AN: I do not own Naruto. This post has been edited to include more information about infiltration missions, ninja tactics and counter ninja tactics. Or at least my understanding of those concepts.
This is your warning. This is the post I mentioned involving the assassination of a pedophile. This is followed by a good sized time skip because I don't know how to show the recovery realistically.
Naruto sat fidgeting in his seat while the sealing master sat before him.
"Alright kid, the trick to a good sealing tattoo is to make it look like a normal tattoo. That way no one recognizes it for what it is. Now that only works if people don't know you are a ninja. If they know you are a ninja they are going to just assume any tattoo you have is a sealing one until proven otherwise."
"So how do you make a sealing tattoo look normal?"
"Good question. The trick is to use different color sealing ink for different parts of the seal, then fill in the gaps with regular ink to make a complete image. We set that up by marking outlines with pen and then filling it in with the correct ink in the correct section. Sort of like a coloring book. So then the question is what kind of Tattoo that a civilian might have, that you would want."
"Do a lot of civilian twelve year olds have tattoos?"
"Well, not really, no. But it isn't unheard off."
Naruto took a moment to think a variety of ideas running through his head, before finally settling on one. He pulled out the notebook which contained his sealing notes and ideas for gun designs and modifications and flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for, the preliminary sketches for his latest idea. It was a telescope that would be placed on top of the rifle to help aim at far away targets.
The precursor to this idea a trio of metal pegs that could be used to line up the target had worked well initially. Making the back peg adjustable for wind had improved things further. The guns could not make a shot far enough to require the telescope sight, not yet. Naruto hoped that with the telescope, a more powerful explosive seal and larger bullets, he would be able to hit targets at even greater distances. His preliminary design was crude, the cross hairs being only a pair of intersecting black lines, a circle divided into four sections. Naruto had yet to find a way of adjusting it to account for wind, and had not even imagined adjusting for gravity yet.
Naruto showed the symbol to the man, who simply nodded.
"Alright that works, but you're going to need a background color to fill that in, got a preference?"
"Dark green, please."
The Hokage glanced at the symbol which Naruto was now duplicating on a fresh page and filling in with a dark green pen.
"Naruto, what is that symbol?" The blonde took a moment to consider the question.
"It's my new clan symbol." The Hokage's gaze snapped up to scrutinize Naruto.
"But what about-"
Naruto simply reached up and detached the white spiral from the shoulder of his jacket before pocketing it. An act of defiance, a reminder that he and the Hokage had only reached a tenuous agreement, that he was not fully willing to trust the old man at the moment.
"I don't know who my parents were, so no way to know if what you gave me really was their symbol. And if who they were is really such a big secret… it would make more sense, and be safer, for it not to be. So I'm going to start fresh."
The Hokage was not pleased by this latest reminder of Naruto's waning trust, but held his tongue.
For the next two hours Naruto sat trying not to flinch or fidget as the sealing master inked his new clan symbol on his right inner wrist.
For the next three days Naruto went through mission briefing and planning. On the fourth day Naruto, along with a small group of chunin, left the village to intercept and replace the bandit group which brought the lady Suki a new child every five or six months. Some of those children did not last long, specifically the ones who did not learn to follow all of their mistress's instructions. The ones who do last lived a life of comfort and luxury, with the notable exception of their expected duties to their mistress.
Lady Suki's unusual and sickening preference was a rather open secret; after all, it is hard to hide the fact that she housed a little over a dozen blonde boys of various ages. Everyone knew, but her wealth, influence, and her guard of genuine samurai made doing anything about the matter rather difficult.
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"Ok kid, remember you are scared, hungry, and the escape tunnel is in the south corner of the cellar." One of the disguised chunin muttered under his breath to the blond who was currently bound at the wrists with rope. They had bribed information about the Lady's emergency escape tunnel out of the architect. Unfortunately forced entry from outside the compound would set off numerous alarm seals, giving the guards ample time to prepare. Hence the reason Naruto needed to be walked in the front gate.
Naruto had to fight the urge to let his jaw drop open as they rounded the final bend in the road and the mansion he would be staying in came into sight. Suffice to say the place was massive, with more rooms than he could hope to guess at from the outside. Walls rising twenty feet into the air outlined the perimeter, and dozens of guards patrolled the walls and gate. Now he knew why this had to be a seduction mission. It was the only possible way to get inside without a risky, and costly, fight. Oh sure a stealth expert might be able to slip inside, but it would be a risky prospect, with no guarantee of success.
It didn't help matters that they were working under a deadline either. Normally weeks or months could be spent on observing the guards' movements, analyzing blueprints, and planning. Similarly, they could have waited her out hopping she would leave the compound making for an easier target, but the woman knew she had enemies and made only infrequent unpredictable trips. The woman needed to be dead before the end of the month. They had no guarantee she would leave her compound in that time, and did not have time to exhaustively analyze guard movements, and hunt down both the original builder and all those hired afterwards to do alterations, in an attempt to develop an up to date blueprint.
The Lady Suki owned a large expanse of iron mines throughout the land of fire, and had been steadily raising prices over the years to the point where buying metal to be made into kunai, shuriken, and other ninja tools was becoming unsustainable. The village needed her dead and a more compliant head of the company in her place before the next quarter. Otherwise the situation would begin to impact the village's military capabilities.
All envoys sent to negotiate had been turned away, all threats ignored. So the woman had to die. To really send the message that no one is safe, to ensure policy change through fear, it had to be done where the woman was supposedly safest; in her own home, in her own bed.
"Halt!" The order came from one of the samurai guarding the gate well before the group had actually reached it. "State your business."
"We're here to deliver the lady's latest child." The last word was said with a derisive sneer. "Shin sent us, would have come himself but he's healing from a bad cut." It was a partial lie. Shin had indeed suffered a bad cut; he just wouldn't ever be healing from it.
The Samurai stepped forward cautiously; hand on his weapon, but the disguised chunin made a show of acting utterly bored with the procedure and the guard quickly relaxed. The man carefully inspected Naruto who did his best to cringe, cower and shake. Finally the man nodded.
"I'll take the boy inside and see what the Lady Suki thinks. If she approves I will return with your pay momentarily." The disguised chunin simply waved the man off and made a show of getting comfortable resting against the base of a tree along the edge of road.
Walking through the gates, even if he was being led by his bound wrists, Naruto was stunned by the beauty of the grounds. Fountains and flowers were everywhere, bushes sculpted into unusual shapes, bird baths, and koi ponds. It was breathtaking.
"Kid, I'm going to give you one piece of advice. You're going to hear this over and over again, but whatever you do don't ignore it." Naruto glanced up at the Samurai. "Treat that woman's every whim as if it is an order from the Damio and you will live a long safe life. Disobey her, and you may not live very long at all."
Naruto could not help but shudder as he stepped through the front door.
The inside of the mansion was just as extravagant as the exterior. Couches with satin cushions, spotless floors, vases filled with flowers, and paintings of everything from important looking people to famous battles. Naruto, who had lived his entire life in a crappy apartment, immediately felt self conscious and out of place surrounded by such wealth and extravagance.
At the same time his training kicked into high gear, noting the almost complete lack of tatami mats. The innocuous objects were both bane and blessing to a paranoid shinobi. By walking against the grain of the mat one would make noise, noise that trained samurai patrolling at night kept a keen ear out for. There were ways around making noise when walking on such mats, but they were slow and awkward. The lack of this basic, traditional alarm system spoke of a great deal of either arrogance or stupidity from the lady Suki. Or perhaps, as is sometimes the case with the wealthy, she had simply sacrificed practicality for aesthetics. The shine of the hardwood floors and the opulence of the house in general would certainly support such a theory.
As the samurai lead Naruto down the various hallways and up two flights of stairs Naruto was stunned at the number of blond boys' he saw doing various activities. He saw them doing everything from studying to playing board games with one another. Most seemed at least slightly older, but Naruto thought at least one seemed younger than him. Some of the blonds seemed relaxed, mostly the older teens, but many seemed fidgety and nervous. Despite the obvious comfort they lived in many had bags under their weary eyes.
Finally the samurai lead Naruto into what could only be a study or office. The room was painted in a neutral shade; something close to white, but not so harsh on the eyes. The desk seemed old and sturdy, and was covered with stacks of papers and a calligraphy set. Several bookshelves were set against the walls, each filled with large tomes and scrolls with labels that suggested they related to finances and law. A large safe was built into one wall. Behind the desk is a large picture window which overlooked the gardens.
Sitting in a chair behind the desk was a stunningly beautiful woman dressed in a simple yet flattering yellow kimono. Her long straight black hair and heart shaped face were complemented by warm brown eyes, a petite nose, and full lips. She possessed a lean frame and modest bust. As she looked up from the documents before her a small frown graced her features at the disturbance. Then her eyes lit up with joy and excitement as they fell upon Naruto.
"Ahh Satoshi-san, I see you have brought my sochi to me!" The woman exclaimed with almost childish delight.
"S-sochi?" Naruto did not need to fake the surprise which played across his face in that moment. Furthermore, he could not suppress the hope and vulnerability which played behind his eyes as her heard those words. During the early years of his life Naruto had often dreamed, even prayed, that one day someone would call him son. Mr. Higurashi was a good role model, but he never called Naruto sochi, eventually the smith had settled into the role of a mentor, and uncle. To finally have that prayer answered, by a woman who he knew for a fact intended to sleep with him, and who he was ordered to kill; Naruto was well past surprised. Confused, and terrified were a start, but it was more than that. Naruto was experiencing the beginnings of doubt, a doubt which would make what he had to do all the more difficult.
"Mhmm." The woman hummed, as a kind smile played across her face. "I'm your new kaasan, which makes you my new darling sochi."
With graceful movements the lady Suki stood from behind her desk and came to kneel in front of Naruto.
"And aren't you just the most darling little thing. Those adorable whisker marks! You are going to be such a handsome young man in a few years!"
The lady Suchi reached out and cupped Naruto's cheek before rubbing at his whisker marks with her thumb. Much to the surprise of all three a low rumbling noise began to emanate from the young blond as his eyes drifted shut and he leaned into the contact. In the back of Naruto's mind, he realized he was purring, but amidst everything else he was feeling this revelation hardly made a dent. Lady Suki's eyes sparkled with delight at the revelation.
"Satoshi-san, please go and gather the standard fee, plus fifteen percent. Inform the kind men who brought my sochi home that I am very pleased. Oh, and please push back any appointments I may have had for the day."
With a stiff bow Satoshi left them. Still caressing Naruto's cheek she spoke in a warm tone.
"Now then sochi, we need to get you cleaned up and you need to tell me all about yourself." Taking Naruto's hand she led him out of the office. "The first thing we need to do is get you bathed and into some better clothes."
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And so the day went. Lady Suki lead Naruto through the house, showing him where everything was and introducing him to everyone and all the time asking him questions. She asked about his likes, his dislikes… his name, eventually. And all day the sense of doubt which plagued Naruto grew. The woman was a pedophile, the signs were everywhere, and just being around the woman left Naruto feeling… dirty.
Despite that, the constant affection, the hugs, the compliments; it all wore away at Naruto. He needed to kill the woman. He wanted to hate her. Even knowing what she had planned, the things she was doing made him feel wanted, it was hard for such a lonely child to hate someone who wanted him.
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"Come along, Naruto. It's time for bed, and we don't have a bed for you yet." Lady Suki called as she stood from the dinner table.
The other blond boys sitting around the dinner table winced and shot Naruto pitying glances, though several of the younger ones seemed relieved. Gulping Naruto clung to his role as a vulnerable child confused and unaware of what was happening.
"B-but kaasan," The blond had to bite down a wince at calling the woman that, but he managed. After all, she had insisted he call her that, and he had already been warned to follow her every whim. "I-if I don't have a bed, where will I sleep?"
"Why with me of course!" Her smile was warm and inviting, but her eyes slid up and down his frame. With a gulp Naruto stood and took her outstretched hand allowing himself to be lead through the halls to her bedchamber.
The room was meticulously clean, filled with gleaming wooden furniture, the bed piled with blankets and pillows. Despite the outward image the air was thick with a scent Naruto was unfamiliar with. It was like sweat, but it was more than that. It was, almost sweeter, heavier, a musk. The smell made Naruto squirm. It was enticing, inviting, but in a way that Naruto had no experience with. The overall effect was extremely unsettling.
Lady Suki waltzed across the floor her hips swaying in a hypnotic rhythm. Her clothes slowly slipped from her form before pooling on the floor. With a Lazy turn she reached out and pulled the young Naruto toward her. Naruto's mind rebelled at the social taboo of seeing the woman nude and turned his head away blushing profusely.
"Now sochi, it's time to learn how to keep mommy happy." Her eyes slid closed and a small smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
"K-kaasan?"
Her hands pulled away Naruto's clothes with practiced ease as she slowly drew him towards the bed.
"Come my little sochi, time for your first lesson, and then you can sleep in my arms."
Naruto steeled his nerves, and took a deep breath; this was the moment, the point of the mission. In his mind he ran through the lessons the lectures, the tips he had been given. In that moment he pushed everything else aside, the feeling of being wanted by this woman, the reluctance to take a life, all of it was shoved from the front of his mind. He would deal with those emotions later.
In one quick and fluid motion, he struck. With a small burst of chakra a knife burst into existence over the seal on his right arm. With a quick motion he grabbed it out of the air in a forward grip. His left hand clapped over the lady Suki's mouth and his right dragged the knife blade across her throat. He was almost stunned at the ease with which it bit into her neck.
Her eyes bulged wide and blood spurted out of the gash in her neck. Naruto continued to push his hand up against her mouth to prevent her from making any noise in case he had not cut her windpipe along with the artery. He fought to keep her pressed against the matrass as her arms beet against his sides pointlessly trying to throw him off. One very long, terrified, minute later life left the lady Suki's eyes, and her struggling stopped.
Three hours later, in the dead of night, a blood stained Naruto slipped out of the emergency exit of the mansion. He stumbled up to the waiting group of chunin before collapsing.
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