Chapter Seven
Later that night in the Land of Lightening, Gambol was enjoying his night out at a private bar that he owned. While shooting pool he saw two of his men walk in to the bar grinning.
"Gambol, we have good news." The first man said. "Three guys here just told us that they killed Nazo."
"That just made my night even better." Gambol said with a smile. "Bring them in."
Three men carrying a body bag walked in and placed it on the pool table for Gambol to see and know that they weren't lying. The bar tender moved back as if he sensed something ominous coming into the room. The third assassin came up to him and asked for a drink and the bar tender reluctantly agreed. Gambol ignored the bar tender and opened the bag to see if the hit he wanted was the correct one. Gambol unzipped the bag and saw the corpse of a man in an orange prison suit and wearing a mask with stitches and dread locks. It was Nazo. Gambol cracked a wicked chuckle and a grimly satisfied smile.
"Not so tough now are you punk?" Gambol said to Nazo's corpse.
Gambol couldn't help but feel curious about Nazo's real face and flipped the bottom half of his mask up to see his mouth. Gambol soon jumped back in shock to see that Nazo's cheeks had been sliced upward like a smile and had hideous scars where there had seemed to be former stitches. Gambol quickly forgot about what he saw and turned around to speak with the assassins.
"So it's five thousand dead correct?" The first assassin asked.
"That's right." Gambol said with a smile.
"Could I get my next drink to go?" The third assassin asked the bar tender.
"Sure, but why?" The bar tender asked as he handed the assassin a bottled sake.
Suddenly, Nazo jumped up with a knife in his hand and grabbed Gambol's head and stuck the blade in his mouth.
"How about alive!?" Nazo asked with a stern look on his lips.
The first and second assassins, who now apparently were Nazo's men, pinned down Gambol's two men and put hand held fire arms to their heads. The bar tender fell back in fear when the third henchman of Nazo pulled out a fire arm and pointed it at his head.
"That's why." The henchman said and shot the bar tender clear between the eyes. "Damn, the colonial bullets you and Akumu worked on are a lot more accurate than the little bead shaped ones."
"You wanna know how I got these scars?" Nazo said into Gambol's ear. Gambol was to frozen with fear to respond. Nazo then moved his head back so he was now looking Gambol in the eyes.
"My father was a drinker and a fiend. One night he went off crazier than usual. Mommy grabs the kitchen knife to defend herself and he doesn't like that. Not... one... bit." Nazo said in an intense voice. "Then, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. Then, while I'm standing there watching, he comes up to me with the knife."
Gambol's heart beat faster and faster as he looked deeper into Nazo's eyes.
"Then he stuck the blade in my mouth like this." Nazo said as he pressed the blade against Gambol's cheek. Gambol's adrenaline glands felt like they would burst.
"So then he asks me, 'why so serious?'" Nazo said with an intense voice like no other. "He asks me again, 'why so serious?' And then he tells me, 'well then, let's put a smile on that face.'"
Gambol's men watched in horror as Nazo shoved the knife into the back of Gambol's throat, causing him to bleed to death. Nazo then pushed Gambol's body aside and let his body hit the floor with a loud thud. Nazo's men let go of Gambol's men and Nazo ripped the body bag off of his body and pulled his mask back down.
"Well fellas, now that that's done and over with, I have some good news for you." Nazo said as he walked over to the pole rack. "My numbers are low at the moment but my organization is open for 'aggressive' expansion."
Gambol's thugs sat on their knees in fear as he picked up a pole. They feared that they would suffer a fate worse than their former boss.
"So whichever one of you fine gentleman would like to join our 'team' is free too. But standards are high these days so we're going to have, 'try outs.'" Nazo said in the deep, disturbing tone he used on Gambol while snapping the pole in his hand in half and tossing the sharpest half to Gambol's men who were now confused about what Nazo wanted from them. Nazo's third man behind the bar counter began passing bottled sake to his comrades and his boss.
"Last guy out; be sure to get the lights before you leave." Nazo said as he opened his bottle of sake and walked out with his men.
"What do we do now?" One of Gambol's thugs asked.
The third man was terrified out of his mind; he was shaking, hyperventilating, and couldn't think properly. He then picked up the sharp pool stick end.
"No! You wouldn't!" The second man shouted but he soon fell at the hands of his former comrade who had fallen into madness.
"They'll kill me if I don't!" The third shouted. "I know the Horde will if I don't!"
The first man then suffered the same fate as the second man and screamed as the sharp pool stick went through his heart. Nazo had created a mad man in only a few short minutes and set in motion the fear that would soon take hold of every shinobi nation and every corner of the continent.
As chaos sank its teeth into a helpless victim in the Land of Lightening, Team Kakashi had just finished discussing their plan of action for capturing Satori's spy tomorrow. Yamato, Sakura, and Sai were asleep but Naruto was still awake. He was engaged in a rather sinful and filthy habit that he had become addicted to during his travels with Jiraiya. It was due to his raging hormones but it was mostly from Jiraiya's negative influence on him that Naruto was engaged in such a disgusting activity.
"He, he, he. Ahhh…" Naruto thought in his fantasy. "What? Oh you too Hinata? Well, every man deserves a three some before he dies."
Naruto fell asleep after his fantasy. He left no mess so that no one would know in the morning. He felt a great exhaustion after his habit. Almost immediately after he fell asleep, Naruto began dreaming. He saw his childhood self all alone. It was the dream he had ever so often when he felt alone. He saw himself crying with the shadow of the Kyubi behind him and the villagers glaring at him.
"This is all too familiar." Naruto said.
Then he noticed the people who were close to him begun to appear. Sakura, Kakashi, Sasuke, Neji, Lee, Kiba, Choji, Shikamaru, Iruka, Tsunade, and everyone else whom he had become friends with.
"I'm not alone anymore." Naruto said with a smile. "This is always the best part of the dream."
Suddenly the dream began to change. Naruto saw Sakura pair up with Sasuke, Neji with Tenten, Shikamaru with Temari, Choji with Ino, Jiraiya with Tsunadae, Asuma with Kurenai, Kakashi with several women, even Iruka showed a love life, everyone had a partner and was happy. Naruto had no one close to him. Everyone else had found a lover. Naruto had no one.
"But why?" Naruto asked. "I wasn't alone before. Why has this suddenly come to me?"
"You thought that your friends made up for the hole in your life?" A voice said. It was the Kyubi. "You are yet to know what true affection is. Or rather you will wish you knew what it is. So long as you and I are one, will be alone. No one will dare to be with you, with us."
"No! That's not true! I will find someone! I won't be alone again!" Naruto shouted out to the Kyubi. "You and I am not the same person!"
"Oh really?" The Kyubi said as his cage appeared before Naruto. "Just remember what you have gained from me in the last two and a half years. Four tails already, five more to go. Do really think that anyone is going to want to stand by your side when that day comes?"
Naruto looked behind his back. Everyone he knew was walking away in fear. Shadows swallowed Naruto; he was in the grasp of the Nine Tailed Fox who let out a sinister laughter.
"No! Not again! I don't want to be alone again!" Naruto cried as he fell onto his knees.
"I am all you will ever have. Release the seal on me and embrace me as you should. The only source of a relationship you will ever have. I am the master and you will be my puppet!" The Kyubi said.
"Never!" Naruto cried. He felt cold, his body and heart ached. He was alone. Unloved, hated, and feared. He felt the claws of the Kyubi close in on him. He was doomed. Doomed to never belong or feel the affection of a woman. Doomed to never be held, to never have meaning, to be a demon.
"I don't want to be alone." Naruto cried. His tears fell frozen and bloody. He was a demon. But then the air got warm and a light burst through the fingers of the Kyubi. Suddenly Naruto felt someone wrap their arms around him, as if embracing him. He looked behind his back and saw an angel. She looked heartbroken.
"Naruto, please, stay with me." She said. She seemed upset to see him in so much inner pain. "I don't want you to be hurt anymore. Please don't become a monster. You're not one. I've been alone too and know too well that cold feeling. I can't stand to see that sadness in your eyes anymore."
Naruto turned around to see who his savior was but before he could tell, he was awakened from his dream.
"Naruto! Wake up!" Sakura shouted.
"What the hell Sakura!?" Naruto shouted.
"What the hell were you doing last night!?" Sakura shouted back.
"Mind your own damn business! Why do you have to spy on people in their sleep!?" Naruto shouted in a panic. He feared that Sakura had caught him in his habit.
"We could all hear you last night! What were-"Sakura was interrupted.
"Oh what was it!? A big 'Let's stay up late and spy on Naruto in his sleep party' last night!?" Naruto shouted hysterically. "What!? Did you all lie there listening to what I was doing in my sleep thinking about what was happening underneath my sleeping bag!?"
"No! You were lying in bed crying at one o'clock in the morning!" Sakura shouted out of breath.
"Oh. That's all?" Naruto asked. He was relieved to know that his habit wasn't discovered. He could live with everyone thinking that he was crying last night.
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.
"Oh, ah, nothing! Nothing at all." Naruto said trying to keep his cool.
"Oh my god, Naruto that is sick!" Sakura said when she realized what Naruto was talking about. "You are equal if not worse than Jiraiya when it comes to being a pervert!"
"You're jumping to conclusions!" Naruto said unable to keep a straight face. "I never said what I was doing last night!"
"Naruto, Sakura stop fighting! We need to get going." Yamato said. "Get your things ready, we are going to practice this mission before Satori's spy comes."
Naruto and Sakura obeyed and Sai got up also. Naruto began to wonder what Sakura was talking about until he remembered his dream.
"That's right; I had that nightmare last night." Naruto thought to himself. "Who was that?"
Naruto began to think about the angel in his dream. Her voice sounded so familiar and before Sakura woke him up, he could have sworn that her face looked like Hinata Hyuga's face. Naruto let it go and stopped thinking about it. He had to focus on rescuing Sasuke now.