"No last name then?" asked Madara, his red eye never wavering in its attempt to memorize everything about this child.

"My mother never gave me one," was Naruto's simple response.

"Ah, I see, now I believe you asked what a Genjutsu was? Normally one with such strong chakra, such as your own, would have been taken to become a Shinobi to fight in the war. How is it you stand before me now, having such control over a vast amount of power, yet not know what a Genjutsu is?" asked Madara, walking a few steps closer to the twelve year old boy.

"We lived on an island far from the mainland, I've only been here for the past day or so. Concerning Genjutsu, my mother taught me Ninjutsu but I've never even heard her mentions Genjutsu before. You have also neglected to tell me what it is," said Naruto, feeling not as trusting as he did when first arriving on the mainland, or maybe it's because of that red eye staring at him.

"I apologize, it simply is astounding to see someone so young with almost no training in the Shinobi arts, yet still have so much power. I digress, Genjutsu is similar to Ninjutsu in the fact that they both require a set amount of chakra and specific hand seals for them to work, and only under very strict circumstances can the hand seals be avoided completely. However, whereas Ninjutsu affects the body or the surrounding area, Genjutsu affects the targets mind, often making them see or feel things that aren't there to begin with. Take, for example, the Genjutsu that you yourself were placed under, it was designed to cause you traumatic pain to the point of unconsciousness," explained Madara, watching as Naruto soaked in all of this new information before closing his eyes and letting out a sigh.

"How troubling, my mother never taught me of such a thing," Naruto whispered to himself, before squashing that thought train so that it didn't lead down any unwanted roads.

"You are free to stay here for as long as you like, I assure you that you are quite safe from the outside world, as long as you stay within my village," said Madara, who sat back down on his stone throne and watched Naruto carefully.

"Thank you for saving me but I must leave, I have a promise to keep and it won't be easy," said Naruto.

"May I ask what this promise is?"

"A promise I made to my mother, before she passed on into the next life. A promise to bring peace to the world," Madara's eyes widened ever so slightly behind his mask, even the eye hidden from the world.

"Hm, a noble goal, and one that we both share. Perhaps, before you continue on your journey, you would allow me to explain a few simple facts about the outside world, facts that could help you survive in a life or death situation?" asked Madara.

"Why are you being so kind to me, others I have met only seem to attack me first then become angry when I fight back," said Naruto, having been wary of his supposed rescuer since he first saw the man.

"The wars of the world have taken and given me many things, none of which was the ability to help someone untouched by its foul hands. You appear to be from a place that has remained untouched and are still pure at heart, that much I can tell. So it is my wish to help you survive and, if it is truly fates will, bring peace to the world," explained Madara, his tone never wavering and Naruto couldn't tell if he was lying or telling the truth.

Naruto stood there, thinking for a moment, but then he felt a familiar presence in his mind and instantly became more relaxed. His mother's voice whispered in his mind, urging him to trust this Madara Uchiha, and Naruto would be a fool to ignore his mother's wisdom. After all, she had never driven his astray before and this Madara did share his goal of bringing peace to the world.

"Any help would be appreciated, thank you," said Naruto, now being polite instead of wary, because mother said it was the right thing to do.

"Hm, well if you are to learn then we should move to a more relaxing place than a metal, lifeless, room. Would you care to join me outside in the garden?" asked Madara, gesturing to the nearby wooden door, and received a small nod from Naruto.

As they walked through the large metal tower, Naruto could feel eight very powerful chakra signatures, all having a different feel to them. By all appearances, it seems that these eight people were gathered in the same spot that Madara was leading Naruto. The only reason Naruto didn't question this, or return to his edginess, was Kaguya's sweet whispers in the back of his head. That and they had just arrived at yet another wooden door, the last one between Naruto and the eight other people.

"Naruto-san, allow me to introduce other people who also share our dream of bringing a lasting peace to our world. This is Deidara, who is originally from Iwagakure, Hidan from Yugakure, Itachi from Konohagakure, Kisame from Kirigakure, Konan who is from this very village, Sasori from Sunagakure, Pain, who is also from this village, and Zetsu, who has yet to reveal to anyone where he is from," said Madara, pointing out each of the cloaked people as he said their names.

Deidara was a very feminine looking man with long blond hair that was mostly tied up in a ponytail, with a large portion of it covering his left eye, which were pale blue in color. Hidan was a rather tall man with slicked back silver hair, and a pair of rather distinctive purple eyes. Kisame was literally blue in the face with gills, like the ones on fish, spiked blue hair, and rather pointy teeth. Next was Itachi, who looked almost the youngest out of the entire group, had long black hair that was held in a low ponytail, rather pale flesh, and a pair of glowing red eyes, just like Madara's. Konan, being the only woman out of the group, had deep blue hair, yellow eyes, and a paper flow tucked into her hair. Sasori was also rather young looking, with his vibrant red hair and deep brown eyes, but his eyes seemed to lack something that others had. Pain was about the same height as Madara and had bright orange hair, strange purple eyes, and many pieces of metal on his face. Naruto thought it was a rather strange looking group.

"Oi, who's the brat Madara-teme?" asked the man named Hidan, leaning up against the railing to a very far drop to the harsh cold ground.

"While Hidan-san's lack of respect, not withstand, he does pose a fair question," said Itachi, glancing down at the boy with his red eyes, the the fires of hell, and yet the boy didn't even seem to so much as flinch under his gaze, which had left full grown men cowering in fear.

"This is Naruto-san, the boy that Zetsu-san rescued from those Shinobi after they placed a rather painful Genjutsu on him. I have come to learn that he shares our same goal of ending all this war and have offered to tell him what to expect in this world," Madara explained, motioning Naruto to follow him to a pair of chairs, by a table, which were right next to the stone railing that Hidan was leaning on.

"If you don't mind me asking, why is there a war going on in the first place? I tried to prevent a battle before I was captured but they still tried to continue, despite my attempts at stopping them," said Naruto, getting a chuckle from Deidara.

"A little kid like you, try and stop a full on Shinobi battle? Ha, that's funny!" Deidara laughed, holding his sides, only for the entire building to suddenly begin to violently shaking and Naruto's pale gaze boring down on the freaked out Deidara.

"While I may lack experience and knowledge of mainland fighting, my mother spent her entire life, all the way down to the moment she died in front of me, making me as strong as possible. So don't insult me just because you can't accept a kid, like me, can stop two groups from fighting," after saying what he needed to say, Naruto reined in his chakra and ignored the looks he was getting from everyone but Madara.

"Naruto-san, while Deidara is well deserving of your anger, I would prefer if you didn't destroy the very tower we are standing on," said Madara.

"Sorry Madara-san, my Okaa-chan had always said I was quick to anger, I'll try and make sure it doesn't happen again," said Naruto, with a smile that only an innocent child could pull off.

"Heh, I like this kid, that chakra's well above my own," said Kisame to no one in particular, but his shark toothed grin threatened to rip his face right in half.

"Indeed, despite only being a child, his chakra level is miles beyond most of our own, if he had the proper control over it then there is no telling the things he would be able to do. To see someone this strong, well it's rather inspiring," said Sasori, moving a bit of his red hair out of his eyes while grinning ever so slightly.

"Hm, where to begin then, perhaps where all stories do. Roughly ten years ago, in the land of Fire and the village of Konohagakure no Sato, there was an attack the likes of which the village had never experienced directly before. A massive construct of chakra had been summoned to the middle of the village and told to destroy it. It was then that the Hokage, the leader of the village, engaged the beast in battle and, after an hour of fighting, was able to seal it inside his child.," Madara began, drawing everyone's attention, especially Itachi's because he was there, in the village, when it happened.

"When they went to retrieve the child he had been taken away and has never been so much as seen since that night of his birth. With the village weakened and no way to keep their borders completely safe with their current Shinobi, the reinstated previous Hokage brought back a group known simply as Root. Root is run by a man named Danzo and their sole goal is to protect Konohagakure from all things they perceive as a threat. As word spread of the villages weakness, the Hokage and Danzo began to fear an attack from any of their old enemies, so they thought to strike before any of the other villages had a chance to. Danzo used his Root Shinobi to try and assassinate key people in the other villages, even their own Kage. The only reason Konohagakure isn't fighting all the villages at once is because a few of them didn't believe they would do such a thing," Madara continued, almost like a history teacher, recalling everything that had happened in the last twelve years.

"So this Konohagakure was the cause of this war, why hasn't anyone held their leaders accountable?" asked Naruto.

"That was what our group had originally intended, but that was before we learned that Danzo, the man who had ordered the assassination of those people, had secretly been planning to overthrow the Hokage by, almost literally, throwing him to the wolves. Danzo had made a deal with two of the other Kage that they would provide false evidence of forming armies, which would trick the Hokage into thinking they would attack, and so when the Hokage attacked first they would have grounds to go to war and give Danzo the title of Hokage, if just to maintain peace with them. However, the Hokage found out about this and had Danzo executed for what he had done before taking command of his Root Shinobi. Now, for the last several years, a stalemate war has been going on between Konohagakure and her allies, and Iwagakure along with Kumogakure," Madara finished.

"So that's how this war started, because some people wanted something that wasn't theirs so they try and take it by force?" asked Naruto, letting out a small sigh, but Kaguya's ghostly form gave him a warm hug from behind, not that any of the others could see it.

"That has been the cause behind most wars as of late, we have all been injured in this war or the last," said Pain

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