When they saw the girl break into Naruto apartment they grew concerned especially when they heard the girl crying a minute later. The squad had been about to go and see what had happen, but when they saw the Hokage and Shizune arrive, they waited. A minute or so after the Hokage and Shizune entered Naruto apartment they heard more crying, or to be more precise the Hokage crying with Hinata. When they heard this, the squad decided to investigate.
"Shizune-san what has happened? Why are the Hokage and Hinata-san crying and where is Uzumaki-san?" asked the leader of the ANBU squad that wore a bear ANBU mask.
Shizune answered, "Naruto is gone."
The ANBU captain could not mask the surprise in his voice, "But how? My squad and I have been watching his apartment the entire time. We never saw him leave, we even checked on him an hour ago when we looked through his window and saw him asleep in his bed".
"You most likely saw that in his bed," answered Shizune, pointing at the life size paper-mache Naruto on the floor.
"Plus, Naruto probably has a secret escape hatch or something in here, just in case, since I'm sure you all know how resourceful he can be." said Shizune.
All four ANBU nodded in agreement.
"Do you wish for us to look for him and try and find him?" asked the ANBU captain.
"Why bother? Naruto is probably long gone by now. He is going to be banished tomorrow anyway. Why not let him get a head start? Even if you bring him back, the Council is just going to make a spectacle of him tomorrow in front of the village and I for one do not want to see that" said Shizune.
The ANBU nodded, not wanting to see something like that either.
"You can all go now." Shizune ordered.
The squad said "Hai." and left.
As they did, Shizune could not help but look up to the night sky wondering where Naruto was right now.
"Please be safe Naruto," Shizune thought. Then went over to the two weeping women and tried to comfort them. As she did so she placed the note that Naruto had left back on the kitchen table. There was only one word written on it.
"Goodbye."
- Outside Konoha –
On a hill overlooking the village, a lone figure stood looking down at it for the last time.
"My old life in Konoha is over, and a new one will begin outside it. But just you wait, Konoha! I vow, in the name of my mother Uzumaki Kushina, I'll become strong. I'll become stronger than my father or anyone else has ever been and when I do, you'll be sorry that you ever banished me. That is a promise of a life time. Believe it." thought Naruto before turned his back on the village walk away into the night.
- Some time later –
It had been a while since Naruto left Konoha. He had taken off in a random direction, not really caring where he was going. His had wanted to go to Suna, but that would cause problems for Gaara. He wasn't even sure if he would be welcome there, since he was one of the reasons why the invasion failed. Though Suna had been tricked into it they still suffered a heavy loss and a humiliating defeat. Not to mention he would bring the Akatsuki to their doorsteps. Sure Gaara was a jinchūriki like him, but Gaara could at least defend himself and his village, as it was surrounded by sand.
Naruto on the other hand couldn't use chakra and would only make things harder on Gaara. He didn't want to do that to his friend.
He didn't want to go to Taki or to his friend Shibuki the leader of Taki, and cause trouble for him, since like Suna, Taki's alliance with Konoha would be very important to them.
Naruto had also thought about going to Haru/Yuki no Kuni (Spring/Snow country), since he was sure that Lady Koyuki would welcome him, but he knew that Haru/Yuki no Kuni was very far away and he would definitely not get there by foot. Not only that, he didn't have enough money to get there by ship. He also knew that at some point the Akatsuki would find him there and would attack him, as a result putting Lady Koyuki and her people in danger.
Wave might have been a good choice, or even the Land of Tea, working with the Wagarashi Clan. But Naruto knew that eventually the Akatsuki would find him in either places and he would not put Wave in danger because of him. He also knew that the Wagarashi Clan would stand no chance if they went up against anyone of the Akatsuki.
All things linked up to the same thing. The Akatsuki would at some point find him and hunt him down, hurting the people he cared about in the process.
He thought about going to another ninja village that had no alliance or real link or connection to Konoha that could maybe get these seals off him and maybe even protect him in some way if he agreed to be one of their ninja's. But he realized that even if he found a village that could help him and allow him to join, the choices weren't that great. Ame, Kusa and Hoshi were small villages and not very strong.
He knew he needed to be with one of the five great Shinobi villages to stand a chance of surviving an attack from the Akatsuki. Kiri was out of the question since he had heard when he met Haku that they were in the middle of a Civil War. Plus after he heard how people with bloodlines were treated there, he wanted no part of that. Iwa was also out of the question since the moment they looked at him or found out where he was from or even worse found out who his parents were, he would be killed on the spot