Now, my wonderful readers, is when we jump right back into The Nefarious Nine. So glad to see everyone enjoyed the first chapter, and now that the characters have been set up, we can jump right into the tension and mystery. All Nine of the strangers are locked together with a sandstorm keeping them trapped inside the shop. Who among the group isn't who they say they are? Is there anyone in the group whose admitting their true intentions? I suppose the only way to find out is keep on reading, isn't it? This chapter will be a bit shorter than the last one, but only because I'm stopping at a point that feels natural within the terms of the story. Also the last chapter was rather long winded due to everything I had to set up. Thank you all so much for reading and be certain to review.

Chapter Soundtrack: The Handsome Family-Weightless Again

Naruto had worked all his life to learn how to read a person's face, and he'd like to think he was better at it than most. Yet, as he looked around a room of primarily strangers, he felt uncertain of what to think of any of them. Fu, for instance, seemed oddly calm for a woman who was on her way to be tried for murder. Gaara, on the other hand, was squirmy as could be, but that could've simply been because he wasn't much of people person. Being stuck with eight strangers was likely less than fun for him. For now, Naruto would keep his hand near his weapon and continue to observe his new 'friends,' hopeful that none of them would be foolish.

A small glass of brandy in his hand, Naruto leaned on the bar and watched Yugito stir the pot of ramen, taking a small sip before asking, "So, you're a chef huh? Made that ramen yourself and everything?"

"No, I found it on the table when I walked in and just thought it looked good," Yugito snapped, "Who in the hell else would've made broth in my shop?"

Naruto shrugged, grabbing the brandy bottle and pouring a little more, "It was only a question. Ramen is my favorite food, so I was hoping it was homemade., Where'd you say you were from?"

The blonde woman turned and smacked her spoon on the counter, "The Hidden Cloud! Any more random questions you need to ask me?"

"The Hidden Cloud? Interesting," Naruto commented, Yugito's anger meaning nothing to him, "Got a few people smoking in here. I don't think Teuchi ever would've allowed that."

Yugito was grinding her teeth at this point, "That was when owned the shop. I own it now, and if people wanna fucking smoke, I'm not gonna tell them no! Now, would you please leave me alone so that I can finish your dinner? Oh, and by the way, I'm keeping track of how much you drinking, and I expect you to pay up before you leave."

Gulping down what was left in his glass, Naruto set down his brandy and said with a smile, "With customers service like this, I'm happy to pay however much you want. Good luck with the food."

"Hold on a second," Naruto heard a gruff voice call from across the room, "Blondie, come over here so that I can get a good look at you."

Naruto wasn't a fan of being called anything but his actual name. He walked over to Roshi, who seemed to be the one who called him, growling, "The name is Naruto, and you...look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Those whisker's on your face, those are Uzumaki marks, aren't they?" Roshi asked through his teeth, "I thought we took care of all you bastards years ago. I guess we missed a couple."

That was when it hit Naruto who this guy was to him, saying in a low, dangerous tone, "You're from the Hidden Rock, aren't you? I don't remember much from when I was little, but the faces of the bastards who tore apart the Hidden Whirlpool I can recall pretty clearly."

Roshi stood up, walking tall and proud as he declared, "Yes sir, I was in the Hidden Whirlpool, and I helped them burn it to ground! That place needed to be cleansed of you demon worshipping bastards! I was forced out my village for it, but god was it worth it! All you greedy fuckers ever did was make the world a worse place! It makes me sick to even know that even one of you is still walking around on this earth!"

"I only got to kill one of you back then," Naruto said with a deadly glare as he reached down for his gun, "It's nice to know I'll get to take out one more of you before the day is over."

The ex-Rock resident was about to get shot in the chest, but Utakata jumped in between the two of them before Naruto could pull the trigger, "Hold on gentlemen! I know there must still be some bad blood between the two of you, or at least it sounds that way, but I feel I must remind you that you aren't the only ones here. We've got witnesses with us, Mr. Uzumaki, and if you shoot the unarmed Roshi, that will be considered murder. If you murder him, you will be tried, and most likely put to death. Ask yourself; is some silly grudge really worth killing this fool over?"

Naruto's desired reaction was to say that it was more than worth it and pull the trigger. However, he ended pulling his hand away from his gun, thinking a little further ahead, "I'll play nice for now, assuming that he does."

"If the Uzumaki says he can stay calm, then so can I," Roshi fired back, returning to his chair, "I've got my eye on you boy."

A middle finger was the only response he got from Naruto. The man walked over to the table on the side of the room and sat down next to Bee, who was smoking his pipe while keeping a close eye on Fu, "So, he was one of the guys who tore up your village, huh? Small fuckin' world."

Naruto took out another cigar for himself, lighting up as quickly as he could, "You have no idea. I'm gonna need a hell of a lot more brandy before this night's over. How's things going with the prisoner?"

"As long as I've got these on me, they'll go just fine," Bee replied, motioning to the eight short blades hooked to his belt, "She's tried to grab em' more than a couple of times, but she's learning real quick how fast my reflexes are. How do you think she got that black eye?"

Fu gave Bee a dirty look, then started to fidget with the chain on her wrist, "As long as we're stuck in here, can I take these damn things off? It's not like I'm going anywhere."

Taking out one of the blades mentioned before, Bee brought the pointed end to Fu's throat and ran it across her smooth skin, "No way in hell am I gonna do that. I still don't fully trust anyone in here, so I want you right by my side at all times. That way, if you or anyone around here tries anything funny, I can slit throat and watch bleed out while I die."

"Well fuck you too," Fu replied bitterly, "Can you at least get me something to eat? I'm gonna starve if you don't feed me soon."

Bee was starting to get pretty hungry himself, "I could for a bite to eat too. That ramen is smelling pretty damn good right about now."

Sitting on the other side of the table was Yagura, who had to agree, "I know, it's making me wanna dig into it already. That cook doesn't look like she cares for being rushed though."

"She doesn't enjoy being questioned, I'll tell ya that much," Naruto replied, still eyeing Roshi from across the room, "Hey Yagura, you were playing shogi with him, right? What all did he tell you?"

Yagura almost opened his mouth, but stopped before he made a sound. Without saying a word, he stood up, walked to the bar, and grabbed a bottle of whisky labeled 'Snake Bite' before returning to the table. Only then did he speak, "Tell ya what; if you agree to pay for my drinks, I'll tell you anything you wanna know about him. That bastard told me his whole life story, and all it's gonna cost you is one bottle of booze."

Without a moment of hesitation, Naruto replied, "Tell Yugito to put it on my tab and start talking."

"Ugh, it's absolutely dead in here," Roshi complained, looking around the room, "I could go take a nap, that might kill a little time."

Something smacked against the table in front of him as he was thinking, making his eyes shoot foreword to see what it was. Naruto was now sitting in the chair across from him, having just placed a new bottle of Snake Bite in front of Roshi, "Sorry about that, I was just trying to get your attention. You up for a drink and game of shogi?"

Roshi narrowed his eyes and growled, "I don't drink with Uzumaki's, especially when they just got done pointing a gun at me!"

Naruto continued to act normally, "We both said some pretty nasty things to one another, but let's face it, that Whirlpool thing was a long time ago. If we're gonna be stuck in a room together for what could be a matter of days, we should probably try and get along. The booze is a peace offering."

"It's a good one, I'll say that," Roshi said, reaching for the bottle and taking off the top so that he could get a little wiff, "That's high end stuff right there. You've got the right idea, but how do I know you won't shoot my ass while my guards down?"

"A fair question," Naruto conceded, reaching into his holster and carefully pulling out one of his revolvers, offering it to a nervous Roshi handle first, "Tell ya what, I'll let you hold onto one of my guns while we're playing, okay? That way, neither of us will feel disarmed."

After playing it over in his head for a moment, Roshi tentatively took the weapon and set down on the arm of the chair next to him, "Alright, since you bought such a nice bottle, I'll give you a little time. You'd better be ready for me to kick your ass though. Shogi is my game."

Naruto began to set up the piece, "Well, we'll just have to see about that, now won't we?"

"If you don't mind, I think I'll watch," Gaara said, breaking his silence and alerting both players that he was next to them, "You can tell a lot about a person from the way they play a game like this."

Neither men gave a damn if he watched them, so Naruto motioned for Roshi to make the first move. Thus began a half an hour long stretch of careful strategy, with each move taking a noticeably long time to calculate. Before long, Gaara wasn't the only one watching them. One by one, everyone but Yugito gathered around the table to watch the battle of wits. Utakata had begun to play a song that added to the tension of the movements. Gaara started to pick apart their personalities by the way they played, noticing that Naruto was a defensive type who painstaking planned each move, while Roshi was much more aggressive, trying to go straight for the kill, no matter the cost. It was a real sight to behold.

Yugito did eventually join them all, walking over with a bowl of ramen that she sat next to Naruto, "Hate to break up your game, but I need someone to taste test the ramen. Since whiskers here seems to think he's such an expert, I thought he might wanna do the honors."

"Hm, oh sure, just give me one second," Naruto replied, moving his piece before grabbing the bowl and chopsticks that came with it, "Now, let's see what we've got here."

Naruto sniffed the broth for a moment before he brought some noodles up to his mouth, taking his first bite. He took longer than anyone expect to tell Yugito what he thought, and it was hard not to notice the strange way he was looking at her, "Tastes spectacular. I'm sure everyone will love it. Leave bowl here and eat I'll rest when I'm finished. Thanks."

As the young man turned back to the game board, Yugito took a couple steps back, uncertain of the why the interaction had felt so strange. With her gone and Naruto's move complete, Roshi made his strike, and it was one he was beaming with pride for, "Check. Looks like I'm about to beat ya, Uzumaki. Maybe your clan isn't as smart or as good at tricking people as they thought."

"Yeah, maybe not," Naruto responded, taking it rather well that he was so close to defeat, "To be fair, it's our ability to smooth talk people that got us that reputation. You'd be surprised how many people my silver tongue's gotten to over the years."

Roshi didn't see where he was going with this, "Does this story have a point, or are you just trying to delay the inevitable?"

"I'm just saying, I can talk people into just about anything," Naruto boasted, taking another bite of ramen, "Women are the one's I'm the best with though. With them, I use my tongue for more than just talking, if you know what I mean. You keep in touch with your ex-wife, Roshi?"

Without even thinking, he responded, "Who, Kori? She hasn't said much to me since they kicked me out of the Hidden Rock...hold up, how'd you know about her?"

Naruto allowed himself a small smile, "Didn't I tell you? I met her when I was dragging a body into the Hidden Rock a year or so back. Nice lady, real pretty too. Legs that go on for miles and a tight little ass just perfect for grabbing."

"You're a fucking liar," Roshi spat, his face getting red, "I'll bet you just heard me and Yagura talking about it earlier, didn't ya!"

"Maybe I did, but I couldn't have known about her dark hair and onyx eyes, now could I?" Naruto asked, noting that Roshi nearly gasped, "How would explain me knowing that?"

Now the bearded man was starting to sweat, but he wasn't yet convinced, "It's the Hidden Rock, practically everyone has dark hair and onyx eyes. I got made fun of as a kid for being the only redhead in hundred miles of the village. You never met my wife."

"Ex-wife," Naruto reminded him, "She made sure she was clear about that. All she could talk about was how selfish you were, leaving your son without a father to go off and kill some people who didn't do anything to you."

Roshi was sweating at this point. He couldn't remember if he'd told Yagura about his son or not, "I...she wouldn't say that...Kori loved me."

Taking another bite of his ramen, Naruto kept his story going as he ate, "She used to, before you showed your true colors to her. What can I say, people admit a lot of stuff when they're drunk. They get pretty grabby too…"

"You got her drunk?" Roshi asked in terror, before shaking himself out of it, "What am I saying? You never even met her!"

Naruto acted like he couldn't hear him, "I met Kori in a bar after I got my pay, the poor thing drinking her sorrows away. She didn't have much in the way of money with only one source of income. It was starting to look like she was going to have to sell her body on the street just to get by. Me, being the kind soul that I am, told her she didn't have to do that. I gave Kori a little money, no strings attached of course, to make sure such a pretty woman wouldn't stoop that low. Next thing I knew, after I walked her home, she was dragging me into her bedroom and kissing my neck."

Roshi shot out of his seat and screamed, "You shut your fucking mouth!"

"Are you sure? It's a pretty good story," Naruto continued bragging, "I mean, when I got her clothes off and saw the body I got to work with, I almost blew it right there. There wasn't a centimeter of her body that I didn't caress or run my tongue over. Boy, did my mouth just have that girl screaming!"

No one in the room could believe what they were hearing. The story had Roshi shaking with rage, "If you don't shut your damn mouth, I swear I'm going to,"

He didn't get to finish that sentence, "Speaking of shutting mouths, I found a great way to keep her quiet. Well, I wasn't really the one who suggested it, but boy could that woman deep throat. She wasn't gagging or anything. Did she ever do that for you, Roshi? Are did you all you ever get was what we ended with; straight up fucking her right in that tight little pussy of her's?"

"I'm gonna kill you, you son of," Roshi bellowed as he grabbed the revolver from the arm of the chair. It was another sentence that he never got to finish, as Naruto was far quicker on the draw, putting two bullets right in his chest. Blood splattered all around them as Roshi fell back into his chair, dead.

"Don't talk about my mother like that," Naruto growled, spinning the gun around in his hand. Everyone's eyes were on him as he reach down to the Shogi board, moving one final time and ending the game, "Checkmate, Roshi…"

In a tent behind a hill half a mile away from the shop, the man who'd been watching the passengers through his telescope laid on his back on a small mat, attempting to get some sleep. He knew the odds of him getting any were unlikely with the winds raging outside, but it was worth a shot at least. His 'lady friend' he'd been speaking to on the hill was outside with their prisoner, the rich bitch, leaving him alone in the tent with the rookie. She was a nice kid, but a bit too chatty for his taste. As if to prove his point, she piped up after he said this, "So, what made you decided to join up with the Bloody Waterfall Gang?"

"I had some bad experiences in a war," The man replied, his tone suggesting he didn't wish to speak about anything at the moment.

The rookie didn't seem to understand, "War huh? That must've been rough. Me, mine was more of 'lover's scorned' kinda situation. I found out my fiance was sleeping with another woman. I blinded his ass, but it got me chased out of my old village. Didn't get to the bitch he was sleeping with either…"

With a sigh, the more seasoned gang member looked up, "Can you please do me a favor?"

"Yeah."

"Shut up," He replied, surprising the rookie with his bluntness, "Unless you're telling me this because you're looking for a rebound fuck, I don't really care."

That remark was enough to make the girl go silent. The man in front of her may have been a hound dog, but he was still above her in rank. Not to mention he was a damn deadly sniper. Even if she could've taken him out, the boss would've killed her for ruining her plaything. For now the rookie would remain quiet, focusing on the matter at hand. She had only just gotten to join this gang. Now was the time to make sure it didn't vanish before she got to reap its benefits.

After a vigorous debate, everyone was eventually able to agree that what Naruto had done broke no laws, and that there no reason to turn him into the authorities after the storm passed. The fact that no one liked Roshi made the decision a little easier. Those who were watching the murder though, missed something rather interesting. While the shootout went down, only Fu noticed that someone slipped away from the rest of group with a vile in their hands. She watched them walk to the pot of ramen and pour the contents of that vile inside, well aware of what it was. Yes indeed, someone had poisoned the ramen...

With things at last having calmed down, partially because they unboarded the door and threw Roshi's body outside, Naruto was now lying on the bed to get a little rest. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Han and noticed the stock of the larger man's shotgun sticking out of the holster on his back. He called over the driver and motioned him over, "Hey, Han, that's a nice piece you got there. Mind if I take a look?"

Heading over, Han replied in his rough voice "Only if you let me hold on to your iron's, I'd rather not be unarmed."

Wordlessly, the two assassin simultaneously drew both his revolvers before offering them to the larger man butt first. Equally as silent, the larger man accepted the guns before stuffing them in his belt, then reaching around his back and offering his shotgun to Naruto.

The young man accepted the weapon before examining it closely, noting the quality of the wooden stock and metal barrel. Noticing a second trigger further down the stock of the weapon not connected to the firing mechanism only made his curiosity grow. After making sure no one was in front of the barrel, Naruto pulled the second trigger, jumping when two axe blades popped out near the butt of the weapon. Once his heart calmed down, Naruto examined the blades, again noting their high quality and smiling at seeing a familiar marking.

After pulling the trigger again to store the blades, Naruto returned Han's shotgun, the driver then returning the assassin his revolvers, "Hattori Hanzo hasn't lost his touch."

Although hard to see under his hat, Han raised an eyebrow and asked, "You're familiar with his work?"

Naruto holstered his own guns and replied, "I commissioned something from him a few years back," The assassin paused to pat something near his lower back, although it was hidden by his vest, "It's gotten me out of quite a few tight jams. You try out the ramen yet?"

"No, not yet," Han said with a shrug, "I'm right about to go get myself a bowl. Looks like Bee's finally about to feed his prisoner."

Sitting up to see for himself, the blonde saw that he was right. Bee was pouring himself and Fu each a bowl of ramen. Once he had them in hand, he walked over to the table and sat down, setting one bowl in front of each of them. The last thing Bee did was reach into his pocket and pull out a key, showing it to Fu, "Since I don't feel like jerking you around while I'm trying to eat, I'll take off your cuffs, just for now. Try to get out that seat, and I'll cut you up so bad, they'll have to re-assemble you just so I can get my money. Got it?"

"I have it, dumbass," Fu said, looking down at the ramen before pushing it away, "It's pretty hot, and I want be unchained from you as long as possible. I'm not so hungry that I can't wait a second."

"Whatever floats your boat," Bee replied, splitting his chopsticks and letting the aroma of the broth take him, "Damn, this really does smell good."

As Bee was about to take his first bite, Utakata sat down at the table, his flute in hand, "You two mind if I play a little music? Dinner and a show, as it were."

Music was fine with Bee, "Sure, play whatever ya like. Just let me eat and leave me be from your bullshit."

"Excellent, I think you'll enjoy this little number," Utakata said, bringing his flute up to his lips and starting to play. It was a slow, somber song, but pleasant enough on the ears.

Bee leaned back down to take his bite, but stopped when Han sat down across from him, having gotten a bowl of his own. He stuck his finger in the broth, pulling it back out instantly, "Shit, that's hot! Bee, are you really gonna try and eat it like that?"

"I'm so hungry, I'd shove a fire in my mouth if I thought it'd fill me up," Bee replied, at last taking his bite a gulping it down. He gave a deep sigh of relief as the warm liquid ran down his throat, "Ah man, that is good! Yugito, you really know how to cook!"

The woman waved briefly as a sort of thank you, watching carefully as Bee took every bite. Fu had knowing smile on her face the entire time. As if she didn't have a care in the world, Fu began to sway to the music, starting to sing in a voice that was oddly soothing, "~We came down the black dirt hill~between the rows of blooming peaches~And we scattered leaping fawns~as we fell into the ditches~Ahead of me ran Jackson~who took a bullet to the chest~And beneath the swaying peaches~Jackson slowly bled to death~"

Bee was surprised at how much he enjoyed her music, "You're not too bad at singing, Fu, borderline good I'd say. Songs kinda pretty too. You gonna sing some more?"

"Yeah, I will," Fu said, getting more giddy with every noodle he slurped, "~But as his green eyes dimmed~I saw a fiery mist~drift softly to the clouds~from between his cold blue lips~Now my eyes were open~I stood up between the guns~I saw trails of smoke and fire~flying everywhere I looked~"

"I think I've heard that tune a couple of times," Han recalled bringing his ramen up to his lips, "It's an old war song or something like that."

Han was mid-bite when Bee opened his mouth to reply, but no words left his lips. Instead, he let out a loud cough, spraying blood across the table. Bee was confused for a second before he looked down at the ramen and rasped in realization, "P-poison…"

Those words made Han throw his bowl off to the side, as he could tell by Fu's smile that the bounty hunter was right. Everyone watched in horror as Bee hacked up another blotch of blood, his prisoner giggling the entire time, "Hey Bee? Do me favor when you meet the Shinigami, okay? Tell him I sent ya!"

"You littl-le c-cunt," Bee rasped out, reaching out to strangle Fu.

"What, you think that's the worst thing anyone's ever called me?" Fu asked, snatching of the Bee's blades, able to now that the poison had taken effect, "I've killed people for less than name calling."

She frantically started stabbing Bee in the chest, crimson spraying everywhere on her. More blood covered Fu when Bee coughed directly onto her face. The bounty hunter wobbled for a moment after she finally stopped, falling to the floor with a thud. Fu smiled down victoriously before she felt a gun pressed to the back of her head and heard Naruto growling at her slowly, "I'm only gonna say this once...put...the knife...down!"

Fu shot him an icy glance, but did as he said. Once she was unarmed, he grabbed the chain Bee had been using and put it back on her wrist, then placed the other side of it on his friend's corpse, "That is to make sure that you don't try to run. Bee was over two hundred pounds of pure muscle, so there's no way you'll get out of here without us knowing. Not to mention your fucked up leg."

"What fucked up leg?" Fu asked right before Naruto shot her in the foot, making her scream out in pain, "Ahhhhhh! You're gonna pay for that one asshole!"

Naruto shrugged and called to the man who'd driven them, "Han, come over here please."

"Glad to see someone's taking charge of this," Han remarked, walking next to Naruto while everyone else in the room remained in shock, "You need something from me?"

Naruto's eyes never left Fu as he said, "I want you to take out your gun and point both barrells at this bitch. If anyone some much as winks at her in a funny way, blow her damn brains out. Think you can handle that?"

"With ease," Han replied, taking out his shotgun and cocking it. It was soon trained directly on Fu's head, "This may not be the best time to ask this, but, seeing as someone just poisoned our dinner, isn't kind of an odd time to trust me?"

Normally, he'd be right, but Naruto had his reasons, "Whoever poisoned that ramen is working with her, so they knew better than to eat it. You almost took a bite, which would've killed ya. Right now, you're the only person in this whole place that I trust, which means…"

Naruto pointed his revolver to the sky and fired a shot into the air, making everyone jump, "All of you, get on that fucking wall right now! I want you hands glued to it, and your legs spread apart! If you move in a way I don't like, you'll get a bullet! If you take too long, you'll get a bullet! If you talk back, you'll get a bullet! Basically, guess what's gonna happen if you do anything to piss me off? That's right! You'll get a bullet! Now fucking move!"

"Whatever you want," Utakata said with a nervous chuckle, "Just stay calm, alright?"

"You say something, flute boy?" Naruto asked, making the dark haired man run over to the wall the assassin had be pointing to without another word. Before long, the other three remaining strangers walked over to the wall with him, doing just as Naruto had said, "There you go. Now, I'm going to come over there and frisk you people to see if you've got any weapons on you. Once I've got everything, I'll throw it in a bucket or something like that, and throw everything outside. Anyone got a problem with that?"

Yugito was the only one who seemed to take issue, "Hell no! You are not frisking me! I'm not gonna let some guy that I barely even know starting touching me like that! I'll bet you just wanted an excuse to grab my boobs and my ass!"

That complaint may have worked on some people, but Naruto wasn't one of them, "I'm patting you down for half a second to see if you've got a gun, it's not like I'm gonna grope you. A woman can fire a trigger just as well as a man can, so I've gotta do what I've gotta do."

"Tch, fine," Yugito said, spreading her legs and raises her arms above her head, "Let's get this over with."

Naruto walked over and, true to his word, didn't get too handsy while he searched her. He he got to her ankle and found a small pistol only capable of firing two rounds, a Derringer, and when he got up to her chest, it took only a brief brush to feel there was something inside her corset, "You wanna get that, or should I?"

"What, you shy all of sudden?" Yugito asked with a sneer, "Go ahead, grab it. It's not you don't want to."

The assassin shook his hand and put plunge a hand down into her cleavage, coming back up with regular revolver. With no other weapons on her, he tossed the two guns into a bucket he'd found, turning to Yugito afterwards, "See, that wasn't too bad, now was it?"

She scowled in response, so Naruto moved on to the others. Naruto found Gaara only had on him what he'd shown them before, the revolver and throwing knifes, and both Yagura and Utakata had only a single gun on them as well. One he got those in the bucket, he took out his own pair of revolvers and put them in with them, "Just to be fair, I'll put mine in there too. I've still got my tantos on me though, so don't get any ideas. Han, take these out and sit them on the porch, along with your own gun. I want things to stay nice and calm in here.

"You've got it," Han replied, grabbing the bucket and walking to the door, "Maybe the lack of guns will keep things from getting too bloody.."

"Yeah, maybe," Naruto agreed, looking over the group in front of him with a tanto in each hand, "Now, at this particular moment, there is one thing that I'm certain of...at least two of you are working with that murderous Ms. Fu. Maybe three of you, or even all of you are, but at least two of you are in cahoots with her for sure. Make no mistake, I'm going to figure out which of you it is, and when I do, you have no idea the kind of pain you're in for. Bee was my friend, and more importantly, I shared a battlefield with him, fighting right by his side. Do you know that means?"

Gaara was one who answered, "He saved your life, likely more than once. The two of you looked out for one another, so you're bond with him was a special one."

"Bingo," Naruto confirmed, walking over the table and picking up Bee's bowl of ramen, "Even worse, you did it with poison. Even an Uzumaki could tell ya poison is a coward's tool, and one that's taken way too many good people. Fucking pathetic."

Naruto threw the ramen at Fu, who covered her face as bowl struck her and shattered. She didn't know much about the assassin, but she'd been able to see how smart he was in the short amount of time since they'd met. If anyone could figure what was coming, it would be him. Her only hope was that he wouldn't be able to live long enough to put the pieces together, "Say what you want, you Uzumaki piece of shit, but just know this: you're going to die in this desert. This will be place where your clan will finally be put to an end, and I can't wait to know that I was a part of it. Good fucking luck."