Always Read The Fine Print

by MugetsuFTW

Contracts have power. A well worded contract can be more powerful than even a punch in the face by Ubogin if you're not careful. The Zoldyck family and later the Hunter x Hunter world finds out as Naruto demonstrates his devilish ability.

3. Job x And x Spiders

Well here it finally is. First things first I don't own Hunter x Hunter and Naruto so don't sue me. Secondly the response to the second chapter was absolutely fucking awesome! You guys rock! I honestly did not expect to get that many reviews and I have to admit I fangirled for a sec. Just a sec though.

Also someone mentioned in one of the reviews that I should've finished the first chapter before posting. I checked it out and omg that's embarrassing. I guess that's what I get for trying to post a chap using the mobile version of fanfiction -.- I'm gonna go back and correct that after I post this chapter.

Anyways without further ado here is the chapter. As always have fun.

---

The morning after Naruto woke up in his bed. He got up, stretched and yawned and began getting ready for the day in a relaxed manner.

Until of course his excitement got the best out of him and he rushed around the room, putting his clothes on before dashing out of his room and down the hallways because he couldn't contain his curiosity. He then came to a stop at the dining/meeting room.

Alluka was currently being surrounded by the Zoldyck family.

Standing in front of her was Killua who was smiling like an idiot. He was picking her up whilst she reached out with her hands to grab him. Behind Killua stood Silva with a hand on his son's head. Milluki stood next to his mother as she watched on with a neutral expression. Kalluto was gripping Kikyo's kimono as she watched with a hint of jealousy at Killua's interactions with Alluka whilst Illumi stood off to one side staring at the scene with a blank gaze.

Naruto went to say something but decided not to. He didn't want to infringe upon this family scene. A hand tapped his shoulder and he turned to see Zeno standing next to him.

"It was a success kid. Your ability did the job." The old man commented to the short blonde. Naruto grinned in happiness at the confirmation but it was dulled by the reminder of the terms. There must be a better way to solve this than practically hold Alluka's freedom hostage. Instead of getting depressed though he figured that for now he would enjoy his success.

"Of course it worked; who do you think I am old man?" Naruto gave Zeno a victory sign. The old assassin chuckled in response at this and shook his head as he gestured towards the group. Naruto turned around to see that the rest of the family was looking at him then. He blinked at the sudden silence, "What is it you guys?"

Silva crossed his arms and spoke, "We are very thankful for what you've done Naruto." Said boy rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment at being put into the spotlight all of a sudden. After having lived here for the past six months Naruto had gotten comfortable around them enough that he had dropped his mask of nonchalance. He had worn it to deal with what life had thrown at him whilst at the same time trying to figure out what was the best course of action; what he could do with the cards that were given to him and the situations that he got put into, always trying to stay calm and analyse the situation as best as he could. Naruto would admit that he probably was not the smartest kid his age but having to fend for himself had taught him to think things through. Especially after that fiasco with the slave trader.

However he had grown fond of this odd family. Some nights just before he fell asleep he would, even if it was for a second, think that this was a little bit like having a family. And that thought would make him get up in the morning in high spirits and ready to face the challenges of the day.

Most of the time those challenges were comprised of getting his ass kicked by Illumi and trying to not get eaten by Mike but still; you gotta take the good with the bad.

"Yeah really… thanks." Killua mumbled as he held Alluka close to him. Naruto only grinned in response and then Illumi cut in.

"But this means your job is over… what a shame, it was fun having a moving punching bag…" He then sighed despondently and Naruto glared at him as he gained a tick mark. Illumi completely ignored the dark aura Naruto was giving off and turned away from him, "I kinda feel bad now about the bruises, and the cuts, and the scorch marks and so on…"

"You don't feel sorry at all you sadistic bastard!" Naruto pointed at Illumi and cried out in outrage at the sly smile on his face.

Milluki snorted and turned his head away from the enraged blonde, "Well it was about time you stopped freeloading off us."

"You eat twice as much as I do and you don't do jack!" Killua laughed whilst Naruto turned his anger towards the chubby kid.

"What was that you blonde rat!? It takes a lot of calories to power someone as brilliant as I am!" Milluki gnashed his teeth as he glared at the smirking blonde.

"Hmmmm well I guess you'd need a lot of energy to clean every one of those creepy figurines you have huh?" Naruto muttered in mock deep thought as he stroked his chin and a vein pulsed on Milluki's forehead.

"Mama, Papa, he's done with his work now so we can kick him out straight away right?!" Kikyo hummed at her second oldest sons' question.

"It is true that Naruto's contract will have been fulfilled with Zeno-sama…" Milluki smirked in triumph at that and turned around to gloat when Killua spoke.

"But he could just stay right?" The otaku boy blinked owlishly at his younger brother's question. Seeing the reaction he continued, "It'd be bad if he died right? Since the contract with Alluka might be destroyed…" Everyone in the room knew this was true but they could also tell it wasn't entirely why Killua had mentioned it.

His expression was telling. It was clear that Killua simply wanted Naruto to stay because he enjoyed his company.

The blonde looked at his most recent friend, perhaps his first one, in shock. By now he knew Killua well enough to know that the silver haired boy was kind despite the life he had led; unlike his oldest sibling. He understood exactly what Killua meant and it made him smile warmly.

Milluki was about to retort to Killua's suggestion when Silva spoke, "That is a good point… what do you think father?"

Everyone in the room, Naruto included, turned around to look at Zeno then and the old assassin simply replied, "We should also consider what he has to say, right Naruto-chan?" said boy blinked in astonishment. Chan? Zeno had never referred to him as such in all the time that he had been here.

Realising that he was once more the attention of the room he turned around and looked at Killua who only looked back with hopeful eyes and Alluka who was reaching out to grab him from her brother's arms whilst mumbling, "Pick me up, foxy."

Alluka had never been directly told Naruto's name so she wouldn't start making requests of him and although it had just been mentioned she still preferred to call him foxy because his whiskers reminded her of the furry animals'.

He then glanced at Illumi, who still had his back turned, but had not walked out of the room yet. He realised that this meant that even Illumi, who had tor-trained him, was waiting for his answer. He also glanced at Milluki who was scowling and said, "Well hurry up brat. It's not so hard to answer it is it?"

Naruto ignored him and looked at the final three members of the room. Kikyo was looking at her husband behind that strange visor she wore whilst Silva was looking straight at him without blinking an eye. He locked gazes with him for a moment before he turned back around to Zeno, the one who had gotten him into this mess in the first place. The old man evaded his gaze but made his intentions clear, "Getting old is such a bother really… it almost feels like I've begun to develop a conscience. As the one who hired your services," Naruto snorted at this because it was more like a kidnapping, "I feel like I have to take responsibility…"

The blonde closed his eyes for a second to take in this strangely warm and pleasant atmosphere and when he replied everyone in the room pretend not to notice the moisture that had gathered in them.

"…If you'd have me… I guess it wouldn't be so bad…"

Completely contrary to his seemingly uncaring words was the biggest smile that Naruto had ever had in his life.

It made everyone in the room also smile.

Killua ran up to, in his mind, his newest brother and Alluka practically hopped into his arms. Naruto was knocked off his balance by the flying chibi and could only laugh in response as she slapped his face whilst giggling happily.

Silva glanced at his wife who stared at the scene with mixed emotions. This was not how she was taught. Showing this much emotion, laughing so carelessly… they were strange concepts to the mother of five.

However as she looked at her youngest and beloved son and the expression on his face it made something in her react. Perhaps this was not so bad…

She glanced down as Kalluto let go of her kimono and paddled over to the other children. The other toddler pulled at Killua's hoodie and the boy turned around, making Naruto see her.

"Yo Kalluto-chan. You're always too quiet ya know?" Naruto grinned at her as he adjusted Alluka's weight and patted her on top of the head. Said girl only looked down meekly at the floor.

The happy reunion was cut short as Illumi spoke though, "Hmmm… since you aren't leaving then that means that our training session today isn't cancelled!" The teenager reminded the blonde with a cheery smile as he brandished a knife from out of nowhere.

Naruto gaped at him and thrust Alluka into Killua's hand before he turned around and made a dash away from the sadistic teenager. He hopped over a thrown knife and barely got out of the door before another one hit just where his head had been.

"Illu-nii, don't throw knives around Alluka and Kalluto!" Killua barked at his older brother and Illumi replied.

"Ah sorry Kil…" he then brandished out needles that had a round end,"… this is the best choice after all right?" he chuckled menacingly as he stalked out of the room and in search of his prey. Killua only sweat dropped at his brother's antics and turned around when he heard Kalluto mumble.

"I could've caught that though…" Killua's sweat drop increased further from that statement. 'That's not the point though…' He sighed in exasperation and grabbed Kalluto's hand as he walked out of the room in order to watch Naruto's tor-training at the hands of his maniacal brother.

Milluki only snorted at the stupidity displayed and walked off to his own. He had better things to do like making sure that there wasn't a speck of dust on his growing collection of important figurines.

This left the oldest members of the family in the room. Having come out of her thoughts and not wanting to speak in front of the kids, Kikyo was the first to say anything, "Are you sure that was the wisest choice dear, Zeno-sama?"

Her husband hummed in thought whilst his father only looked up to the ceiling, also lost in his own thoughts.

"As Killua mentioned if Naruto were to die his Nen ability would most likely cease to work. That'd mean all of our effort and time spent would go to waste…" Silva shared his thoughts with his wife but paused as his father chuckled.

"Silva do you really believe that?" His shrewd father looked at him with mirth in his eyes. Kikyo looked between the two men.

Her husband sighed and continued his rationale, "…although that is a valid reason… it isn't why I allowed it." Kikyo frowned in confusion at this and waited for Silva to expand upon his logic.

"His potential is immense. It is on the level of Killua's I would say. In terms of sheer strength and speed he has already caught up to Killua and now they train together, always pushing each other to the next level. That level of growth…" here her husband looked at her, "…however more than anything I was taught to put the family first. This does not apply during jobs; a job is only a job after all, but in this case I think that having him stay would be the best for not only Killua but the family."

Kikyo considered her husband's words carefully. She fully understood what he was saying as well as she understood the flaw in his logic. The boy could have simply been given a position as a butler; it was the same case with Gotoh and even Canary. They all knew that both would be valuable to the family and had thus hired them as butlers but they didn't adopt them like they had with the blonde.

However at the same time the thought of hiring the blonde as a simple butler did not sit right with her. Wondering why, she was reminded of the image of Killua standing happily with the blonde in question along with his sisters. And then she understood why it was. If they had given him a position as a butler would her Killua still make that same expression?

Kikyo decided that this needed further consideration and was about to give it so when Zeno put in his own two cents, "He reminds me of that geezer from the Hunter's Association… being able to make friends with people easily and worming his way into their hearts… what a troublesome kid."

Both Silva and Kikyo were surprised at this. For the ancient assassin to compare that blonde boy with the legendary, and even more ancient, Chairman of the Hunter's Association who had fought and lived against Silva's great-great grandfather was one hell of a compliment.

"Silva, Kikyo… you can pass it off as an old man's ramblings but I can feel in my bones that that boy will have an important role in the future…" the ancient assassin then made his way out of the room. Silva sat down on the couch and Kikyo joined him. They sat in silence, contemplating the experienced assassins' words. Zeno had seen, experienced and felt much more of the world than either of them so it was not strange to think that he could pick up on things that they could not. If he said something like that, with an entirely serious demeanour it may very well turn out to be the case later on.

Their quiet thinking was interrupted by the screams of terror and trembling that they could feel all the way inside the mansion. Silva only sighed but was surprised at the chuckling coming from his partner.

"Well… this may not be so bad dear…" Kikyo commented to the man that she had married.

Her husband only closed his eyes and his stern expression softened as they fell back into a comfortable silence.

Which was broken again by a scream of, "WHERE DO YOU KEEP GETTING THOSE THINGS FROM ILLUMI?!"

---

A couple of months later, after Naruto had been trained more thoroughly by the sadistic puppeteer, him and Killua as well as the other siblings in the family were standing in front of Silva. The man had called them here for a very important message:

"Do not touch the Genei Ryodan."

Apparently Silva had returned from a mission to kill one of the members of said world renowned group of murderous thieves and whilst he had been successful he had also run into the leader of the group. Whilst the details weren't exactly clear, because Silva had not told them much, they apparently had a bit of a scuffle which led to this public service announcement to all of the Zoldyck children.

Personally Naruto had a hard time imagining someone being able to best a man like Silva; it wasn't even because his eyes were slitted like some dangerous beast, it was simply because the man put off this feeling that he was not to be messed with.

All of the Zoldyck siblings agreed to stay away from the thieving group of A-class bounties and afterwards Killua had told him that an assassin saying that a job was not worth the money was a huge compliment to their target.

Naruto kept that in mind because he was told that he would be sent on his own first job. Silva had given him the option to bring Killua along as it was the first time he had been given a contract but Naruto refused saying that he wanted to take care of this on his own. In Naruto's mind this was, in a way, his time to prove himself as the newest child of the Zoldyck family.

Zeno and Silva had told him that the second he had been allowed to stay but had not been hired as a butler that officially meant that he was one of their family. To this day those words still bounced around his head as well as in his heart. They were words that he was sure he would keep with him as long as he lived. Not wanting to disappoint their trust that was placed in him Naruto wanted to make them proud to have adopted him.

It looked like those gruelling training sessions with Illumi were finally going to pay off. Illumi called them training whilst Naruto called them torture but it was in fact neither – it was simply a way for Naruto to get experience. Having been the one that had joined the family the latest, although he wasn't the youngest, Naruto had the least fighting experience out of all the siblings who actively took jobs. In other words he was miles behind Killua and Illumi because Milluki did not go outside, like ever, and Kalluto and Alluka were too young to take jobs.

So Illumi had sparred with him in order to give him combat experience. However that was not the only thing they did. Illumi had also made him run through trap and obstacle courses, in order to improve his reflexes, agility and speed, survive in the vast plot of land that the Zoldycks owned for an entire month with nothing but the clothes on his back as Illumi and Mike hunted him down in order to improve his use of Zetsu and general stealth, as well as try to catch Killua in a enormous game of hide and seek which encompassed the entire estate. The last one was done in order to make him and Killua improve their use of Zetsu and general stealth as well as his tracking abilities.

It had also been the most fun because it basically felt like they were playing around but at the same time they were improving by leaps and bounds. After all of this Naruto felt pretty confident in his ability to complete a simple mission.

Unbeknownst to him however, whilst the mission would be a success, it would also be one hell of a roller coaster.

---

Naruto had been given a mission to kill a politician. He wasn't just any politician either; the man was the leader of the political party that was winning the general elections of a neighbouring country in the republic of Padokea.

Who had ordered the hit on him you ask? Was it a rival party leader that wanted to get rid of the competition?

Nope; it was the man's second in command.

Naruto was half tempted to kill his douchebag of an employer instead but knowing how much this mission meant he decided he would see it through to the end.

The blonde had taken an air blimp from the nearest airport to Kukuroo Mountain to the city that his target was residing in, Ciónnasu, and had arrived there on a Monday morning. He had packed lightly, only bringing a couple dozen chocolate milk cartons, his necklace and a few spare clothes.

Right now he was wearing a black hoodie with black trousers that were quite flexible and simple black trainers. His choice of all black was most definitely not because he thought that assassins wore all black and lurked in the shadows. Silva had told him that description befitted ninjas from the island country of Jappon better but since Naruto liked the all black attire anyways he had decided to keep it.

He disembarked and moved toward the bag collection area when he heard someone ask him, "Hey do you know where the baggage collection is?" Naruto went to reply that he was headed there at the moment but the words got stuck in his throat when he saw who it was that asked him.

"K-Killua!?" The blonde stared at him in shock. His friend only replied with the same surprise although it was obviously fake from his dry facial expression,

"Ah Naruto! What a coincidence, what are you doing here?" Killua questioned like he didn't already know. He had heard that Naruto had taken a mission by himself so he had simply taken a mission that was in the same city. When his father had stared at him, obviously knowing what he intended, Killua had only stared back with his best poker face, completely blank and nonchalant. He had picked this up from his friend, whom whenever something went wrong would simply play it off as not that important either in order to mess with people or simply because he did not care.

On the contrary Killua cared very much; the mission Naruto had taken was a bit of a heavy one for his debut as an assassin so Killua had decided to come along and make sure that he did not get in over his head. There was also the fact that although Naruto had learned the basics of hunting and avoid being hunted from Illumi it was a completely different matter to actually put those skills into use.

Besides, after all the blonde had done for Alluka coming with him on a job to show him the ropes was the very least Killua could do.

He walked off and heard Naruto catch up to him. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of explaining to Naruto his purpose for being here he decided to start teaching him a couple of things, "You never discuss job details in public; always make sure you've got somewhere safe and out of range from any eavesdroppers first." Killua glanced at his friend and saw that Naruto had an open mouth like an 'O'. The blonde closed it shut with a click and fell into step with his younger friend. A couple of minutes later they picked up their baggage, which for Killua was a yellow skateboard and a blue backpack, whilst for Naruto was his trusty rucksack stuffed full of chocolaty goodness.

They made their way out of the airport and instead of catching a taxi they instead walked towards a nearby park. On the way there Naruto had noticed that something was strange…

Well more like there were strange people in the crowd walking around, some sitting in benches, others at coffee shops. The thing that they all had in common was that they felt out of place to Naruto, it almost seemed like they were on the lookout for something or someone. This was enough for him to switch into alert mode but it was shot down by Killua immediately though, "Don't tense up. That's what they're looking for. Act natural instead, more like me." Naruto blinked in surprise at the advice. The people that he got an odd feeling from were like… spies or perhaps guards then?

Why though? They were simply walking through a side street, one which did not look of any particular importance whatsoever. Sure there was still quite a bit of people walking along with them but to Naruto it simply seemed like they were only going this way because it connected to a main street at the end. Glancing at his friend who was casually walking along and whistling to some tune a sudden thought crossed through his mind.

The fact that there were people on the lookout for people acting tense or suspicious immediately implied that, unlike at a first glance, this seemingly dull and normal side street held some importance other than leading onto a main street.

He also realised that because of Killua's advice the younger boy was already aware of this fact. This was the difference between them in terms of actual real life mission experience and it showed by an immense amount. Deciding to follow his friend's advice he relaxed his shoulders and looked around, pretending to be a curious kid full of wonder. He would exclaim in excitement to Killua whenever he saw something interesting and would immediately fire off a bunch of questions.

Killua realised what he was doing and inwardly he was impressed. Naruto was pretending to be awe inspired from their surroundings, looking everywhere rapidly, but what he was really doing was checking where else he got the feeling that he was being watched from. This way he could confirm where possible enemies were whilst keeping up their cover.

No wonder his gramps had said the blonde had talent; he had immediately adjusted to the situation and improvised both a cover up as well as a scouting tactic within seconds.

Killua joined in the fake excited talk to make their acting more believable and they eventually veered off the side street and towards a nearby, small park. They both sat down and Naruto got out two cartons of chocolate milk and tossed one to Killua. The silver haired boy caught it and they both acted like they were taking a break from all their walking but it was really because Killua could feel that there were a lot less eyes on them at the moment and they seemed too far away from them to hear what they were saying. Killua also made sure to have Naruto's back facing them and had sat himself directly in front of the blonde in an angle that their watchers wouldn't be able to read their lips.

This was all done in a completely casual and natural manner, so much so that Naruto only realised the strategic advantage only seconds after they had gotten into position.

Killua sipped his chocolate milk and began the conversation, "At the airport we were being watched too; I guess there were too many people for you to pinpoint them."

"To be honest I didn't notice it at all." The blonde rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"That's no good. The second you leave the house the job begins and it only ends the moment you step back into Zoldyck property Naruto." The silver haired genius lectured his older friend like he was scolding a younger sibling. In terms of assassinations Naruto was his junior so the blonde did not mind the lecturing he was being given.

"Well I guess this is your first job so it's not really your fault. Anyways I'm only here because I have a job too, so it's just a coincidence." Killua explained casually but Naruto was not inclined to believe him. Not after that situation back there.

"Righttttt… so what's your job exactly?" the blonde questioned his friend with a suspicious expression. Killua only turned around and mumbled, "Secret." Which just made Naruto deadpan at him. He was clearly here to watch over him.

Well Killua had possibly saved his ass back there so Naruto wasn't going to complain. However…

"Killua, I appreciate you looking out for me but I want to do this on my own." the blonde said with the utmost serious expression on his face, his eyes reflecting the conviction behind his words.

His friend only gave him an annoyed expression and replied, "Like I said I didn't come here just to help you; I've got my own job too!" Naruto only sighed and smiled at his friend. He reached forward and patted the top of his head like you would to a younger sibling.

"Ah you're such a good little bro Killua." Naruto nodded his head with a mock serious expression and Killua replied by swatting his hand away from his head.

"Whatever!" the silver haired genius huffed and turned away from the teasing he was being given, a slight blush covering his cheeks.

"So anyways there's something definitely special about that street right?" Naruto moved on with the topic of conversation when he didn't feel any more eyes on him. They were certainly persistent watchers but it looked like they had finally given up after seeing what looked like two children just being children.

How wrong they were.

"Yep, I'd say that it's connected to the mafia but those guys were actually trying to be subtle. Had it been the mafia they wouldn't have bothered with subtlety and would instead flaunt their power because of their connections. So it's probably something of big importance that doesn't want to get too much attention but can't afford to not have any precautionary measures set up just in case." Naruto nodded along to the astute observations his friend had made. It made sense; if they were being careful it meant there was something to be careful about.

Naruto then narrowed his eyes at his friend as a sudden thought crossed his mind.

"Killua…" said boy looked over at Naruto and froze at the suspicious glare he was being give, "…that side street wouldn't happen to have anything to do with my job would it?"

Killua sipped his chocolate milk in reply and tried his best to keep a completely neutral expression, "Who knows?"

Naruto's eyebrow twitched as he got his confirmation. Whenever Killua had something to hide he would put on this poker face. In a way it was a giveaway that the boy was actually keeping something from you although if you had no idea what it was it would be incredibly hard to guess from his expression alone.

"…That's a meeting or hiding place for my target isn't it?" Naruto deduced with a dry expression. His friend only sipped away on his chocolate milk without any giveaways. Even if he didn't confirm it he also didn't deny it so Naruto was pretty damn sure by this point.

He sighed in exasperation. It was heart-warming in a way that his little bro was looking out for him in this way but he also wanted to do this on his own dammit!

"Alright Killua, I can tell that you're not going to go away until the job is done are you?" His younger friend only continued to stare with a blank face although Naruto could see that there was mischief tinkling in his eyes.

"Since you're not and it'll be a pain in the ass to make you here's what we're gonna do. From now on I'm going to take the reins. Deal?"

Killua stopped sipping his chocolate milk for a second to mutter, "Deal." And shook the blonde's hand. Naruto then nodded in satisfaction and finished his carton of chocolate goodiness. Now that he was all juiced up it was time to get his head in the game and begin taking this seriously. From their short walk Naruto had noticed that not only were there watchers on the ground, there were also some on the rooftops. He had located half a dozen on the surrounding buildings when he was putting that gobsmacked act back then.

"There were six on the roofs; two on the North East buildings, three were spread out between the South East and South buildings, two were on the North West and another one on the East."

"I counted that many too, what do you think it means?" Killua replied to Naruto's statement.

The blonde looked down in thought for a moment before replying, "The majority of them were between the South East and the East so that means that's most likely where the target is right? It would make sense to have the most personnel near to who you're protecting. There's also the fact that on the ground the bigger concentration of people on the lookout was at the start of the street, which is on the South East isn't it?" Naruto both analysed and shared his thoughts on the situation to his accomplice on this mission.

Killua nodded along at the logic which was pretty sound.

"But… Something feels weird though…" Naruto muttered with a frown.

"What?" Killua questioned with a curious look.

"Well I'm just starting out with this whole assassin business but I still noticed that people were on the lookout. Doesn't that mean that they're really incompetent? Since the target is a big shot there's no way he would hire amateurs to protect him would he?" Naruto shared his thoughts with his partner in crime who agreed to an extent.

'The reason you spotted them isn't necessarily just because they're bad; that just means you're that good…but he does have a point. Those guys were being way too obvious.'

"So what do you think it means?" Killua prodded Naruto along. He had a pretty good guess of what it meant but this was Naruto's mission so he had to figure some things out for himself.

"Hmmm…" the blonde hummed, deep in thought. He racked his head with any possible thoughts when a scene jumped to his head.

---

Flashback

Naruto stalked around the dense forest, his footsteps being as quiet as possible. Illumi and Mike were currently hunting him down but before the "game" had started Illumi had told him that somewhere in the forest there were supplies. Naruto had then deduced that his objective was to hide from Illumi and Mike and get to those supplies so he could survive for the month.

He had already dunked himself in the river in order to wash away his scent so Mike couldn't track him down that easily and he was constantly using Zetsu so Illumi wouldn't feel his aura. It was also of course in order to help him feel out for Illumi's aura better since you were more sensitive to people's auras in a state of Zetsu.

He hid behind some dense foliage and peeked out and he would have exclaimed out loud in happiness if he hadn't almost been eaten by Mike because he was being too loud beforehand.

Right in the clearing in front of him were dozens of rucksacks, strangely like his own, all filled to the brim. Some were on top of branches, up in the trees, whilst others were on top of fallen logs. Either way Naruto had practically found heaven.

So caught up in his excitement Naruto slowly made his way to the heaven sent goodies before he was snatched up by the scruff of his shirt. He froze as he could feel a hot and moist breath tickle his neck and almost robotically he turned his head around to stare into the big and lifeless eyes of Mike.

A scream was heard through the massive forest, so loud that it managed to reach the Zoldyck mansion.

"The heck was that?" Killua looked up from the drawing that he was helping Alluka complete. In it were her, him and their newest friend Naruto. Alluka was in the middle whilst Naruto patted her head and Killua held a peace sign.

Shrugging Killua turned around to complete the drawing, eager to show it to Naruto after he came back from whatever errand he had been sent on.

Flashback end.

---

Coming out of his memories Naruto believed he had his answer.

"It's definitely a trap right?" the blonde spoke to his friend after a long silence.

"What makes you say that?" Killua challenged his friend's rationale.

"Well Illumi did something similar," here he shuddered, "he dangled the goal in front of me in a really obvious manner to lure me out and catch me. This way he didn't have to hunt me, I came straight to him!" The blonde concluded whilst smacking his fist onto an open palm.

This was bait; the "amateurs" were being obvious on purpose. Any person with common sense would assume that if there were people on the lookout near a place it meant they were protecting it. They used that thought process to lure out less clever potential threats. Naruto guessed that his target was actually somewhere else entirely; even if the obvious lookouts were bait if someone bit that bait but ended up being strong enough to take them out after being ambushed it meant that his/her target was being practically handed on a silver platter.

"I don't even think the target is here. This whole thing is a… Whaddya call it again?" Naruto rubbed his chin in thought as he shared his assumption with his senior in the field of assassinations.

'Correct, I'm impressed.' Killua nodded along with Naruto's logic in agreement and decided to share a fact he was aware of.

"A red herring. You remember how I mentioned that there were people watching in the airport too? We walked right past one and I heard his ear com." Naruto's eyebrows rose to his hairline. Killua had been able to hear something like that in a loud place like that? It was definitely bordering on inhuman but after the things Naruto had seen and done he figured it wasn't exactly impossible.

"What did you hear?" The blonde questioned curiously.

"I heard that the objective had been moved to point B. No idea where that is though…" Killua trailed off. This was becoming annoying. These guys were clearly organised and knew what they were doing. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he hadn't come along to watch over Naruto. Most likely the blonde would've attacked the bait which made Killua glad he had come.

Not because he was worried for Naruto's safety mind you; he was more worried about the massive commotion that would undoubtedly happen when Naruto started his assault. After learning Nen Killua and Naruto had noticed that they could accurately judge someone's strength better now; Killua's readings were even more accurate because he had more experience than Naruto so he could tell that Naruto wouldn't have had too much trouble with the guards stationed there as long as he fought smartly, which the blonde was ought to do after being drilled into by Illumi for his obvious fighting tactics.

The silver haired genius had later been informed that because of Naruto's lack of tactics whatsoever he had been dumped in the Zoldyck property and had to survive both Illumi and Mike hunting him down. He had also later realised that the screams he heard were indeed from his friend being tor-trained by his older sibling.

"…Well if they're laying bait so nicely we should just go ahead and bite it…" The blonde trailed off as a devilish smirk began growing on his face.

Killua looked at him warily and asked, "What do you have in mind?"

Naruto started chuckling.

---

The plan that Naruto had devised was incredibly simple.

Killua would be their own bait and would stealthily assault the building that the most lookouts were around, which they had confirmed to be a fancy hotel. In the meanwhile Naruto would take care of the sentry's and their goal would be to find any info that pointed out where their target would be. Normally Killua would never have had agreed to this plan but Naruto had told him that before coming to this city he had done some research; their target was scheduled to catch a flight in two days so they couldn't afford to waste too much time otherwise they would lose him.

Carrying out the assassination in the airport was out of the question; he would be most likely heavily guarded and because he was famous it meant that pretty much everyone would be paying attention to him. This made killing him discretely almost impossible at the time.

'Not that this is discreet mind you...' Not wanting to make Naruto do things his way Killua had gone with his plan but had added his own suggestion. Instead of immediately carrying out their plan they would do some reconnaissance beforehand in the days leading up to their target taking his flight. Naruto had agreed and they decided to split up and keep in contact with their phones, courtesy of Killua. The blonde had also said that if their target was meant to catch a flight in two days he would most likely want to stay close to the airport, preferably not at a hotel because it would attract attention. This meant that he was most likely staying at some sort of safe house nearby.

They had obtained a map of the city easily enough and had decided to confirm some of their suspicions, "Like we thought, that hotel where the 'bait' lookouts are is the closest one to the airport. Around it there are about thirty of them. It'd take too long to check each one out and since your assumption sounds pretty sound this means that we don't even need to." The silver haired child assassin pointed out the hotels and explained his thought process.

Naruto hummed in thought at that. If his target wasn't staying in a hotel then where would he be? Assuming of course that Naruto was even right in this, he hadn't had a very good start to this whole operation of course.

"Don't," Killua blurted out suddenly and Naruto looked up at him in confusion. The silver haired assassin then continued, "you can't doubt yourself like that. If your guess is wrong then it means we'll fail but there's also the chance that it's right. I'd say that it's about 50-50 but it's the best shot we have now. If we fail then that just means we'll have to chase him down." Naruto furrowed his eyebrows at the last bit and spoke.

"If we fail doesn't that mean they'll be ready next time? Not to mention that this guy would probably go into hiding or somewhere really guarded. How would we get him then?" Killua nodded at the logic but then revealed a fact to Naruto.

"Zoldyck members don't fail missions. If we aren't successful in the first attempt, which is unusual, we keep at it until we get our prey. If this time we don't get him because we weren't astute or skilled enough and he goes into hiding then that's for us to deal with. It's the consequence of not being good enough to kill him on the first attempt." The silver haired child stared into Naruto's eyes with a completely serious look. Naruto then realised that this was what it truly meant to be a Zoldyck assassin; to take a mission and see it through to the end no matter how long it took because they were pros and that was what pros did. Right now Naruto was representing a lineage of professionals that had made the family what it was through their deeds and his actions would reflect on that exact family that had taken him in. It was then that he decided that he would get his target without bringing shame to the family – no to his family.

He also understood from the look in Killua's eyes that this entire time that Killua took jobs he also had this enormous pressure on his back that Naruto was feeling at the moment and his respect for his little bro increased. He vowed he was going to succeed, for the family and for Killua too because right now Naruto was leading this mission which meant that Killua was under his care; if anything were to happen to him because of Naruto's plan it would be his fault.

"Okay…" Naruto agreed and looked back down at the map. He searched for a second when something caught his eye, there was another hotel, one that Killua had not pointed out which was fairly close to the airport. Naruto shared this with Killua and the boy replied that on his scouting earlier he hadn't seen a hotel there, only a construction site.

They both looked at each other in sudden realisation. It was fairly close to the airport, there was no one there because it was a construction site and according Killua when he had been scouting said construction site looked abandoned by what he had seen and most and foremost it was the last place people would look.

Who would think a candidate to being the president to a country would be hiding in an abandoned construction site after all?

Naruto voiced their thoughts, "Most likely here right?" Killua nodded in agreement. He hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary there either; this meant that they were either wrong or…

Their enemies were more crafty and skilled than they had thought.

However there was something else bothering Naruto, it had been ever since the fiasco with the side street.

"Killua why would he be this paranoid?" Naruto asked as his friend rolled up their map. They began hopping from roof to roof towards the old construction site. Their strategy meeting had been held at a rooftop fairly far away from the bait hotel. Far away enough that no one was spying on them to be sure. They had met up after the both of them had walked around the nearby area, in a radius of approximately 3 Km in all directions from the airport. They had been strategizing at a roof top of some condos about half of that distance away from both the airport and the bait hotel so it was pretty safe. They also had confirmed that there weren't any spotters on the roofs nearby of this area and continued on the lookout for any as they moved closer to their target.

Killua hummed at the question as they made their way towards their target, "Well… maybe he has an inkling that someone is after his life? Or maybe he's hiding for an entire different reason; there are too many possibilities to think of. First and foremost we should approach this carefully; we can't get too close to the place because that would raise suspicion. There's a plaza right in front of it though so we can walk around and pretend we're just little kids like we did back then."

Naruto nodded in agreement, there were too many reasons. This guy was running to be the president; he could be hiding from pretty much anything at the moment.

About five hundred metres away from the ruined construction site they stopped and made their way to street level. Killua had not been able to see any spotters on the roofs previously but this did not mean that there weren't any around. Having two sets of eyes this time would more than likely alter the results of their scouting.

Neither Killua nor Naruto felt any eyes on them as soon as they entered the street that the construction site was on. So they continued walking and assumed their cover of being two excited little kids. They were both very good at acting but some part of them was genuinely enjoying their time together, even if the mission was challenging and there was a chance of them getting into nasty fights if everything went incredibly wrong the thrill of the challenge made their souls resonate in a trembling, half scared, half excited frenzy. This state of being, of not knowing if they were right in front of the target's hideout and if at this very moment they were being watched, if they would be attacked at any moment if they made some kind of move made their awareness and concentration levels spike to places never reached before.

And at that exact moment they both felt it. It was only a pinprick; a miniscule feeling of heat hitting the back of their necks that in any other situation or circumstances they would not have paid any mind to but with their honed senses they both zoomed in on it.

There were eyes on them. In the middle of the crowd, with people passing by constantly, children laughing with their parents, siblings running around, couples holding hands and co-workers getting lunch at the cafes they both felt the tiniest feeling, the feeling of uncomfortableness that made them want to look around but they both controlled it furiously. If they looked around now then whoever it was would definitely notice.

A bead of cold sweat, which could easily be passed off from being caused by the sun, slowly rolled down the side of their face as a possibility came into mind.

It was possible that whoever was watching them had slacked off on purpose, in order to see whether the two would react and to smoke them out.

They had used these types of tactics before to bait people out.

Instead of making them scared it only steeled their resolve now. In both of their minds there was no doubt about; their target was here and as assassins they had an obligation to fulfil their duty.

So they waited. As they chatted animatedly, sat down in an outdoor café and ordered delicious smoothies, went into a candy store and bought chocolate balls and ate them by a fountain in a nearby plaza they waited.

Their waiting paid off. Naruto was the first to notice because his sixth sense went off. It was a little trickle, a wisp that passed by his head but it was enough. He had located where it was coming from. Whoever it was had been watching them zealously. They did not know why they had been watching them with such intensity but it didn't matter because it looked like they had gotten impatient and had let a tiny little bit of killing intent escape.

Killua muttered to Naruto then, "Could be another trap." The blonde nodded and continued with what he was saying to his friend in order to keep up their cover.

It was possible but it had backfired for the most part. Now that Naruto's and Killua's antennae were so honed even a tiny bit of bloodlust would let them hone in with incredible accuracy. The problem now was how they were going to proceed. Should they move closer to where it was coming from whilst keeping their act and hope that whoever it was bought it enough that he didn't get suspicious or should they leave the area in order to throw them off but circle around and ambush them?

No the second option wouldn't work; if they left immediately after the enemy sent bloodlust at them then they would get suspicious. The best course of action would be to dally around for a little longer in order to make it seem as if they hadn't picked up on anything and then leave, maybe look at their map and point out another point of interest and make it seem as if they were going to head there next? Yeah that coul-

The presence disappeared. Entirely. And so did the bloodlust. But in its place a sense of foreboding settled firmly on their shoulders.

In hindsight Naruto did not know how he was able to take out the map without his hands being a trembling mess. However he was able to. He looked Killua straight in the eye and the boy understood to follow his lead at the moment.

They looked down at the map and acted out Naruto's scenario, pointing out multiple spots and chatting vividly about the things they could do. The foreboding feeling then vanished but instead of making them relax it only did the opposite; did that now mean that the enemy had enough screwing around and had decided to seriously target them now? If that was the case then it'd be likely for them to be attacked any second no-

At once that thought process was completely shattered as two arms, slim in nature, wrapped around their shoulders from behind. Before either Naruto or Killua could register what was happening a voice uttered quietly in the midst of the noise of the crowd, but it was as loud as a clap of thunder to them.

"Make a scene and I'll kill you." Both Killua and Naruto froze. It felt as if their entire existence had been frozen, suspended in a terrifying place between life and death. The only reason they did not react in any way was because an ice cold, numbing fear had claimed their entire bodies. Taking this as a sign of their obedience their impromptu captor pushed them along and continued with her instructions.

"Keep walking and pretend you know me." This jutted a portion of their brain out of the mind numbing fear that had been induced into them and as one both Killua and Naruto turned their heads to look at the person that had completely avoided their detection skills, which had been at their fullest because of their more honed than usual sensing antennae, and had been stealthy enough to get completely within their guards and actually wrap her arms around their shoulders as if they weren't on full alert.

It was a teenager, wearing a white kimono top with a black band tied around the front. She had shorts and pink leg warmers with what appeared to be tabi boots and zōri, with her hair, an unusual pink, flowing down to just above her shoulders. The most striking feature were her eyes however; an aloof and calculating blue that were daring them to try anything.

Killua found his voice first, "Y-Yo, how did you find us…?"

'How the hell did you get so close!?'

The stranger looked at him for another second before she replied.

"You guys aren't exactly very subtle… walking around in plain sight, did you think you'd get away from me? I just had a feeling you'd be here…"

'You were being obvious to me whilst probing around for their presence.'

Naruto swallowed the heavy block that had gotten stuck in his throat and spoke.

"Ah I see… We're sorry for running away."

'What the hell do you want?'

"Hmph that's not good enough. You're coming with me misters, you're both in big trouble."

'No more questions now follow me.'

And with that she started guiding them around the crowd, occasionally speaking to them. Instinctively both Killua and Naruto realised that the small talk they just had was to seem as if they knew each other and to not attract attention from any passers-by as well as anyone else that could be watching.

As she led them to an alleyway their heartbeats started rising rapidly, echoing around their heads as with each step they came closer to the desert alley. Was she guiding them there so she could kill them? After all killing two children in the middle of the day where everyone could see was not the best idea but in a desert alley where she could probably even hide their bodies in dumpsters it was bett-

"First things first; I'm impressed you two didn't have a breakdown when I caught you." She spoke as she let go of their shoulders. Not feeling the overwhelming pressure that had been weighting them down they both leaped as far away from her as possible. They would've tried to escape but it was a dead end and both Naruto and Killua had calculated that it would take approximately four seconds for them to jump over the wall. Considering how skilled their assaulter was that was probably plenty of time for her to catch them both.

'Hoh… they have good reflexes; only wasted half a second before jumping as far away as possible in one go… like I thought these kids aren't bad. Still rookies though…'

Killua desperately tried to calm his heart rate down as Illumi's voice echoed around in his head, telling him to run away, that the opponent was too much for him. Killua did his best to ignore it because if he ran that would mean he would leave Naruto behind. The silver haired child would not do that to his newest friend.

Instead he spoke the question that was bouncing in their heads, "Are you friend or foe?" Both Naruto and Killua tensed their muscles like stretched out steel cables as their aura came to life around them.

The stranger raised an eyebrow at this and pointed behind her, "You might wanna put it away; the guy who was watching you two might feel it." Killua and Naruto swallowed dry. This girl had even felt that they were being watched. Then Naruto's eyes widened further as he realised where she was pointing, it was exactly where he had felt the eyes on them!

He glanced at Killua. Now they had a choice to make, putting away their aura so the person watching them wouldn't feel them or keeping it out in order to combat this girl.

"It's impossible so don't even think about it. The moment you take a single step I'll take you both out. I don't necessarily want to harm you two; the only reason I approached you was because I had some questions. It's rare to see such young Nen users after all." Killua was not really listening at this point. After she had said that a step would mean death his entire focus was on how he could escape and get as far away as possible from this monster that was in front of them. He started panicking, his breath being drawn and let out in smaller, quicker bursts as the first signs of hysteria began settling in. He would have completely spiralled into a state of panic, Illumi's voice ringing in his ears now, until Naruto's voice cut through the silence that had enveloped the three individuals in the alley.

"Killua, she's telling the truth." The silver haired child felt the air get knocked out of him at those words. He knew that Naruto was not talking about the first couple of phrases she had said, because there was absolutely no need to confirm the fact that she could effortlessly beat them. He was instead then speaking about the fact that she only had intentions to ask them questions as long as they did not make an offensive move.

The feeling slowly began to crawl back into his limbs as the fog inside his head began lifting. He glanced at Naruto, whose aura output had gone down to nearly nothing now. A part of his mind screamed at him still, to run away, to scream at Naruto, asking him what the hell he was doing but a bigger, growing part spoke louder. It told him to trust his friend.

That decision saved his life.

"What did you want to know?" Naruto stared her straight in the eye as he spoke, all the whilst listening as closely to his sixth sense as possible. At the moment there was not even a bit of malice being directed at them from this person, not even when she had said that she would take them out if they made a move. A part of Naruto's brain recognized that was how she had managed to sneak up on Naruto without his sixth sense screaming at him. It was because, similar to Mike, she did not act with malicious intent.

This did not, in any way, shape or form, make her less dangerous. It simply meant that she could kill them as if she was taking a stroll through the park or reading a dull book, without any effort or change of expression whatsoever. It immediately reminded him of his first encounter with Zeno and it was because of this that Naruto decided to answer her questions instead of putting up a fight, because the only other person he had ever gotten this much of a feeling that his entire existence, if he would put up a fight, did not really matter was from said old man and the ancient assassin was someone that Naruto had the utmost respect for because he could act as if anything was a coffee break and still be overwhelmingly dangerous, because he was that skilled.

In hindsight he would realise that his comparison of this teenager with Zeno was not fair; the old man was years more dangerous as she was but at the moment Zeno was the strongest person Naruto knew of and this girl was the strongest person that he had encountered that he did not know and did not know of their intentions so his brain immediately made that jump.

"Firstly… who trained you in Nen?" said teenager began as she stared into Naruto's eyes, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that he could tell her intentions were genuine.

"We can't say that." Killua replied. He was aware that they weren't really in a position to be secretive as she clearly held the upper hand but Killua was not about to sell out his family. A part of his brain recognized that even if they did tell her and she decided to challenge the Zoldyck family after killing them she would most likely not be able to actually kill any of the family members. Now that he had calmed down he could feel that in terms of strength whilst she was still incomparably stronger than them she was most likely on Illumi's level, still nowhere near his dad's or Zeno's level of strength.

The biggest part however as to why he didn't tell her was because his instincts were screaming at him not to. Those same instincts had previously kept him alive so he decided to follow them.

It was the correct decision again. Had he told the teenager who had trained them, the Zoldyck family, they would've been killed on the spot.

"Well I guess it doesn't really matter… why were you two scoping out that construction site?" The pink haired girl continued on with her line of questioning without skipping a beat. This time Naruto replied though.

"Part of our job." His answer was curt and tight lipped but it was not a lie; it just left a lot of details out. The pink haired girl stared at them for a moment longer and for a moment they thought their luck had run out.

"I see then. A word of advice; there's a Nen user guarding that place." She pointed back to where Killua and Naruto had been watched from. Both boys glanced at each other for a second as they considered her words. Was she lying? It was unlikely; if her intention was to trick them then why would she warn them of danger? In fact if she had any harmful intentions she would've carried them out by now. This train of logic led Killua and Naruto to believe her words.

"It was the person watching us right?" Naruto fired off a question of his own and waited anxiously for her reaction. They were both treating her as if she was a live bomb; one wrong step and everything could go to hell.

"Yeah. A second before I approached you two he stopped though. That was some acting; not bad… but he might've noticed us speaking." The kimono wearing teen commented to them and a thought crossed through her head, maybe she should ask them to join? There was a free space now after all…

It was shot down as she saw their stances. They were both covering each other's blind spots and whilst earlier the silver haired one had almost run away he was now looking her straight in the eye with as much fire as the blonde one. This meant that they wouldn't just abandon one another. It was a shame; it wasn't every day you ran into skilled and young Nen users like these. The thought of simply taking them with her did cross her mind but she quickly shot that down too because it simply wasn't her style.

"Thanks I guess… but are you a friend or foe?" Naruto repeated Killua's earlier question. Just because she hadn't attacked by now did not mean she wouldn't and she never said that she would let them go after they answered her questions.

'He's a sharp kid. Throughout this entire conversation he hasn't let his guard down even for a second and he recognized that just because they answered my questions it didn't mean I would let them go…'

"…I'm neither. I was just curious is all and I still am, even knowing that there's a Nen user in there you're still going to go?" She fired off her own question after answering theirs'. Naruto frowned at her answer but glanced at his friend. Their eyes locked and they both knew what the answer to that was.

"Yeah. It's our job so we're going to see it through." The blonde replied.

"You got that right." Killua confirmed.

"I see… a word of advice then: there are other guards but they won't really be a problem. Focus instead on the Nen user. He's a Conjurer so he needs a moment to exercise his imagination and manifest his ability. You should use that to take him out." With that said she turned around and began walking out of the alleyway but before she could Killua fired off a question at her.

"How do you know that?" The silver haired child had his eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the piece of info. Zeno had lectured to both of them that a Nen user's ability was something that they protected the identity of at all costs. In a Nen battle having your ability be an unknown could be an immense boom; it could be the difference between victory and defeat. And knowing your opponent's ability was an even bigger boom; it made all sorts of strategies and forward planning possible and could make victory incredibly easy.

How then did this girl know what their opponents', an opponent that they had not even met mind you, Nen ability was?

"It doesn't matter. You can follow or ignore that, up to you. Since I've gotten my curiosity satisfied I'm leaving. By the way don't follow me or I'll assume you want to fight." She called out as she continued walking away but was stopped by Naruto's question next.

"Who are you?" The blonde called out, cutting off any exclamation of annoyance Killua could make at the teen's casual attitude. She stopped with her back still turned to them and looked up to a corner of the side of a building. Following her gaze Naruto's eyes landed on a web and it was then that she replied.

"A Spider." At that moment the entire world went silent. Or perhaps the shock was so big that they had gone deaf? Killua fell down on his ass because his legs had gone entirely numb and Naruto could only stare at an open mouth at the smirk the teen was giving them. He tried speaking a couple of times but was cut off by the pink haired spiders' question.

"What are your names?" She stared at them with those same aloof eyes but this time there was a hint of amusement in them.

"N-Naruto."

"…Killua."

"I see… I'm Machi. You kids aren't bad for your age in terms of Nen but you still have miles to go. The next time we meet you better be able to defend yourselves better."

Neither Killua nor Naruto questioned how she knew they would meet again. They were still reeling from the fact that they had just been talking to a member of the infamous, murderous phantom troupe, the exact group that Killua's father had warned them to stay away from.

It was because of this shock that they had only told her their first names and not their full names instead. It was a mixture between that and sheer dumb luck that they didn't mention the fact that they were assassins from the Zoldyck family, the same family that that man had been from, the man who had fought Chrollo and killed one of their members. Whilst Machi was probably the coldest member, which is why she wouldn't have retaliated because they were from the family of the assassin that had killed one of their members she might have lifted a hand at them because said assassin had fought Chrollo, her leader.

Both Killua and Naruto came to rest on the ground after the never wracking exchange. Killua was personally shaken; this had probably been his closest encounter with death yet. Being completely at someone's mercy like that… it was a terrifying feeling. He quietly contemplated the events that had transpired. He wasn't too sure how long they had stayed that way until Naruto spoke.

"Killua… let's go." The silver haired child looked up and saw that his friend was staring at him, his eyes burning with an even deeper flame of conviction. Killua could not understand. How was he still so raring to go after that? Did he not realise that even after all they had learned there were still people incomparably stronger than them? What if the Nen user guarding their target was like that too? A complete monster that they couldn't hope to handle a candle to?

"Killua, it's true that she could've killed us at any time. But she didn't. As long as we're alive there'll be more chances to get stronger, to go further. Right now… right now I feel like if we back away from this we'll lose something important. So let's go," Naruto stood up and Killua stared at his friend in wonder, where did he get this conviction and will from? The blonde came over to where Killua had flopped down and offered him a hand to get up, "we still have something to do right?"

The silver haired child stared at the hand extended to him and his dad's voice rung in his head.

"Our most important job is to wait. You must wait until the right time. Making your move carelessly and revealing your abilities is the worst thing you can do. So you must wait."

He considered his dad's words and looked at the hand offered to him. Slowly he reached up and grabbed it firmly, hoisting himself up on his feet a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He looked back into Naruto's eyes and this time instead of an insecure look there was fire in his eyes.

They were ready.

---

As Machi walked away from the vicinity where she had approached those two kids a big part of her questioned her actions. Whilst it was true that she had been curious, she didn't think she was curious enough to actually go up and interact with them. What was it exactly that had made her do that? Struggling to find an answer the best she could come up with was 'just because'. She had done that just because she wanted to. There wasn't really a logical reason she should've concerned herself with them; even if they were skilled for their age, even knowing Nen, which was curious, it still did not feel like a substantial enough reason to explain her actions.

What bothered her the most though was the fact that she had given them that advice. That was definitely not how she was like. It was almost as if she cared whether they succeeded in their mission or not. The only reason she knew of the Nen user's Nen ability was because the dolt of a man had been exercising it within his hideout. Curious as to what was putting off that aura Machi had checked the place out, where a man with a fancy suit was waiting for something, and seen his ability but had decided to not bother fighting him since he wasn't worth the effort.

Immediately a part of her brain recognized that he should be a good match for those two boys and she frowned.

Why did she care?

In fact why did she even care about what she had done? She was probably never going to see those two again; the world was that big. Even as she thought this she remembered her words.

"The next time we meet you better be able to defend yourselves."

Why had she said that then? She did not know a reasonable, logical answer to that question. But her intuition answered it perfectly. It was because, even if it took a decade, she knew that they would cross paths again.

And a small part of her was pleased at that fact.

---

Naruto and Killua made their way out of the alley by jumping up to the roof. After reaching it they both paused and spread their senses as far as possible. Having detected him once they could recognize the Nen user's presence. It was especially easy if said person had not moved an inch from his spot.

They had decided to follow Machi's advice. They were going to circle around and ambush this Nen user. The ideal scenario would be one where the person did not even have time to react and they could take him out before he could counter.

They both did not believe that would happen though. Realistically they were going to get into a fight. But they knew somewhat of their opponent's ability so it wasn't all in vain. Naruto smacked his forehead as he realised that if Machi knew that their opponent was a Conjurer then there was also a chance that she knew what their ability was; they should've asked her!

Sharing this fact with his little bro Naruto sighed despondently and Killua only shrugged his shoulders. It was too late now so they were just going to have to deal with it. Both boys looked at each other in the eye before they scattered, Naruto circling from the right whilst Killua circled from the left. If the Nen user noticed one of them as they came around it was that person's job to keep his attention so the other could sneak behind and take him out. If he didn't notice one of them would engage him first whilst the other hid so they could take him out by surprise.

Both plans relied on the element of surprise but both boys recognized that against an opponent that had a Nen ability developed whilst they both did not, it was the best chance of success.

Or at the least that was what they wanted the Nen user to think. The real plan was a bit more complex than that. Naruto was going to purposefully use Zetsu badly in order to give his position away and hopefully lure the Nen user out. If it worked then they both knew that their chances of success had increased immediately. The whole reason this plan was even given consideration was because of what Machi had said. If they were dealing with someone who would exercise their Nen ability almost casually whilst on a job it either meant he was a pro or that he wasn't very good at all. Considering the fact that Machi had been able to actually witness their Nen ability and not get caught as well as the fact that Killua and Naruto who weren't pros by any stretch of the imagination were able to sense this person watching them it all pointed at the latter.

Hinging on this fact they devised this strategy. If the man was a pro he wouldn't take the bait but if he did then it meant that victory was well within their grasp; all they needed to do was play their cards right.

Naruto would distract and also play mind games whilst Killua would wait.

Killua reached the outskirts of the building first but Naruto was not too far behind. He had used Zetsu to conceal himself and so had Naruto however he did a poor Zetsu in order to be traceable. The Nen user honed in on Naruto and the blonde boy knew this as soon as he felt bloodlust being thrown at him. He skidded to a stop as a man with purple dreadlocks darted out of a window in the building ahead of him and jumped up to the same rooftop as Naruto. The blonde knew that the man had attempted to ambush him and had he taken another step he would've probably been attacked.

However as he stared at his opponent a feeling of excitement starting welling up in him. He had bit the bait and most importantly Naruto had been able to track, not too well, but at least track his movements.

They could do this.

The man stared back with a grin, resting on his haunches. He had purple dreadlocks and headphones around his ears.

"Where's your other friend hmm? Maybe waiting to ambush me?"

Naruto could not believe their luck. The man had actually bit their weak, and truthfully speaking, pathetic bait. Right about now Killua was hiding nearby and watching, completely concealing his presence. Now it was time to play some mind games.

"No, why would he bother doing that? He's gonna kill the big shot in there and then we're leaving, duh!" Naruto replied with the most nonchalant expression and tone of voice he could muster. He even put in a little bit of sarcasm just for a good touch.

The man stared at him as a sudden silence took the rooftop by storm. They both stared at each other and Naruto could practically hear what the man was thinking but he didn't expect for the gods of luck to shine down on them again.

'Is he bluffing? If he is that means that his friend is actually waiting to ambush me. Wait! Where the hell is that girl that was with them earlier!?'

A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face. It may very well be possible that the two of them were bait whilst the girl was the one who was actually going after his charge! If that was the case he didn't have a second to waste.

Caught in between a rock and a hard place, with a dull but condescending look being directed at him from this cheeky brat, the Nen user scowled and dashed off towards the hideout. Half a second after he dashed back he had to leap to the left as Naruto sprung at him and blood flew through the air.

'He's fast!' the Nen user thought in shock as one hand came to his shoulder to staunch the bleeding. He had underestimated this kid; no seven year old had that kind of reaction speed!

"Hmmm where do ya think you're going? My job is to keep you here until the target's dead. Then I think I'll head over to that nice, large and crowded plaza over there," here he pointed at the place he was talking about and a cheeky grin crawled on his face as a malicious aura began to be emitted from him, "after all it wouldn't look too good if a grown man was chasing down a scared, crying and helpless seen year old am I right?"

'This fucking kid! They planned it all out; fuck!'

Right about now there was a good chance that the girl was well on her way, if not already at his charge's location, and she was about to take him out. He didn't have time to waste on two brats. Because of this he didn't bother to use his ability; it was very powerful but also very heavy and right now every second counted.

This turned out to be a fatal mistake. Along with his incorrect assumption that Machi was working along with them, which was not entirely his fault and was simply a circumstance that was completely out of his and their control, it led him to making the worst possible mistake he could have. He had dashed back in a rush and thus had been attacked.

The worst however was that he had been guided by Naruto's attack.

The blonde had chosen his right side of the body to assault on purpose; in order to make him dodge to the left. Because Killua was hiding that way. Then he had been taunted by Naruto, whose specialty was pissing people.

To add insult on top of injury the blonde then reached with his left hand inside the pocket of his hoodie which immediately put his opponent on guard. The Nen user knew that he could not attack carelessly because the kid's friend was still watching but at the same time he couldn't waste too much time. So he watched, his attention focused on Naruto but still on the lookout for his friend as the blonde reached into his pocket and took out…

A chocolate milk carton?

Slowly, but surely, his patience with this entire matter had been wearing thin. And this was his last straw. He was being mocked and made a fool out of by some snot nosed, cocky son of a bitch of a brat!

Throwing caution to the wind then man lunged at Naruto, a vicious snarl raked across his lips, intent on tearing off that superior look on his face. He threw a punch that the blonde ducked under and countered by kicking him in his right side.

'Almost there… I just need to push him a couple more meters and then Killua can jump him!'

So angry that he was seeing red the man with dreadlocks snarled and his aura flared out into life in front of him. It climbed, reaching heights that he had never been to, so great was his anger. And that anger influenced his Nen as well as his rationale.

Because of his great rage and because he was putting off more aura then he had previously when he conjured his weapon this meant that it took longer than usual for his aura to condense, focus and form his conjured object. It could also be attributed to the fact that his rage was clouding his ability to think clearly and to exercise his imagination that it took longer than usual. The length of time it took for it to fully manifest was a full second.

Naruto reacted in 0.5. He darted at his opponent, focusing his aura onto his right hand as he thrust it forward like he was trying to run the man through with a sword. It was only due to the Nen user's reflexes that he was able to bring up the handle part of his conjured object, which was not even fully formed, to block the attack. Nevertheless it did the job but it also pushed him back just enough.

He skidded backwards and his aura finished materialising his conjured weapon. With a shout of, "Morning Star: Bloody Dawn!" his conjured weapon, a giant morning star mace with one end being round and full of spikes appeared in his hand but it was too late.

The second the man had finished conjuring his weapon he went to swing it down when he felt death upon him. It was only for a second but it seemed to drag for an eternity, the feeling of being caught off guard by someone, of being attacked when he was at his weakest, the dread that permeated his entire existence.

A Nen user's greatest weakness perhaps, the one that all of them shared, was that when they were activating their ability no matter what kind it was, from Conjurer to Emitter, they would have to concentrate on it, even if it was for less than a second. Having beforehand been told by Machi that they should attack when the Nen user was using his ability Killua figured that it was when the person's guard would be at their lowest.

He was right.

The man with dreadlocks froze as he felt a burning sensation in his chest. He slowly looked down to see a hand sticking out of it, and caught in his murderer's fingernails, which seemed to be elongated and incredibly sharp somehow, was his still beating heart.

The shock of seeing his heart thrust out of his chest as well as the torrent of pain shattered his Nen ability as he keeled over, his last seconds of life being of the two boys who had thoroughly bested him.

His last thought was that he would never get to complete the legendary game, Greed Island, and cash in on the massive reward from it. He had only taken this job to get practise after all…

Killua and Naruto stared at the dead form of their enemy, his eyes blank and devoid of life as blood pooled around his corpse. The silver haired child had waited until the exact right moment, when he was about to use his ability to rush at him as quietly and quickly as possible, concealing his presence until the last possible second before a burst and a quick focus of Gyo to his right hand aided him in stabbing their enemy in the chest.

Both boys caught their breath for a few moments, until it wasn't coming out in short hurried bursts as the adrenaline stopped rushing around their bloodstream. They had done it. The biggest obstacle to their mission was gone.

Now as they stared at the dead form of the man they both had been responsible for killing they felt a sense of accomplishment as well as a strange sense of emptiness. They had succeeded and hadn't gotten even injured in the process. Everything had gone exactly according to plan so why was it that they felt this dissatisfied feeling?

Killua was the first one to speak, "Let's go Naruto. Let's finish this." He muttered in the deafening silence that had enveloped the rooftop. The silver haired genius glanced at his friend who was staring at their dead opponent. It was then that Killua realised that Naruto had never actually killed anyone – sure his contracts had killed people but it was completely different to commit murder with your own two hands.

Killua knew that feeling well.

Naruto stared the man's dead form for a couple of moments longer before he nodded. He turned away from the corpse and clenched his fists. Right now he needed to focus on the mission and not the feeling of being uselessness that was ruling him at the moment. It had taken the both of them to take out an opponent like that? He sympathised with Killua's earlier feelings now. Those six months of training they had been through almost felt meaningless now.

Yes, right now his mind decided that they were pathetic. Having to resort to measures like that to beat an opponent of this calibre and being so helpless that they were caught by someone like Machi… they were pathetic. But Naruto vowed that he would not stay this way. He would take power within his grasp so that he would never feel this helpless again.

"Right, let's go Killua." They both jumped away from the corpse with the intention of finishing their mission.

Sneaking into the construction site, they avoided all of the guards and got to their target's location. The man was sitting on a block of concrete with a bored look on his face. In the same room as him were two other guards. Killua dropped down behind them and took both of them out silently. As both men dropped down to the floor lifelessly their employer got up from his seat and went to shout for help when a blow to the neck severed his spine and claimed his life. Naruto was the one to deliver it.

On the way he had insisted because it was his mission and Naruto wanted to finish this with his own two hands. Killua agreed because Naruto was he watched as his best friend took his first life.

Naruto stared at his hand both in wonder and terror. It had been so easy. He hadn't even put in that much effort to the strike and yet the man had dropped down, dead, almost immediately. It was then that he was reminded of something that Zeno had told him when he was instructing him in Nen.

'Nen is a rare power. Every person has the potential to use it but only a small percentage of the entire population can use it, let alone know of its existence. That is because someone trained in Nen can easily kill someone who's not. For people like us though it's quite convenient...' After lecturing his young charge the old man chuckled at his last sentence as Naruto only watched on with a sweat drop.

This was the power of Nen, the power that he had over people who were not initiated like he was. And that power was capable of doing incredible things Naruto was reminded of as he thought back to his ability.

He clenched his hand into a fist as a fire welled up inside his eyes. It was time for him to move away from just the basics. There had to be a way he could use Nen to make himself much stronger. He looked at his friend and saw that the same resolve was in his eyes.

---

Elsewhere Machi had finally reached her destination.

Inside were the rest of the spiders. Chrollo had told them to gather.

They had finally found where the Kurta clan was hiding.

---

Aaaaaaaaaaand cut! Well there it is ladies and gents. To be completely honest I am not pleased that this took almost an entire week to friggin' do but hey that's college for ya! A massive pain in the ass boys and girls… however I am officially on a break. I got a week off so I'll use a good portion of that to write the next chapter so hopefully it won't take as long as this one.

Well yep that's all there is to it. Try to drop a review for me would ya? Like on the last chapter I'm gonna aim for ten more but if I get more it will just be fan-frigging-tastic!