Your rant on your profile is kinda funny considering you did the same thing, you "wrote yourself into a corner"... Why would naruto go back? Why SHOULD he?... There is no village for him, there is no "starting point", there are no allies, or "friends" he should care about, (maybe kakashi and the old toad, but even there, they're reasons are tenebiou and ill-defined), there really isn't ANY reason under god to go back, but if the story continues, you want to send him back... He's not gonna "save" anyone and most authors can't do the whole "casting judgement all the time"... but even if they do, it's 1 chapter at most! (then everybody's dead) In this one, naruto GAINS nothing by returning and instead loses everything... (that's not a good setup) A lot of authors do that though... In such a hurry to tell a "different story", they make things TOO BAD (as here) or completely UNBELIEVABLE for the hero in the beginning that there really isn't any motivation to continue. Which causes INTEREST to wane.. and well... "LIMBO".

Seriously though, the toad catches up and WHAT? says he's "sorry"? "have you read what you've written"? "I'm sorry" doesn't even begin to to cover ANYTHING... So THEN WHAT?... Naruto OBVIOUSLY isn't the "savior" anymore (the village seen to that.. to try to write otherwise now would be ludicrous).. There is just NO ENDGAME here... You took everything TOO FAR in the beginning. You've pretty much shown that the leaf (and the whole ninja world) is EVIL... You didn't do ONE event, but dozens, HUNDREDS (the file).. so there isn't anything WORTH redeeming.

Otherwise it's a "naruto and hinata don't give a crap about the elemental nations, their experiences have jaded them too badly, so they stay in the summon realms... With naruto's power and Hinata's determination they fight off all summons to approach their realms and no summon or summoner could approach, the akautski devastate the elemental nations, without naruto the "moon-eyed-idiot" plan can not succeed so obitedo in a fit of uchiha temper-tantrum... DESTROYS EVERYTHING... so there is nothing for hinata and naruto to even come back too. ... THEY (and their growing family) don't CARE.

(it's kinda why you REALLY needed to TONE DOWN the abuse in konaha...), if there is no starting point? What's the sense of sending him back?

Again they've been there for a year (and apparently kakashi's been there for two years... which ABSOLUTELY makes no sense...)... And then he's there for a year? SO WHAT?.. The naruto series had six months and then three years with the toad which did nothing... So.. Why not four or FIVE years here? Besides what is he gonna go "BACK TO"? he has no village, no hq, no way to rebuild the elemental nations, no starting point, NOTHING but utter destruction.

Kinda makes it tough for this kinda story, they got no "starting point".. they have nothing to advance... He's got "allies" in a bunch of places, but where is "point zero?".

I like your story, but there is a major glaring problem, they leave the island to go WHERE? Konoha isn't an hq... the EXTREME torture is way beyond that (even CHRIST would condemn them), And with hinata why go back to be disregarded and raped?... There is NOTHING left about konoha left to save for them (you pushed it too far)... There is NOTHING to go back to the elemental nations FOR at this point... Duty? SO WHAT?! Why would they care?... You pushed it too far and "screwed the pooch".

I don't see the old toad's "endgame" here, if naruto is tapping into the kyuubi that much and he's killing/MUTILATING people left-right-and-center wherever he goes, he's NOT going back to konoha... Regardless of if it's changed (and I haven't seen any change there either)...So what's the exact plan here? "Hi, how are you doing? Sorry about everything and I'm here to train you!"...? Does that make sense? And train for what?

Didn't Jiraiya already warn/threaten that naruto's heritage would be revealed to ALL before he would ever come back (in fact he should have revealed it back before HE left), so all of it should be known already throughout konoha! He basically made the ultimatum that it WOULD be done! So shouldn't it have already been done? (and he already told all the clan heads and all the upper ninja anyway! -chapter 3)

I don't think there is a single thing wrong or manipulative about what the fox said last chapter, it's all true... I mean look at even other stories (where naruto isn't abused as bad as he was in this one) NOTHING changes for him, until he starts to show real POWER, the village ONLY respects might and POWER, nothing else... It's (by the standard definition) evil.(It's one of the reasons they THINK hinata is weak, because she doesn't want to hurt people, so she doesn't show what she can do -this is an error on her part in that "crap-pit"). Of course by that very same coin, the civilians only have as much power as they do because the third is absolutely incompetent at his job and so spineless it's disgusting. (of course their gonna eat him alive and disregard anything he says... see above: about power and might!).. Tsunade or even a disgruntled jounin should go in there and absolutely PAINT THE WALLS RED with the civilians! Then nothing would happen to the killer because they demonstrated REAL POWER... It's a very BUSTED system.

You'd THINK hiruzen would be a LITTLE brighter, that danzo came in and said "stop the madness" before hiuzen could trace everything back to the source, that SORTA screams that he was the CAUSE even if it got out of control! (I assume it got out of control, because making a nuclear bomb ready to detonate in the village, isn't what I would call particularly "good for the village") Hiruzen once again proves his ineptitude, because he just should have had DANZO then mind-raped.. Err.. Mind-scanned and TOOK all the info he wanted. (DAMN THE RULES, he's hokage, the rules are whatever he says they are!)

Hinata "physically weak"? No, out of all the kunochi of naruto's entire class, she's the ONLY one who wasn't. "Timid" yes... "extremely soft hearted/kind hearted"? Yes again. (which is kinda an oxymoron for their profession) but definitely not physically weak. I do have one rather LARGE problem with the whole "a platoon of hyuuga sent after them"... Exactly whom could they send? They send branch members, hinata could EASILY take out the entire group with a single hand-sign... They send MAIN-BRANCH and they risk the problems of their eyes getting taken or they themselves being captured OR naruto just taking them out and selling them off to villages Then they have the "hinata problem" on a MUCH BIGGER scale. So either way, doesn't really work logically. (and it doesn't really fit ANY story).

One slight problem with this one, "who in their right mind, keeps INTERRUPTING what's saving their life *and hinata's* when terrifying, IMMINENT death is inches from them?!* I don't CARE what's being said! (picture it in your head, those questions are articulated thoughts... That part of the brain shuts down in this kinda situation).

How was the third putting sasuke in a personal apprenticeship to kakashi supposed to "cut the legs of power out from under the ones that put him in this position"? As you stated... (because that's KINDA WHAT THEY WANTED ANYWAY!) And YES they are too blame MOSTLY but, he's JUST AS BAD! (and it kinda proved it, in that he would have still be giving in to them, had kakashi not told him to "go f*&k himself".).. The man just CANNOT STOP making mistakes, at some point it gets redundant that he even keeps trying.

"it's because of me you keep getting put into danger"... He does REMEMBER she is a shinobi right? (DO YOU? The author?) She would have been put in danger over and over, regardless (unless she never went out on missions). She doesn't really NEED to "train hard", she's been training every single day since she was born! Yeah, she's not up to negji's level... But some bandits really shouldn't have been a problem... Especially with naruto there. (actually AT THIS POINT in these stories, she should be really, A LOT better trained then him and other then the fox... SIGNIFICANTLY stronger/deadlier then him)...

Why doesn't hinata fight back?... Like EVER? Isn't she SUPPOSED to be a kunochi and have graduated? She's kinda supposed to AT THE VERY LEAST know the three jutsu they do in canon and know the gentle fist! It's getting a little annoying... She's NOT "lois lane", "mary jane", or "princess peach", she's SUPPOSED to know how to fight too! Even here, the "bandits" should never have been able to tell that she even WAS a hyuuga(henge) and even then getting away shouldn't have been a problem(replacement) and that's BEFORE she even starts fighting back!

A few slight problems with this one, number 1 kakashi KNEW naruto was minato's son, he basically said as much to itachi in canon... Number 2. Sarutobi has now lost his number 1 jounin, AND his sannin that BOTH now have murderous intentions to the village... How many jounin are going to leave when they are shown the truth? How many others are going to TURN on the village? This was just stupid all around for the third... And what's the hokage "protecting"? A group of obviously corrupt civilians? WHY? I don't see his motivation for this... Especially now that it's totally "blown up in his face" and he can't keep anything quiet anymore! Also what would he have done if naruto just "lost it" and killed EVERYONE in the village? None of this sounds even remotely intelligent. (or even passingly sane)