Another year had passed at the shinobi academy and Shikamaru could honestly say that he was not in the least bit impressed in how things were going, and that was saying something. Most people thought that the pineapple haired boy was nothing more then a lazy lay about who was content to do nothing, but that was as far from the truth as anything could be.
In actuality Shikamaru was observing everyone around him to see if there were any that were worth his time, and in his time at the academy there were only two people that footed that bill. It was with this thought that an eight year old Shikamaru made his way to the small playground next to the academy. He had asked one of the individuals to meet him there and he knew that the other was going to be there.
He was proved right when mere moments after entering the park he was greeted with the sight of the first Aburame Shino, and sitting on the swing set all alone was none other then the second Uzumaki Naruto. Shikamaru nodded to Shino and the duo approached Naruto.
The young blond had tears streaming down his face and was paying no attention to his surroundings. Shikamaru put his hand on Shino's shoulder to stop him from getting to close to the smaller boy. He knew that the boy was treated like a pariah and he would not take to someone being in his personal space without permission.
Shikamaru cleared his throat in an attempt to get the boy's attention, and it worked as the blond was ripped from his moments of self pity. He jumped off the swing set in fright bouncing back a few feet to put some distance between himself and the two boys before pulling out a single kunai and readying himself in a defensive stance.
"Who the fuck are you?!" Naruto yelled with a bravado that he spent all his waking hours perfecting.
Shikamaru raised his hands with his palms outward and empty to signify that he wasn't a threat. "Calm down I only way to talk."
It was this action that allowed Naruto to recognize the two as students in his academy class although he had never gotten to learn their names. He put the kunai away. "What do you want to talk about?" the words came out as a growl. He didn't trust people that wanted to talk to him.
"I am Nara Shikamaru and my friend is Aburame Shino…" he made to say more but was cut off.
"Yea and I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" the boy was glaring heavily at them. "I don't give a fuck about your names just tell me what you want."
'Damn he's abrasive, but I kinda like that formalities are bullshit anyway.' Shino turned to Shikamaru before he could start speaking.
"I also want to know your aim for this meeting. I know it is not something as simple as friendship. Why you may ask. The answer is quite simple you are much more intelligent than you let on, and therefore you know that Uzumaki-san is an outcast and association with him would make you one also."
Shikamaru wanted to kill Shino at that moment, but there was nothing that he could do. The boy was right. "You are correct in you deductions Shino-san. I have not come here with the offer of friendship but with a proposition."
Shino got what he meant but the large words were lost on Naruto. "What the fuck are you talking about you pineapple haired bastard."
Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome blond, I want you two to work for me."
Naruto raised an eyebrow "Why the hell would I do that?" no one had ever asked him to work for them.
Shikamaru smirked. "I can pay you quite well." Naruto scrunched his face up in thought.
"What could it be that you would have us do?" Shino asked. He didn't care for the money. He was interested in what the boy wanted. Shino was logical like most Aburame but unlike other Aburame he unlike a challenge.
Shikamaru knew that he was at the hard part now. The money could sway Naruto but Shino was a different story. Not to mention the fact that there was a good chance that they would refuse when they heard what he wanted them to do, but he had to have faith in himself.
"I have two different jobs one for each of you. I want you Shino to spy on the Uchiha clan while I want Naruto to venture into the seeder parts of Konoha to make connections."
Shino raised his eyebrows while Naruto paled. The blond took a deep breath as though he were about to yell but Shino's calm reached out first. "You want information and connections but for what purpose?"
Shikamaru chuckled. "I wish to create a cult, and I want you two to have a place in it."
"What do you mean a cult?!" Naruto was finally able to yell out.
"I want to get people to worship us as gods on earth."
Shino pushed his glasses from the bridge of his nose as they had slipped a little. "How would this even help you to get people to worship us?"
"I have a plain Shino-san don't worry. If you agree you'll be able to see it."
Shino furrowed his eyebrows for a moment. Spying on a clan was going to be a momentous challenge especially if he didn't want to get his family involved. He like the thought of that. "I'll join."
Shikamaru turned to Naruto. "How much are you gonna pay me if I do it?"
Shikamaru sighed and reached into his pocked and pulled out 1000 ryo.
"This is how much you'll get everyday, and if you join now you'll get this as a first payment."
Naruto looked at the money for a few moments before breaking out in a wide grin. "You got yourself a deal!"
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Shino decided against going back to his home. He knew that he couldn't afford to get his family involved in what they were doing and he had no intentions of getting caught.
Shino decided that the best thing he could do was to mark all members of the Uchiha clan and then figure out who were the most important members. Most would think that it would be the clan head and the elders but Shino knew that sometimes even the younglings played a major role.
The plan was solid but there was nothing that he could immediately do so once he was sure that he had thought everything through he went home. He had to train more, though he was sure he was more then skilled enough to plant his kikai on some Uchiha kid or one of their arrogant brethren, but the training was not simply for his kikai. He knew that if he was to truly work with Shikamaru to make his endeavor come to pass then he would not be able to rely on his clan techniques alone, no that would only get him killed and he knew it. He had to learn more.
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Immediately after his meeting with Shikamaru and Shino Naruto headed to the red lights district. Normally that would have been dangerous for a kid, but Naruto was an orphan and the villagers wanted nothing to do with him. Because of that he fit in perfectly with the punks, rift raft, and other undesirable people that called the slums home.
Now despite the fact that Naruto would fit quite well in the place he had never gone there. The Hokage had always warned against him doing so and he took that warning to heart, but now that someone was willing to give him 1000 ryo a day just to hang around there he was going to disobey the man for the first time. The money was just too much to pass up.
So with that conviction in his heart Naruto enter the red light district. It was fairly late in the afternoon and the clientele that called the place home were coming out. Naruto went over to the first building that he thought was a business. The place was only two stories tall, and had flower shaped sign on the outside.
When he walked in he saw several women dressed in skimpy kimono. Most of them were leaning up against men that seemed to be sitting down on the couches having a few too many cups of sake. Some of the women led men upstairs all the while smiling.
One of the women noticed Naruto staring. This woman was not wearing a kimono. Instead she was wearing a simple white shirt and black pants. She had long black hair and brown eyes. She was scowling at the blond.
"What the fuck are you doing here you little shit stain?!" the woman growled out. Naruto was taken aback by her hostility, but he knew he could use her abrasiveness to his advantage. He put the most pitiful look on his face that he could imagine before dropping to the floor. None f the customers or entertainers seemed to notice what was going on and he was grateful for that.
"Onna-sama please I need a job!" the woman's glare intensified. She knew who the brat was, and she also knew that he received a stipend from the Hokage every month.
"Don't lie to me boy. I know that old fart give you more then enough money to live off of."
Naruto grit his teeth but he didn't move his head from the floor. "I know he does but they make the prices so high I can't afford anything but ramen and then only barely."
The woman stared at the pitiful looking boy for a few moments before she grabbed him by the scruff of the neck lifting him effortlessly off the ground and bringing him to her eye level.
"My name is Hoima, and from now on you'll do whatever the fuck I say got it?" he only nodded before Hoima dropped him to the floor. "Good. I want you to go upstairs to the last room on the right side and wait there." Without needing to be told twice he was off.
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Two weeks later saw Naruto, Shino, and Shikamaru meeting up again. "So what were you able to get done Naruto?" Shikamaru asked. He didn't really expect anything out of the boy so soon.
"I am currently working at a brothel as a waiter and house hand…" he trailed off and became red in the face for a moment before he swallowed it. "I'm also on the menu if a chick walks into the place a decides she wants me." Naruto was in it for the money, and he made good money working for the brothel and Shikamaru, but he felt that what he was doing for it made him dirty, however he was not one to quit.
Shikamaru perked up at the implication that Naruto had made. If there was one group that was constantly underestimated it was the prostitutes. People constantly let out valuable pieces of information around them as though they were not listening.
"Naruto are any of the women that visit you important people?"
Naruto thought for a moment. He had know that he was on the look out for ways to get into the good graces of the people that he "worked" with, and he knew that some of them were respected people outside of the red lights. "Yea Uchiha Mikoto, Hyuuga Hitomi, and Madame Shijimi visited mea few times over the past two weeks."
Shino pushed his glasses. "Luck seems to be on our side."
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"The Uchiha are planning a coup, and the Elder Council has sent Uchiha Itachi to eliminate his clan in three days time. If Naruto can save her then we may have our first worshipper." He didn't truly care for a cult but if they could get away with it then they would.
"Do you think you can do that Naruto?" Shikamaru asked. The blond only nodded.
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Three days Mikoto Uchiha found herself once again lying with Uzumaki Naruto. They were both naked. She smiled sadly at that. The boy reminded her so much of her late friends and first love that she just couldn't help herself when she found out he was working in the brothel. She knew it was wrong but she just couldn't bring herself to stop.
She gave a sigh before she sat up and began to put her clothes back on, however she was stopped by Naruto who shot up. "Mikoto-chan please stay with me for the night."
She smiled at his begging, but she knew that she couldn't do that. "I'm sorry Naru-kun but you know that I have a husband to get back to. I'll come back tomorrow."
She was fully dressed and headed toward the door when Naruto grabbed her arm. "If you go back there tonight you will die." He said calmly.
Mikoto was shocked at that outburst. "Are you threatening me?" she growled out as she ripped her arm from his grip before turning on him.
"No, but you should know that tonight you clan pays the price for their insolence. I held off my brothers for as long as I could but it was not enough. In the end I was given the chance to save you."
Mikoto began to sweat. "W-what are you talking about?"
Naruto smiled. "The coup silly. Itachi betrayed you, and now he's killing your kinsmen for their foolishness."
"How do you know that?!" she shouted. No one outside of the clan should have known of the coup. They had made sure to keep the children out of the loop and they even checked for any spies.
Naruto glared at the woman. "I know far more then you woman, and if you want to continue living then you should do as I say."
Mikoto looked into the boy's now frost cold blue eyes. She knew at that moment that the child that she had been consorting with for half a month was never truly there. There was something else… some sort of forbidden knowledge that she could not comprehend. "What are you?"
Naruto smirked. He was glad that Shino and Shikamaru had been teaching him how to act like a "god" it made it so much easier to manipulate hysterical people. "So you realize that I am no mere child. That's good. As for what I am the answer is simple. I am a god in human form. I am Myoumaru god of life, fertility, mercy, and justice"
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The child in front of her was a god in disguise. No it couldn't be true. "I don't believe you." She spat out with all the anger she could muster.
However Naruto was unperturbed. "Fine then let us have a bet. Should your entire clan save Sasuke say dead in the morning at Itachi's hand then you will worship me and you will take any punishment that I deem fit. However should that not be the case then I will kill myself for my foolishness." Mikoto nodded.
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"That shit hurt Shino." Naruto growled as he put a hand over the bandages that covered his face.
"You knew it would Naruto-kun. Having the Sharingan transplanted into you was one thing but changing their color was another. You are lucky I was able."
"Yea yea." Naruto grumble while Shikamaru chuckled.
"How is your disciple doing?"
"She's been praying regularly, and she treats ramen as a sacred item, but I think we need to make some miracles happed if we want to recruit more followers."
"That is correct Naruto-kun, and I have just the plan." Shino said. Shikamaru gave him a look that told him to tell them. "There is a girl by the name of Kurama Yakumo. She has the ability to make genjutsu real. However she's physically weak and no one thinks that she will become a shinobi. This has led to her becoming rather depressed and violent with her genjutsu. Perhaps if we were able to get someone to manipulate her in certain ways she could become useful to us."
Shikamaru smirked. "Anything dealing with the mind is my forte."