Naruto: Rise and Wrath of the Emperor

Prologue, Part Two

{One Week Later...}

The two Azura cargo ships, each bearing the flag of the Western Empire - the black Four Symbol Seal on a red background - sailed past Kurata Port and headed inland. Only this time, the ships did not carry goods from the East. These cargo ships carried refugees.

It had been a week since what would be known throughout the Elemental Nations as the Konoha Exodus, in which eight major clans and more than two hundred ninjas had turned in their forehead protectors and walked out of Konoha. Tsunade and the Fire Daimyo could not charge them with desertion, as they had willingly resigned from the ninja forces.

Standing on the deck of the first ship was Misako Hyuga.

It had been six years since she had last seen Hinata, having sent her away with Naruto in order to spare her from being branded with the Caged Bird Cursed Seal. Despite Hiashi and the Hyuga Main House always belittling Hinata, Misako is one of the few Branch House Hyugas who still cares for her, and sending her away was the hardest thing she had ever done. But Hinata was smitten with Minato's kid and sending her with him was the best idea at the time.

At that time, Misako's personal views in regards to Tsunade and Jiraiya had taken a severe nosedive, as well as her views on her brother-in-law. The two Sannins had been close to Minato and Kushina - Tsunade was Mito's granddaughter and Kushina and Ryuji were her niece and nephew, thus making Naruto her great-grandnephew, while Minato was a former pupil of Jiraiya. Both blamed Naruto for their deaths, when it was clearly the fault of the Uchiha Clan, given the reports she had read on that fateful night. Both had gone along with Hiruzen's scheme to make Naruto into Konoha's weapon, but when that failed, opted to banish him from the village when it became clear that despite Hiruzen's machinations in stunting Naruto's growth had failed, even going as far as to place him in the Bingo Book with a kill-on-sight order. It was clear that the two Sannins had no love for Sasuke, but they chose a virtual traitor over a hero.

In the six years since Hinata's disappearance alongside Naruto, Misako had not heard a single word in regards to her niece. Then word began to leak out about the events happening in the West. A place so war-torn that not even the Sannins nor the Akatsuki would be in their right mind to venture there was finally united under the rule of a warlord and his medic wife, having been named Emperor and Empress.

When the Azura Merchant Houses began to emerge in several key locations, caravans began to appear in Konoha, selling their wares. One such branch was over the border in the Land of Wind. That was how Misako had found out through one of the merchants - who worked for the Western Empire's information network - that her niece was still alive, having fled West and fighting in what was to be known as the Unification War alongside Naruto. When the 'merchant' told Misako that Naruto was now her nephew-in-law, she was not surprised in the least bit.

What did surprise her was that the Western Empire had been keeping tabs on Konoha and several other villages in the East. The Western Empire also knew about the tensions threatening to boil over in Konohagakure, which is why the Emperor and Empress had reached out to Misako. Should things in Konoha get worse to the point that the Hyuga Branch House, Aburame, Inuzuka, Haruno, Mikon, and the Ino-Shika-Cho could not stay, then the Emperor and Empress will allow them to migrate to the Western Empire.

But four obstacles were in the Hyuga Branch House Clan head's way. Hiashi, the Main House, the Hyuga Council, who supported the Konoha Council and the Fifth Hokage herself. The same council who had forced her late husband to either take Hiashi's place in the Hyuga Affair or else her son would be killed. The same council who had voted to brand Hinata with the Caged Bird Cursed Seal and personally take over Hanabi's training, to make her an emotionless doll.