CHAPTER 5: Panic Dominates Konoha

The news of the 6th Hokage being kidnapped spread like wildfire, and when it did chaos, panic and terror erupted throughout Konoha like the plague. The high-ranking officials, teachers, and other ninjas alike were doing their best to calm the people down. 

This was a major hindrance when trying to find the 6th Hokage. Naruto and Sasuke were desperate, the AMBUs that were sent to find Kakashi had no news and came back only for more supplies. 

They were running into a lot of enemies, from neighboring countries that decided to break and destroy the peace contract.

Konoha was getting desperate, so the jonins proposed to make Naruto the substitute Hokage. Naruto didn't know how to react. If it were in different circumstances he would have taken the job immediately, but his sensei's life was on the line, and his sensei is missing. 

He didn't know what to say, but Sasuke pats his shoulders and looked him in the eye. Naruto knew just by looking at them that he had to become a substitute. 

However, at the moment he couldn't say 'Yes', so he told them he'd tell them his answer after three days. They nodded and left.

Once they left, Naruto and Sasuke went out for a calm afternoon walk in the snowy winter streets of Konoha. One might ask, how could a nation that's scorching hot every day from the beginning of January to the end of December, become cold? Well, it was a little gift from the land of Snow a couple of days prior. 

They sent a hawk to the land of fire saying that snow will befall on your land in 5 hours. It was their way of a declaration of war. However, hawks, birds, and crows from 4-5 different lands also gave their share of a war manifesto.

Anyways, the people of Konoha are adaptable so they were quick to adjust. However, unlike before the air felt cold and stuffy. Every step, they took caused them to breathe in the cold air. It felt like fire was burning in their throat and nose. 

An uncomfortable sensation that made the current situation even more unbearable and depressing.

"Naruto," Sasuke called out, breaking the insufferable silence. 

"Sasuke" Naruto simply said with a melancholic and hoarse tone of voice. "Sasuke, what do you think Kakashi – sensei is doing right now?" the blonde croaked. The lone Uchiha looked in his direction with an expression rarely seen.

An expression of anxiety, anxiousness, sadness, and anger. It was clear that he blamed himself for not stopping Kakashi. He wished it was him who smudged the seal marks, instead of his Uncle. 

After all, he knew that the village would be more than happy to hear that he is gone. They still bear hatred towards S rank criminals and Sasuke just happened to be an ex- radical criminal who's walking around the village unscathed and peacefully without a care in the world.

Nevertheless, Sasuke couldn't bring himself to bring up past issues right now. The situation is bad enough, Naruto blames himself and is too depressed to deal with his emo boy issues, so he decided to cheer him up.

"I think, Kakashi is probably reading his porn book or sitting on a floor making fun of his enemy or fighting them. I think he's perfectly fine. He is the 6th Hokage, right? He's strong. Besides, if he wasn't strong he wouldn't have gained my respect." 

"Wow and you're respect is something meaningful?" Naruto joked. 

"Of course it is, I don't usually give up my respect for someone so casually like a certain someone." He said as he looked up to the sky. Naruto took at least a minute to understand what he meant and scowled at Sasuke who had a small smile on his lips.

"Sasuke – teme! What is that supposed to mean? Huh? Bastard." Sasuke merely chuckled at his remark. 

"That was a weak come back Naruto. I expected better from a man famous for insulting his enemies." 

"Hey! Hey! I don't insult my enemies! I talk things out with them!" 

"Right. Of course, after all of your jutsu's and tricks don't work anymore you just talk to them and say, 'Yeah, I understand how you feel. Blah, blah, blah." 

Naruto smiled before a tear dropped and rolled down his cheek.

Naruto stopped in his tracks and so did Sasuke, he looked at the floor with a broken smile, before gritting his teeth and balling in. Little by little small whisks of tears would drop until they burst into a rush of blazing seas. 

Naruto cried and he cried hard, Sasuke could do nothing but pull him into a hug, doing his best to soothe him. "Sasuke, Kakashi – sensei is okay right?" "Of course…yeah he's okay." 'I hope.'

Nevertheless, peace will always be interrupted by either good or bad news. Naruto and Sasuke didn't want to hear it no, they wished they never did hear it in the first place.

"Naruto – sama and Sasuke – sama. Kakashi Hatake…" the jonin paused, with a complicated and perplexing expression drafted on his face. Naruto and Sasuke could only think of the worse, their sensei was dead. 

They knew it but they didn't want to believe it, so they hoped and wished for the jonin to say something different, for example, "We found him, but he's severely injured and is bedridden, maybe for the rest of his life. He's also in a coma and we don't know when he's going to wake up, but he's alive." 

That was better than knowing that he's dead, and there's nothing they could do to bring him back.

Naruto held and gripped Sasuke's hands till both their palms and fingers bled. "Well?! How is he?!" Naruto yelled as he huffed and puffed, trying to hold back the tears. 

The jonin before them just looked away, with sad eyes. Sasuke closed his eyes and braised himself for the jonins words. "Our Hokage is dead."

At that point Naruto fell to his knees as he tugged Sasuke's cloak, he huffed and puffed. He held onto his chest as if he was having a heart attack. 

Sasuke was calling out to him, telling him to wake up, to stand up, but he couldn't. His eyes looked dull, lifeless, and hopeless. The light in his eyes has disappeared.

Sasuke couldn't do anything and he too was depressed but he can't be selfish. Not anymore. He had a country to protect, to serve. He won't fail it again. However, as he heard the civilians scream, cry, and their hurried footsteps of both walking and running, falling and tripping he almost lost himself in the memories of what could have possibly happened the night of the massacre.

He then snapped out of it, as he saw the jonin that was before them has left to attend to the civilians. 

He had a look of determination to get the children to safety and calm the adults down, but then he paused for a minute as he felt the back of his hairspring up. 

A bad feeling besieged him. 'What was it? What is happening?' he thought, but then he realized what that was. A country without a leader is the same as a rabbit stuck in a lion's den.

Konoha was nothing but a helpless prey in a world dominated by military prowess and money. The sound of rumbling and loud thumps felt like a hoard of charging bulls, tigers, wolves, and men all together. A war is about to begin, and the army was large, as big as the last great ninja war. 

It was going to be the end of Konoha. 'A bloody massacre' Sasuke thought.