Wow, First day I released my story in less than twenty four hours I've gotten 537 hits, 4 reviews, 2 C2s, 21 favorites, and 25 alerts! Although I'm a little concerned by the lack of reviews (Really only 4 out of 537?), I think this can only be expected because I'm a new author. Seriously though, I would love to hear some feedback and opinion from you guys! Though, I'm assuming the people who looked at the story read the entire thing, and did not decide to quickly exit because this story is awful. T_T
Summary: Sarutobi makes some startling discoveries
Chapter 2: The search
Sarutobi sat comfortably in his chair. It was quintessential to have a comfortable chair when your office was a second home and at other times a primary one. He picked up the remote on his desk and promptly pressed some buttons.
He smiled widely as he felt his chair shift backwards, allowing for a more comfortable position. He grinned further as he activated the full body shiatsu massage unit with heat capability. He did a dance inside his head on how he even got such an amazing chair. It's not like Danzou needed that drug money anyway.(1)
It was a nice day he noticed. The sun was bright and children could be found playing on playgrounds or taking refuge under the great trees of Konoha from the sun. It was a nice change due to the recent massacre of the Uchiha clan.
Under heavy speculation and verification among the bodies of the deceased, it was determined that ANBU captain Itachi Uchiha has wiped out his entire clan save his young brother, Sasuke.
Young Sasuke was under heavy security in the Konoha hospital resting there due to a coma. Doctors had come to the conclusion that it was a genjutsu induced coma by the talents of the shinobi medical staff. What baffled Sarutobi was a genjutsu strong enough to cause enough trauma to incapacitate someone for a week.
In his gut Sarutobi felt unease about the entire affair, the entire clan's destruction laid heavily on his conscience. In the end,though, he had to choose the lesser of two evils. He quickly chastised himself for such negative thoughts on a wonderful day.
It was on days like this that he found himself immensely relaxed. He had no paper work and the civilian and ninja councils were both content. 'Ah what a wonderful day' he thought to himself as he felt his entire body shake due to the massaging units cycling.
Suddenly, his grandpa instincts kicked in. He suddenly realized he hadn't heard or seen Naruto in almost a week. It was unusual that Naruto had not been in his office in at least three days. He looked at his clock mounted on the wall, a special made by a carpenter for his coronation of Hokage. It read one o'clock.
'I'm in the mood for some ramen .I might as well go get some lunch at Ichiraku now; Naruto will probably be there too.' The old Hokage thought before he pried himself from the warm embrace of his chair. He decided to take the scenic route and walked out of his office.
"I'm going to grab some lunch, if something important comes up, then contact me." Sarutobi told his secretary.
"Hai, Hokage-sama" The pretty, young woman said as she adjusted her glasses on the edge of her nose.
At Ichiraku Ramen Stand
Ah, nothing like the stunning views of the scenic route. He was glad to have taken the slightly longer route on such a wonderful day. Days like these made him wish that his wife was still alive to enjoy such an experience with him.
Sarutobi walked down the path, passing peddlers selling their wares to children and the civilians and ninjas that greeted him with a smile. He finally arrived at his destination and graciously took a seat on the few stools.
He looked over the rest of his fellow patrons, but was disappointed and surprised to see that the ball of sunshine was not there.
"Teuchi-san!" The Hokage motioned the humble ramen cook over. "I would like to order a pork ramen." He said, upon further thought, he decided to order a miso ramen for Naruto as well. Sarutobi fingered the hem of his Hokage hat, thinking back to the circumstances in which he became Hokage.
The Hokage was brought out of his reminiscing by Teuchi bringing his order of pork and miso ramen. Sarutobi smiled at the smell of the delicious ramen and quickly broke his wooden chopsticks apart. With a quick itadakimasu he began to work the delicious noodles in his mouth. He brought the bowl to his mouth, slurping up some of the delicious broth.
Sarutobi was so absorbed into the delicious meal, he quickly forgot about the cooling miso ramen next to him reserved for his surrogate grandson. 'Ahhh, delicious, I can see why Naruto likes ramen so much'
"An excellent job, Teuchi-san!" The wizened old man complemented.
"I can't take credit for this batch; I had my daughter prepare it! Hear that Ayame? The hokage loves your cooking!" Teuchi shouted to the back room.
"Really, now?" The Hokage asked, "She can't be more than twelve! That's impressive. Whoever marries your daughter is going to be a very lucky man!"
The two men shared a hearty laugh together at the expense at Teuchi's cute little daughter. At this time Ayame came out of the back room red faced, but to switch positions with her father as the new waiter.
"Hey! Who's wasting ramen!" The young girl asked, pointing to the bowl of cooled miso. Suddenly, Sarutobi got a wakeup call, Naruto had not been there; Teuchi was quick to realize as well and frowned.
"When was the last time you saw Naruto, Teuchi-san?" The Sandaime questioned in a clamed, controlled cadence.
"About a week ago, on his birthday. I thought he was with you this entire time." Teuchi responded, his frown deepening, revealing his few wrinkles. He turned his attention back to the ramen and began to stir it; something he did when he thought about something.
"I think you should go visit Naruto, Hokage-sama." Teuchi said, all business.
"That would be a wise decision, Teuchi-san." Sarutobi approved, before inclining his head in respect and leaving enough money to cover the two ramen bowls. Such respect was well deserved to a man that has poisoned more than three companies of Iwa nin with some 'misplaced' ration bars.
Sarutobi walked out of the small stand, before performing a single hand sign shunshin to Naruto's apartment.
At Naruto's apartment
Sarutobi appeared in front of the door in a flourish, causing leaves to scatter around him and a nonexistent breeze making his robes ripple. This simple, yet impressive action caused the woman in front of him to jump out of her skirt and land on the floor on her rear.
"Oh, Hello Hasa-san." Sarutobi said, as he helped the thirty year old woman off the ground.
"I was just about to collect the gaki's rent money, today is collection day." the woman revealed as the land lordress pointed out.
"Don't you have a key?" the Hokage asked her, the quizzical look on his face as most land lords had a set of keys to their tenants apartments.
"urhurm" She cleared her throat, "Hokage-sama, if you don't remember you made a stipulation in young Naruto's case."
"Ahhh." came Sarutobi's intelligent response, "Well, without further delay let's see if Naruto is in." The elderly man dinged the doorbell and waited for a response. A minute passed.
"He's probably coming now." The hokage said looking at the slightly disheveled woman. Three minutes passed.
"Naruto!" The old man shouted, before actually using a closed fist to rapt the door. He always found people were more attentive to a human produced noise. Five minutes passed now.
"Ummm, Hokage-sama. Why don't you just use your own key?" The landlord suggested.
"Ah good idea, Hasa-san!" He nodded his head in agreement. "Naruto!" he shouted, "We're coming in now!"
Sarutobi's key to Naruto's apartment had been a gift from Naruto himself. Sarutobi was touched by the gift. The key (In Sarutobi's opinion) was a symbol of trust between Naruto and himself. What made it so rare was the fact that Naruto did not trust many people. He remembered upon initial meeting Naruto, the boy was very cautious and mistrustful.
To say that the boy now trusted him so much brought tears of joys to his eyes. The old man took out his keys and without further delay, opened the door. Sarutobi walked in with the land lordess; her head peaking over his shoulder. She swiftly took her place at his side.
"Hmmm, it looks like no one has been here in a while, Hokage-sama." The land lordess said. The hokage observed the living room, the dust floating in the air only visible by the small of amount of lights that peaked over the blinds, casting a sunny patch of light on the carpet.
Sarutobi walked into the kitchen, sweeping a bony finger over the counter top. He brought his fingers to eye level, taking note of the coat of dust on his finger.
"Hasa-san, I don't think Naruto has been here. In at least five days." Sarutobi noted.
"Do you think he's fine?" The land lordess asked worriedly.
"I'm sure he's off doing something foolish." He said, trying to assuage her fears.
"Oh, you're probably right, Hokage-sama." The woman said, still looking nervous, but relieved.
However, inside, Sarutobi felt unsure himself. Where was Naruto? Was he ok? Did someone hurt him? Was he hiding? If he was, from who? From the corner of his eyes he finally noticed a corner of wall paper curling outward.
'New wall paper?' Sarutobi thought to himself as he inspected the wall. Unable to ignore his suspicious side, Sarutobi pulled the corner of the wall paper, ripping it away. What was written on the wall elicited a gasp from the land lordress.
Sarutobi signed as he read the cruel words on the wall. Things such as 'Demon', 'Monster', 'Killer', Murder', and even 'Whore' were scrawled out in red or black spray paint.
'Ugh, too many questions' thought the Hokage as he brought his hand to massage his forehead.
"I'm going to go find Naruto, ok Hasa-san?" Sarutobi told her.
"Of course Hokage-sama." She inclined her head in a display of respect, still looking at the walls.
"Here." He pushed a wad of bills into her hands. "That should cover the rent for two months."
"Hokage-sama! I couldn't!" The woman's indignant cries were unheard as Sarutobi exited the building, in a flourish of shunshin.
The Sandaime now stood in front of the apartment building, his hand cupping his chin in a thoughtful pose. He quickly reached into his robes to reveal a pipe, and brought it to his mouth. With a practiced flare of katon chakra, he ignited his pipe.
So imagine his surprise when the end of pipe started crackling in a display of fireworks, startling the shit out of him. He was not amused.
'Ohh that troublesome boy!' Sarutobi thought with faux anger. He quickly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his face of any ash from the small display of fireworks.
'Now, how do I retrace my steps after I left? Where did I leave, hmmmmm?' Sarutobi thought intensely.
"Ah ha!" He said, snapping his fingers. 'To the market district!' He then proceeded to take a cart there, hopping on to the back of a nearby cart. (2)
At the market district
'What a nice ride.' He thought as he hopped off the back, and thanked the merchant. He was not exactly where he had left Naruto nearly a week ago. 'Hmmm, now if I was Naruto, which route would I use to take home? From where he was it took maybe an hour to walk home at a civilian pace.
He walked down the road, greeted by children and families. He nodded his head and flashed a smile here and there. It never hurt to get a better reputation.
He had been walking now for fifteen minutes if his mind clock was correct. He was about to search elsewhere when a small rubber ball rolled out in front of him.
'Hello, what's this?' He thought. 'Wait, I remember this…!' Memories of Naruto squeezing and bouncing the rubber ball off the ground suddenly flooded his mind.
'Naruto wouldn't forget this ball…' Sarutobi turned his head to the left, the direction the ball rolled from. His eyes caught the glint of something shiny in the alley. Sarutobi quickly prepped himself for the worse as he put on his Hokage face on.
He treaded into the alley, picking up the glinting object that had caught his attention. His fears were confirmed as he studied the item; a pair of head phones he had gotten Naruto for his birthday. He felt his heart jump as he studied the bag that the head phones were in.
The bag in question was sticky on the bottom. 'Sticky from what, though?' The hokage murmured to himself in his mind. The alley itself was dark; it was a somewhat narrow passage between two buildings. He quickly flung out his hand and pulled back the sleeves of his robe, revealing the wrinkled flesh of his arm.
He concentrated katon chakra in the palm of his hand- just enough to create a small fire ball- to illuminate the alley.
"Oh, oh Kami…" Came Sarutobi's soft response. He viewed the alley now, spatters of old, browning blood decorating the corridor. He reached down onto the ground and scraped some blood off of the bag.
'Definitely a week old.' The Hokage concluded, as he rubbed the dried blood off his thumb and index finger. He briefly flared his chakra and to his expectations, two ANBU kneeled before him.
"Get me our best trackers and any other ninja with any skill at tracking." The Hokage schooled his features into a cold rage. 'One person couldn't do this… whoever was involved with this will have the great pleasure of meeting Ibiki.'
"Come." The Hokage commanded, "We're starting a search."
Six days before the search, one day after death.
Naruto woke up underneath the shadow of one of the large trees fire country was known for. It was now nearly sun down; from what he could tell he was asleep for a little bit less than thirty hours.
He began to move and stretch, rising from his long sleep. He winced in discomfort as his skin cracked, seeping through his black bandaged body. He looked down at his arm expectantly, the area he had stretched, to see the red fluid that would undoubtedly flow out.
So, he was freaked out to see black ichor seep down his arm. He watched it pool on the ground, like some sort of miracle puddle. He was suddenly reminded that he was bleeding.
'Ok, so if I move to quickly, I'll bleed out from every part of my body.' Naruto summarized. He carefully grabbed his sword and got up, and began walking north to whatever destination fate would take him.
Naruto never realized the sickly yellow, dying grass he had been sitting on and the family of dead mice a couple meters away from him.
The search, present time
Sarutobi was very troubled. The search had lead them all around Konoha. Apparently, someone had the opportunity to take a bucket of Naruto's blood, and randomly paint discreet red swabs in small, unnoticeable places.
Sarutobi promised whoever was involved with this was going to get a long session with Ibiki and a vengeful Anko. Sarutobi wept for the poor girl, betrayed by his former student and son figure, and now this.
"Hokage-sama!"
The Sandaime turned to face Inuzuka Hana, one of the star trackers in her clan, motioning for her to report.
"Hokage-sama, I can pick up at least five other scents, but they are all probably dead ends, however, there seems to be a stronger scent to the west."
'Stronger scent means more blood…' The Hokage though absent mindedly before following Hana in a shunshin.
They both arrived at the scene of the crime. Like the original area he initially found Naruto's place of assault, this area had a fair amount of blood layered on the ground.
"Inuzuka-san, can you find any other scents?" The Hokage questioned.
"It's faint, but there are about three other scents I can pick up." She quickly ordered her three nin dogs to pick up one scent per dog.
"Lead the way." The Hokage commanded.
"The closest scent is…three blocks away"
Seeing no need to wastefully use more chakra, the Hokage and his nins broke into a comfortable dash towards the apartment.
Six days before the search, one day after death.
He couldn't have been walking for more than one hour now. His walking pace, in his opinion was unbearably slow, but after some practice he found a gait that allowed him to walk a little fast and served to make his footsteps silent.
His feet made barely any noise as he crossed over a patch of dead leaves. Too his surprise, Naruto found he was not hungry. 'Does it have anything to do with what I am now?' He thought.
Naruto finally made it out of the forest and into a clearing. He saw a familiar man made path, 'Probably leading to civilization.' He thought, before checking his right.
To his shock and anger, he found himself back at the cave, which the mob burned him. Rage surged through him as he thought of their cruel, uncaring faces.
The next thing he saw made him silently fume. In front of the cave were sticks of incense. 'Probably for the poor child that the Kyuubi took over.' Naruto cleverly pieced together.
It was messed up, how could a mob of people burn a child to death, then have the nerve to light incense for said person they killed?
'What's this?' Naruto said, as he picked up the plastic covered package. He tore off the wrapping and unfolded the object underneath.
'A..a..a funeral robe?' Naruto wondered about the white garment, 'Well at least they were useful, the fools.' He thought as he put on the white robe, tightening the sash that came with the robe around his waist.
The robe was a little bit too big in general, but he was sure that he would eventually grow into it.
'Let's find some shoes…'
The Search
Sarutobi walked up the stairs, using the railing to support himself. His ANBU followed after him, the shuffling of feet making some of the more experienced in the building wonder about the large group.
He finally stopped at the door, his helpful tracker sniffed out. He would be sure to give her raise for her job well done.
Apartment number 4-C, he noted. Without further delay, The Hokage rapped his fist on the door slowly, almost like one of those cinemas where something awful would happen. In this case that would be true.
"Hirano Masa!" The Hokage shouted. "Open this door right now!"
"Hold on, Kaa-san!" Came the man's shout, heard through the door.
Behind him, his ANBU snickered at the misidentification of their Lord. Sarutobi shot them all a withering glare, showing he was not in the mood for any of this silliness. The ANBU fidgeted nervously, before becoming all business.
"Hey, Kaa-san! I didn't think you would come so soon!" The man answered the door. He then realized his mother was not in front of him. Crap. Instead, it was the Hokage. Why would the Hokage be at his door-unless.
'Shit!' He thought. 'I'm sure I got rid of my entire presence there! Fuck!' Masa mentally grimaced.
The Hokage, not missing a beat, proceeded to start a rapid fire interrogation against the man.
"Where were you on October 10?" The Hokage barked.
"Drinking wi-"
"So, when did you find Naruto Uzumaki?"
"I di-"
"Who else was with you to kill Naruto Uzumaki?"
"Hokakge-sama I thin-"
"That's the problem, you don't. Where did you take him?"
"I want a lawy-"
"I am the law."
"Where did you kill him?" The Hokage was by now yelling.
'Cool as an ice cube, Cool as an ice cube, Cool as an ice cube…' Masa kept repeating he mantra in his head despite sweating bullets of sweat.
"I didn't kill him!"
"Then who killed him?" The Hokage pressed on.
"No one killed him!" Masa lied through his teeth rather badly.
"Who killed him!"
"FINE! We killed him, ok? We took him into an alley and beat him to bloody pulp! That's all I know! I left the main group because I was tired. I had my go at him anyway!"
Around him the Hokage and his ANBU absorbed this information before the most intense blast of killing intent was leveled at his person. Masa began to foam at the mouth; he checked his pants and found he has soiled himself badly.
'Oh, Fu-' Were the only thoughts that Masa was able to form as the Hokage delivered an earth chakra enhanced fist into the bloody hole that was now Masa's face.
"Disgusting Pig!" The Hokage shared his thoughts with his subordinates who all agreed with the man's assessment of the dead scum.
The Hokage bent down and wiped the blood off his hand on the man's flak jacket. He spat into the dead man's crater of a face before turning to the tracker.
Sarutobi turned to an equally pissed Inuzuka tracker and ANBU pair and delivered his orders. "Come, Hana. Let's go to the next perpetrator.
"Hai, Hokage-sama." She frostily growled; the thoughts that someone could do that to someone no older than her little brother ripe in her mind.
Six days before the search, one day after death
It was dark now, the sun had set and he had no shelter or nourishment. More importantly, he had to find some shoes; ninja sandals preferably.
He stalked through the forest, no longer the prey, but now the predator. He gripped his sword ready for anything or anyone that would dare try to take his life.
The moon shone bright above him, giving everything in the forest a strange glow. Naruto looked down at his robe, surprised it gave him a ghostly appearance, especially with the faintly pulsating glow of the symbols on his robe.
"Why are we wandering in fire country in the dark?" He heard a shrill voice pierce the darkness. Naruto snapped his head in attention and pin pointed the area which the sound originated from.
"Hush your voice, Anari! A Konoha patrol could find us." Naruto heard an older woman say. "C'mon lets go try to set up camp.
"Nice going Anari, we could've been found." Naruto heard another girl whisper in a hushed tone.
"No one asked you for your opinion, Biyako." The girl now revealed as Anari grumbled.
'Perfect.' He thought as he trailed them.
The group finally stopped in a small clearing surrounded by trees. The older woman, who Naruto presumed was a Jounin-sensei. She had dark brown hair from what he could tell and a hard face. She had a fit body, though, giving Naruto the impression she was no slacker.
Anari and her friend, Biyako, he observed, had small builds and poor weapon skills, he noticed as Biyako spun a kunai by its ring on her finger before it went flying into the woods.
Naruto froze as the kunai landed a couple meters away from him. 'Crap, am I compromised?'
While Naruto was not scared, he was cautious of the approaching girl. The fact that he was wearing white made it worse.
So, imagine his surprise when afterwards the girl stared straight in his direction and disregarded him completely.
'Well that was lucky.' He thought; Naruto was now crouching on top of a tree branch, after some difficult getting on it without making his skin crack.
"Anari, since you could've alerted us, you have to go look for fire wood in hostile territory."
Anari slumped her shoulders while her other two team mates stayed around the camp. Naruto looked at the other boy, he seemed to be somewhat skillful-for a genin at least.
Naruto stalked Anari into the forest watching her mutter underneath her breath while quickly picking up branches. He observed her, waiting for the moment to strike; finally he struck grabbing her with in a hold with his blade at her neck.
"If you scream I'll cut your head off; do you understand?" The girl nodded her head tears beginning to spill from her eyes. "Good." He whispered.
Anari was frightened. She had been carelessly picking up fire wood, and this strange man had captured her. Was he going to rape her or turn her into the slavers for a profit? She decided to try and calm herself as she heard his words. She had to figure out a way to get out of this bind.
She reached down slowly to her kunai pouch for a weapon, but meeped as the man pressed the blade into her neck.
"What did I say?" Naruto whispered into her ear sternly, before removing her belt and that pouches attached to it. He stored it into his robe, and tried to whisper reassuringly to her.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Just don't scream out. Let's go visit your friends. "
Anari eyes widened in surprise, the man had snuck up on her entire group? It shouldn't be possible; her sensei was an elite Jounin from Iwa! She tried to determine facts about her abductor, he seemed to be around her height, so they were about the same age, or he was a midget. Meaning, that he should have been around her age, 'voice changer?' She thought.
'No, what would someone with a voice changer be doing in the middle of the forest?' She quickly shot down that idea. Anari looked down at the hand of her attacker and noticed many startling bandages. 'Is this guy some sort of victim?' She tried to piece together.
Then there was his voice. It was the raspiest thing she had ever heard, his voice reminded her of a sand paper; dry and rough.
She suddenly felt herself being nudged back into the direction of the campsite. 'I'm sorry guys for getting caught.' Anari thought, downtrodden by her capture.
The campsite was now in sight. She walked with the shadowy boy behind her into the clearing.
"Anari! What took you so long! You took such a long time we had to get fire wood ourselves." Her sensei scolded her.
At this point her sensei noticed the tell tale signs of tears on her face. "Anari?" She said worriedly, did she come off a little bit too angry?
"I'm sorry, Mikami-sensei." Were Anari's only words as she now fully appeared in the clearing, a white sword held at her throat.
Immediately, Anari's team mates and sensei were on high guard. Silence reigned throughout the campsite, not even one owl hooting.
To say that Mikami Makimi was surprised was an understatement. She held the idea that her student might have been captured by some sort of bandit in mind, but by this? She would've never expected like that to hold her student hostage.
Across the clearing, she studied the boy threatening the safety of her student. He had his head over Anari's shoulder giving him a semi good look of his face. Well, what she could make of it. His face was covered in bandages except his left eye, an icy, cold cerulean, she noted.
Trying to defuse the situation Makimi tried to save her students life. "Just let her go, we'll even let you get away." She said, coming off somewhat arrogant, not what she wanted to sound like at all.
"You think you can threaten me? Think about the girl." He motioned to her ever slightly bleeding neck.
"If you hurt her, I'll-" Biyako said, before she was interrupted.
"Biyako! Quiet! What do you want?" Makimi said, her teeth clenched in anger.
"Good, that's a little better. Now comply or I'll slash her throat." Naruto said. Inside, Naruto was at turmoil with himself. Had he really just threatened to cut this poor girl's throat? 'You have to survive, there's no helping it. You can't watch out for all the ants on the sidewalk can you?'
Naruto steeled his resolve and made his demands, "You." He pointed at the boy. "Take off your sandals."
The genin quickly took off his sandals and placed them in front of them. "Good." Naruto said, "Now put all your weapons and rations into that bag." He pointed to Biyako's bag.
"All our rations and weapons?" Both the male genin and Biyako hissed.
"Be reasonable! That'll leave us with nothing!" Makimi said.
"Fine." Naruto adhered. "Half your rations and weapons."
Grudgingly, the group put their weapons and rations into the bag.
"Now, you." Naruto pointed at Biyako.
"I have a name, you know! It's Biyako!" The girl angrily shouted.
"I know." Naruto said nonchalantly. "Now pick up the sandals and the bag and put them right in front of me."
Biyako picked up the bag and the sandals with a disgusted face that she had to pick up boy's sandals, but none the less did her job.
"Now release her." Anari's sensei said hurriedly.
"Not so fast. Release the jutsu on the fire." Naruto demanded.
"What are you talking about?" Makimi said, gritting her teeth.
"Don't play coy. There's no way the fire can't produce smoke or smell." Naruto cleverly deduced.
Makimi furrowed her brows in anger, as she preformed the set of hand signs needed to dispel the jutsu.
"There, now let us go, or a patrol will find us soon." Makimi said, they were running out of time now and they had to move fast.
"Good luck." Naruto said before he removed the blade and pushed the girl into Biyako.
Naruto melded into the forest, leaving the Iwa team behind him. Makimi quickly threw a timed explosive tag on the area, before grabbing her genin and running.
Makimi thought about quickly dispatching the thief to get their gear back, however, she found that he had no chakra signature.
'A ghost of the forest.' She thought to herself, a chill going down her spine.
The Search
Sarutobi had just crashed into Kaien Sato's apartment through the window, shattering the glass. The man was having a Sunday late Sunday lunch with his family. Sarutobi's ANBU followed shortly quickly taking a black bag out and placing it on Kaien's head. Following up was a quick and brutal efficient punch to the gut, disabling him.
Sarutobi looked around the room. The man's two children were hiding in their mother's arms, burying their faces into her chest.
Sarutobi studied the family, before looking at the limp Kaien. 'Bag 'em and drag 'em.' He thought to himself.
He looked at the tearful of Kaien's wife, a decent looking woman named Rina; she was also a shinobi from what he remembered of the files he had spent hours studying, so he would know everyone of his subordinates.
"Rina-san." He cleared his throat, "Your husband has done some very bad things. These things are laws that if broken have repercussions that equal death." He delivered.
"If your husband cooperates with us, he might just live, might." Rina looked at the limp body of her husband and hugged her children closer, no doubtedly they heard the Hokage as well. Rina nodded her head in acceptance, sobbing softly.
"Come, to the T&I department!" They shunshined out of the apartment, arriving in front of interrogation head quarters, The ANBU lifted Kaien over his shoulder and walked inside.
Sarutobi took out his pipe before lighting it with a lighter; he felt too drained to use any chakra, due to all the information he had learned. Sighing heavily, he turned and entered the building.
Sarutobi walked through the dimly lit halls, the lights flickering on and off. While the building could function properly, it gave incoming victims feelings of fear and intense anxiety. The fact that the buildings atmosphere was fairly humid was just another staple in the victim's fear.
He found the room he was looking for and was saluted by two masked interrogation specialist. They opened the door for him and he slid in taking a seat in front of the special one way window.
"Has Ibiki started yet?" He asked Inoichi Yamanaka, who was sitting down as well, sipping a cold glass of water.
"He's gathering a few materials needed, before he starts the show." Inoichi replied. "What did this guy do to warrant you watching his interrogation?"
"You don't need to know Yamanaka-san." The Hokage said with no reaction for Inoichi to try to gauge the reason. Inoichi frowned, but accepted it. If the Hokage wanted to keep something secret, then it was his decision.
Both men looked at Ibiki walk in with his long, black trench coat, his stature intimidating to all that would be 'lucky' enough to meet him.
Ibiki sat down, shuffling the files in his hands while laying them out on the table. Two ANBU walked in from the opposing door across from Ibiki with a bagged Kaien.
They pushed him into the seat across from Ibiki and undid the bag on his head.
"I haven't done anything! Let me go! What do you want from?" Came his protest.
"I'll be asking the questions." Kaien finally heard. He turned his face to face the gravelly voice and was going to scream more objections, until he realized who it was. Kaien turned as pale as a sheet, his attention on the man before him.
"Good, now that I have your attention we can start. We have your undeniable proof that on October 10th, you beat Naruto Uzumaki in an alley way."
"No way!" He protested indignantly.
"Fine, you can be that way. Do it!" Ibiki shouted into the other room. A couple of loud screams coming from the other room, distinctly a woman and children.
From Ibiki's side of the room, the door opened and a man with a brown paper bag entered. He put it down on the table.
"Do you want to see what's in the bag?" Ibiki said sinisterly. Fearing the contents of the bag, Kaien nodded his head in disapproval.
"Come on, it could be important!" Ibiki chuckled darkly, and shoved the bag in front of Kaien on the table. Deciding to take a risk, he opened the bags and nearly vomited at the contents inside. He swing his arm back in disgust, spilling the contents of his bag.
Three bloody fingers rolled out, two children and a woman's finger with a wedding ring attached to it. Kaien instantly knew who it was. Avoiding the blood, Kaien picked up the fingers and began sobbing.
"Please… I'll do what you want. Just don't hurt them anymore…" He continued to sob deeply.
"Good, nice to see you'll be cooperating with us today Sato-san." Ibiki replied with a jolly voice.
"I'm going to give you a piece of paper and a pen now." He said sternly. "I want you to write down all the names you can remember from who helped you beat up Uzumaki-kun and where he is now."
The man used his shirt to dry his tears; afterwards, he picked up the pen and began writing down names. After five minutes, he stopped and looked up, looking tired with pink, puffy eyes.
"That's all the names I could remember. Can I please go see my family?" He asked quietly.
"I don't think so Sato-san. You made such an easy choice to go harm Uzumaki-kun, I think you can make another choice."
Sato watched Ibiki take out from the manila folder two photographs of his children from the folder.
"No, no, no!" Kaien cried. "You can't make me do this, please! Have mercy!"
"C'mon." Ibiki said, playing the good guy. "You're so good at making choices, it should be easy."
"I can't do it, you ask me the impossible. Please, I can't do this. Take me instead!" He desperately cried.
"Sorry no deal, Sato-san. If you don't choose one of them in the next ten seconds, they both get it."
Sato argued furiously, but Ibiki kept counting down, ignoring Kaien's pleas of repentance.
"Ten."
"Nine."
"Eight."
"Please, you can't!"
"Seven."
"Six."
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Please!"
"I would choose fast Kaien."
"One."
"Zero."
"Noooooooooo!" Moaned Kaien in disbelief and sadness, he began heavily sobbing into his arms, muttering underneath his breath for forgiveness.
"Well, I see were done here. Men get this man acquainted with one of our fine jail cells." Ibiki said as he straightened out the manila folder and took the list of names. The two guards snickered, before lifting the broken man up and escorting him out of the room.
Sarutobi turned his head to see Ibiki enter the room, jacket in his hand and pouring himself in a generous glass of water. Ibiki took a long, hard sip before putting the empty glass on the table.
"It's so nice and cool in here, torturing someone gets me really going, you know?" Ibiki said.
"Mind me asking Ibiki-kun, was that all real? Will that man's two children really die?" Sarutobi asked.
Ibiki looked surprised at the question, but laughed a little. "I enjoy the finer aspects of torture, Hokage-sama. While I do know how to break a couple bones and rip off some finger nails, I excel at the torture of the mind. The screams were some recordings we have from anonymous people, be them men, women, or children."
"The fingers?" The Hokage questioned.
"Courtesy of our fine development department." Ibiki said.
"Ah." Was Sarutobi's intelligent response.
"And I assume you're holding the man in the cell for Anko-chan?" Ibiki nodded his head, confirming Sarutobi's thoughts.
"Very well, continue." Sarutobi demanded.
"Here is the list of names, Hokage-sama." Ibiki slid the list of names to the Hokage.
Sarutobi studied the list intently, nodding his head at the list of names. "This is very disappointing, I know some the people on this list. I always thought they were good people." Sarutobi said, somewhat guiltily.
"It's been a long day. I can't continue now, it's too dark; and my ninjas need their rest. I'll continue this search in a couple hours after some shut eye. Dismissed, everyone!" Sarutobi bellowed out, his ANBU saluted him on his way out.
Six days before the search, one day after death
Naruto glided through the trees like a phantom. The bag was slung over his shoulders; he now had enough food and weapons for a bit more than two people. He felt pride in his accomplishments, after his ordeal, he had developed the mentality of 'do whatever one needs to do to survive'.
He stopped and climbed up a tree; he didn't need any patrols spotting him, even if his stealth skills were legendary back in Konoha. Konoha, he paused at the thought. He felt anger, but most of it was replaced by his feelings of indifference.
Konoha didn't want him? He didn't need Konoha. He was sure, though, he would extract his revenge in the future.
He needed shelter; he was too tired to build a make shift camp, he felt like he was going to drop to the floor and sleep. Deciding quickly, Naruto went back to the cave, entering the fore boding cavern.
He was breathing heavily now, his vision heavy; everything was spinning. He was scared of sleeping, who was to say he would wake up?
Naruto stumbled to the side, using his arm as a support against the cave walls. He slumped onto the ground using the bag as a comfortable cushion. Naruto tried to hold on, but it was all for naught as he was pulled into sleep.
Dreaming
"Where, where am I?" Naruto wondered out loud.
"Why your dream of course!" Naruto snapped his head in attention to see the Shinigami, sitting on his stone throne.
"Oh, Shinigami-sama." Naruto said, as he visibly relaxed, his shoulders drooping into relaxation.
"Shinigami-sama?" The death god raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "That's new, I like that Shinigami-sama, and might I say, I'm very impressed with your will power."
Naruto raised his head, tilting his head in a questioning manner.
"Oh yes, back in the forest, the wave of sleep you felt was me calling out to you. You were suppose to fall to sleep on top of that tree, but you were strong enough to get back to the cave, which might I add kills two humans with one swing for me."
"Huh?" Naruto said.
"Ah, I'm rambling, but what is important is what you want, Naruto."
"What I want?" Naruto looked confused, but quickly grasped the meaning of the Death god's words.
"But there's a price for everything, right?" Naruto realized.
"What an astute individual, you are, Naruto-kun." Death god chuckled darkly.
"So..?" Naruto said, cutting to the neck of the question. "What do you want in return, Shinigami-sama? You already have my soul."
"Hahahahaha! How funny, I don't have your soul, no, that would not do."
"Oh, that's nice to know." Naruto nodded.
"So, what do you want instead?"
"No deal, I'll tell you afterwards whether you want to know the information or not."
"I…I accept, tell me the changes of my body and abilities I'm capable of currently."
"Oh? You don't want to know the fate of your father? Or where your mother currently is?"
At the context of the last question, Naruto look like he was struck, even though 97% of his body was covered in bandages.
"Just tell me what I want!" Naruto said somewhat angrily, even with his cold tone.
"Hehehehehe, Well let's see. I didn't give you any fancy powers or as you humans like to call them, Kekkei Genkai."
Naruto seemed to be somewhat disappointed, but it did not matter; regardless he would become powerful.
"I gave you something much better." Naruto cocked his head up in wonder, what could be this amazing gift?
"This power, I have dubbed the Infinity Limit."
'That sounds weird.' Naruto thought. 'Infinity suggest endlessness, but limit means that something is finite, only going up so high; how contradictory.'
"The Infinity Limit will give you power, more power than you could ever imagine. This power… the power of endless potential…" The Shinigami whispered.
"Endless potential…" Naruto said, shock evident on his face from his widened eye. Naruto realized the value of such a skill, long after his enemies or allies had reach their pinnacle of power, he would still be advancing in power.
"I've never been one to throw power around… no you will have to earn it, like everything else you have done."
"I wouldn't expect less Shinigami-sama, thank you."
"Well let's see, other abilities… you already know one void technique and another subconsciously."
"I do?" Was Naruto's confused response.
"Yes, I believe you call it shadow melding. The true name, which is Void Blitzing, however, cannot be used in battle" The Death god chuckled in his mind, while that was not true, he couldn't give out all the freebies.
"You were teaching me techniques even before what happened?" Naruto said, his gaze not betraying his suspicions.
"Well of course, I have to protect my investment! Enough of that, though, wouldn't you like to know what else you're capable of?"
Naruto nodded his head in response, taking in every word that Shinigami had to offer.
"Now, since you've been such a good sport, I think I'll tell you some more information to restore your appearance as well as a new technique." The ominous figure paused, gauging Naruto's reaction, pleased to see that the boy was patient.
Inside, though, Naruto was thrilled beyond reason, an ability to restore his vitality?
"The ability that you unconsciously use is something I like to call Siphon. Using this technique, one can drain the life energy or chakra as you humans call it into one's self." The Shinigami explained.
"What you did while you were sleeping was sucking the living energy from your surroundings. After your 'Genesis', you proceeded to suck the life out of everything around you."
Naruto looked like he was about to say something, but the Shinigami made a slashing motion with his hand, stopping Naruto.
"Questions in the end, and yes you can control it while asleep, but that will take some skill."
"You no longer have to sleep or eat, but I recommend you do so, but eating will be difficult. While you do not have two do either of those life essential things, it is absolutely vital that you drink. You still need to drink. Be it blood water, juice, or poison. If it's liquid it's good. Purees don't count, by the way."
"So, Siphon. I guess the best way to describe it is a feeling of hunger. First of all, you need skin contact or use of a capable medium. It's something you have to experience for yourself."
"Can you explain the feeling?" Naruto asked.
"Hmmm… imagine yourself coaxing something out, something like a tornado with the point of it on your palm, if you're really skilled you can kill someone in less than three seconds. However, you need a clear mind to exercise this skill, and that is where the medium comes in handy." The Shinigami paused.
"With the medium you can use the object to drain energy, though; the amount is significantly lower than a "Flawless" Siphon."
"Now, the changes to your body… Ever here the quote the eyes are the mirror of the soul?
Naruto nodded his head for yes in response to the Shinigami's query, wondering about the purpose of the quote.
"Well that's somewhat true. For humans, your energy is a mixture of physical and spiritual energy. Spiritual energy is what humans call it, I prefer soul energy."
"And since I only have one eye, my energy is incomplete, right?" Naruto cleverly answered.
"Your analytical skills are quite something… for a human, anyway." The Shinigami murmured.
"This meaning, you cannot fully access your own energy. To be honest about fifty percent of your energy is sealed. So consider your current fifty percent as your new 'hundred'."
While such news would have deterred anyone, Naruto's will to excel could not have burned any brightly at that moment.
"Do not remove your bandages as well, doing so will unseal all your energies and you will cease to exist."
Those words scared Naruto more than he would care to admit… cease to exist, not to die or to live, but to just… not be.
"However, once you become good enough at controlling your power, you might be able to take them off without repercussion."
Naruto seemed to lighten up at this; he might be able to feel the wind on his skin one day.
"Another ability you have is to incorporate the power of others into your body, I wouldn't suggest going overboard, though, and doing so is double edged. For example, if you absorb a being weaker than yourself, there is a risk being weaker. The same applies with stronger beings as well."
"Now, the bandages on your body and power levels correspond to each other. The more bandages you unravel the more power you gain, that's pretty self explanatory. Alright, so questions?" The Shinigami said, wiping an imaginary drop of sweat from his brow.
"Alright… so how do I perfect Siphon?" Naruto asked.
"About one and a half kilometers from your cave, there are forty to fifty souls, most likely bandits. You can go 'practice' there." Having one of his questions answered, Naruto decided to ask another one.
"So, can my sword do anything?"
"Well besides cutting and slashing, it has other abilities, although I'm not going to tell you. That would spoil the surprise." The Shinigami said gleefully. Naruto was surprised at the Death god's somewhat jolly voice, well as jolly as a cold wind sweeping through dead trees could sound.
"Oh and why is my blood black?" At this the Death God looked actually surprised, and he adopted a thinking pose. He rested his chin in his hand with his arm perched against the stone arm of the throne.
"That has nothing to do with me… black blood you say? Huh, even the strangest of demons have purple blood, how peculiar. Well, that's one thing I don't know, you'll have to figure it out yourself."
"How would you describe the feeling of absorbing someone?"
"Be careful, like I said. The feeling of Siphoning and Incorporation are similar. The difference is with Incorporation, you let your life energy overwhelm the other person."
"What did you mean by, 'Good, you came back to the cave?'" Naruto questioned.
"When you accepted my powers I bathed you in my energies. The cave has some of my lingering energies, and since you're so talented," The Shinigami chuckled darkly, "You should be able to perform an unconscious siphon and collect it. Although you won't get all of it, you should get enough, so there is just a little bit left."
The dreamscape began to turn gray now; in all honesty it was a pitch black before with the only figures Naruto and the Shinigami. Cracks began to form in the gray. Fog seemed to blanket everything quickly covering everything. Naruto looked at where the Shinigami was; he could feel himself quickly slipping and everything becoming lighter
"Oh, and Naruto." Naruto looked into the fog and was spooked by how the Shinigami's piercing yellow eyes were only visible, and only turned to stare at the supernatural sight. "Be wary of Kitsune."
Then everything broke into white with the last thing Naruto saw was the giant cage, containing the nine tailed fox.
Four hours later, The Search
Sarutobi opened his eyes in an almost practiced manner from his four hour slumber. He brought his hands to his face to wipe away the rheum(3) from his eyes. He sported dark circles underneath his eyes, a combination of sleepless nights and worrying over his surrogate grandson.
He had sent out the ANBU to detain everyone on the list and try to gather more names from them. Between the time he had went to sleep and the time he had awoken all the people had been nabbed. If one was to wake up in the middle of the night and look across the street at the secret Interrogation and Torture compound, people could be seen dragged in by strange masked men and women.
The Hokage grabbed his robe and slung it over his office. At this time no one was in, except for him that was. He walked downstairs to the faculty office. He had packed some dumplings in the fridge that he never had a chance to eat yesterday.
He took out the little morsels and placed them inside the microwave, Sarutobi decided to sit down and think over past events.
Yesterday had been a beautiful day that had been suddenly downcast for him, due to the disappearance and quite possibly the bloody end of his grandson.
He sincerely hoped that wasn't the case. If there was a god, he prayed to any Supreme Being, wishing for Naruto's safety.
The microwave beeped, alerting Sarutobi to the finished dumplings. He took the microwaveable Styrofoam box out and placed it on the table, the heat barely tickling his callused hands.
He went over to the refrigerator and fished out a bottle of water and took a green tea solution from a nearby dispenser. He poured the fine solution into the cold water and shook it, the color remind him of natural chakra.
Sarutobi thought back to the time he tried to persuade Minato to let him perform the seal instead, so that Naruto would at least grow up with one parent. It was unforeseen that Kushina would escape from death…
He walked over to the counter and grabbed a pair of wooden chopsticks; The Hokage broke them in half, before eating the morsels with haste. He pecked the corners of his mouth with a napkin and took a long drink from the green tea drink.
After waiting a while for the food to set in, he stood up and shunshined to the T&I department. He walked down the long corridor, now well lit, a decent change in his opinion. He went into the main room, an office with numerous televisions, each linked to a camera in a room. Each televisions displayed tortures being interrogated. Be they enemy spies or the recent splurge of civilians, each person inevitably gave in.
Sarutobi was warmly greeted by Inoichi, sitting back in his chair with a cup of coffee.
"Ah, Hokage-sama, good morning!"
"Good morning, Inoichi-kun. Any progress?"
"Actually, Hokage-sama, yes. This man right here." Inoichi controlled the computer and sent the feed to the main screen. While a little blurry, the picture recalibrated itself, depicting a clear picture. Sarutobi studied the man intently, the thought that he was connected to Naruto's disappearance.
Sarutobi knew this man, an ice cream cart vendor that sold ice cream during the hot days in the park. The man was kind, though, he lost a daughter, an unborn child, and a wife to the Kyuubi attack; more than enough reason to go after Naruto.
"So what does he know?"
"He came to us willingly, Hokage-sama. He knows Naruto's current location and where to find him." Inoichi said.
"Come, I'll set you up, I figure you want to hear this yourself." Inoichi escorted the Hokage to the man's room.
Sarutobi opened the door, making a soft clicking noise, causing the vendor to look up in what might have been relief or fear.
"Under certain circumstances I would say nice to see you, Kobayashi-san." Sarutobi drew in Kobayashi's appearance, ragged with red, sleepless eyes and dark circles. A stubble growing on his chin, something that Sarutobi knew set Kobayashi off, the man was always well groomed.
"However, this is not the case, unlike others you have come free of charge; you were not even identified, so why are you here?"
"Guilt, Hokage-sama, guilt." Was Kobayashi's tired response. "While personally I did not harm Naruto's person, I did nothing either to prevent it.
"Did you know my daughter was eight at the time when the Kyuubi attacked? Same age as Naruto-san… She would be 16 now…" Kobayashi said, somewhat regretfully, a tone full of sadness.
"That one week ago… I couldn't bare the sadness and loneliness, so I turned to drink."
"And you drank too much?" Sarutobi presumed, as the man nodded his head.
"The darker feelings I had bottled within me… they ran loose, allowing me to do what I wanted, but I guess in the end it was Naruto's age that saved him…" The man finished.
"So tell me from the beginning, what happened?" Sarutobi questioned.
"I went out drinking with my friends; they decided to get me, to cheer me up since they knew that I lost my family… However, my friends aren't exactly fans of the container, too blinded by lost to see the Naruto is just a boy." The man paused, and took a breath.
"Eventually, the drinking got heavier, and before I knew it we were engaged in some sort of combined effort to effectively end Naruto." Sarutobi sucked in his breath, he already knew that Kobayashi-san didn't do anything, but could felt some disappointment that the good man was involved.
'I guess good men do fall to their devils eventually.' Sarutobi said as he waited for Kobayashi to continue.
"Well, I'm sure that you know Naruto was taken to two separate alleys and tortured, right?"
Sarutobi nodded his head sharply, allowing the Hokage hat to shadow his eyes ever so slightly.
"To the civilians and small amount of ninja there this wasn't enough to sate their vengeance."
"So what happened?" Sarutobi said somewhat impatiently.
"They… They decided to burn him to death."
The Hokage's grip on the wooden chair snapped it, the splinters flying across the room.
"Can you show me where he is now?"
"Hai."
Genesis
True to the Shinigami's word, Naruto felt slightly more energetic from collecting the deathly energy in the cave. So, the bandits were about one and a half kilometers away? If that was true, then he would have to do some patrolling.
It was too dark inside the cave, he grabbed the bag of supplies and using the feel of the ninja sandals to help him, he guided this feet into each ninja sandal.
'A comfortable fit.' He thought to himself. He stepped outside, testing the sandals, striding, then eventually picking up in speed.
'The Shinigami's energy must've healed me enough, so that my skin doesn't crack when I perform vigorous activity, good' He noted to himself.
Remembering the Shinigami's words Naruto took out a water bottle from the bag and unscrewed it. Naruto used his free hand to slightly shift the bandages on his face to allow his mouth to drink the liquid.
Curious about his complexion, he touched the skin around his mouth, cringing at the feel. It was rough and hard. While it was not as bad as a couple hours ago, definitely an improvement, it was still ugly and scarring.
Pushing such thoughts from his mind, Naruto chugged the entire bottle, quenching his thirst. He took out a ration bar and broke it in half, nibbling on it.
It tasted like cardboard peppered with dried cranberries in it. While the cranberries were there to distract the eater to focus on the sweetness, the cardboard quality simply overwhelmed it.
Regardless, he chewed on, swallowing the bland ration. He quickly washed his mouth with the water, getting rid of any debris that would have been left in his mouth by the ration.
Naruto removed some of the bandages on his index finger, wincing at the shriveled skin. He put it in his mouth, checking for anything left. Along the way he cut his finger in his mouth, allowing his black blood to flow.
'This isn't blood at all! Its, its…!' Naruto's train of thought was interrupted by the discovery of his sharp teeth.
'Huh, what am I, a shark now?' This turned out to be untrue, seeing as only his canines had become incredibly sharpened.
He was brought out of his musing by the shriek of a woman coming southeast of his direction.
'I found my bandits.' He though as he put the bag back in the cave and gripped his sword.
The robed phantom travelled through the trees, gliding and weaving through the trees. Naruto finally arrived at the outskirts of the bandit camp, about thirty of them if he was certain and twentyish children and women in cages.
There were tents set all around, the many lanterns and fires illuminating everything. He would have to be careful unless he wanted to be detected.
"Zhou, Kaiba! You two have guard duty first, get to it! Minase, Ryu! You two head in the other direction!" The bandit leader shouted.
Naruto watched, hidden by the tree as the four bandit guards stalked off into the forest. He decided he would trail the duo known as Zhou and Kaiba first.
The two men decided to stop one hundred meters away, a good distance to see if they were needed back at the camp.
"Hey, Kaiba! I'm a little tired from today's fun! I'm going to get some shut eye!" The man said as he laid back on a nearby tree, letting his head rest.
Chuckling at his friend, Kaiba nodded his head and agreed, turning his head the other direction to scan the surroundings.
Naruto waited, and true to his words Zhou fell asleep in five minutes, snoring loudly. Taking this opportunity, Naruto snuck behind the tree Zhou was and undid the bandages on the tips of his fingers.
In the moonlight Naruto looked at his fingernails, marveling at their now pointed, black appearance. Musing himself from his observations, Naruto took his hands and placed them lightly on Zhou's arms.
'Think of a tornado… a suction on my palm.' Naruto thought. Through his concentration, he eventually gained a state of tranquility. He could feel it, the man's energy was much better than water, almost intoxicating. Hungry, Naruto increased the rate of the extraction, pulling out all the life energy of the man and killing him.
Kaiba turned his head to his friend, noticing his lack of snoring. "Hey Zhou, you awake?" The bandit whispered in the darkness. "Hey c'mon wake up! It's my turn for some shut eye." Kaiba walked over and shook Zhou. Kaiba watched with fear as his friend fell over on his side, dead to the world.
"What the h-" Was all Kaiba could say before his world turned black. Behind him, Naruto kneeled down and began absorbing the man's energy.
Naruto had easily grasped the process of Siphon and had easily distracted one of the two other guards with a noise he made in the forest. He used scare tactics by pretending to be a ghost on the man left at the camp, easily draining his energy while looking into his scared eyes.
Such a feeling made him feel powerful, like the predator instead of the prey; it was exhilarating. Soon the man's compatriot had returned and by dropping out of a tree and quickly knocking him out, Naruto drained him as well.
While Naruto had dispatched all four people with ease how was he going to get into the camp? 'Wait a second… Void Blitzing!' Patting himself on the back for such a good idea, Naruto phased out of sight.
By now the bandit camp's main fire was ousted by water, and only the lanterns remained lit. The sounds of cruel laughter could be heard from the main tent, the men undoubtedly doing sick, perverse things to their prisoners.
'I'll save those bastards for last.' Naruto thought and entered the first tent. There laid a fat man sleeping on a sleeping bag, three girls in a cage next to him, all silently sobbing at the fates that awaited them.
'These bastards… Unforgivable!' Naruto thought, promising them all death. Naruto walked over to the man, hidden in the void.
'Can I use abilities while hidden? Might as well find out.' Much to Naruto's glee he was able to, he began to vigorously drain the man, not seeing the Shinigami's sickly yellow energy begin to envelop the man.
'Shit!' Naruto thought as he reined in his calm. 'I got too caught up and let my emotions run wild… I almost Incorporated this piece of scum' He though disgustedly.
The man yelped out, alerting the girls in the cage, he heaved, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head, no longer with the living.
'I'll comeback for you… I promise.' Naruto said, as he looked at the somewhat happier girls.
And so it continued as such, Naruto sneaking into each tent, becoming more disgusted by the bandits and draining their life energy as payment for their sins.
He finally reached the final tent; it was larger than the rest, at least three times bigger. He could see the silhouettes of three men sitting in chairs, in front of them, the shadow of a girl dancing.
Naruto entered the tent, swinging the flap open, badly startling the bandit leaders.
"It's just the wind, continue." The main leader said, grinning lecherously. Naruto would kill this man last. He observed all of them, Naruto decided to kill the man on the left first, the drunk. He walked over to the man and placed his finger on the top of his neck, leeching the energy out.
The bandit felt coldness descend upon him, but quickly excused it for the drink taking its hold. "Hey guys…, I f-feel a little sl-sleepy." The bandit said, before his body shifted in a manner that caused him to fall over on his side.
Immediately, the two other bandits were attentive; checking on their friend.
"He's dead, Kuma is dead." The thin bandit cried, but immediately turned his head to his fellow leader.
"Who could've it been? There've been tensions between us, but… I don't think neither of us could do this."
"And that's where your wrong, Akiba." The muscular bandit leader said.
"You bastard!" The man now identified as Akiba shouted, the dancer, now frightened, tried to make herself invisible in the background by taking refuge behind a chest.
"How could you do this? To your friends?" Akiba swore angrily as he dropped to the ground, huffing.
"It's quite simple, profit. Although, it's strange, Kuma wasn't suppose to die, but to go off into sleep. As long as you keep moving the agent should make you go to sleep faster."
"And what were you planning to do? Kill us while we were sleeping!" Akiba whispered out, drawn for breath.
"Well, that's the only thing I could do to grant my best friends a quick death." The man smirked.
"You've always been an ambitious bastard, Katashi!" Were Akiba's final words as he fell to sleep. Naruto went over the man, and calmly sucked out his chakra, having it at a fairly good control after using it on thirty plus persons.
Katashi watched with morbid fascination as Akiba's body began to jerk around, however, what was more frightening was the figure that seemed to materialize, standing over Akiba's body.
The cloaked figure stood, his fingers twitching. 'Short.' Thought Katashi as he backed up. He pulled out his knife and grabbed the dancer roughly in a hold. Katashi held it to her throat, the blade shaking. To be honest, he was scared out of his mind.
"S-stand back! Or else the bitch gets it!" He shakily said. The thing before him had a voice like crinkling leaves.
"My, my Katashi. What happened to your bravado? Scared of something you can't see?" Naruto taunted.
"S-shut up!" He shouted his mind racing, 'Ugh, I need something binding to get this demon away from me… That's it!'
"Leave now!" He said more confidently. "If you don't I'll kill this innocent girl!"
"Fine, fine." Naruto said as he backed off.
Looking triumphant, Katashi pulled out his trump card. "Swear it on your demon name!"
Inside, Naruto was giggling like mad, this man thought he was a demon; he might as well entertain him.
"I swear on my name that I shall not harm you… human." Naruto hissed out for effect.
Katashi waited for Naruto to leave and once he finally left, he released the girl letting her land on the ground on her palms.
The girl glared at her slaver, anger marring her pretty face; she would get the bastard back and free her village.
Katashi let out heavy sigh and fell back onto his chair, wiping the sweat on his brow.
He suddenly felt ill, blood coughing out of his mouth; he looked down to see an impeccably white colored blade stick out of his chest. He could feel it. His life slipping out of him; he was going to die.
The blade pulled out with a clean swoosh, Naruto's ominous presence behind the man.
"How…how?" Katashi asked, while Naruto wiped the blood off his blade on Katashi's clothing.
"You made a many mistakes. One, you captured a bunch of innocents with the intention of selling them all for profit with your goons. Two, you betray your friends. Three." Naruto leaned in close to Katashi's ear, "You assumed I'm a demon." Naruto chuckled darkly.
"Miss." Naruto's voice brought the attention of the girl who was transfixed on his person.
"Here, take vengeance." Naruto kicked the small blade in her direction. Shakily, the girl took the knife and looked at it. With some hesitation she plunged it into Katashi's chest, robbing his of the little life he had left.
"Thank you…" The girl whispered.
"Hmm?" Was Naruto's response.
"I-I said Thank you." She said much stronger.
"Don't worry, it was a mutual benefit. I got kill a bunch of bastards and gain something valuable."
"Y-you killed all of them?" Was the girl's nervous response.
"Yes, unless you wanted them to live?" Naruto said, walking out of the tent. Gaping at her savior, she quickly followed him.
Naruto went from tent to tent in his glory, freeing each person, while they were first wary of him, praised him with adoration when he broke the lock on each cage with his sword.
When Naruto freed them all he turned to leave, but was stopped by the girl, who had thrown a cloak around her to hide her barely clad body.
"Wait, please! Tell us, hero, what is your name?" She called out.
"What makes me a hero? I could just as easily turn around and kill you all…" Naruto said.
"Because I know you won't." The woman said, her face drawn in tight in knowing.
"So, tell me your name…"
"Someone told me it's not polite to demand someone's name without giving yours first."
The girl blushed, though; it was invisible in the light of the moon. "My name is Kasumi."
"Kasumi." Naruto said, as if tasting the name. "Listen, for I have saved your lives and may seek you out one day, my name… is Phantom."
Naruto melded into the forest, thoroughly creeping out everyone in the camp.
'Wow… so young, but so dangerous.' Kasumi thought to herself, before ordering everyone to ransack the camp for supplies and wealth.
The Search
Sarutobi clicked his tongue in frustration, one of the interrogation officers had told him he had something he had wanted to see. All the Sandaime wanted to do was find his grandson, and hold him tight and tell him it was going to be ok.
He followed the officer down the hall and took a left into another wing of torture rooms.
"This better be worth it." The Hokage said, antsy from wanting to go out with Kobayashi-san.
The officer opened the door, revealing a doctor, Sarutobi knew, the same one that said he would get all sorts of ailments from being around Naruto.
"This man." The interrogation officer started off. "Is an abomination to his trade, inside his apartment we found things like monkey hearts, cow livers, and a dissected baby deer. Including this." The officer said as he pulled out a covered jar.
From the contents inside, Sarutobi could make out sloshing, so it was a liquid, although, what did it contain?
"Open it." The officer said lowly.
Sarutobi took the covered jar and placed it in front of him. What could it be? Slowly and almost deliberately, the Sandaime opened the bag.
He looked at the contents of the jar, in shock of what was before him.
He looked at the Doctor across from him, who had a smug look on his face.
"My finest work, if I do say so myself." The doctor proudly said.
"Officer… lock this man away for the rest of his life." The officer made his way to the man, but was held back by Sarutobi.
"After, I've had my time with him." Grinning, the officer walked out of the room, guarding the door.
Naruto's eye floated in the jar of preservative liquid, observing the entire session with a quiet intensity.
Genesis, one day after death, six days before The Search
Naruto felt invigorated, the power of thirty men flowing through his body. From what he remembered each life he Siphoned brought him closer to the way he looked, how many people, though, he would have to ask the next encounter with the Death god.
The night was over and the sun now peaked over the horizon. Naruto suddenly realized he had been up for the better part of the night. Fishing a water bottle from the bag, Naruto unscrewed it and emptied the contents into his stomach. He wiped the water bottle out and put it back in the bag, it wouldn't do to waste a good water bottle.
He laid back, using the bag as pillow to support his head. He moved on his side, finally falling asleep.
Naruto was conscious and what he knew about dreams was that passed quickly… This was no dream he was in his mindscape.
He looked down at his hands, perfect and unscarred. He touched his face, disappointed that his eye was not there. This was the way he envisioned himself in his dreamscape, he supposed.
He turned his head to face a large metal cage with a simple sealing tag, holding the great beast behind the doors.
'Kyuubi.' Naruto thought to himself, as if the great beast had heard his thoughts, its deep rumbling voice answered him.
"Kit…" Kyuubi called out, its large red eyes piercing the darkness of Naruto's mind. Naruto watched as the silhouette of Kyuubi's large, red body shifted. The Kitsune's body seemed to expand outwards before turning into a whirl of movement, until finally stopping.
Before Naruto was a pretty, tall woman. She had looks that many women, as his Nee-chan had put it, would kill for. She had a red kimono on with waves of orange and yellow on it, a fiery design.
'Anko…' Naruto thought to himself.
She had her hair done in ornate accessories, but nothing too over the top. Her hair was long falling all the way down to her back.
The Demoness rushed to the bars, her eyes full of concern. "Naruto! Are you alright? I was so worried about you!"
Instantly, Naruto was on guard, his lone eye analyzing the women. If anything, he had to be careful of Kitsune, the ultimate tricksters. The fact that he was against the queen of Kitsune made him all the more wary of the woman in front of him.
Kyuubi scrunched her face in genuine wonder, why was Naruto so apprehensive toward her, they were practically mother and son, due to the amiable meetings between him and her daughter.
"What's wrong Naruto? Don't you recognize me?" The Kyuubi pleaded.
"I'm sorry, but I think this is the first time we've finally met, face to face." Kyuubi paled, what did he mean by that?
"Naruto what do you mean by that? All the fun times we had with Kyanari-chan… Don't you remember us?" She asked, her emotions running high, how could he forget them?
"I'm sorry." Naruto said, "I believe you're talking about someone else."
"No… no I'm not, Come closer, so I can get a good look at you." Kyuubi pleaded.
"I think that would be a bad idea, Trickster Fox."
Those words made Kyuubi blink with surprise and some hurt.
"Naruto… why are you being so… forgetful? How could you forget all those moments?"
"Stop playing with me." Naruto growled, "I don't know you. This is my first time talking to you."
"This isn't funny anymore, Naruto, quit it." The woman growled and her eyes started leaking a red mist from her already remarkable ruby red eyes.
"I don't think you understand, I've never met you before, and since you know what I know; what's stopping me from Incorporating all your power into my being? It's your entire fault I'm even like this!" Naruto roared.
The Kyuubi flinched at Naruto's tone and hung her head low; it was true what Naruto said. Everything that happened to him was due to the villager's hatred for her.
"You really don't remember…anything?" She said sadly.
"I can't say I do…" Naruto said.
"Please, try to remember, it was all like a dream, you once said…"
Naruto closed his eyes, focusing on the Kyuubi's features. He received flashes of red hair and laughter.
"I'm sorry… all I remember is red hair… and lots of laughter."
"Laughter… Laughter is good, concentrate on that." The Kyuubi whispered.
More images ran through his mind, this time that of Kyuubi and a little girl around his age.
"I remember you, but who is the girl?"
At this the Kyuubi frowned, 'Why doesn't Naruto remember Kyanari?'
"That little girl is my daughter and your best friend, Kyanari."
"I'm sorry, I still don't remember so much, but I know I had a deep connection with your daughter."
'Ha, deep is like saying a canyon is small, my daughter and him were pretty much cuddling each other the entire time…One doesn't forget a bond that deep unless…Shinigami!' The Kyuubi growled in her head.
"My daughter cares for you a lot, a bit too much, she's been sleeping now for around two days now… She couldn't handle the things happening to you and cried herself to sleep."
"Well… Until next time Kyuubi-sama…" Naruto turned his back to the Fox empress.
'Kyuubi-sama? What happened to Kyu-chan…Naruto…you went through more things than I ever could without lashing back…' She though as the boy- no man, began to walk away.
"Wait, Naruto! I have one request for you." The Kyuubi called out. "Please release my daughter from the seal."
"I don't expect you to do this of your own free will, so I pledge to place you under my tutelage."
"I agree, though, you must honor one request of mine. You must not tell your daughter my true identity."
"Why, though? My daughter cherishes you dearly, she deserves to know-"
"Naruto Uzumaki died at the age of eight on October tenth on his birthday, after civilians and ninjas of Konoha condemned him to death by fire."
Kyuubi bit her lip, but nodded her head in agreement, Naruto was the past; her daughter would have to discover this knowledge on her own, even though she knew of the contract between Naruto and the Death god, she doubted the being would harm his fledgling apprentice.
"Wait! Sweat it on your name; that you will protect my daughter and free her!" Kyuubi shouted.
"I swear on my name, Charybdi-" Naruto began, but was interrupted by the Kyuubi.
"Your real name." She growled out.
"I swear as Naruto that I shall adhere to our agreement, on the cost of my life." He finished.
"I agree, now come here, so that you may free my daughter from this place. You must be careful; any slight tear could alter the seal, so follow my instructions." Naruto nodded in agreement, he walked over to the seal, waiting for directions.
"This area right here, you have to remove that circle and part of the kanji, remember be careful."
Naruto followed the Kyuubi's instructions, his steady hands starting to tear the parts off the seal.
"Be careful."
"I know."
"That spot right there."
"I got it."
"No not like that!"
"Kyuubi! I can't do this if you keep bugging me!" Kyuubi shrugged her shoulders, looking a little sheepish.
Naruto continued tearing the seal, painstakingly slow to make no mistakes. Minutes passed and the pair remained quiet, during this time Naruto got to see Kyanari sleeping.
'Cute.' Were Naruto's thoughts a blush warmed his pale face. Kyuubi grinned at Naruto's reaction to her daughter.
"Kit, you missed that-" said, breaking the long silence.
"Damn it, Kyuubi!" Naruto said as he accidently tore off the rest of the required part in one clean swoop.
"Huh, wow." Naruto studied the seal; looking at the corner he realized that he tore off the a bit more of the kanji than necessary.
"Oh shit." He said coolly, were the only words that Naruto were able to complete before his mindscape exploded into yellow and crimson lights.
The Search
Sarutobi washed his hands in the sink, removing the blood caked underneath his fingernails. He had shown the doctor the finder points of anthropology, which the doctor heartily agreed to.
He covered the jar in the black cloth that it had come with and placed it securely on his palm. With a quick surge of chakra he sealed the jar into his tattoo, unwilling to have it put anywhere else; he would find a better location for it later.
He walked out of the personal washroom and back to Kobayashi, who had been released, but stayed nearby to lead the way to Naruto's location.
Sarutobi walked down the hall way and into the main lobby, he acknowledged the secretary with a brief nod of the head and went outside.
From what he could tell it was the afternoon now, as the sun made him squint and adjust his hat for better visibility.
To his pleasure, Kobayashi was waiting for him along with some tracking specialist and some Forensic specialist he had decided to pick up.
"Ready?" Kobayashi asked his leader. "It's a long walk, and I'm not a ninja, so it should take us a while to get there." He apologized.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" The Hokage commanded, and the group shuffled off in comfortable pace.
xxx
"Were getting closer now, it should be about five more minutes until were there." Kobayashi said, in total the trip had been close to one hour now.
Sarutobi recognized where they were. Their path had lead them behind the Hokage Monument, where a system of caves lied. Sarutobi instantly predicted that if the civilians had immolated Naruto, then they would do it someplace quietly, like cave.
Sarutobi knew this because The Hokage Monument was perhaps four kilometers, a rather large width for anything. It was good to pull surprising facts on other countries' ninja ambassadors anyway.
As the group drew closer and closer Sarutobi saw a slight, but noticeable change in the landscape. The trees seemed to become duller and the leaves less glossy. The grass was not as green, but almost yellow in color.
He was not the only one to detect this, as Inuzuka Hana started growling, along with the three Hainmaru triplets.
"At ease, Hana." The Hokage said, the Inuzuka heiress took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders.
"Forgive me…this area… it reeks of death and decay.
Sarutobi raised his brow at that one. Death and decay? While he was no Inuzuka, he was fairly certain he would be able to tell.
They finally arrived, now up close Sarutobi understood what Hana meant. The cave seemed to be leaking an evil energy from it. Turning his head to Kobayashi, he observed the man from the corner of his eyes.
The man was pale and seemed ready to vomit, as if the feeling in the air was strangling him.
On the other side of him, the three Hainmaru dogs were covering their heads with their paws; all huddled up against each other.
And just as sudden as the malicious aura had been there, it quickly disappeared, the howling of an imaginary wind signaling its leave.
The Hokage let his should slump slightly now that the presence had hidden, he could still feel it's under lying aura in the area, however.
Motioning to his left, he jolted the Forensic officers out of their shaking stances and commanded them to enter the cave and gather evidence.
Finally noticing the entrance of the ground there were… sticks and funeral money?
He turned his head to Kobayashi, seeking an explanation. Why would Naruto's murderers lay such thinks for him?
"The civilians and ninjas who bore animosity to Naruto were not stupid. They understood the concept of how the Kyuubi was sealed, but they didn't believe the child himself." Sarutobi was listening intently, lighting his pipe.
"Many thought how could the will of a newborn match that of a thousand year old demon? Simple, they didn't believe so. The fact that Kitsune are notorious tricksters didn't help Naruto's case at all…"
"How foolish." The Hokage said, his eyes a storm of anger, the lightning of his gray eyes flashing brilliantly.
"Many believe that the Demon held the child's soul hostage, so that is why there are so many incense sticks on the ground.
Sarutobi snorted at this knowledge, 'It's quite the other way around.'
Genesis.
Naruto felt sore and sweaty. While he was not in any intense pain, he felt somewhat different. It was like he was missing something now, and it was replaced with something else.
He shifted his weight and turned around, facing the other direction. His eyes were still closed; he tried to reach through himself, in a spiritual sense. Naruto didn't know what was different, but he knew he was.
He finally opened his eye to face a quite naked red haired girl next to him. Memories flashed through his mind and the deal with the Kyuubi resurfaced.
Naruto had to admit, even if he didn't remember everything; he remembered that the girl made his heart feel calmer.
'Pretty, huh?' Naruto felt a voice resonate in his mind.
'Kyuubi?' He thought, but was pulled away now that the girl had awakened. It was almost breath takingly slow, how the way her red eyes opened and met his; one of the most beautiful things he would ever acknowledge.
This moment, though, was ruined by her sudden shriek.
'Looks like I have someone to share these supplies with now…' Naruto thought amusedly.
The Search
Sarutobi watched as a somewhat shaky pair of Forensic scientist exited the cave and advanced toward the Hokage.
"Report." Sarutobi's voice steely, leaving no room for outside opinion. The authority that he commanded left no room for questions.
"There were pieces of a chair in there with what I suspect is semi flame proof material which was used to bind Naruto." The scientist finished.
"We also found small traces of oil and gasoline inside along with a large amount of burnt, dead skin cells- that of Naruto's."
The Hokage's heart clenched at the information, he had suspected the Kyuubi to heal the wounds, but ultimately it must've been too much.
Naruto had survived fire before, but this flame must've utterly cooked him.
"Umm sir… I have one last thing to report." The scientist said somewhat quietly.
The Hokage listened, waiting for any words concerning his grandson.
"Well...We found no trace of bones or a body for the matter, nothing."
The Sandaime's blood ran cold.
Wow that was long. I originally intended to release this Sunday, but I got side tracked. I'm sure the spelling and grammar is good. I tend to double check while I work it. Who knows when I'll update, but we'll see when the time comes.
Oh yeah, It makes me sad that the manga corporations are shutting down all the websites. Oh well.
Don't forget to review, I need some opinions!
1) How does Danzou make all that money for his Root division? I figure he takes all the confiscated drugs in Konoha and spreads it to other nations and targets the youth. He gets them hooked with the low prices and he effectively hinders the next generation for other countries! It's a win-win situation!
2) Old people need naps too.
3) It's what people call the sandman dust; that's the medical term.
Until next time!
