Hours Earlier — With Tsunade
Tsunade had just arrived at the Hokage Tower. The night before had been filled with alcohol and gambling, to the point that Shizune had literally been forced to drag her out of the casino.
That was Tsunade's way of mourning, her way of trying to deal with Jiraiya's death. A few days had already passed since that incident, yet she still could not get that damned pervert out of her head.
How much she missed him.
She also blamed herself for not stopping him. If she had forced him to stay, none of this would be happening. Naruto would not be grieving either. She felt bad for the boy. She really cared about him, and seeing him in that state had not been pleasant for the Sannin at all.
Still, there was not much she could do. Situations like this came with the title of Hokage, one of the many reasons she had never wanted the position in the first place.
As soon as she entered, Tsunade greeted Shizune.
"Good morning, Shizune... sorry about last night," Tsunade said awkwardly.
Shizune only sighed and told her not to worry. After all, she was already used to it.
The moment Tsunade stepped into her office, the first thing she saw was the usual mountain of paperwork. She was already feeling the urge to take a drink, and the day had barely even started.
After sitting behind the desk, she could not help but notice a note lying right in the middle of it.
A bad feeling immediately settled in her chest.
She picked it up and began to read.
Tsunade, I've left the village. I'm going to face the leader of Akatsuki myself. I can't live with the thought that Pain could attack the village at any moment, so I'm taking matters into my own hands.— Naruto
Tsunade's whole body turned cold.
"What?!"
Her shout echoed through the office as she slammed her fist down and split the desk in half.
"That damned brat! How dare he leave just like that?! Does he not understand he's literally throwing his life away?!"
Shizune came rushing in at once, alarmed by the Hokage's scream.
"Lady Tsunade, calm down! What happened?" the dark-haired woman asked quickly.
"SHIZUNE!" Tsunade barked. "Call the shinobi. I don't care if they're jonin or clan heads, I want everyone available at the North Gate. We're leaving for Amegakure. Naruto went alone to face the leader of Akatsuki."
Shizune's eyes widened, and without wasting another second she ran off to carry out the order immediately.
North Gate — Konoha
Right now, at the North Gate, the twelve teams of Konoha could be seen gathered together along with the available clan heads of the Inuzuka, Hyuga, and Aburame. The rest had stayed behind in case the village came under attack.
Konoha itself was in chaos.
The news that Naruto Uzumaki had gone alone to face the leader of Akatsuki had spread through the village like wildfire. Many of those who knew the blond idiot were now cursing his stupidity.
Even so, they were all worried about him.
So they gathered quickly, and at Tsunade's order, they left at once in search of the blond.
xxxxx
"Ahhh... that Naruto is always getting himself into trouble. What a drag. I would've rather stayed home watching the clouds," Shikamaru said with a sigh.
"What did you expect? It's Naruto. He's the dumbest of the dumb. Everyone says he matured, that he changed, but to me he's still the same dead-last idiot from class," Kiba said, openly mocking the blond.
Nobody really liked the way the Inuzuka was talking about Naruto, but at the same time, nobody could fully argue against the point. After all, who in their right mind would go alone to face the leader of Akatsuki?
Tsume, however, was not about to let that slide.
"Shut your mouth, Kiba. At least that brat has the guts to face his problems himself. That's what a real alpha does," the Inuzuka woman said coldly.
Kiba wisely kept his mouth shut after that, not wanting to get beaten.
A few hours later, the shinobi of Konoha were getting close to Amegakure. Tsunade had Katsuyu resting on her shoulder, the slug already preparing herself in case a large-scale battle broke out.
But when they finally got close enough, the last thing they expected to find was half of Amegakure destroyed.
Huge amounts of chakra and energy could still be felt in the air, energy that Katsuyu quickly identified as senjutsu.
"Tsunade-sama... does Naruto-kun use senjutsu?" Katsuyu asked, passing the information on to the group. "Because I can feel a great deal of sage energy around us... at the very least, from someone who is a master of that art. Perhaps Naruto-kun was more prepared to face the leader of Akatsuki than we thought."
Moving deeper into the destroyed village, the shinobi of Konoha quickly realized this had not been a normal battle.
Entire sections of Amegakure had been torn apart. Some streets were still flooded, others were frozen solid, and several buildings looked like they had been crushed by overwhelming force. There were deep cracks running through the ground, shattered steel, broken stone, and in some places even the remains of massive wooden structures that should not have existed there at all.
"What the hell happened here...? This whole place turned into a battlefield." Kurenai muttered.
Tsunade kept moving forward, her expression dark and tense. The worse the damage looked, the less she wanted to imagine what Naruto must have been forced to face alone.
Then one of the Inuzuka suddenly stopped.
"There's a body," Tsume said.
Everyone's eyes shifted in the direction she was looking.
Half-buried in shattered ice and broken rubble was the body of a tall blue-skinned man. Or rather, what was left of him. His body had clearly been frozen solid before breaking apart under the force of the battle.
Samehada lay nearby.
The moment they recognized the sword, several faces changed.
"Kisame Hoshigaki..." Kakashi said grimly.
That name alone was enough to make the air feel heavier. One of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, an S-rank missing-nin.
And now he was dead.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed, but at the same time, something closer to relief mixed with her disbelief. Naruto had done this?
No... not just this.
Naruto had come here alone, fought the leader of Akatsuki, and somehow killed Kisame too….. For a moment, nobody spoke, even the ones who liked to mock the blond had nothing to say now.
Then Katsuyu's voice broke the silence.
"Tsunade-sama... Naruto-kun's chakra is still close."
Meanwhile, Damon had simply sat down in an open clearing, waiting for the shinobi of Konoha to arrive. Kaia was lying beside him, calm but still alert.
It did not take long.
The shinobi of Konoha soon reached the area, led by Tsunade herself.
Damon opened his eyes and looked at everyone standing in front of him. They, in turn, stared back at him in surprise because of the state he was in. He was not bleeding, but his clothes were torn in many places, exposing parts of a body far more trained than most of them were used to seeing on the blond.
"NARUTOOO!" Sakura shouted, angry but also blushing a little as she rushed toward him in long strides, raising her fist to hit him.
That fist never landed.
Damon caught her hand before the punch could connect, leaving everyone there surprised, especially the pink-haired girl, who had clearly not expected that. After all, Naruto had never stopped one of her punches so easily before.
"I'm glad to see you too, Sakura," the blond said tiredly. "But let's stay away from the punches for now. I've fought enough for one day."
Sakura simply nodded, still stunned.
"Gaki, what happened here? Where is Pain?" Tsunade asked, her anger calming a little after seeing the blond alive and in one piece.
"Pain has been defeated..." Damon answered, knowing full well that line alone would only leave them with more questions than answers.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Defeated is not an answer, brat. I asked where he is... and who is that wolf by your side?"
"This is Kaia, my companion. Don't ask how I got her..."
"As I said, he's done for. Stop asking about the dead. I know you have a lot of questions about how that was possible. For now, I'll just say I trained a lot with the pervy sage. Not everything I learned was shown to you..."
Damon stood up and stretched, unintentionally giving quite a show to the women present, who were certainly not blind. Tsunade simply looked away, though a faint blush could still be seen on her cheeks.
"Fine. But later I want a full report on what happened here, and I don't want you hiding anything. I've already had enough of your surprises. Let's go. We're taking you back to Konoha so you can get checked," Tsunade said, clearly a little irritated.
"A checkup? I'm fine. I don't need to go to the hospital," Damon said lazily.
"Do what I tell you, brat!" Tsunade shouted.
"Hai, hai... whatever you say," Damon replied, already starting to walk back toward Konoha.
The others followed behind him, still surprised that the boy had really managed to defeat not only Pain, but also Kisame Hoshigaki.
That whole scene had stirred up a certain leader of the Inuzuka clan more than it should have. Damon's bond with wolves, mixed with the instincts that came with it, gave off something subtle but impossible for someone like Tsume not to notice.
Tsume could not stop looking at the blond.
Have I really missed a man like this all this time... or was he always hiding it? the Inuzuka woman thought, her animal instincts screaming at her to drag the Uzumaki straight into her bed.
>>>>>>>>>>
:)))) bro dropping the wolf effects hahahaha
https://discord.gg/TDrQ6j5e2
P@treon: Brotato