A New Path

Naruto stared at Mayu with a serious expression on his face. He had always been a curious person and always wanted to know what was going on or if there were any secrets of almost anything, this had annoyed the village back when he was young since he wouldn't leave his victim alone until they spilled their guts. He had stopped pestering people as time passed but his curiosity still remained, though it had lowered to a healthy curiosity.

When Mayu had begun to make her accusations, Naruto knew to shut up since he knew that whatever she was about to say was important, and the fact that he didn't really have another choice since he was tied to a chair with his chakra sealed. He watched as Mayu walked back to her throne-like chair, slumping into it with a sigh. Exhaustion could be seen in her eyes, proof that she had been through a lot in her days, and her seating position showed that she was simply tired, of what, he did not know.

"Where to begin?" Mayu wondered out loud. She ran a hand through her hair, with her eyes settling on the vast desert. Naruto noted the look of sadness that washed over her face as her eyes wondered the dunes of the desert. The kunoichi suddenly snapped her gaze at the blond, getting his attention, before she sighed once more.

"Are you going to tell me anything, or are you just going to sigh all day?" Naruto asked, a little irked at Mayu's attitude. Her lax nature reminded him somewhat of Shikamaru, which wasn't really a good thing.

Mayu scoffed before shifting on her seat, her gaze on Naruto. "I guess I should begin with the village's history," she crossed her arms and sighed once more, Naruto's eye twitched in annoyance, "Whirlpool was always a peaceful village, we didn't seek out trouble and avoided confrontation with any village. Conflict, however, was unavoidable. Whirlpool was home to many seal masters, every single ninja knew the basics of sealing, this mixed with our large chakra capacities caught the attention of other villages."

Mayu stood from her seat and walked over to one of the large windows on the room, looking longingly at the sky. "Because of our talent other villages viewed us as threats and attempted to attack us several times. All of those attacks were easily countered by our ninja, but tension between our village and others began to rise. We still remained peaceful and things looked peaceful, until…" she trailed off, her eyes filled with sadness and regret. Naruto simply kept listening, knowing that it wasn't a good time to intrude, "The Third World Shinobi War began. At the time Konoha was in trouble, their rations were low and many of their forces were dying on the field. They requested the aid of Whirlpool. After much negotiation Whirlpool finally agreed to help out Konoha and became involved in the war. We gave supplies to the Leaf and sent some of our shinobi to help out in battles. At the time I was young, a fresh Genin, and was told by my master that ninja nations should help each other out. I was against the idea but nobody really listened to me."

Naruto watched as Mayu's expression grew sour, her eyes reflecting the resentment she held. The kunoichi turned to the Chunin and frowned. "Since we aided Konoha, other villages saw the opportunity to attack us. At first they were no trouble but when they attacked us at the same time, Whirlpool stood no chance. We were forced to seek help but our 'ally' villages refused to help. Suna was the first to deny us help and we soon ran out of options. In the end we asked, no, begged! We begged Konoha for help, the same help we gave them. And what did they say?" her eyes filled with unshed tears, she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, "They said no! Just like that they denied us help! The only reason we were attacked was because of them and then they just abandon us as if we never helped them! I watched family, friends, teachers, I watched them all day when I was just a Genin. Innocent people were slaughtered before my eyes just because Konoha refused to help! That's why I seek revenge against them, I'll destroy the damned villages that abandoned us."

The room fell into silence, Naruto's blue eyes followed Mayu as she walked towards him. He understood why she sought revenge, if he was honest, he would probably have done the same thing in the past. She was right at being angry with Konoha, in fact he couldn't believe what they had done. For the first time on his life, he saw Konoha as unfair and flawed.