CHAPTER FIVE

A rabbit ran through several bushes, a prey on its tail. It didn't know what was hunting it but it knew that it needed to run to survive and it would very much like to survive. Unfortunately, the white rabbit ran into a trap. A piece of thin rope quickly tightened around one of its hind legs until it hung, suspended mid-air.

A certain pink-eyed kunoichi crouched down and eyed the small rabbit, it's beady eyes wide in fright. Kurotsuchi frowned sadly at the white rabbit.

"I'm sorry little rabbit, but I need you for dinner. Circle of life, you get it," she said in a small whisper. The rabbit seemed to understand her and stopped wiggling around from trying to get free from the trap. Kurotsuchi reached into her pouch that was strapped onto her hip and pulled out a particularly sharp kunai.

"I'm sorry," Kurotsuchi murmured. She plunged the pointy end into the rabbit's neck. Very quickly it began to struggle again – involuntary. It continued to struggle for a few seconds more before finally coming to a stop, it's limbs going limp, its eyes glassing over with the recognizable look of death. Kurotsuch again frowned sadly, she loved animals, but she knew she needed to hunt and kill them to survive. The pink-eyed girl let out a sigh and untangled the white rabbit from its death trap and brought the small thing towards a bright orange glow that was off in the distance.

"Dinner," Kurotsuchi said as she walked into the small camp that she and Naruto had set up once they knew they were far enough from Konoha. The blond boy looked up from a certain small black book that she recognized was the bingo book that she was studying back when she was in the hospital with Naruto. The former genin looked at her then looked down to see what she had brought, his face scrunched up at the bloody white fur. Kurotsuchi noticing this waved him off.

"Don't worry, it didn't suffer much."

"Okay," was the simple reply from Naruto.

"Just give me a few minutes to skin it," she stated. Naruto nodded and went back to studying the small black book, "whatcha doing over there?" Kurotsuchi inquired.

Naruto hummed, "Studying," he replied.

"Obviously," Kurotsuchi said sarcastically as she began to skin the white rabbit.

"I want to become the best shinobi there is," stated Naruto with a certain fire in his eyes, "and if I want to do that, I have to know my enemies."

Kurotsuchi mimicked the blond and hummed herself.

"Well, first off, if you want to become the best shinobi there is, you need to get rid of that orange jumpsuit," Kurotsuchi chuckled again as she pointed a kunai at the blond boy. Naruto froze then looked down at what he was wearing.

"Why?" he whined.

"Because," Kurotsuchi began to inform him, "orange is an easy color to spot. You'd be dead within seconds by a skilled shinobi. Hell, even an untrained one you find you pretty easily. If I was you, pick something dark. Take me for instance," Kurotsuchi pointed to herself, "I wear dark red. Not an easy color to spot at night, it blends in. You, on the other hand, that orange is pretty bright."

Naruto nodded slowly as it began to see the reason within his words. The only reason he really wore this was that orange was indeed his favorite color, but because it was the only thing he could afford. Most shops would often triple the price of something merely because of who he was.

"Why do you even wear it?"

Naruto frowned, "Orange is my favorite color."

"Obviously," Kurotsuchi said again.

"But it's because of Konoha. Since I'm a jinchuriki and I'm hated, the shops would double, triple, or even quadruple the price because of who I was."

Kurotsuchi froze mid-skin. The more information that Naruto gave her about the treatment he had suffered at the hands of Konoha, the more she wanted to level the entirety of the village. The Iwa kunoichi continued to skin the rabbit until she was finally finished. She skewered the poor thing onto a stick and stuck it above the fire pit.

"Why are you accompanying me?" Naruto asked suddenly, his curiosity piqued.

"I have a proposition for you."

Naruto tilted his head, "What is it?"

"I want you to come to Iwa with me," she said as she bit her lip in worry.

"Iwa...with you?"

"Yes," she replied. Naruto looked at her as if she had grown two heads. "It's just...you have nowhere to go..." the girl whispered.

"I don't want your pity!" Naruto snapped as he narrowed his eyes at the Iwa-nin.

"And you won't get it!" Kurotsuchi shouted, "I...I few you as a friend now," the girl whispered, "and I want to see you happy. I don't know if Iwa can give you that but I know you'll have three friends there."

"Three," Naruto asked as his anger suddenly left him.

"Me," Kurotsuchi replied as she pointed to herself, "Roshi, and Han. Iwa's own jinchurikis."

Naruto looked at Kurotsuchi, his interest piqued again. Jinchurikis was the closest thing he had to family, even if he didn't know most of them. The only one he knew was Gaara and he could definitely say he viewed the red-head as a brother.

"Then I'll follow you," Naruto said with a smile, but after a few seconds his smile left him and pointed at the pink-eyed girl, "but if I don't like it then I'll leave. Deal?"

"It's a deal, Naruto," Kurotsuchi agreed with a big smile on her face, a smile that Naruto had not seen since he had met the girl. The smile radiated happiness, a happiness that he had caused. A sudden feeling bubbled up in his chest, a feeling he had never felt and a feeling that he couldn't explain, but what he could explain was that he wanted to make his new friend smile more like that. The blond returned the smile with one of his head then went back to studying the small black bingo book until the pair finished their small dinner.

The pair continued to eat in silence while the blond himself continued to study the bingo book that held all of his attention. There are some interesting characters in here, the blond thought as he scoured the small pages of the various notorious shinobi and kunoichi. One section that he found interesting was the Konoha section, his now former village had some interesting shinobi and kunoichi.

Kakashi Hatake, Might Gai, Kurenai Yuhi, Tsunade Senju, Jiraiya, and various others with prices on their heads; dead or alive. Some had prices higher than others while some, like Kurenai Yuhi, had lower prices. He noticed that the red-eyed woman was a genjutsu master but lacked skill in other categories such as taijutsu, ninjutsu, and various others. All the other people in the Konoha section were well-earned spots.

Next, Naruto turned to the Iwa section. He should study the various people who had a reputation in the village he was going to, no? He turned various pages and was finally met by the face of Onoki, Tsuchikage of Iwagakure. The short man was the only known person with the ability to use Jinton, and probably one of the few shinobi with the ability to fly – a feat that was hard but the blond former genin thought that anyone could achieve the feat with proper training in Futon.

The blond former genin turned the page, as he did so, his eyes widened. There on the page was the blurry picture of the girl that was currently sat across from him. Her pink eyes glaring at whoever was viewing the photo. The Iwa kunoichi had a particularly low bounty but he assumed it was due to her being young, it would be logical that the price would rise as Kurotsuchi got older and stronger.

Kurotsuchi eyes lifted from the piece of rabbit meat she had on a wooden stick to the cerulean blue eyes of her companion. The boy kept shifting his gaze from the bingo book to herself quite rapidly.

"What?" Kurotsuchi huffed in mock annoyance.

Naruto flushed then composed himself, "Do you know that you're in the bingo book?"

"Yep," replied the girl as she popped the 'p', "I've been in there since last year."

Naruto's curiosity was certainly piqued, "What did you do to get on there?"

The pink-eyed girl merely sighed and looked off into the distance that was partially obscured by various trees, "I was on a mission with a squad of Iwa-nin under my command. We were supposed to clear out a bandit camp that was plaguing our roads. It was supposed to be a routine mission!" Kurotsuchi snapped, "but when we were close, we were ambushed. My entire squad was killed and I was severely injured but we managed to get the mission done," Kurotsuchi said sarcastically, obviously angry at the outcome.

"Sorry," Naruto whispered.

"It's in the past," waved off Kurotsuchi.

"Still…"

Kurotsuchi only nodded at the blond boy and went back to eating her rabbit. Naruto frowned but it quickly left his face as he went back to studying the interesting figures in the little black book.

Konohagakure

A particular blonde Senju sipped sake from a curved porcelain cup, a frown etched onto her face. It had only been a few days after the banishment of Naruto Uzumaki and Konoha was still celebrating. Festivals started mere hours after the banishment and celebrations lasted well into the night, only dying off into the early hours of the morning but started back up again in the afternoon.

Tsunade frowned at each firework she heard that was launched from the various streets and paths of Konoha. She didn't want to banish the boy, but her hands were tied. She overruled Danzo and the elders but they themselves vetoed with majority support from the council, something that rarely happened to Hokages. Tsunade suspected that Danzo had bribed or threatened some members of the Shinobi council while the civilian council was firmly on his side with their hatred of Naruto.

Her sip was interrupted by the sudden barging in of Konoha's three glorious elders, that thought made the blonde Hokage smirk in amusement. Her smirk quickly left her face when she remembered who had just entered her office.

"What do you three want?" Tsunade asked with thinly-veiled contempt. This made all three Elders frown at the blatant disrespect that the Hokage had for them.

"We're here regarding Sasuke Uchiha," Danzo replied with a small rare smirk of his own. Tsunade's eyes widened at the suggestion hidden behind his words. She had completely forgotten about Sasuke for in the brief time she had to herself.

"Yes, he'll be properly punished soon," said Tsunade with coldness. Danzo frowned; this is not what he had intended.

"No, he will not," Koharu stated with firmness. Tsunade looked at the old woman with narrowed eyes.

"The boy is a traitor to the village and he will be properly punished."

"No," said Danzo firmly, "I will be taking the boy under my wing as punishment."

Tsunade snorted. That wasn't a punishment but a reward, "I see what you're doing, Danzo. I won't stand for this," Tsunade threatened. Danzo merely shrugged – a rare gesture for the one-eyed man. If he couldn't have the Kyubi brat then he would settle for the last user of the Sharingan and mold the boy as his successor.

"You and I both know that's no punishment," Tsunade continued.

"It is a punishment that we see fit," said Homura, "good day, Tsunade-san," the old man said as an insult. Before Tsunade could respond, the three elders swiftly left her office. The blonde Hokage sighed. She had to find a way to limit the power of the three Elders and the civilian council if she wanted to exert her own influence over the village. Before the blonde could take another sip of her sake, her office door opened.

Shizune walked in with a frown as she looked behind her seeing the retreating forms of the Elders.

"Trouble?"

Tsunade grunted, "I hate them," she merely said.

"I know," Shizune mused.

"I need to find a way-"

"To limit them?" Shizune finished with a knowing look. Tsunade merely nodded slowly and took a sip of the sake in her porcelain cup. "You would need some support of the civilian council," Shizune continued.

"Yes, I know," Tsunade sighed, "unfortunately, they are under Danzo."

"At the moment," Shizune suggested.

Tsunade gave a look towards the woman before offering some alcohol to her apprentice.

"Want some?"

"Just this once, shishou."

Uchiha District – Konoha

A certain lone Uchiha sat in the outside gardens that littered his compound, a dark look on his face. His plan of defecting from Konoha and joining Orochimaru so that the Sannin could train him was broken up by Naruto. A frown made its way onto his face at the thought of his former teammate. He lost their battle at the Valley of The End even though he had used the power of the curse mark, something Orochimaru and his minions promised him would give him immense power.

The several members of the civilian council along with the three elders approached him regarding the banishment of Naruto. The idea made Sasuke smirk with glee, of course, he fed the civilian council a bullshit story to get the blond genin banished. If it meant that he could get a one up over the boy, then he would do it.

The council believed him and his false story and within a few days, the blond was banished. This is where Sasuke was now, in his compound, thinking about the future. His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound of a cane and footsteps getting closer to him, he looked up and spotted the one-eyed war hawk, Danzo. The man continued to walk towards him until he stopped and looked at the last Uchiha with a narrowed eye.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Danzo," said Sasuke in a cold voice.

"I have decided your fate."

This only made the raven-haired Uchiha frown. No one decided his fate except himself.

"I will take you under my wing and train you; it is power you seek, no?"

This immediately piqued Sasuke's interest. Was Danzo substituting himself in Orochimaru's place? Can Danzo offer him power on the same level as Orochimaru?

"And you can offer me this?"

Danzo nodded, "I can. I will groom you to be my successor, the next leader of my own personal army – Root."

Sasuke, of course, had heard of the Root ANBU from his father back before Itachi had killed his clan. They were a mysterious branch of ANBU…a black ops division if you will. They operated outside Konoha's jurisdiction and followed every command of its leader.

A smirk quickly made its way onto the face of the last Uchiha, his Sharingan eyes flashing at Danzo.

"When do we start?"

Chapter five! Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think. Some people criticized my portrayal of Sakura, and I just want to say thank you! Because of that, I'm changing Sakura's role in the story. Hopefully, you'll find it soon.

Guest: "Such a bad fic. Banishment never made sense because the Hokage is the ruler. End of. Anyone who doesnt get that is a retard. Also why would they let the 9tails go? Despite the attack, its the strongest creature in the world. Id say quit writing while you're ahead"

Yes, you are correct, but you do realize what fanfiction is right? Because I don't think you do, look it up before you review again. And me quit writing!? Never! You're stuck with me until the end of time sadly.

thedarkwolf95: Yes, that is what happens when you take breaks in-between chapters, particularly long breaks. I apologize about that. I'm usually a fast-paced writer, but I want to go a bit slower with this. There's going to be a time-skip soon-ish, obviously (hopefully), but before that happens, maybe around 2-6 chapters of just Kurotsuchi and Naruto traveling to Iwa with a few disruptions (*cough*).