[The Renegade] Chapter 28 - Farewell (Patreon)

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Chapter 28 - Farewell

A group of eight people of various ages were seated at a U-shaped table, locked in a rather heated debate. Four of them looked like shinobi, three of them were very old, and the last one seemed like a well-read civilian. 

“I say we strike back at those bastards! The Rain isn’t a punching bag for the Five Great Nations anymore!” a tough, burly man said as she slammed the table with his fist. Although he was in his forties, his eyes were filled with energy, and he had a head full of spiky crimson-red hair. He was Hayate Uzumaki, the strongest jonin of Amegakure and the new wielder of Samehada.  

“I understand your feelings, Uzumaki-san. But we can’t take such reckless actions based on our emotions,” said an old lady. The passage of time had left its mark on her face, and her hair was grey, almost white. 

The Uzumaki unexpectedly calmed down at the words of the old lady. It looked like he held a great deal of respect for her. 

“You’ve been alive longer than all of us, Kawa-sama. You’ve witnessed with your own eyes the horrors of the 2nd and 3rd Ninja Wars. Don’t you want revenge? We finally have the chance and the legal right to make them pay!” Hayate insisted.

“Who is in the right and who is in the wrong never mattered in the past. It doesn’t matter in the present, either. Might makes right. That is the only rule in the Ninja World,” another elder said. He was sitting with his elbows on the table, his interlocked hands hiding the lower part of his face. “The real question we should be asking ourselves is: are we strong enough to take on Iwagakure, Kirigakure, and Kumogakure at the same time?”

“Lord Uzumaki definitely can!” the older Uzumaki said and looked at the top of the U-shaped table, asking for confirmation. 

“Lord Uzumaki is powerful, but he can’t be everywhere at once,” Amaya, the middle-aged kunoichi who had managed to master the Oodama Rasengan said while shaking her head. “We will be fighting a war on three fronts, all the while being outnumbered 8 to 1.”

“We could level the playing field with the use of our bijuu. With Kyuubi, Rokubi, and Nibi at our side, their numerical advantage won’t amount to anything,” said a slender teenager with white hair. He was Ibaraki Suiron, the new wielder of Kubikiribocho.

“They are not our bijuu. We do not own them,” Naruto opened his mouth for the first time since the start of the War Council. “And they have names. Kurama, Saiken, and Matatabi.”

The white-haired teenager stood up quickly and bowed from the waist. 

“I apologize for my words, Uzumaki-sama. I shall accept any punishment that you-”

Naruto let out a sigh. 

“At ease,” he said. “I’ve been your leader for over a year now; have I ever punished you or anyone else for something this minor?”

In truth, Naruto had never punished anyone for anything. However, the impact that his power had left in the hearts of his people when he single-handedly killed 4000 shinobi with one attack and then summoned the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox to finish off another 3000 was just too much. 

It wasn’t only the weaker shinobi, those who did not know him personally, that looked at him as if he were their god; the three strongest ninjas in the Land of Rain and Rivers, Hayate Uzumaki, Amaya, and Ibaraki Suiron, revered him too. They knew even better than the rest just how large the gulf was between their strength and his. 

As Suiron sat back in his seat, Naruto spoke:

“The Great Nations had imprisoned the bijuu and used them as weapons for decades. I promised them that I would not do the same. They may not be human, but they are my people too, just as much as you are. If they decide to help us, I will gladly receive their help. But I will not force them to do anything.”

“Understood,” everyone sitting at the table acknowledged his words. 

“Good. Please continue,” Naruto said, and he leaned back in his chair, letting his subordinates continue their debate. 

“Uzumaki-sama, is there anything else you would like to add?” asked the old lady, Kawa. 

Naruto shook his head.

“I want to hear your thoughts first. I may be strong, but most of you are far more experienced than I am.”

He had never let his newfound power and authority get to his head. He understood that when it came to leading a village, he was still a greenhorn. Power did not equal wisdom. He had much to learn. 

His subordinates started debating again about the pros and cons of starting a war amongst themselves. 

“What about our finances, Genji-san?” the third elder, a man with a rebreather covering his mouth and wearing a turban on his head, asked. 

The man in question, Genji, was old too, in his fifties, but he was entirely different from the rest of the people gathered at the War Council. He was rather thin, his smooth brown hair was styled in a chonmage knot, and he was wearing a formal black kimono and a pair of silver-rimmed glasses. He was the new Prime Minister of the Land of Rain and Rivers. 

Despite his lofty position, Genji did not dare look down on anyone gathered at the table, not even on Suiron, who was the youngest among them. After all, he was only a ‘civilian’, not a shinobi. 

“Our economy is booming. According to my studies, the Land of Rain and the Land of Rivers had never experienced such a prosperous age in the past. Over the past year, we have amassed a significant amount of wealth and resources. Our trading agreements with Konoha and Suna are immensely beneficial, and I firmly believe that our ties to them will only become stronger in the eventuality of a war. I cannot comment on our country’s military might, but, when it comes to the logistics, we have nothing to be worried about should a war break out.”

The reason for their discussion was that Amaya had managed to capture one of the ‘nuke-nins’ who kept targeting the merchant ships and convoys of the Land of Rain and Rivers. She had placed him under a genjutsu before he could commit suicide like all of them did upon being captured and brought him to Amegakure. 

Making use of Rinnegan’s Human Path, Naruto extracted all the information from the captured shinobi’s brain. It was as they had all suspected: the attackers were not actual nuke-nins but black ops shinobi who were secretly sent by Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure. Terrified by the Rinnegan’s prowess, the three didn’t dare start an actual war so they employed different tactics to harass and inconvenience them. 

Suddenly, Naruto stood up in a hurry. 

“I’m sorry, everyone. Konan is about to give birth.”

Not a second later, he disappeared from their midst with a puff of smoke. His shadow clone had summoned him to Konan’s side. 

⁂

At the same time, in another part of Amegakure, Konan and Naruto were in the middle of decorating their home. 

“There are still three weeks until the Rinne Festival,” said Naruto as he opened a box filled with garlands. 

“It’s a little early, but I like the decorations,” Konan said while opening a box with glittering globes and rope lights. “I used to not care about the Rinne Festival before. Nagato… well, let’s just say he wasn’t a happy person. I wasn’t a joyful person either. Our lives were marked by grief, war, loss, and pain... I had never celebrated this holiday until last year. Until I met you.”

Naruto came to peck her on the cheek before going to the other side of the window. As the two of them worked together to hang a curtain of purple and red lights, he also said:

“It was the same for me too. I was always alone during holidays, and there were no missions at that time to distract me from it either. And when I left the village with Jiraiya, he always went to a brothel during the holidays. I didn’t celebrate the Rinne Festival properly until I moved to Amegakure.”

Naruto finished hanging his corner of the light curtain first and went to Konan to help her with hers too. 

Suddenly, Konan let out a cry, and a stream of clear liquid fell down, creating a puddle on the hardwood floor. 

Naruto let the end of the curtain fall and rushed to support her body. 

“My water just broke,” she said. 

“Ah, shit, what do I do? Tell me what to do,” said Naruto quickly in a panicky voice. 

Konan let out another moan of pain before saying:

“Summon the real you.”

“Ok, I’ll do it right away! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!”

Once Naruto was summoned in front of Konan, the shadow clone went to the window and opened it wide. 

“Can I carry you in a princess carry?”

“I think… ahh… it should be fine,” she said, her face scrunched up from the pain of her contractions. 

Gently taking her in his arms, Naruto rushed to the opened window and jumped out through it. 

In mere seconds, he appeared at the hospital. The sight of their ‘god’ appearing with the heavily pregnant Konan in his arms instantly put the medical personnel on high alert. 

In no time, Konan was placed in a wheelchair, and the two of them were led to the birthing room. 

“Is Shizune still at the hospital?” Naruto asked one of the nurses. 

“Shizune-sama is in the middle of a surgery. She might not be able to assist Lady Konan as a midwife,” the nurse replied respectfully. 

The reason Naruto’s clone went to Konoha a few months ago to talk to Tsunade was so they would arrange for the Legendary Medic to train the medic nins of Amegakure. 

Naturally, seeing as Tsuande was the Hokage, she couldn’t leave her village for that. She had to send one of her trusted apprentices in her stead. Her first intention had been to send her best apprentice there, Sakura. But Naruto didn’t want her, and Sakura didn’t want to leave Konoha either. In the end, it was decided that Shizune would be sent to Amegakure to instruct the Rain medics.

That being said, although Shizune had not been able to master Tsunade’s famous Strength of a Hundred jutsu, she was still an excellent medic that Tsunade trusted and valued. She was more than capable of serving as a mentor for other medics. 

⁂

Several hours passed since Konan’s water broke, and she was rushed to the hospital, but Naruto found out that, sometimes, even as much as 48 hours could pass from the moment the water broke until the actual birth of the child. 

Fresh out of the surgery room, Shizune came to check up on Konan and Naruto despite her own tiredness. 

“You don’t have to worry too much. Konan is a strong kunoichi. It’s unlikely that there will be any complications. You should get some rest.”

“But I can’t leave her alone now. I want to stay here, by her side, and watch over her.”

“Are you sure? We don’t know exactly when she’ll give birth, but it could still take a good while,” Shizune said. 

Seemingly ignoring her advice, he momentarily took his eyes away from Konan to look at Shizune and said seriously:

“Announce to the entire staff of the hospital: when the morning comes, I will cast the Four Crimson Ray Formation around the hospital. Nobody will exit or enter the building without my Shadow Clones’ consent.”

Shizune looked at him, startled. 

“Isn’t this a bit too over the top?”

Naruto turned to look back at his sleeping wife and took her hand into his. 

“On the day of my birth, the Uchiha Madara imposter attacked my parents, threatened to kill me, and kidnapped my mother before unsealing the Nine-Tails, Kurama, from her. I won’t let anything like that happen to my wife and kids too… Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri are seething in helpless rage now. They would do anything to see me and Konan dead. I can’t take any risks. Now, when I’m the most vulnerable, would be the perfect moment for them to strike.”

“... I understand,” Shizune replied. “I’ll also make sure to clear the entire floor and relocate the other patients for the duration of her labour.”

“Thank you, Shizune-nee-chan.”

The older girl smiled at the affectionate way he addressed her.

“Is there anything else you need?” she asked. 

“No. Just don’t let anyone other than the midwife and a nurse come here. I will be staying here, scanning the entire village with my Negative Emotion Sensing and with my Sage Mode too. My clones will do that as well.”

“Everything is going to be fine. Don’t worry,” Shizune smiled and squeezed his shoulder in support before taking her leave. 

⁂

Soon, morning came, and with it, four crimson-red walls of light suddenly appeared in the centre of Amegakure, encasing the entire hospital building into an impenetrable barrier. 

Other than the four Shadow Clones maintaining the Four Crimson Ray formation, Naruto created four more clones and sent them out, stationing them at various strategic places on the outer walls of Amegakure. 

Feeling himself starting to get tired and knowing that it was wiser not to exhaust himself, he created a 9th Shadow Clone and asked it to keep a watch on Konan while he rested. 

Letting himself fall on the tall backrest of the chair that the nurses had prepared for him, Naruto closed his eyes and fell asleep. 

⁂

The moment he closed his eyes, he found himself in a strange space. It wasn’t his mindscape; it was simply too bright, almost blindingly so, and he could not see the ends of it either. Although it was only the second time he came to that place, he recognised it right away: it was the place where he had met his father’s chakra remnant during his fight with Pain. 

He looked around for a few moments restlessly. Eventually, a voice came from behind him:

“Naruto?”

Turning around, Naruto forgot whatever he was about to say as he was faced with a woman not much older than himself. She was wearing a simple green dress, and she was half a head shorter than himself, but her very long crimson-red hair and the fact that he knew that he was inside his seal gave away her identity right away. 

“Mother?”

His quivering voice, filled with emotion, made Kushina’s eyes fill with tears instantly, and she ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck. 

Naruto wrapped his arms around her too, hugging her for all she was worth. He didn’t let go of her for a long time. 

Eventually, they parted, and Kushina cupped his face with her hands, caressing his whiskered cheeks tenderly with her thumbs. 

“My baby boy, you’ve grown so much!” she said in awe. 

Naruto let out a shaky laugh; he was on the verge of crying too. 

“I never thought I’d get to meet you one day,” he said. 

“On the day we died, Minato infused a part of my chakra into the seal too. It was all for the sake of helping you control Kyuubi’s powers when the time came. We both thought you’d have to fight a bitter battle in order to defeat the Fox… imagine my surprise when you opened the seal, but Kyuubi didn’t attack you.”

“After I got these eyes, I became strong enough to defeat Kyuubi and forcefully take his power for myself, but I didn’t want to do that," Naruto explained to her. "Being arrested and thrown into prison made me understand exactly just what the bijuu had gone through all these years. After Hashirama captured them, they spent nearly a century imprisoned and forced to become weapons of war… I didn’t want to treat the bijuu in the same way. They have names, you know? They are intelligent, and they have feelings too. They aren’t mindless beasts. So I struck a deal with him. I granted him his freedom.”

“I didn’t know that when I was alive,” Kushina said. “I never took the time to think about it either. For me, Kyuubi was nothing but a cursed power, a burden that was forced upon me by the village. That’s why I initially refused to let your father seal Kyuubi inside of you. I wanted to take the beast to the grave with me, but, for the sake of Konoha, we couldn’t do that.”

Naruto squeezed his mother’s hand lightly. 

“When I met my father two years ago, I punched him in the gut,” he said with a chuckle. “Growing up, I suffered a lot because of my jinchuuriki status. I didn’t have it as bad as other jinchuuriki, but still, I was lonely. I was an outcast… I didn’t even know I was Yondaime’s son until I met him in the seal. Finding out that it was my hero who cursed me with this burden was a shock… but I’m older now. I’ve become the leader of a Hidden Village too… Now I understand why father did what he did. He was the Hokage. He couldn’t leave the village helpless after his death. If Konoha had lost the Kyuubi, the balance of power between the Five Great Hidden Villages would have been broken... I still don't agree with what he did. I could never do something like that to my children... but I understand his position and why he did it.”

“You’ve grown up so splendidly, Naruto,” Kushina said, smiling tearfully.

“I’ve actually changed a lot over the past two years,” said Naruto, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment at his mother’s praise. “I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be half the person that I am today if not for Konan. I wish you could have met her.”

“I know. I saw her. You picked up an amazing woman.”

“You know her?” he said in surprise.

“Seeing as I didn’t have to help you fight the Kyuubi, I remained hidden in the seal, saving my strength and watching over you. I couldn’t bear to reveal myself and pass on into the afterlife. I wanted to see more of you, my son. I wanted to watch over you just a bit longer. As time passed, I slowly learned of what Konoha had done to you and the reason why you are in Amegakure now. I saw the way you changed. I saw the difficult choices that you were forced to make. And I saw the way that Konan had helped and supported you through it all too. I’m so proud of you, Naruto.”

Saying those words, Kushina’s eyes filled with tears anew, and Naruto suddenly lost his hold on her hand as her body turned intangible, like that of a ghost. 

“Mom? Don’t go! Not yet!” he said in a desperate voice, his arms fruitlessly trying to wrap around her body.

“I wanted to talk to you more too, baby,” she said, crying. “But I’ve stayed in the seal for nearly two years after awakening. I revealed myself to you today because I knew it was time for me to pass on.”

By now, tears were rolling down his cheeks like a river too. 

“But you didn’t tell me anything about yourself,” Naruto said, not even trying to stop his sobs. “I wanted to learn more things about you. I’ve always wanted to meet you! I wanted to get to know you!”

“Don’t cry, Naruto. My son, my baby son.”

“Mother!”

Kushina wiped her tears with the sleeve of her dress and forced herself to smile at him.

“I wish I could stay longer too. I wish I could meet my grandchildren too. I wish I could have been next to you and showered you with my love as you grew up. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, Naruto. I wasn’t a good mother.”

“Don’t say that!” Naruto sobbed. “I never resented you!”

The colour of her ghostly form paled, and her body started slowly dispersing into particles of light. 

“I’m happy to hear that. I’m so glad you don’t hate me. I love you, Naruto. I will always love you.”

“I love you too,” he cried. 

“I’ll watch over you and wait for the day we’ll see each other again. But don’t come to me too fast, okay? You have to live a long life for your wife and for your children. Promise me that?”

Naruto nodded tearfully and said: “I promise.”

“Thank you… My son, I love you…”

As Kushina uttered those last words, her body dispersed completely, vanishing in a spectacle of lights. 

Naruto fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands, letting out loud, bitter cries. 

⁂

The 9th Shadow Clone, the one who was with the original Naruto in Konan’s hospital room, looked at his boss with deep worry etched on his face. He didn’t know why his original self was crying in his sleep.

‘Is Boss having a nightmare?’ the clone asked himself. 

But then he shook his head. 

‘No, we aren’t the kind who’d cry from something like that.’

However, further thought on that matter fell to the back of his mind when his Negative Emotion Sensing picked up a strong source of animosity, a powerful hatred, and killing intent. 

The clone was quick to rush at his boss and shake his shoulders. 

“Boss! Boss! Wake up!”

Naruto was startled awake and jumped up from his chair, despite being deep asleep only a moment ago. 

“What? What happened?!”

“Use Kurama’s Emotion Sensing. Enemies are approaching the village!” 

The 9th clone was not the only one who had noticed the arrival of enemies; the four clones stationed on Amegakure’s walls appeared to have noticed them too.

As Naruto jumped through the window and flew to the rooftop of the hospital, he saw four pillars of red light suddenly shooting up in the sky from the edge of the village four gigantic walls of crimson-red light forming between them. 

Now, it wasn’t only the hospital that was surrounded by the Four Crimson Ray Formation. A second Four Crimson Ray Formation was erected on the outskirts of Amegakure, encasing the entire village within. 

Naruto wiped the tears staining his cheeks and pushed the memory of his mother to the back of his mind.

“Keep your eyes on Konan,” Naruto flew down and told the clone who was still inside the room with Konan. “If anyone other than the nurse, the midwife, or Shizune-chan tries to come inside, kill them.”

The clone gulped at the tone of the original. He didn’t know just what had suddenly made his boss act like that. 

“A-Are you sure?”

“Dispell yourself,” Naruto said and he created another clone right away. 

It was easier and faster to do that instead of verbally explaining to the clone his encounter with his dead mother inside the seal. 

“No one is allowed to come here. Nobody except for the nurse, the midwife, and Shizune-chan. Use your Negative Emotion Sensing at all times. The moment you detect anyone holding ill intent towards Konan or our children, kill them on the spot.”

“Understood,” the new clone said seriously. 

“Good. Take care,” Naruto told the clone before flying away. 

The four clones protecting the hospital opened a hole in the formation, allowing Naruto to pass through. Then he made a series of quick hand seals and took in a deep breath before spewing a long stream of fire from his mouth. 

The stream of fire proceeded to rise high into the air, covering a large portion of the sky above the village. As he held his hands in a tiger seal, the stream of fire blanketing the sky took the form of two enormous flaming kanji: “Enemy Attack”. 

The moment he lit up the fire signal, a loud alarm rang throughout the village, and hundreds of shinobi rushed to the city walls. 

Pleased with his shinobi’s swift response, Naruto took one last look at the village below before heading towards the second Four Crimson Ray Formation, the one that had encased the entirety of Amegakure within. 

As his clones made a hole in the barrier, Naruto flew outside the formation and waited on the island’s shore, his Rinnegan eyes pinned on the horizon, in the direction from which his Negative Emotion Sensing felt the enemy approaching. 

It didn’t take long for the enemy to appear in his line of sight. Dozens of people were standing on the back of an enormous clay dragon flying through the sky. 

Naruto’s eyes narrowed when he took in their appearance, involuntarily focusing on a particular individual who, from a distance, looked no different from his former teammate, the one that he used to consider a brother in the past: Uchiha Sasuke. 

However, as they got closer, details that couldn’t be noticed before became obvious now. Uchiha Sasuke’s skin was now covered in snake-like scales, he had claws instead of human hands, four horns grew from his forehead, and a large white snake grew from his back, like a tail. 

His eyes moved from Uchiha Sasuke’s mutated appearance to that of the rest of the people standing next to him on top of the huge clay dragon’s back. 

‘Nagato… Uchiha Itachi…’ he muttered the names of two of the most powerful shinobi that he had ever faced. 

But they weren’t the only ones worthy of his attention. 

‘Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu, and… is that… Kimimaro? Zabuza and Haku too?’ 

Many people who should have been dead were now seemingly alive, standing at Uchiha Sasuke’s side.

‘Is this the jutsu Orochimaru used to kill Sandaime? Is this Edo Tensei?’