Chapter 164: Epilogue (1)

[3rd Person POV]

"I'm sorry, Naruto. They are gone."

The young blond ninja clutched at his heart in pain as he asked the older man, "Why?"

The older man, who was none other than Jiraya, replied, "There is much you don't know… but for now, we need to go."

Naruto shook his head and asked, "No, why did mom not keep Kyuubi! Maybe she could have won, and captured Sukaina, and…"

Jiraya sighed at the hyperventilating Naruto, and placed his hand on his shoulder to say, "Naruto, it wouldn't have changed anything. Keeping the Nine Tails within her would have only been serving immense power to Sukaina on a silver plater."

Naruto asked, "But why did they go if they knew they were going to die! Why did they leave me behind!"

Jiraya shook his head and said, "It's not this simple. You will understand when you get older. For now, we need to leave the village and hide, or she will find us."

Naruto clenched his teeth as his teary eyes brimmed with hatred, and he said, "Let her! I'm going to kill her!"

Jiraya replied, "Even if every Shinobi left in the village acted together, she would still defeat us all with ease. For now, the wisest choice is to fall back, and lick our wounds. Only when we are ready should we attack."

Naruto hit the wall next to him, his hatred rising as Kyuubi's chakra started coating his arm, completely breaking the wall as he said, "We can't abandon the village like that. It is our home. It is what we swore to protect."

Jiraya countered, "Konoha is a people, not a place. And right now, our best course of actions is to leave."

As he said that, the door to their room was opened, revealing an orange haired man. He was relatively young, in his late twenties, but more importantly, wore a particular robe.

He looked at Jiraya and said, "Sensei, it's about time we leave."

Jiraya smiled slightly and asked, "Yahiko. How are Orochimaru and Tsunade?"

Yahiko scratched the back of his head and replied, "Tougher than ever. Lord Orochimaru is shedding his new skin, while Lady Tsunade's body has become one again. They are going to need a little longer to recover though, since they severed their connection to their sages. Speaking of which, you had the strongest connection to yours, having achieved Sage Mode… how are you feeling?"

Jiraya sighed and revealed, "Not great, but I'll manage. We should go now, while we still can."

Yahiko nodded, before asking, "Sensei, why didn't you tell us about the attack? If we had brought along the rest of the Akatsuki, we could have brought her down."

Jiraya shook his head and replied, "You weren't there. She has become unstoppable. People have been holding her to my sensei, the Third Hokage's level, and the First Hokage as a God of Shinobi, but having witnessed the peak prowess of both, I can tell you she is far beyond that. Bringing the entire Akatsuki would have only been offering her the Rinnegan of Nagato for no reason."

Yahiko looked out through the destroyed wall, looking hesitant, before he shook his head and looked at Naruto. Smiling sadly, he said, "You are going to play an important role, Naruto. In the future, we will be working together so that your parents' sacrifice wasn't in vain."

Naruto nodded grimly, and followed along as the group of the three left, and quickly disappeared from the village.

In another part of the village, within the Hokage's Tower, the most important people left in the village gathered. That mostly consisted of the heads of the different clans, and the Jonins.

At the center of the room, where everyone was looking, was Kurenai Yuhi. The Kunoichi sat cross legged, uncaring about the few hostile gazes as she clearly enunciated, "The God-Queen has issued clear orders. You all have a choice. You either leave, or stay and accept her rule. No harm shall be done to any of those who leave."

Shikaku Nara tapped his finger on the table in front of him and said, "But what will happen if we leave? By the look of things, your master is not going to stop at the Land of Fire, and will continue to expend her Kingdom. Where are we supposed to go, if we flee? Won't her territory reach us at some point, and force us to face her? Do we really have a choice then?"

Many heads nodded at his comment, but Kurenai looked nonplussed by the question as she replied calmly, "Her Majesty only spread her influence because of the need of the people. You should have heard of the ongoing protests within the Land of Forests, asking for their assimilation to our great kingdom."

"You did not answer my question though."

Kurenai waved her hand and said, "Why would you not want to be part of her kingdom? She never did anything to harm the village, the Hokage was the one who could not stand having someone above him and attacked her. While she fought them, Her Majesty even offered them mercy on many occasions. It was only because they forced her to do so that she had to kill them."

As she said that, many heads turned toward the Uchiha. Leading them were the new head of the clan, Itachi Uchiha, alongside his trustee aide, Shisui Uchiha. Both of them were of the rare survivors of that fight, and had their eyes bandaged.

Despite not seeing anything, Itachi sensed he was being watched, so he offered his stance, "The Uchiha Clan will be leaving the village, not for personal grudges, but because we cannot let one person have all the power in the world. Our aim won't be to confront Sukaina…"

Kurenai narrowed her eyes and immediately cut him off, "You would be wise to address Her Majesty by her title."

Itachi scoffed, and Shisui said, "We will be building a new force, a new Konoha, whose goal will be to protect. Then, whether we will have to protect the world from Sukaina, or from whatever other threat which may arise, only time will tell."

Kurenai didn't look very happy, but Shikaku said, "It would be wiser for all the clans to leave the village. We've all seen already how 'merciful' Her Majesty was, and any of our clans would represent a threat to her rule."

Kurenai replied, "You overestimate yourself, but it doesn't matter. Her Majesty's only goal has always been, is, and shall be to protect her people. If you become her people, then you too shall benefit her protection. Confront her, and you shall experience her wrath."

Shikaku rose to his feet, an action echoed by many, as he said, "If not bending the knee means being her enemy, then we'd be better off hiding than becoming slaves to her."

Shikaku walked off, followed by nearly everyone in the room.

Hayama, another of Sukaina's Officers, and newly promoted Star General, approached his fellow Star General Kurenai, and said, "It doesn't matter, we expected them to leave anyway. Her Majesty already ordered to let them leave peacefully."

Kurenai clenched her teeth and said, "How can they be so blind? Do they really think she is evil? Can't they see all the sacrifices she made for her people? How could they think there exists a more suited ruler somewhere? Would they really rather have that useless Daimyo still on the throne?"

Hayama sighed and replied, "We were bound to find adversity, but it does not matter. Besides, while the Jonin have left, there still are quite some Chunin and Genin who will remain behind. Her Majesty's Reign will be a long one, so she will have the opportunity to train new generations."

Kurenai nodded slowly, before leaving the room alongside Hayama.