Chapter Six
A-class Encounter Part: 1
Six months. It has been six months since the apparent death of his eldest son. The explosion that rocked over a mile of fire country forest left no evidence. His youngest, who was barely outside the blast radius, mentioned that Naruto was at its epicenter.
'I wasn't fast enough.'
He had no time to wallow in self pity however, as the war was still going strong. And seeing as how Kitsuchi managed to get away, there wouldn't be any easy way out. It was also highly unlikely that he would get a chance like that again.
More shinobi perished. Men became widowers, women became widows and life moves on without a care. He needed to keep it together though. For his village's sake and for his family's sake.
A knock on his office door ripped him out of his depressing thoughts, "Enter."
His assistant opened the door, "Hokage-sama, the council is ready for you," she said with a bow.
He stood quickly, "Very well."
Before Naruto's death he was fighting for his village's survival and for the well being of the next generation. But now it was different. For the first time as Hokage, Minato Namikaze would be fighting for very personal reasons.
With a flutter of his specialized Haori, the Yodaime Hokage passed his still bowing assistant.
The world hasn't seen the Yellow Flash on the battlefield in over five years. Iwagakure and her allies would know why he was feared.
'Next time, I will be fast enough!'
"Well looky what we have here boys!" An exuberant male spoke, before coming out of the treeline. Several other men joined him, all armed with various weaponry, "It's a lone traveler. My guess is that he-or she which I hope is the case-is trying to escape the war by heading to the coast. Well I'll let you in on a secret friend, there is no escape from this shit, which is why my band and I are here to weed out the hopeful!"
The mentioned traveler stood at an average height, with a gray cloak and a kasa which concealed any features. After several moments of silence, the bandit leader spoke, "No response huh? Well how about this: fork over all your ryo and valuables, and we will let you go with only a minor beating. I think that's a rather fair deal, don't you boys?" The laughter of the other men was all the confirmation he needed.
In a flash, the cloaked figure was in front of the leader with a fist poised, "Bakuton: Jiraiken(Explosion release: Landmine fist)," the blow nearly folded the bandit in two, before he violently exploded, sending rubble and extremities flying.
The resulting shock wave blew the hat off the shinobi's head, unveiling green eyes and light-brown hair.
The other bandits stood in shock, "He-he blew up Kaigo; he's a fuckin' shinobi! I'm out of here!" One of the more overweight members of the band said, as he booked it back into the forest. Getting over their shock, the other bandits stumbled after him, their weapons forgotten.
After a moment a ruffling was heard, as a young boy with blonde hair and a brown cloak stepped out from the shrubbery behind the shinobi, "Good job Gari, you exceeded my expectations." Silence was the response, to which Naruto frowned, "I shouldn't have expected a puppet to speak, even a human one."
'Although.' he thought, 'I'm glad I tested human puppetry on various bandits out here, before I used Gari's corpse. Took close to six months to reverse engineer Sasori's deranged art.'
Human puppetry was one of the most vile techniques that he's ever heard of. Although, it honestly made a lot of sense. Why would you not put the corpses of the dead to use? It was a waste of talent if you asked him.
While vile, Naruto did have to concede to the overwhelmingly positive results. Standard puppets on average, have less durability, versatility and even power. Since your run of the mill puppets use wood due to it its flexible nature, as well as metal, it is difficult to channel chakra through them. This is the case even with chakra conductive material. But human puppets? They have the chakra pathway system like all human beings within the Elemental Nations. And using chakra, you can easily manipulate them. This is because human bodies are born with the ability to manipulate chakra, while wood and metal is not.
And if you have a puppet with a kekkei genkai? Then you become a force to be reckoned with.
The process of making human puppets though, is beyond arduous. Just one mistake could damage the corpse, causing failure for the entire project. This is where he was thanking whatever deity out there that he had Seiji to teach him medical ninjutsu. Although it took roughly six months, and over forty corpses before he had the confidence to work on Gari, it was definitely worth it.
The act of creating one was not for the feint of heart however. You have to remove all the organs, drain the blood and even install weapons and such within the puppet. This is the reason why Sasori was ostracized before he abandoned his village. 'it's funny,' he mused, 'People will brutally torture and murder others during war, but condemn those who create a weapon out of the dead.'
The blonde turned his gaze toward one of the bandit's mangled arms, 'The power of a kekkei genkai allowed me to get to this level. I'm guessing Sasori's human puppets are what pushes him into S-class.' He scratched his chin, 'Either way, It's time to pay Nami no Kuni(Land of Waves) a visit. From there, I'll see what the ruins of Uzushiogakure no Sato(Village Hidden by Whirling Tides) has to offer.
Nami no Kuni looked like a pile of literal filth he thought. After bypassing several bandit groups patrolling the area-which he found peculiar-Naruto walked across the water to the coastal village. The first thing he noticed was the acrid stench. The second thing was the filthy children in the streets, and a man getting beaten in an alleyway by a thug.
People come here to escape the war, just to run into another one. Only humans could be so malevolent, and only life could be so unforgiving.
Walking into the alleyway holding the thug, he cleared his throat loudly, "Hey balding asshole, over here."
The ruffian dropped the bloody man he was beating, before turning toward Naruto. An eye patch stretched across his face, and leather armor donned his body, "The fuck you say kid? I'll fuckin' rip your tongue right outta your head!"
The man stepped forward to execute a charge, but stopped as the blonde disappeared from his sight. He recoiled in shock, "What the hell?" Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he turned around with a savage hay maker.
Hitting nothing but air, he noticed several senbon protruding from his out stretched arm. With a groan, his arm went limp, as he felt a tap on his shoulder yet again. Spinning around with a snarl, he went for a ruthless back fist with his good arm. With a smirk, the blonde caught the offending appendage, before slamming a senbon into the thug's throat before he could even hope to react. The man's eyes went white, as he collapsed in a heap on the ground.
Turning to the now gobsmacked victim, he narrowed his eyes, "I'm not from around here, so enlighten me as to why bandits have taken over your village. And while your at it, tell me why this place is in such disarray."
A barely noticeable lump formed on one of the man's cheeks as he began to speak, an indicative sign of a broken jaw he mused.
"Gato is the reason kid," His voice was shaky, as some blood leaked from his mouth. "Gato is a ruthless, heartless businessman, who has recently taken over Wave with no problems due to the war."
Naruto was stoic as the man before him rubbed his jaw, "I'm guessing these bandits were hired by this Gato?"
The man nodded, "He hired these bandits-mercenaries really-to browbeat, and physically force us into doing whatever he wants. He also has control of the now booming slave trade, with the war, Gato is making serious profits on slavery. It's awful."
Silence blanketed the area, as the man started to silently cry. The blonde sighed, before turning around to leave, "That which doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger. You are too aged to become a shinobi, so strengthen your mind. You have lived today, learn from your mistakes and better yourself."
And with that, Naruto Namikaze left the beaten man to his thoughts.
Concealed at the top of a tree on the outskirts of a mansion, Naruto's genius mind flared, 'My only concern is if he has any shinobi guards under his thumb. I'm going to say yes, because anyone with the amount of wealth Gato has accumulated, would be ridiculously cautious. The real question is if the shinobi is a significant threat.'
Finding Gato's base of operations wasn't a particularly difficult task, given that all he had to do was follow one incompetent mercenary for a few hours. Unsurprisingly, the business tycoon lived in an extravagant five story mansion. The massive structure was patrolled by an ample amount of guards, which was still child's play to even mere genin shinobi.
The blonde watched as two bandits that were arguing earlier, start to brawl, "Feeble minded." He muttered
'I highly doubt the shinobi is S-rank, since they usually have their own agendas. So, the worst I can encounter is an A-ranked ninja. They will also probably be from Kirigakure no Sato, seeing how Gato controls the trade routes from here to there. Any Kiri missing-nin would jump at the chance to hide behind Gato's political invulnerability. But, can I reasonably fight an A-class threat? Even with Gari, it would be life or death.
One of the bandits that started to lose pulled a knife out from under his sleeve, before jamming it into his opponents liver, 'If I can out smart the shinobi, then it is feasible. But, can I really count on my intelligence in every fight? Am I over relying on it?'
He smiled in realization, 'I'm overthinking it. I'll use a shadow clone to test the waters, and retreat if the opponent is problematic.'
Silently dropping down to the ground, Naruto Henged(Transformation technique) into the mercenary he followed earlier. Putting on the same scowl as the bandit had, he strolled through the patrols.
Nobody even batted an eye at him, as he made his way to the front doors of Gato's mansion. A rather large bandit stood at the double doors with his arms crossed, "Shen, what do you want you little shit?" He asked.
Playing his roll, he snarled, "Fuck off, I have information for the boss. I saw some guy who actually transformed himself into one of us. I think he is a shinobi!"
His eyebrows rose, "I'll bring this to the boss's attention-"
"No, you need to guard the door just in case he comes through here. I can easily do it," He interrupted. The guard frowned, before opening the door, "Be quick about it, the boss is busy with that lightning-sword bitch."
Walking passed the guard, his expression turned stoic, 'Lightning-sword bitch?' That sounds like ninjutsu to me. I've read about applying raiton chakra to weaponry to increase cutting power. Could this shinobi be from Kumogakure no Sato?'
Walking through the vast halls of the mansion, he heard a laugh from a room close to him. Putting his ear to the door, he heard grunting with the occasional sound of mewling. Opening the door, he took in the situation. A large male was on top of a woman, whose face was covered in blood, tears and snot.
'So, this is what rape is. Compared to the outrage this educes, it all seems rather dull,' He thought, before closing the door.
The man immediately stopped, and turned toward him with his man bits hanging out, "The fuck are ya doin' in here?"
Naruto drew two senbon, before tossing them with unerring precision. One struck the man's jaw, and the other struck below the belt. In an instant the man was on the ground, making frantic, pained noises through his nose.
The blonde turned to the traumatized woman, "Stay quiet, and you can possibly leave here alive."
Taking her quick nod as a sign of agreement, he walked over to the man holding his injured genitalia, before kneeling down, "Listen here you waste of space. I'm going to ask you a couple of questions, and you will comply. If you do not, I'll cut them off, okay?"
The bandit nodded the affirmative, before Naruto carefully took his senbon out of the man's jaw, "First question: where is Gato's office? I'm guessing that is where he spends his time."
The mercenary was sweating up a storm, "I-it's at the top floor. J-just take a left from t-the stairs in the west wing."
The Namikaze nodded, "Last question: I know your boss has employed a shinobi. What is her name, and where does she hail from? Tell me everything you know about her. If you do, I won't hurt, or kill you.
The man actually smiled in relief, "Her name is Ameuri Ringo, a-and she hails from Kiri. A-all's I know is that she uses these two lightning swords to cut through shit like b-butter. That's all I know man, I swear."
Naruto smirked, "Thank you for your cooperation. And as promised, I will let you live. However," He through a kunai which embedded itself in front of the woman. "I never said anything about her. He then slammed the senbon back into his jaw, before taking his leave.
Gato was one happy man. Being a multi-billion ryo businessman meant that almost everything was easy. Killing, fucking, purchasing, living, these things and more were anything but a chore.
Sitting at his desk flanked by his trusty samurai, Gato laughed to himself, 'So they think they can build themselves a bridge do they? What idiots, I'll crush them before a single man lifts a plank of wood.'
A knock at his office door knocked him out of his scheming, "Who the fuck is it?"
"My name is Shen sir, I have very important news for you," The voice was muffled by the mahogany wood.
Gato scowled, "Zori, Waraji, let him in," Zori nodded toward Waraji, before walking over and opening the door. He then grabbed 'Shen,' before pushing him onto his knees in front of Gato's desk.
The tycoon smirked, "Speak trash."
shen nodded, "While I was in town, I noticed a man in an alleyway transform into one of us. He looked identical to someone I'm buddies with, so I came over to tell you personally sir."
"A shinobi?" Waraji mused, as Gato snarled, "What did he look like before he did his little magic trick?"
Shen's form turned into a puff of smoke, before two kunai launched out of it toward both samurai. One embedded itself into the closer Zori's neck, while the other pierced Waraji's shoulder. The now revealed Naruto was in front of the injured man in less then a second with the kunai from Zori's corpse. In one swift motion the knife was inside one of Waraji's eyes that were still looking at the plume of smoke.
"He looked like me," The blondes tone was chipper, as the samurai's body hit the ground with a thud.
The tycoon was at a loss of words, as he looked between his late guardsmen. The Namikaze smirked, "Here's the deal Gato: you give up all your information-budgeting, offshore and onshore accounts, all your money-and I'll let you live."
Before he gave a response, the office door exploded revealing a short red haired woman with two jagged swords in each hand. She smirked showing her shark-like teeth, "It seems I came just in time Gato."
The mentioned man had a full blown smile, "No you little blonde shit, here's the deal: you die, and I spend the rest of the day watching your body burn!"
Naruto fully turned toward the female of the room, "You must be Ameyuri Ringo. If i'm not mistaken you were once a member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shu(Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist).
The swordswoman let out a snort, "Yeah, seems you have some knowledge kid. I'm going to have to kill you quick though, I'm getting really sick of these lack of challenges."
The blonde smiled as he was suddenly impaled by one of her swords, "You shouldn't underestimate me." His body then radiated white light, before detonating."
For the mercenaries outside the mansion, life was pretty good. They got free food, a free place to stay. Hell, they even got free woman to toy around with every once and a while. However, none of them really took in the dangerous nature of their job.
The massive explosion that nearly took off the fifth story of the mansion changed their thoughts very quickly. Some of them were crushed by falling debris, while the others scrambled away from the blasting zone.
Without a sound Ameyuri appeared with Gato under her arm, before she dropped him in the courtyard, "What the fuck was that you red haired bitch! You let that little shit blow up my office!"
Ignoring her employer, the former Kiri shinobi drew her swords with a scowl, 'Maybe I will have a bit of fun today.'
A cloaked figure coming out of nearby rubble caught her attention. She raised an eyebrow at the elongated head of the figure, 'Did the kid put on a helmet or something?'
"Whatever, let's go kid!" She yelled, before utilizing a shunshin no jutsu to get in front of Spectre. With a smirk, she swung one of her blades forward, only to be met by a blade of the puppets own. With grunt, the shinobi swung her other sword vertically, which was met by Spectre's second sword.
A deranged grin now spread across her features, as she let loose a flurry of strikes unseen by every non-shinobi in the area. In response, the hidden Namikaze moved his fingers at blinded speeds, which caused Spectre to match Ameyuri blow for blow.
After a short scuffle, Naruto twitched both his middle fingers backward, which caused the puppet to disengage, 'Spectre can't keep up with her, the wood and metal is straining.'
The red head scoffed at the maneuver, before channeling lightning chakra through her prized blades. The reaction was immediate, her swords now radiated lighting. The sparks danced between her swords, as her perpetual smile grew even wider, "You have amused me kid, but can you handle me when I start to get serious?"
The blonde inwardly scoffed, before twitching his pinky and ring fingers. Spectre's chest underneath its cloak opened, and countless senbon flew toward the electrified shinobi, 'Puppet?' She thought, before barreling toward Spectre while simultaneously knocking every senbon out of the air with her swords.
The cripple's left eye twitched, 'She is going too fast to detonate them effectively.'
As the former Kiri shinobi came withing a meter of his puppet, Naruto twitched his left thumb. In response, Spectre's helmet rolled backward revealing a steel tube. Ameyuri's eyes widened, as a stream of fire exploded from the protrusion.
Gato gawked as his only hope was obscured by the torrent of flame, "You better not be dead Ringo!"
After several seconds the flames stopped, and dark smoke permeated the air. From the nearby rubble, the hiding blonde's eyes narrowed, 'Too easy, she is still out there. She wouldn't have been a part of the seven swordsmen otherwise.'
The ground underneath Spectre caved in, as a sword wreathed in lightning sliced the puppet in two.
Naruto's eyes widened, 'She used doton to hide underneath the ground?' He then reflexively ducked the now revealed swordswoman's blade. She smirked, "I found ya, I didn't expect a little kid like you to be a puppeteer!"
'Shit! In close quarters I'm as good as dead!' With a grunt, he grabbed a piece of rubble with his chakra threads, before pulling it in front of him. Ameyuri sliced right through it with ease, before dodging the now bifurcated Spectre's haphazard punch. With a laugh, she sliced through the half of the puppet with unnerving ease. Her grin disappeared as her experienced eyes narrowed. There was a explosive note attached to Spectre's innards.
Ringo easily shunshined out of the blast radius, before a small plume of smoke caught her attention, 'He's over there, huh? The kid is pretty good, he managed to last a few seconds while directly in front of me.'
As the smoke cleared, the form of Gari of the explosion fist was revealed, "Another puppet eh? Well that's okay, maybe this one will actually put a scratch on me!"
I know, I know, what a dick move. Cliffhangers are cliche, but I need to really think about what is coming next in Remembrance. I know it might seem like a pernicious thing to do, but trust me, I'm doing this for a better long-run.
Now, I have decided to have Naruto set off on his own. This might have mixed reactions out of the people following this story, because I'm sure some of you wanted him to stay in Konoha. I started out this story as a neglect fan fiction, but I soon realized that I want the story to go into a more realistic direction. I apologize if I lead some of you on, but I didn't want to make an unrealistic story for you all(I know fan fiction itself is supposed to be unrealistic, but suspension of disbelief is a thing.)
Also this story is a about 4,000 words, so scratch my previous statement of 2,000+ for every chapter. I realized that this story is going to be far more grandiose than I original planned. Expect 3,000-5,000+ words per chapter.
Jutsu
Henged(Transformation technique): Allows the user to transform into anything from another person, to even inanimate objects. E-Ranked
Bakuton: Jiraiken(Explosion release: Landmine fist): A kekkei genkai ability that causes an explosion on contact with the user's fist. The explosion is outward, so little harm could come to the user. Upper B-Ranked
Stats
Naruto Namikaze
Ninjutsu: 4/6
Taijutsu: 3/6
Genjutsu: 2.5/6
Bukijutsu(Weapon technique): 4.5/6
Intelligence: 5/6
Strength: 2/6
Speed: 3.5/6
Stamina: 3/6
Hand Seals: 4/6
Total: 31.5
XXX
Ameyuri Ringo
Ninjutsu: 4/6
Taijutsu: 4.5/6
Genjutsu: 2/6
Bukijutsu(Weapon technique): 5.5/6
Intelligence: 3/6
Strength: 3/6
Speed: 4.5/6
Stamina: 3/6
Hand Seals: 3.5/6
Total: 33