Will of Water

Chapter One: Banished

A figure could be seeing walking into the woods, his entire body covered by a tick gray robe, too big for his small body. He continued walking until he appeared to be tired,  it had been a long day for him. To long and bad for him.

Under the hood that covered his head, some bangs of blonde hair could be saw. Bangs of blonde and spiky hair. Below them, a childlike face could also be saw. With three whiskered-like marks in each cheek that gave the boy a certain feral appearence. His eyes were a deep blue and were filled by sadness.

Naruto didn't know what to think,he only could remember how the things turned that worse. So he quickly climbed the tree infront of him an searched for a safe place to rest a little. He found it in form of a branch covered by a bush of leaves, so he accomodated there.

He was both safe of the sunlight and rain, and of course of another shinobi. Besides,despite his amazing stamina, he really needed to rest, for what he was planing to do, he certainly needed some rest and time to think a little.

His blue eyes stared towards the log of the tree, and then, he slowly began to close them. Now, he began to remember, how the situacion came from worst to awfull.

* Flashback\*

His eyes opened and stare at the white ceiling, it didn't took long for him to realise where he was, after all, he had grown far acostumed of being in that room. The hospital hadn't changed that much since the last time he had spent there during the month before the finals of the chuunin exam.

He groaned, if there was something that he hated, it was the hospitals, their food was awfull and he couldn't even eat some ramen. He tried to incorporate bht a sharp pain appeared over his chest.

'What?', he tought, and then he looked his chest, only to see two deep deep scars across it. The same places where the two Chidori (One Thousand Birds) of Sasuke had stabed in his body. He remembered the pain he felt in those moments, he also realised that if it weren't for the Kyuubi, he probably wouldn't had survived.

'Thanks Furball', he tought again while he was busy inspecting his right hand under some bandages, aparently the use of demonic chakra and a Rasengan (Spiralling-Sphere) on his hand wasn't a good idea, specially when he didn't even knew how to control well the first one.

The skin of his hand looked tored apart, not that he couldn't blame himself, he knew that it had been a foolish idea, a very foolish idea. 'I probably will need to ask for some help to learn how to use this properly' he tought with a hint of shame. Contrary to most people belief, Naruto wasn't a hopeless idiot, it was true that he was a bit brash and hot-headed and lacked  tons of knowledge, even basic one but that wasn't his fault, after all, how could he be responsible that they didn't let him enter in the library or most of the academy instructors didn't even acknwoledge his own existance?

So in those precise moments, he was thinking about learning how to properly use his bijuu's chakra after all, wasn't that the purpose of a jinchuriki?, to learn how to control the power of the beast sealed in his gut, he wasn't unfamiliar with the military uses of his kin, he already had saw another of them.

Sabaku no Gaara (Gaara of the Desert), one of his 'friends' and holder of the Ichibi No Tanuki (One-Tailed Racoon) was the prime example. For what he had talked about him, Shukaku (His Bijuu's name) granted his holder a unique example of the Jiton (Magnetic Release) : The ability to control the sand particles at will and since Sunagakure was on the middle of the desert kt was quite easy to comprehend why Suna's Jinchuriki was their Ace-On the hole.

Naruto wondered how his life would had been if Konoha had raised him to become a weapon, there was no doubt that him would be far more capable that his current self and perhaos he wouldn't had to suffer a despicable treatment from Konoha's villaguers. He tried to imagine himself with an ANBU gear and a kitsune mask with the orange fox-like aurea around his body but it was quite ridiculous.

But the shame was a product of him realizing how far he was from being a decent shinobi. For example, the only thing that made him special on comparison of his fellow former classmates was the Kyuubi and his Chakra, without those things, he only had the Kage Bunshin No Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu) and the Rasengan (Spiraling-Sphere) when his companions had their Clan's Hijutsu and more preparation.

He mentaly sighed. 'I really need to improve a lot, if I didn't had the Kyuubi, I would have died long ago'. It wasn't exactly a lie. In Nami No Kuni (Wave Country) he had to use it to overpower Haku , in the Shi No Mori (Forest of Death) he had to use it against Orochimaru and failed incredibly against the former Konoha shinobi during the second stage of the Chuunin Exams hell, he even had to use it against Neji during his battle on the third stage.

And that wasn't the last time, the battle against Gaara and Shukaku wasn't exactly his best memory. If it weren't for Gamabunta and the acursed chakra, he would have been crushed by Shukaku's paws or Sand-Coffined by Gaara, not like one option was better than the other.

He closed his eyes, the fight with Sasuke and it's effects on his body were a pain on the ass. 'I shouldn't had hold back that much during that fight, but a least I managed to return him in one piece, damm Teme' he mentally swore.

'At least I hope the other's are fine, Oh, who am I kidding?, of course they are'

Unfortunately, the things weren't turning too bright for him, several meters from the hospital, on the council chambers a meeting was taking place. A face appeared from the shadows and stared at the other people present.

"So the Kyuubi Jinchuriki managed to bring back the last uchiha, well that's fine in my book, we didn't lost the sharingan"  comented Homura Mitokado, an old man with glasses that used to be one of the Sandaime's teammates under the Nidaime. He really didn't wanted to be at that meeting but he had not choice.

"However he also displayed a dangerous level of it an used against the Sasuke boy, we are not even sure that he can manage to control it" added Koharu Utatane with a frown, it wasn't that she was aggainst the blonde uzumaki but she understood that his presence could bring a lot of harm to  Konoha.

Some whispers could be heard among the table, those who were from the shinobi part of the council arched an eyebrow or prefered to stay silent wether the ones of the civilian side were already whispering some of their plans.

"What I don't understand, it's what are we discusing at?" asqued Nara  Shikaku, the Nara's Clanhead and Jounin Comander. Honestly, he only wanted the meeting to end so he could go home and do something better, like sleeping.

"The punishment of the demon, of course" said a civilian with a gleam of fanatism on his eyes. Several other civilians seemed to agree while the shinobi prefered to stay silent, they really didn't liked were was this going. Shikaku rolled his eyes and muttered "Troublesome" before adding.

"Punishment for what exactly, what did he did wrong?" He asked with a frown. His fellow clanheads Inoichi Yamanaka and Chouza Akimichi , both at his right and left also seemed to agree with his question, they also were quite annoyed by the civilians actitude. Meanwhile Hyuuga Hiashi narrowed his eyes, perhaps he didn't liked the uzumaki  kid for his actitude but that didn't meaned that he hated him, also he was quite annoyed by the fact that the civilians were ignoring the fact that it was their 'precious' Uchiha the one that went rogue and his failed runaway almost costed the lifes of six shinobi of the same age, and three of them being clan heirs.

Tsume Inuzuka, at his left was having the same thoughts, while she was bored by the meeting, she also didn't liked were was that going. The favoritism against the brat was too much to being ignored.

"For releasing his powers of course" answered the same civilian councilman while his fellow cibilians were nodding their heads in approvement. An snort could be hear from the shinobi side. Shikaku calmy narrowed his eyes.

"Are you seriously going to punish him for something out his reach and also for defending himself against someone that didn't hesitate to betray his home for a power offering coming from the village's greatest traitor since Uchiha Madara?, dear Kami, how low we have fallen" he said with an slight angered tone.

Most of the shinobi side seemed to agree with that, even Homura felt a bit relieved about that, he knew that it was important to Konoha the Jinchuriki status, especially when they had the mightiest of the tailed beast. Of course he was concerned that I would take long for their demon vessel to learn how to tame the power of the  Kyuubi but he was confident that Danzou would find a way with his Root to take one of the methods that other villages used for their own jinchuriki, like Suna or Kumo for example.

However, he was a bit confused about Danzou's silence on the meeting, usualy, the old warhawk was shooting a sarcastic remark towards the softness of Konoha or the suposse supremacy of the village over the 'Big Five'. But in those procise moments, he was sitting comfortably in his seat with his only eye  closed.

Apparently some of the council had also noticed that and were wondering what was thinking the "Darkness of the Shinobi". Shikaku narrowed his eyes, it was certainly not a secret that Danzou had requested the right of train the jinchuriki on hope of creating a weapon for Konoha many times, all of them being rejected by the Sandaime, apparently, now after the failed escape of Uchiha Sasuke, he would probably request the same thing for the last Uchiha member in Konoha.

"It is true that the genin Uzumaki and our local Jinchuriki didn't commited any crime" be said still with his eye closed. Silence crawled in the chamber after hearing the last remark. "But that doesn't means that these incident won't have consequences"

Koharu frowned, it was pretty rare to see the old warhawk acting in that manner, she couldn't negate that she felt some intrigue about it, Shikaku for the other way, still mantained his eyes narrowed, there was something odd in the form Danzou was talking, something really odd.

Danzou opened his eyes an extracted a folder from his robes, he trew it to the center of the table. Some of the civil councilmen tried to take it but a single gest from the Root leader stopped them. "The file contained in that folder is for the shinobi side only, there's something they really should see, perhaps they even will realize the true reach of the situation"

Aburame Shibi was the first that taked the initiative, he slowly opened the file and began to read it, his face, covered by a pair of sunglasses and a high-collar betrayed nothing. After some minutes, he closed it and before handing it to the next one, he turned to Danzou.

"This information, all the proof contained by the file seems genuine, however I have my doubst, why do yous ask?, because it seems quite far-fetched that this is happening"

Danzou didn't answered inmediately, he only stared to the Aburame's Clan head and responded. "I asure you, Aburame-San, that none of this information is false, it was even extracted from the only Great Shinobi village that has made contact with them"

Shibi nodded and gave the file to Inoichi, who did the same to Shikaku after being finished, both men paled after reading those reports, Shikaku in particular was sweating bullets. 'Troublesome, so damm troublesome' he tought.

Inoichi wasn't doing it better. 'To think that such thing is possible, and they aren't regular ones', he paled at the tought of seeing them coming. Chouza didn't said anything and limited to pass it to Tsume, who had raised an eyebrow after seeing the reactions of her fellow clan heads, however after finishend reading all the file, an emotion entered his mind, one that she hadn't felt on a long time.

Fear.

Hyuuga Hiashi took it from the Inuzuka's matriarch place and did the same thing as his predesors. His pupil-less eyes narrowed after reading  a certain part. However, when he finished, he calmly puted down the report and glared at Danzou, who remained impassive as ever.

"Since when this information has been available?"

The tone was slightly angered, and with good reasons. How dare Danzou to kept them in the dark when that situacion was far from being quite secure?

The cripled man mentaly smirked, the hook was catched. "Since almost seven years ago, it was when we start catching those rumours", 'The same year when the man that almost destroyed this village months ago went rogue from this group' he mentally added.

"What is in that file?" Asked one of the civilian councilmen, a bit intimidated from the reactions of the shinobi side members "Yes, we also want to know what is that important and what those it has to do with this situation" said another one.

Shikaku turned to them, with a worry expresion on his face. "All of you are familiar with the 'S-Rank' term don't you?" He asked. One of the most arrogant ones stood and almost yelled."Of course we know, we are not stupid, know what its it relation with the meeting?"

Inoichi glared to him before answering. "Because acording to the file, there is a certain group  out there, one that is formed of nine S-Ranked missing-nin , one that has a purpose of gathering all the nine jinchuriki"

The revelation brought many stares of shock from the civilian side and a few grimaced faces from the shinobi one. "Thats..Not..posible.." stutered one of the first group followed by exlamations of the same type.

"Silence!"

Retorted Koharu while Homura had a grim looking on his face, he couldn't believe that such thing was possible. S rank, the term gaved to shinobi who also reached the Kage one, for most regular shinobi, the S rank ones were almost gods to men, capable of facing hundreds of men without breaking a sweet, capable of manipulating the entire landscape during their battles. The tought of an small group comprised by nine of those peoples brought shivers to everyone.

Other of the civilians, this time a woman raised her hand. "Do we know the  identities of some of their members?" She asked, feeling that the answer wouldn't be good.

The ANBU commander  took the file from the table and read some of the pages. "The ones that are known are Kisame Hoshigaki, the Kirigakure no Kaijin (Monster of the Hidden Mist) and  Uchiha Itachi" after hearkng that, multiple gasps were heared across the chamber, "However, it is also known that Orochimaru used to be part of this group"

If something had crashed on the next room everyone on the chamber would had listened to it. The silence was almost frightening, even the civilians were in total shock. Nine missing-nin, all of them above the S-Rank, nine monsters that could rival or superate a Kage, if only one of them, a forme one, had almost managed to acomplish the destruction of Konoha months ago, what would the nine others combined could do with the shinobi world?

"And to make things worst, their purpose is to gather all the Bijuu, or better said via the jinchuriki" Added Koharu. If the Jinchuriki were hailed as demons and army killers, were vulnerable to people that could hunt them, then what would the hunters be considerated?

Monsters, definitely monsters on human flesh if they had the skill and power to hunt the ones who hold the giant chakra beings. And to think that they were ready to acomplish that goal was truly terryfing.

"But perhaps the most disturbing one" Comented Inoichi , everybody turned their heads towards his direction "Is the head of that movement, just imagine, Who could be that powerfull or influential to manage to  agroup nine men of that caliber and still be able to order around ?..."

"He or she undoubtebly has the power to back-up that claim, S-Rank Nuke-nin usually don't stick together and this a treat that never has happened before" Calmly explained Shikaku. It was true, along history, they were always few examples of multiple S- Rank level-nins working as a group. Some of the former members of the Kiri  Nana No  Shinobigatana (Seven Swordmen Shinobi of Mist) who were solid S-Rank or hight A almost borderline S, the Kumogakure Kinkaku Force, who were famous for being the ones that killed the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju and for having quite destacable members among their numbers, some of then capable of going toe-to-toe with their current Raikage.

Besides those two groups, organization like those were rare, but all of them had something in common: They were at the service of a Hidden Village, unlike these one, who was composed of rogue ones.

Shikaku sighed. 'Troublesome' he tought,'And unlike the other hidden villages, we never used the Kyuubi for military purposes so it is a fact that Naruto, in comparision of his fellow jinchuriki, is the most vulnerable of them and that means..' His eyes widened having guessed the reason why Danzou had aproached to the meeting with the information.

But before he could even  coment that, the gates of the chamber were opened and the figure of a certain blonde Kage was revealled, his face betrayed one single emotion: Anger.

"Is there a reason why the council has decided to start a meeting withouth the presence of the Hokage or at least of one of her representants?" She almost yelled.

Again, silence reigned the room. The clan heads had found recently watching the floor of the room more interesting, the civilians were all in the same shock state and the two elders and Danzo, were at the end of the table completely calmed.

"I'm sure I asked a question" said Tsunade glaring at all of the council members, behind that calm demeanour it was hidden an storm. A fierce one.

Homura decided to take the initiative. "Hokage-sama, I'am affraid that the purpose of these meeting was in a emergency level, please take a seat so whe can explain the Council's actions" he said while adjusting his glasses. There was no need of a fight, not in that moment.

Tsunade quickly  did that. Then she crossed her ams and almost barked. "Explain, now"