Chapter 51 – The Banishing

A new day dawned on the village, a new age has begun, an age of fear, fear of a demon so vile, so heartless, and so demonic that it had killed the very hand that fed it, literally.

A man lay in a coffin, his daughter, now an orphan, sat by his side, weeping. One image haunted her mind, two eyes wrought her fears, three milliseconds that changed her life forever. She had not simply lost her only parent, but also the man she thought she loved, the man, who had in front of her very eyes, ripped the life out of her grandfather.

Tears flowed down her eyes as she gazed at the now lifeless body of her grandfather, and the image of the love of her life ripping out the throat of her grandfather kept replaying in her mind.....

(-------------)

Naruto's eyes fluttered open lazily as he groaned. His eyes took a few second to get used to the dim lighting.

"Kekeke, that was fast Naruto-kun, did you miss me that bad?" Came a voice behind him.

Naruto grimaced as the familiar voice reached his ears. Not even making a sound he stretched his neck, trying his best to hide the fear, the immeasurable dread that he felt as he heard the voice.

"Naruto-kun, that's not a very nice way to say hello" Said the voice again, seemingly enjoying the situation.

Then the man walked into his vision, sweat beaded his forehead as he gazed upon the features that haunted him in his dreams, in his nightmares, in every dark corner of his life, the one thing he was truly afraid of, the god of Death, and his designated torturer......Shinigami.

Naruto's eyes reflected the white hair and cloak of the 'god', in his human form he may seem like any other ordinary human to the ordinary man, but Naruto knew better, this man, had made him go through horrors not of this world, all in the name of punishment, in the name of atonement for his sins.

Naruto raised his head and met the man's gaze, after all these years, if there was one thing that Naruto knew about the 'god' it was that he hated being ignored, and due to some obscure reason absolutely despised the fact that Naruto feared him.

"Shinigami, A few issues happened is all" he said with a forced smile.

Suddenly the god's face lighted up, as a smile graced his features.

"Yes, yes, I did receive the presents you so graciously sent me, so many sins they had to atone for, I just had some assistants take care of that" He said as he eyes glazed as if revisiting fond memories.

"By the way, did....did an old man come with them?" asked Naruto as a tear slipped through his eyes.

"Old man Teuchi, wasn't it? Yes, yes he did. But he's gone now, off to another life, he didn't have much to atone for" answered Shinigami.

A pained smile was painted on Naruto's face. A man with so few mistakes, a man he had seen as his own family, the man that loved him when everyone rejected him, and he had died by his own hand. Never had he hated himself more than this, at least, not for a while.

He gritted his teeth as he looked at Shinigami,

"Alright, I'm ready" He said closing his eyes and mentally preparing himself for the horrors he was about to face, not that being prepared ever helped.

"Kekekeke, Well, it won't be as bad as last time at least" mumbled Shinigami as he got into his work.

Screams echoed through the room, as Naruto paid in full for whatever sins he had knowingly or unknowingly committed between this death and the last.

(----------)

In a dark cold prison cell lay a pale, cold corpse, its heart having given up on itself, its neck bent at an unnatural and impossible angle. Suddenly it's heart began to beat, as the color slowly but surely returned to its skin and the man woke, taking a hold of his head and snapping it back into place.

The man did not seem excited nor happy about his return from the abyss, his eyes only held pain and sorrow unimaginable.

Using the wall as a support the man stood and gazed upon the chains that bound him, chakra restrainers, chains he could simply flick off if he so wished, but he did not, he knew that it was better to let the people believe he was powerless, lest they panic and do something stupid.

He walked to the door, a giant metal slab, almost guaranteed to be impenetrable without the use of chakra. He simply knocked on the door to let them know that he was alive, then he walked back to the corner and sat down, running his hand through his now silver and gold hair remembering everything that had happened in his journey to this very moment. To say he had no regrets would be a very absurd statement, but, in a way, in a very very messed up way, maybe it was for the best.

As he laid in his cell outside the cell people were panicking, the demon was awake, who would he kill this time? The people were panicking, meanwhile at the hokage office another issue had been brought up.

"You want me to hunt my own student?" Asked Orichimaru, his face contorted into an expression of disgust.

"We currently don't have many people in the power level needed for this, please understand" the hokage reasoned trying to get his student to agree.

"Hah, just think about what you are asking of us, each and every one of us here has taught him, we have made him the ninja he is today, and now you expect us to hunt him down like some deer in a forest?" asked Benkei angrily.

"Just, look at it this way, if it isn't you, it would be some other hunter-nin, and he might actually die......get hurt" the hokage corrected himself.

The masters looked each other communicating silently, and then nodded to themselves.

"Alright, I guess it'll be more convenient" said Orichimaru.

There was a knock on the door as the five masters and the hokage talked between themselves discussing the intricacies of the subject.

"Come in" said the hokage.

Not a second later a ninja stumbled through the door as he tripped over his own feet causing the onlookers to face palm, wondering how this man became a ninja.

"Hokage-sama h-h-he's awake" the man stuttered.

The room became silent as the chatter between the masters ceased.

"Well, I guess it's time" said Kireina with a sad smile.

They all walked out and moved towards the prison as the hokage sent an ANBU to notify the others. Soon after the entire village was gathered at the gates as Naruto stood a few feet away from the gates, his chained removed and the seals that had bound him, undone. There were no good byes this time. No hugs, banishment didn't allow those things. Banishment went something like this. You were thrown out, and well, that was it, you were given a set time period of a head start and then you were hunted.

Naruto gave one last look at the village that had been his home for so long. Then with a sad gaze he looked forward into the forest before him. After a few seconds of closing his eyes and letting out a mental sigh he started walking towards the forest.

The Hokage turned towards the masters,

"24 hours, it's been decided that the head start this time would be 24 hours, until then we will be binding you to the village, congratulations, you are all now Leaf Nin" with these words the crowd dispersed, leaving just a handful of people standing at the gates.

Sasuke leaned on the gate, tears filling his eyes as he looked towards the forest that his brother had just entered, his heart aching with pain, trying to process the fact that he might never again meet, nor see his brother again. Sakura stood beside him, and after a while simply took a hold of his hand and gently guided him back home.

Ino looked on as Sasuke left, confused as to why it hurt, confused as to what her emotions were, why did it hurt to loose someone she barely even knew? After a few minutes of torturing herself with this unanswerable question, she too walked back home.

Finally, the gate was closed, as if a metaphor, that it was closed to one Naruto Uchicha-Namikaze-Uzumaki

/----[---{--||--}---]----\

Hey guys, sooo it's been quite a while, and it's great to be back man, if you guys have noticed the quality has improved a bit, and I mean the spellings and shit, oh yes, ya boi has a laptop now, hell yeah!!!

Anyway, its my work laptop, so, yeah I work now, soo the chappys might be even more later, eeeek, I know I know I'm the worst author ever, anyway, hope you guys like the new style.

Also guys hope you are doing well, the whole year has been a shitstorm, just, be careful yeah, cause you guys are important to me, I mean, really, this is the first place that actually gave me a bit of confidence in my writing and well, still not confident enough to release any of my originals, but, you guys helped me, thank you and, stay safe.

WEAR MASK, AND STAY AT HOME (IF POSSIBLE OF COURSE)

Peace Out Brothers and Sisters ✌️✌️

Vote And Comment!!

PS: THE QA IS COMING UP ON THE NEXT CHAPPY SOOO, POST YA QUESTIONS IF YOU HAVE ANY......