Chapter 24

(1 year later)

A house in the middle of the forests surrounding Kumo was in an uproar of panic as the two remaining occupants ran for their lives. One was a brown haired man with a cut running down the side of his face, leaking fresh blood. The other was an elderly woman who was struggling up the stairs. They were both covered in blood that wasn't all theirs.

The brown haired man pushed the older woman to make her move faster. When they were on the second floor, he pushed her into the hall closet and shut the door. They both scrambled to the back wall, hidden in the shadows of the hanging clothes. The man was holding the woman's mouth shut to stop her whimpering.

In the distance, they could hear the sound of someone screaming for their life. It was a man, one that they both seemed to be quite familiar with as his cries incited more and more tears from them. Then, suddenly the screaming was stopped, and they both knew why.

Now, the only sound was the faint yet clear sound of footsteps slowly treading up the stairs. With every step, there was an extra two thuds that they couldn't place. Then, whoever it was, finally reached the top step and stopped. The house fell deathly silent for a short few seconds. Then, the assailant began walking again. This time, they could clearly hear something being drug across the floor. It sounded sharp and metal.

Two doors away from the closet they were in, the door was kicked in roughly. When the person saw no one in there, they went to the next door and kicked it in. Again, no one. Through the shutters of the closet, the brown haired man could now see the body of the person as they walked in front of the door. It was clearly a female by the curves of the body. She was dressed in a white formfitting shirt underneath a red jacket that only went down to below her rib cage which she left unzipped. She also wore a short tight pair of black shorts that didn't reach below her mid-thigh. The whole outfit drenched in blood splatter. In her hands were two swords, held in revers grip with the tips touching the ground. Most likely the dragging sound he heard. She was staring at their door.

This one being one that opened out, she went to grabbed the door knob and the brown haired man tightened his grip on the elderly ladies mouth to keep her from screaming. Hoping and praying to whatever divine power that they somehow made it out of this. He shut his eyes awaiting the inevitable. Suddenly, there was a crashing sound in the room next to theirs. The girl released the door knob and turned her head. Now, the brown haired man got a peak at her hair which was blood red towards the bottom but faded into a bright blond.

She walked away to investigate what the sound was and the brown haired man breathed a sigh of relief as quietly as he could. He loosened his grip slightly on the old lady and whispered to her to 'stay quiet'. Slowly and gently, he crawled his way over to the door. She had already partially opened the door, so he just pushed it open a little more. It creaked ever so slightly and he cursed his luck. Looking down the hall in the direction she went, he couldn't see her. He couldn't hear her either.

Seeing a chance at an escape through the window at the end of the hall, he crawled back to the old woman. Very quietly he whispered his plan. "Ok… the window at the end of the hall is wide open… If we can make it, then we can run for it." The old woman was vehemently shaking her head, not liking the idea. "We have to. Hey, we have to!" he said more harshly. "If we stay here we will die."

The old woman bit her lips together and shut her eyes, mentally judging her odds. Figuring there was no other choice, she nodded her head. He nodded back at her and prepared to crawl towards the door, but quickly jumped back against the wall when he heard whistling from down the hall. Again, walking by their room was the girl stained with blood. She was still dragging one of her swords across the ground, but she was swinging the other around as she whistled.

She was just about to pass by when the old woman could no longer hold her breath. She exhaled as quietly as she could, but that seemed to be enough for the girl to stop in her tracks. The brown haired man clamped his hand over her mouth once more. The girl walked back until she was standing in front of the door again. This time, he knew they were found out. Reaching to his right, he felt around for something to use. All he could find was an old umbrella that he held shakily in his hands.

The door swung open and he drove the umbrella forward, but it was quickly knocked to the side and the right side of his chest was impaled into the wall behind him. Staring up at her, he was horrified by the mask she wore. It was a traditional Japanese porcelain doll mask complete with the small lips, thin eye holes, and a small nose. The mouth of the mask was smothered in red lipstick and both of the eyes were smudged carelessly in red eyeshadow. Beneath her right eye was a small heart and along the jaw line was the word 'rotten'.

"I found her, love!" she called out with an ominously happy tone. They heard another pair of footsteps casually walking up the stairs. "Don't worry granny." She said looking at the old woman. "My honey just wants to talk to you." The brown haired man tried to pull the sword from his chest but she twisted it more and more causing him to continue screaming.

Then, they were greeted to the other masked assailant. He was wearing a blood red shirt, black pants tucked into black tape with black sandals. Over the red shirt he wore a black hoodless jacket with a high collar that he left unzipped. The jacket and pants had many pockets on them and he had an empty sword sheath on his back. His mask was a plain expressionless white mask that cut off at his hair line. The design of the mask was a blood red, very jagged, and crudely painted on smile that went from cheek to cheek. The eye holes were hardly visible amongst the blacked out smudged eye shadow that covered them. His blood red hair was slicked back and seemed wet or oily as a strand or two hung over the front edge of his mask.

"Well, well." He said squatting down in front of the terrified old lady. "Miss Kibui… former secretary to the Raikage…" the old lady did her best to sink into the wall behind her. "Don't be afraid… I would just like to talk to you… my name is unimportant as I am nothing more than an idea."

"What do you want!?" yelled the brown haired man.

The masked man looked over to him in curiosity. Then he looked back to his assailant. "Why is he still alive?"

"Sorry hun, thought you'd want to use him as leverage." She ripped the sword out of his chest and slit his throat. Flicking the blood off of the blade, she shoved it back into the empty sheath on the masked man's back. The old woman cried in desperation seeing the blood leak out from his throat.

"Hey, hey, hey." He said getting closer to the woman and stroking her face gently. "There's no need for that." He whispered to her. "Just answer my questions and we'll be alright… Now, the Raikage…"

Sitting in his office, the Godaime Hokage Menma Namikaze, looked over the recent report he received on the masked assailants. It was a cry for help from a second village, this one unexpected. Two months ago he received a distress message from the hidden sand villages Kazekage, Gaara, about two masked individuals who massacred one of his former associate's homes apparently fishing for information regarding himself. It was just a simple heads up for the Hokage to ensure all of his associates were accounted for. Now, he received a letter describing the same situation from the new Mizukage, Chojuro.

Kiri being a sort of neutral nation of Konoha, it was an unexpected warning. Apparently the masked assailant allowed one of the witnesses to live to relay a message to him. It was cryptic but threatening and seemed to be in pieces. This entire ordeal was becoming a headache, especially for someone who's only been in office for about four months so far.

As of now the issue wasn't that great since the only people out of the village connected to him in any way were Sasuke and Mito. They embarked on their honeymoon a few weeks ago to spring country but they could both pretty much handle anyone they came against. They were of course told to be on the lookout for Naruto even after all this time. There would be hell to pay if the other villages were to find out that the lunatic brother of the Hokage was out and about causing trouble.

To Menma's knowledge, he hasn't done anything yet. He was spotted a few times with Ino of all people within a few of the minor villages, but he could never pinpoint their location. It also wasn't known if Ino is an accomplice of his or merely a victim in all this. While his father was in office, he sent multiple search and seize missions out for the two, but only a few were able to spot them, but none able to catch them. Without Jiraiya's spy network, finding anyone became a much more difficult task for Konoha. Naruto being a former ANBU did not help as he was well aware of each and every tactic they used for certain missions.

He was starting to understand his father's weary warning to him when he took office. He told him that this job was not simply about being the strongest in the village or making the tough decisions. He said it was a very hefty task of balancing not only the problems in and outside of the village, but your own life's issues as well. Naruto's escape influenced both of those tasks negatively.

His disappearance led to many issues within the village including the many demands for his head from not only the council members, but his own group of friends who believed he kidnapped Ino. Even Sakura, to Menma's disappointment. He understood it was her best friend, but Naruto was his brother and he expected her to at least understand how he felt. Ino was his friend too so he got her point of view, but that didn't change things.

As a father, Hokage, and husband Menma had a lot on his plate. Hopefully in time, everything would work itself out. He was even thinking about going to his father for help with the whole masked assailant thing. Not that he couldn't handle it. He was actually planning on relaying to every shinobi, Jonin or higher, to be on the lookout for the two individuals with the orders to either capture or kill.

He wasn't sure how effective that would be with the vague description of simply 'two masked assailants'. He wasn't aware of their affiliation, ability, or even gender. It would be like chasing blank faces. For now, his plan was to wait for more information to rise. If things continued the way they were and Kumo or Iwa reached out with a similar complaint then he'd definitely step up and think up a plan of action.

A knock at his door broke him from his thoughts. "Come in." he called out, writing something down on the document before him.

Sakura walked in with a baby carrier hooked onto her left arm and a diaper bag slung over her right shoulder. Menma smiled and stood up to greet her. Walking over he gave Sakura a kiss and received the beautiful baby laying carelessly in the carrier. "Hey there Sumire-chan." He said pinching her cheeks.

Sakura smiled, tickling her little feet. "She's been missing her daddy all day. So, I thought we'd come for a visit." Menma smiled gratefully and walked back to his seat with his daughter in his hands.

"Well, I'm certainly glad you did." Taking a seat, he began to rock back and forth, uttering baby noises to make her laugh. "Today has been nothing less than stressful, I'll tell you that."

Sakura walked around and set the carrier on the ground next to his chair and the diaper bag on a free spot on his desk. "I can tell. Have you even eaten today?"

Menma smiled bashfully with a chuckle. "Uh, no. I must have forgotten." He said scratching the back of his head.

Sakura chuckled. "You Baka. Wait here, I'll go get us something to eat." She said walking towards the door.

Menma chuckled and nodded, holding Sumire up so that they were face to face. "Your Kaa-san is so mean Sumire-chan. I hope you're more like me." He mocked so that Sakura could hear.

"Don't corrupt my daughter you Baka." She called out casually as she shut the door. Menma again chuckled at her and put his daughter back into the carrier next to him so that he could continue working. When she started crying he shoved her bottle into her mouth, silencing her instantly.

A few minutes later, another knock at his door interrupted him. This time it was Kakashi. "Oh, Kakashi. What is it?" he asked picking up Sumire so that he could feed her properly.

"Meh meh, just stopping by to check up on you." He said casually strolling in and taking a seat in a chair off to the side with his book in his hands.

Menma's expression displayed playful annoyance. "As per my father's request?" he asked him in a knowing tone.

Kakashi just eye smiled from behind his book. "Can't blame him for worrying. There was a lot going on when he handed you the hat."

Menma sighed and looked down at Sumire. "I know, but still. I am Hokage for a reason. He doesn't have to worry about me all the time."

Kakashi shrugged. "Guess it's a parent thing."

Menma smiled at that looking down at his daughter, figuring he'd probably do the same thing. "Well, tell him thanks for checking up on me, but I'm fine." He said in amusement.

Kakashi smiled and nodded. "Will do. While I'm here, anything you'd like to talk about?" he asked him.

Menma looked up in thought. "Well, yeah actually." He shifted Sumire to his other arm. "There could be a possible issue brewing that could possibly affect us later down the road." He said getting serious.