Conundrum
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Summary: Naruto is no longer a part of the Leaf. Where has he gone to all these years? No one heard of him for quite some time. What happens when he returns for a visit and bearing a few 'gifts'. Life is just a series of questions that need answering.
Formats:
"...Speech..."
'...Thoughts..'
Chapter 1: Jigsaw
All is peaceful in the Village of the Hidden Leaf. The village has gotten back on its feet after the attempted Sound/Sand invasion two years ago. However the quiet and calm aura surrounding the Leaf is mostly superficial at best. It is true what they say: Maintaining peace is a lot harder than achieving it. With threat of the Sound and its allies still looming over them, even the academy students are becoming paranoid.
Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage of the Leaf muttered a curse under her breath. What was she thinking when she accepted this job. She had sacrificed so much for this village but gained very little. The person responsible for dragging her back here to take up the title of Hokage is not even a part of the Leaf anymore. Her only motivation to protect this village had reluctantly left to save the village from crumbling under its own weight of hate and prejudice. Once again this village had taken away her precious person. A person she held dear as a brother.
Since then, the day doesn't seem so bright anymore. Her sake only seems to leave a bitter aftertaste, not quite as enjoyable as she would have liked. In only two years after taking up the title, she has been the only Hokage in history to curse the village she's protecting. Why does she keep on protecting those who deny her of happiness? Oh, that's right, she made a promise. The village should count themselves lucky she had made such a promise.
"Hokage-sama!" a chuunin, whose name escapes her, came bursting through the door leading to her office. Tsunade looked up from her paperwork with an annoyed expression, motioning him to continue. "There are four strangers at the western gate asking an audience with you. I assume there are ninjas but I don't recognize the symbol on their hitai-ate."
"Why didn't you escort them here then? With enough escort, I'm sure they wouldn't have been of any threat." Asked a puzzled Hokage still annoyed her daily musing had been interrupted.
"They refused to enter the village. Their leader said that would not be wise and they will not be staying for very long. They only have something to pass to us." The chuunin is becoming more agitated by the second. The Hokage's volatile temper is as legendary as her formidable strength. He can only hope that he wouldn't end up as the new decoration hanging in the Hokage's office.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow a little. 'Would not be wise? Is he a wanted criminal or something? I should get Jiraiya to come along just in case.' "Okay then, I need you to go and find Jiraiya for me. Explain the situation to him and ask him to meet me at the gate. After that alert an ANBU squad to be on standby in the vicinity of the gate"
Tsunade made her way to the western gate, ignoring the greetings extended by passerby, still peeved by her earlier musings. She was like a duck in a pond. On the outside she looked calm and collected, but her mind was churning like mad. In her head hundreds of scenarios of what this is all about played itself. She didn't even realize it when Jiraiya appeared beside her.
Jiraiya has not changed much over the years. Which means he is still a pervert with a penchant for punishment. No peeping raid is too dangerous, no bathhouse wall is too high and no peeping hole is too small. No matter how many times he was trampled by a mob of angry women, he just keeps on peeping for the ultimate inspiration for his book. The truth of it all, all the perverseness is merely a distraction for him, from contemplating his troubles. Like Tsunade, he lost another one of his precious person two years ago. Even worse, he was partly to blame for the lost, or more accurately, his perverseness led him to this situation. Nevertheless being a pervert is what he is; he can never deny that, no matter how much he protested out loud otherwise.
As they move closer to the gate, sounds of metal clashing can be heard. Both Tsunade and Jiraiya rushed forward to find one of the chuunin guards attacking one of the foreign ninjas. All of the unknown ninjas are wearing a cape with hoods hiding their faces. One of them, apparently the leader of the group, has a kunai lodge in his palm, coming out on the other side of his hand. He is blocking another kunai strike from the attacking guard by using the hole on hilt of the kunai that pierced his hand. His other hand is holding back another foreign ninja, preventing him from attacking the guard; all the while kept shouting to his subordinate to stand down. Tsunade knew that the leader of the unknown ninjas is trying to diffuse the situation. The scuffle would most likely been the attacking chuunin guard's fault.
"All right that's enough. What the hell do you think you're doing?" Tsunade grab the attacking chuunin by the collar of his vest and threw him aside. The unknown ninjas relaxed a bit at this. The leader quickly dislodged the offending kunai from his hand and reached to his pouch to take out a roll of bandages and then proceed to wrap his hand hurriedly. Tsunade turn to the leader of the group. "I'm sorry for the rash action of my ninja. I assure you he will be dealt with."
"That's okay, Hokage-sama, I'm just glad this incident doesn't escalate to epic proportion. Truth be told, my subordinates can be just as rash." The leader shot a mild glare at his companions. "Well, on to business then. The four of us are from the Village of the Hidden Flame. We bid you greetings from the Ruling Council of the Flame."
"Hidden Flame? We've haven't heard news from your village for a long time." Tsunade knew that the Hidden Flame always kept to themselves and often just ignore happenings outside their realm of influence. The other villages don't concern themselves in matters pertaining to the Hidden Flame because not only because of their non-interference policy but more importantly they don't even know exact location of the village. Hidden Flame mostly interacts with the outside world through various outposts in Star country. Even the lord of the country is none the wise on the location of the Hidden Flame village. Nonetheless, it is a known fact that their shinobis often roam the whole shinobi world doing missions but always in secrecy, always out of the prying eyes of others. It suddenly occurred to Tsunade how young looking these four ninjas are; most likely to be in their teens, even the leader. They must be good to be doing away missions so far from their home despite their age. In any case she can now understand why they refused to enter. Staying in the village would call unwanted attention to them and that would be an antithesis to their normal modus operandi. But still, it doesn't explain why the guard was attacking the group. From the looks of things she is positive that this was not a case of misunderstanding. The guard attacked with an intention to kill.
"Heh, I think that's normal for us. Let's just say that the Hidden Flame is starting a kind of an outreach program." The leader replied, chuckling a bit. Although his face is hidden by the hood of his cape, Tsunade can make out a toothy grin the leader of the group is sporting. She was struck by a sense of familiarity; she knows that grin from somewhere. Behind her, Jiraiya was having the same thought. He racked his brain where had he seen that grin before. For a foreign ninja the leader seemed to be at ease dealing with them. The way he carried his conversation it was like he was familiar with Tsunade.
"Wait, before we continue, can I ask you something? Do I know you from somewhere? You seem so familiar." Tsunade couldn't help herself. Her mind repeatedly attempted to interpolate that grin to anyone she knew in her memories but it continually escapes her. One person comes close, but she doesn't want to get her hopes up. It's like a complex piece of a puzzle where the dots either don't line up or she herself doesn't want to line them up in fear to breaking the entire puzzle back to its thousand pieces. "You've been here before haven't you?"
"Ahh, I knew I can't hide from you for long … Obaa-chan." At the mention of 'obaa-chan', Tsunade's mind comes to a crashing halt. The leader of the group pulled down his hood, revealing bright blonde hair, piercing blue eyes and the most distinctive whisker marks on his cheeks. "Long time no see, neh."
"Naruto, you idiot, where have you been?" Tsunade feels her chest tightens, holding back unbidden tears threatening to flow from her eyes. She was right, it is him. She understands now why the chuunin guard was attacking him. He must have recognized his face even with the hood. Not even his two year absence can wipe that grinning face from the memories of the people of the Leaf. What the hell could have possibly happened to him in these last two years? Why only now that he chose to reveal himself. And more importantly why the hell does he wear the Hidden Flame colors?
Author's Notes:
A little short and vague, but considering it's only a prologue, don't criticize it too much okay. You can however criticize the stiff tone of the story. Hey, I'm originally a technical writer, I don't write stories that much. This is my first Naruto fic, heck it's my first fic ever, period. Flame me if you want but please leave me with some motivation left so that I can continue this fic for some who do like it. So please read and review.
Please forgive if anyone had used the Hidden Flame before and looked like I'm smooching your ideas. I haven't read any yet with this village so yurushite kudasai! Well is really vast and I don't have the time to read them all, even if it's just Naruto section.
Chapter 2 is already 3/4 finished but I can't make any promises as to when it will be ready. Anyone want to volunteer to be a beta reader for the fic? You get to nag at me when I'm late on datelines and do stupid mistakes with my grammar. Be warned though, people always called me thick headed and I think they're trying to be nice.