Hey everybody, welcome to the next epic installment of Nine Crimes, Nine Kings. Last time I left you all with a cliffhanger involving Bee. I do hope you're all ready for the conclusion of that. On a side note, I do hope you all enjoyed the lemon in the last chapter. It was one of my more decent lemons considering the ones I've written before it. Now, let's get to the main event. The next big chapter begins now.
Tsunade Senju was one of the finest medical professionals ever to be put on the face of the earth. She could diagnose almost any disease, knew the best possible treatment for just about anything, and was even a very talented surgeon. Anyone would be more than happy to be in her very capable hands. However, she'd only recently picked up her old profession once again. After the death of her lover Dan to the same fatal disease that took her little brother, Tsunade went into a dark depression. All she had been able to do was try and drink her pain away.
That all changed when Naruto formed the Nine Kings. Jiraiya had told Naruto about Tsunade and the young man felt very bad for her. Not to mention he was good friends with Jiraiya and it was clear how much Tsunade's drinking hurt him. It had taken a lot of doing, but Naruto did manage to get Tsunade off the bottle. He reminded her so much of her little brother that she just couldn't stop herself from listening to him.
Now she was Naruto's personal doctor, taking care of him and doing favors whenever he needed him to. He needed a big favor right now, since Bee was almost on death's doorstep. She had set up a small office for herself, with the help of Naruto's money, and she had more than enough equipment in it to take care of Bee.
A was pacing back and forth outside the office door, praying that his brother would be alright. Naruto and Fu came running up to him. They began to bombard him with questions, "What's up with Bee? Is he okay? What the hell happened?"
A snapped at them, "He's dying, I don't know if he's okay, and it looks like that sick fuck Madara sent him some kind tainted Bourbon!"
Naruto and Fu realized A wasn't in the mood for questions right now. Fu apologized, "Sorry A, we're just worried about our friend, that's all."
There were chairs outside the office and A sat down in one of them, "I didn't mean to snap at you like that...I just don't want to lose my brother...who else is coming?"
Naruto had almost forgotten about that part, "Gaara's coming, but all of the other kings were busy right now. I didn't tell them much, just that Bee was in the hospital."
A was happy that anyone was coming to see Bee at all, "I'm glad that someone else cares," A mumbled as a fox came out of nowhere and jumped in his lap, "What the hell?"
The fox put his paws on the large man's chest and started to lick his face. Naruto laughed and began to explain, "That's my fox, Kurama. Animals are really good at reading human emotion, so he was just trying to cheer you up."
A wanted to be his usual grouchy self, but just couldn't do it, "Would you get off of...oh, what the hell."
A started to pet the fox while Naruto and Fu just watched with amusement. Soon Gaara came as well, very confused at the sight, "What in the fuck…"
Naruto just waved it off, "I'll tell you about it later. We don't know how Bee's doing yet. We're just waiting for Tsunade to come out and tell us."
Speak of the devil, that's right when Tsunade came out, her blond hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was wearing green scrubs, "Son of bitch, that was a hard one."
A put Kurama down and asked urgently, "Is Bee okay? Is he gonna make it?"
Tsunade leaned back on the wall and sighed, "Yeah, you got him here just in time. A couple minutes longer and he could've very well died."
A raised his hand up and shook Tsunade's, "Thank you so much. Just...thank you so much."
Tsunade didn't think anything of it, "I'm happy to do it. Any friend of Naruto's is a friend of mine."
A motioned to the door, "Can I go in and see him?"
Tsunade smiled and nodded, "Of course. He's awake, but I don't know for how much longer. Just don't get him too riled up, he's still a little weak."
A didn't need to hear anymore. He opened the door and went right in to see his brother. Naruto turned to Tsunade and gave her a quick hug, "Like he said Tsunade, thanks. I owe you one."
Tsunade felt he didn't owe her anything, but still accepted the hug, "Come on Naruto, you know I love to help you. Nice to see you guys too, Fu, Gaara."
Fu gave a little wave and said, "Hi."
Gaara gave a more somber nod and a brief, "Hello."
Naruto had one big question on his mind right now, "What the hell was in that bourbon that he had that kind of reaction to?"
Tsunade had a hard time figuring that out herself, "That took me a while to figure out. His throat was closing up and I remembered in his file that he's allergic to certain types medications," Naruto had given Tsunade all of the King's files, "So I stopped looking for poisons and started treating it like an allergic reaction. Low and behold, he started to get better."
Fu scratched her chin, "Wait, how did this guy know what kind of medication Bee was allergic to?"
That was another one Tsunade could answer easily, "It wouldn't be hard to figure out for someone with access to medical records. Any doctor could figure it out."
Naruto mumbled under his breath, "Orochimaru...that son of bitch did it again."
Tsunade heard the name almost instantly, "Did you just say Orochimaru?"
Naruto hated the man, and he'd never even met him, "Yup, your old buddy from the coroner's office has been causing us a lot of problems."
Tsunade didn't exactly like the way Naruto had put that, even if it had been sarcastically "Believe me, we're not buddies. That man is a fucking psycho who should be shot between the eyes. What does he have to do with any of this?"
Naruto mulled over how much he wanted to tell her, "Well, I can't tell you everything, but most of the Orochimaru stuff I'll fill you in on. Do me a favor and don't tell anyone else about this stuff. We're trying to keep it really hush hush right now, ya know?"
Tsunade waved his worries off, "Yeah yeah, just get to the point already."
Naruto could see she was eager, so he started to tell her what she wanted to know. She knew a little bit of it already, since A had to tell her a few things to save Bee, but most of what Naruto said was new to Tsunade. Once Naruto finished speaking, she just kind of shook her head, "I knew he'd never just go clean. He was doing some pretty fucked up things when he was a coroner, I just couldn't prove it."
Naruto had heard the same thing from Jiraiya, "He's a slippery little snake."
"That he is. Bee's doing fine now, you guys should probably go and the tell the other kings that he's alright," Tsunade said before she walked away,
Gaara reminded everyone that he was there by saying, "She's right Naruto. This is the first time a king's life's been gone after, and they need reassurance that it wasn't successful."
Fu was wondering something, "Didn't Jiraiya say that Madara probably wasn't gonna try and kill us?"
Naruto had already figured that one out, "He was proving a point. Madara was making sure that we knew, if we wanted us dead, we'd be dead. Right now he doesn't know that we know who he is, so he thinks that we think he's just a mysteriously powerful stranger."
Gaara's head hurt just from listening to that, "Naruto, what the fuck are you talking about?"
Even Fu was lost, "Sweetie, you're not making a ton of sense right now."
Naruto was starting to understand how Jiraiya felt when he was explaining thing, "Just let me call the other king and I'll tell them what happened. I don't want us meeting up right now and getting into a huge argument, so a call seems like the best choice."
Gaara and Fu agreed, "Okay, but we'll make some of the calls too. It'll go by faster that way."
Naruto wasn't going to argue, "Sounds good. Let's get this damn thing over with. I just know all of these guys are gonna be pissed."
When Kakashi got into the precinct, he quickly found that it was gonna be a rough day. Yamato was on the phone and he looked very excited, which told Kakashi that things were about to get complicated for him and Naruto. He saw Yamato hung up the phone and then came right for him, "Kakashi, you're not gonna believe this! I think I've got something that could lead me to how I'm gonna take down Naruto."
Kakashi let out a small, irritated groan and took a sip of his coffee, "Dammit Yamato, how many times do I need to tell you? Drop this thing already before you shoot your own career in the head."
Yamato just kept grinning, "You've gotta hear what I've got to say first. I just got off the phone with a friend of mine and he said that Naruto went to visit a suspected drug dealer named Killer Bee. Maybe he's using or maybe he's dealing, but I'm sure Naruto involved somehow!"
Kakashi brought his hand up and smack Yamato in the back of the head, "I've said it once and I'll say it again, drop it! You keep going off from if's and maybe's. You've brought that guy in so many times that any jury would be sure you've got a personal vendetta against him. Thanks to you, we'll need mountain of evidence just to have a chance at convicting him."
Yamato tried to object, "But,"
Kakashi wasn't interested in what he had to say, "No, go find another case to work! If you keep up this shit with Naruto, you're going to get kicked off the force and I'm not going to help you if you do!"
Yamato wanted to keep objecting, but chose not to. It was just too futile. Once he'd walked away, Rin came up behind Kakashi, "You were awfully hard on him."
Kakashi scoffed, "I'm just trying to protect him and Naruto. I've got both of their best interests at heart."
Rin knew that was true, "Fair enough. So Naruto's at the hospital,"
Kakashi didn't wait to hear anything, "He's at the hospital? Why am I just finding out about this now? I swear, if Madara did anything to him, I'll,"
Rin could see she hadn't started that right, "Woah, slow down Kakashi. He's just there to visit Bee. I guess Yamato wasn't clear about that part."
Kakashi nearly had a heart attack, "No, he wasn't. Don't fucking scare me like that Rin!"
Rin felt a little bad, "Sorry about that. Jeeze Kakashi, I've never seen you get that worried before."
Kakashi rolled his eyes, "Well yeah, I thought Naruto might be hurt. It was like it was happening all over again."
Rin caught that last part, "What was happening all over again?"
Kakashi suddenly realized that he'd said too much, "Nothing, I was just talking to myself."
Rin couldn't let this go, "It's not nothing Kakashi. Tell me what you meant by, 'It was like it was happening all over again.'"
Kakashi wanted to try and talk his way out of this one, but he knew better than to try that on Rin, "Come on Rin, you know what I'm talking about. My father, my captain, and Obito, three of the most important people in my life, have all gotten hurt. It seems to follow those that are around me. I know Obito didn't get physically hurt, but I still feel like his life was ruined because of me."
Rin hadn't ever seen this side of Kakashi, "Wow, you really feel like that stuff was your fault, don't you?"
Kakashi could see a pretty clear pattern, "Of course I do. That's the whole reason I didn't take Naruto right off the bat. My father killed himself and Minato was blown the hell up. I didn't really have a good father track record."
Rin found the whole thing insane, "Kakashi, why didn't you just come and talk to me about all this? I'm sure we could've worked something out."
Kakashi found that unlikely, "Yeah, I'd tell you that I'm a horrible person who gets everyone around him hurt. That seems like a real good idea."
Rin gave a Kakashi a light smack on the back of the head, "You're not a bad person, you're just an idiot sometimes."
Kakashi started to pull out his phone, "Fair enough I guess. I've gotta call Sasuke and get an update. It's been a couple of days, so hopefully he's made at least a little bit of progress with the whole Madara thing."
Rin couldn't interrupt that, "You do that. Hopefully we'll get some good news from him."
"Like maybe that we can put a bullet in that crazy old fuck's head," Kakashi muttered as he started to dial.
Sasuke told Kakashi everything he could when he called, which was a surprising amount considering it had just a couple of days. Madara was very pleased with Sasuke work and he'd definitely warmed up to the boy a little bit. Still though, Sasuke didn't feel comfortable enough to ask Madara where the info was yet. It was a good start, but he still had a ways to go.
They weren't on the phone for long because Kakashi didn't want to get noticed on his cellphone for too long and Sasuke was supposed to go and visit with Madara again. He had another thing to ask of Sasuke, which the young man was happy to do. Anything to keep the ball rolling for them.
Before long Sasuke was walking through the empty halls of Madara's mansion. He had already thought of somethings to say to Madara once he found him, something that would get his oversized ego going. That was the best way to get to Madara, making his head even bigger than it had been before.
Once Sasuke got into his room, Madara started in on him, "There you are Sasuke. I must say, you did very well. If you keep this up, we'll have the kings taken down in no time."
Sasuke had to fight to keep from rolling to his eyes, "That would be the point of all this. So didn't you say you had some kind of job for me?"
Madara grinned at him, "Right to the point, I like it. Yes, I've set up another task for you to complete. You see, money is no longer going to be an issue for the kings, we're going to have to focus on the physical attacks from now on."
Sasuke of course had to ask, "How do you know money is no longer going to be an issue for them?"
Madara figured he should explain that, "Fu is apparently the niece of a famous black market money lender named Kakuzu. He's agreed to extend his usual due date for the kings at Fu's request. They'll still pay him back, he's just giving them more time than he usually does."
Sasuke saw he had an opportunity to ask a very important question, "How in the hell do you know all of this?"
Madara mulled over whether or not he wanted to give the full truth to his grandson, "I've got a mole who's telling me all of this."
Sasuke decided to take a calculated risk, "Who the hell were you able to turn that knew that much? I thought Naruto's organization was all secretive and shit. You've gotta be pretty damn smart to pull that off."
Sasuke's plan to buff up Madara's ego worked, as he just had to brag after hearing that, "You see, the beauty of it is, my mole's not even actually in the king's organization."
"Wait a minute, how could someone in not in king's organization know that much..." Sasuke started to ask, then realized something, "Kakuzu! Fu must be telling him things and one of his men is overhearing it or something. That's how you've gotten all this info."
Madara was impressed that Sasuke had figured it out, "Kakuzu would never turn on his niece, but one of his men is more than willing to, for the right price."
Sasuke wanted to ask specifically who it was, but he wasn't stupid enough to ask. That would get Madara to suspicious. He would call Kakashi as soon as he could and tell Kakuzu to start checking out his men. For now, he needed to keep up the rouse with Madara, "Man, that's all pretty genius. So anyways, back to the matter at hand, what did you want me to do for you this time."
Madara had something special in mind for this one, "This one is for that bitch Yugito. I had to deal with her back when I worked in the business world, and she's one of the most insufferable people I've ever met. She was always certain she was right, screwed me over at every chance she got, and had an ego that was bigger than her actual company. Have you ever had to deal with someone like that?"
Sasuke could think of someone, but didn't say so that he could keep himself out of trouble, "No, not that I can think of."
Madara really hated Yugito, "Thanks to your work with Gato, I've got something perfect setup for her. I'm assuming that you left no physical evidence at the crime scene?"
Sasuke almost felt a little insulted that he would even ask, "I'm more than good enough not to leave anything behind. What does Gato have to do with Yugito?"
Madara got an evil smirk on his face, "Gato did some work with Yugito for some of his more legal business ventures. Thanks to their business relationship, I've got just what I need to screw her over."
Sasuke had a bad feeling about this, but he needed to do as Madara said, "Sounds good. What do I need to do?"
While Sasuke was busy hearing about who all he had to fuck with this time, Zabuza was waiting for his date to arrive at the restaurant. Zabuza and Pakura had begun to date under circumstance that definitely wouldn't be considered normal. It had all started a month ago when someone who worked for Yugura had borrowed money from Kakuzu and was completely unable to pay it back. Kakuzu was going to rip his heart out like he'd did to everyone who didn't pay, but Yagura still needed the guy.
After much arguing, the two settled on a deal that would allow Yagura's man to live. If either Zabuza or Kisame agreed to help Pakura with a little something she'd been working on for Kakuzu, he'd let the debt go. Of course Zabuza and Kisame wouldn't be paid for this, which was a problem for Kisame. He didn't do anything for free. That pretty much meant Zabuza had to do it by default.
Pakura was going to burn down a loan sharks building under Kakuzu's orders. The fool who owned the place had the balls to open a place like that in Kakuzu's territory. It was easy for him to take care off, thanks to Pakura's love of all things fire related. However, he needed some muscle to gun down a couple of guys who were gonna be standing in Pakura's way. No one too tough, it would just be kind of a pain if Pakura had to take them out and try and light a fire that couldn't be traced back to her. That was where Zabuza came in. He'd just kill the guys let Pakura do the rest.
It all went just fine. In fact, it almost went a little too well. Zabuza couldn't help but notice the glint in Pakura's eyes as she burned the house to the ground and Pakura was amazed at the Zabuza's ability to kill a man without making so much as a sound. Without even thinking about it, he asked Pakura out for dinner and the two hit it off even more. One night in bed together later and the two had been dating ever since.
As Zabuza was thinking about all this, Pakura got to the restaurant and sat down with her boyfriend at the table, "Hello Zabuza, sorry I'm late. There was a building burning on my way here and I got rather distracted."
Zabuza should've known, "Haha, that's my little firebug! So how've you been?"
Pakura shrugged, "Same shit, different day. You know how it is."
Zabuza didn't feel like that today, "I wish. Yagura borrowed money for Kakuzu, but he didn't borrow enough to pay for me and Kisame's services. He said that he only wanted to take out enough to pay for what he absolutely had to. What an asshole. I swear, if there was a job out there for me that would pay even close to what Yagura usually does, I'd blow his head off in a second."
Pakura liked Kakuzu quite a bit, so she couldn't really relate, "Maybe you'll get that chance one day. I love my job."
Zabuza scoffed a little and took a sip of his drink, "Well ya, you get do what you love and your boss treats you good. Mine's a fucking selfish nutjob."
Pakura smiled a little bit, "My boss is the best of the best. He let's me do almost anything that I wish, as long as it doesn't come back to bite him in the ass later."
Zabuza raised his eyebrows a little bit, "I'll tell you one thing, I'd like to bite that tight little ass of yours."
Pakura blushed a little, but giggle too. "Maybe later, if you're lucky," she said as her phone went off. She pulled up an answered a text, "Or maybe not."
Zabuza looked a little heartbroken, "Oh come on, what's wrong now?"
Pakura looked a little distraut, "Kakuzu wants to see me right away. He says's that it's super important. No way I can let him wait."
Zabuza just couldn't catch a break today, "Great, so another thing doesn't pan out today."
Pakura stood up to leave, but gave him a little kiss on the cheek before she did, "I promise to come over later and work all that stress out of you. How does that sound?"
Zabuza's mood got a lot better when he heard that, "Now that's more like it. Drop by my place whenever you like."
"I always do," Pakura said, as she walked away.
Kakuzu had never been this angry in his entire life. His blood was boiling with rage, more rage than he even knew he could feel. One of his men had betrayed him! Him of all people! Didn't they know who he was? He was one of the most important people in all of the Konoha crime world. How dare they try and play him like that!
He'd just gotten a call from Naruto fifteen minutes ago, and apparently his mole had managed to get Madara to admit that the leak was in Kakuzu's organization. When he thought about it, it actually made perfect sense. No one would think to look at his people after all.
As he paced angrily around his his office, Pakura knocked on the door and opened it. She poked her head inside, "Hey Kakuzu, is this a good time?"
"No, but come in anyways," Kakuzu grumpled.
Pakura may not have been great at reading emotions, but she could tell Kakuzu was upset easily enough, "What's so important sir? You seem pretty pissed off about something."
Kakuzu smash his hand on his desk, "Pissed off? I'm way beyond pissed off!"
Pakura took a couple of steps back, "Okay, I get the idea. What the hell happened?"
Kakuzu grabbed a lamp of his desk and smashed it, "One of my men fucking betrayed me! They listened in to what Fu and I were talking about and sold the fucking information to people who are after Fu!"
Pakura got nervous all of sudden, "Wait, are you saying that you think it's me?"
Kakuzu figured that'd be her first question, "Of course not, if I thought it was you I would've killed you already. You weren't here the day Fu told me about that art, so there's no way you could've been the one who sold me out."
Pakura calmed down, "Oh thank god, I'd like my heart to stay in my chest. So if not me, then who?"
Kakuzu had thought all of this through, "The only people who knew enough to pull all this off are Hidan and Sasori. Problem is, I have no clue which one it was. Neither of them have given me enough of a reason to trust them, but they haven't said anything that would make me think they're traitors either. I've got nothing to work with here."
Pakura felt a little bad for him, but had to ask, "Why did you call me? What do I think I could do about all this?"
Kakuzu was counting on her, "Both of those men are worth a hell of a lot of money. If I just killed them both, it would take me ages to replace them. They wouldn't admit anything if I just interrogated them and it'd cost me money if I tortured them, mainly because I'd have to pay for the one who survive's hospital bills."
Pakura knew that was. Kakuzu didn't mess around when he wanted info out of someone, "Are you saying that you want me to investigate this and I find out if it was Sasori or Hidan?"
Kakuzu had a feeling she'd get the whole thing figured out, "I want you to find out which one it is and kill them."
Pakura looked excited, "I've just got one question."
Kakuzu already knew what she was gonna ask, "Yes, you can burn them to death."
Pakura grinned victoriously, "That's all I need to know. I'll burn the shit out of the bastard!"
Considering he wanted this guy to suffer, Kakuzu knew he'd chosen correctly, "Sounds perfect. I'm assuming that you'll be able to figure out who it is one your own. I've got somethings of my own I need to work on, so I can't help you much."
Pakura didn't need help, "I'll be able to figure out who it is without any problem. They won't even know I've got them figured out until I'm standing next to them with the match."
Kakuzu was feeling a little better now, "That'll work out just fine. That's all I need from you for now. I hope that I didn't take up too much of your time."
Pakura remember that Zabuza was likely still up, "No, it's fine. I can still salvage the night pretty easily. I'll see you later."
Kakuzu waved by to her as she left, "Alright, see you later."
Pakura started to leave and she called Zabuza, "Hey Zabuza, you still feel like meeting up tonight?"
Zabuza more than felt like it, "Do you even have to ask? Meet me at my place in like 15 minutes. I'll give a workout you'll never forget."
"I'll be there soon. We'll see who works out who," Pakura warned him and hung up. It was still gonna be a fun night.
The next morning, Naruto was finally starting to feel like he was making some headway against Madara. They almost had his mole pinned down, which would be a huge victory. If the mole wasn't there to watch feed Madara information, they might actually able to trick him into screwing himself over.
That's why he was heading off to see Jiraiya. Naruto was hoping the old man could tell them what they should be doing once Madara's mole was taken out. Naruto had some smart people advising him, but it couldn't hurt to have Jiraiya's opinion on all this stuff.
He got to Jiraiya's house and knocked on the door, just like he always did. However, Jiraiya didn't answer as quickly as he usually did. It was taking him more time than it really should, which had Naruto nervous. Did something happen to his surrogate grandfather?
Finally Jiraiya answered the door, but he didn't look quite right. He was rubbing his head as if he was in a lot of pain, "Dammit Naruto, why do you gotta knock so hard?"
Naruto figured he must have a headache and looked pretty nauseous, "Shit man, did you get drunk last night?"
"Did you figure that one out all on your own genius?" Jiraiya growled, and motioned for Naruto to come inside.
It had been a while since Naruto had seen Jiraiya like this, "What did you get drunk for? Something happen last night?"
Jiraiya went into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee, "Don't you remember what's coming up...oh, did you want a cup?"
Naruto could use some coffee, "Thanks, that'd be great. What's coming up?"
Jiraiya handed Naruto one cup and took the other, "It's almost October kid. Yesterday marked twenty five years since Minato first told me he was gonna be made captain and it was almost time for Kushina to have you."
That had completely slipped Naruto's mind, "Wow, it's that time again already. I'm gonna be 25 soon, aren't I?"
Jiraiya took a sip of his coffee, hoping the caffeine would sooth his head, "Yes, you will be. I was thinking about that last night and hopeful seemed. He was gonna change everything. Now he's just gone...and everything's gone to hell…"
Naruto really wanted to cheer him up, "Oh come man, it's not all bad. We're finally starting to get Madara back a little bit. Everything's gonna be fine soon."
Jiraiya just kept sipping on his coffee, "That's not what I meant kid. I was talking about you and Kakashi. You're a fucking crime lord and he's a dirty cop for shit sake. Minato wouldn't have wanted any of this and he'd hate me for letting it happen."
Naruto felt a little ping of guilt when he said that, "Come on, you know that I'm happy. I've got you and Fu, Kakashi and Rin a little bit too."
Jiraiya looked down into his coffee cup and muttered, "I'm worried about the kind of person you are. Minato fought and died to stop the very thing you're becoming. How am I supposed to feel about that?"
"...I really don't know," Naruto told him honestly, "This is just who I've kind of become. The only way I've ever been able to find success in this world is through crime. It's all I know how to do."
Jiraiya knew that was the truth, "Doesn't mean that I feel any better. I could teach you ya know? I could help learn how to get out of that life."
Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Jiraiya, you know that I can't do that."
Jiraiya sighed and sipped his coffee, "Ya I know. So what did you come here for?"
Naruto wasn't worried about Madara anymore, he just wanted to cheer up Jiraiya, "Don't worry about it. How about we do something fun for today? We could go see a movie, go to a shooting range, something like that."
Jiraiya didn't object to the idea, but he didn't seem super excited about it either, "Alright, that sounds like it'd be nice."
Naruto could see that he needed to pull out the big guns, "Will you excuse me for just a second? I need to call someone real quick."
"Sure, my coffee needs a couple of minutes to kick in anyways," Jiraiya told him.
Naruto stood up and went to a side room to make his call. It took a couple of seconds, but the person on the other end soon answered, "Hello?"
Naruto was she answered, "Hey Tsunade, it's Naruto. I'm at Jiraiya's right now and I was wondering if you could come over and help me cheer him up."
"Cheer him up? What the hell's got the old pervert in a bad mood to begin with?" Tsunade asked skeptically.
Naruto explained what they'd been talking about and Tsunade started to feel kind of bad, "Well shit...I guess that I could come by and try to improve his mood. But if he starts to hit on me,"
Naruto didn't need her to finish, "Then you're free to leave. Just get here quick. I've never seen him depressed before. It's kind of creepy."
After Naruto hung up, he spent the next 20 minutes trying to keep Jiraiya's mood from getting any worse. Naruto didn't blame the guy for seeming kind of upset. Nothing in his life went as he'd planned it. In fact, he was impressed with the man's ability to make the best out of what he'd been given. Yet, even guys like that needed to be cheered up from time to time.
That's why Naruto was very glad when Tsunade finally arrived. When Jiraiya had gotten up to answer the door, Naruto told him to sit down and that he'd get it. It would be better if it was a surprise.
He got the door and opened in up to see Tsunade dressed in casual clothing, a green tank top and sweat pants. Even at her age, she still looked damn good in them, "Hey Tsunade, glad you could make. Jiraiya really needs some friends right now."
Tsunade just walked in, "Whatever, not like I was doing anything else. So where is he?"
Before Naruto could answer, Tsunade walked right into the kitchen where Jiraiya was sitting, "Hey Tsunade, what are you doing here?"
Tsunade had been hung over enough times to tell that Jiraiya had gotten shitfaced the night before, "A little birdy told me that you've got a bad hangover, so I figured an old pro like me would be the best one to come over and help you. Mind if I get some coffee?"
Jiraiya shrugged, "No, help yourself."
Naruto sat back down his chair and Tsunade soon joined them, "So what the hell's got your patines up in a bunch?"
Naruto nearly spit out his coffee, "Way to be subtle there Tsunade."
"If you wanted subtle, then you should've call someone else," Tsunade said, taking a sip from her cup.
Jiraiya looked at Tsunade and Naruto, "What are you guy's talking about? Sure I was a little down last night, but I just had some bad memories come up. You guys must have felt like that before?"
Naruto couldn't deny that, "I've got some bad memories of my time in foster care. Some of those assholes were rough."
"And I can't say that I never think about the day I watched Dan die in the hospital," Tsunade added in.
Jiraiya felt the need to tell them, "Sure, it can be rough at times, but that's just life. You guy's don't need to come and cheer me up just for that. I can handle myself just fine, I'm a grown man afterall."
Naruto thought about it for a second, but then said, "I get that you don't need us to take care of you, but that's not why we do it in the first place. You're our family Jiraiya, we don't try and make feel better because we have to, we do it because we want to."
Tsunade took a sip of her coffee and said, "Yeah, what the kid said."
Jiraiya slowly started to smile, "Well, what else can I say to you guys but thank you?"
Naruto was glad he'd perked up a bit, but he didn't have much time to enjoy it. Out of nowhere, Naruto's cell phone started to go off like crazy. He hated how much he had to use the fucking thing, "I swear, I'm gonna smash it into a damn wall one of these days."
He answered the phone and Jiraiya and Tsunade waited to see what he would say. All of a sudden Naruto groaned out loud, "Oh fuck me! Yeah, I'll be there as soon as I can."
Jiraiya was wondering what the problem was now, "Another issue?"
Naruto got up and finished his cup of coffee, "You got that right. Yugito's one of the prime suspects in a murder investigation."
Tsunade couldn't help but ask, "Did she do it?"
"No, she's innocent with this one. If she'd done it, she would've just told me," Naruto replied, understanding why Tsunade would ask. Yugito had done some pretty crazy things during her run as a crime lord, " Apparently she used to work with a guy named Gato and the guy ripped her off on some deal. It was years ago, but it still qualifies as a motive. I don't know the full details yet, but supposedly there's some evidence that might point to her. They haven't charged her yet, but doesn't mean they won't. I've gotta go clear all of this shit up and figure out what's going on. Talk to you guy's later."
They both told him goodbye and the young blonde left to save his friend's ass. Jiraiya turned to Tsunade and asked, "So did you really mean what you said before, about liking to cheer me up?"
Tsunade thought about lying, but she know better than to try that, "Yes, I do. Just don't let it go to your head!"
Jiraiya just smiled, "Don't wanna risk you smacking me, now do I?"
Tsunade gave him a playful glare from behind her coffee, "No, you don't."
They sat there quietly for a few seconds, and Tsunade looked at Jiraiya like she was waiting for something. Finally Jiraiya asked, "What?"
"I'm waiting for you to make some kind of perverted joke," Tsunade explained, "You never miss a chance when you're around."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, "We were having a nice moment. You came all this way just to cheer me up and we had a great little chat. I just didn't want to ruin it for once."
Tsunade looked shocked for a couple of seconds. The man was actually controlling his perverted nature. She mulled something over in her head for a few seconds, then took Jiraiya's hand and lead him away from the table, "Tsunade, what are you doing?"
Tsunade put a finger to his lips, "You're being very sweet today, and to be honest...it's been awhile for me. I haven't had sex since Dan left, and believe me, my body knows it. We're going to go up stairs and make love. However, you're not to tell anyone about this unless I say you can."
Jiraiya tired to think of something to say, "Of course not, I would never do something like that."
Tsunade knew he was telling the truth, "I know that you wouldn't. Now come on."
As she continued to lead him, Jiraiya wondered out loud, "Is this like a one time thing, or what?"
Tsunade gave him a mischievous smirked, "Who knows? Maybe if this goes we'll make it a regular thing."
Jiraiya picked her up bridal style, "Challenge accepted!"
Yugito really didn't know how to feel about all of was the closest she'd ever been to going to prison, and it was for a crime she didn't even commit! Sure, she and Gato had their problems in the past, but that was ages ago. He cost her 50,000$, which was a lot of money to her back then. Now she wouldn't even bend over to pick up 50 grand. She didn't kill him, but how could she prove it dammit?
While she was busy wondering, someone burst into her office unannounced. It was a beautiful woman with long black hair that Yugito thought she's seen with Naruto before, "Who the hell are you? What gives you the right to burst into my office?"
The one set her briefcase on a nearby desk, "My name is Kurenai Yuhi and Naruto sent me. From this point forward, I'm your attorney."
"I've already got a great a attorney," Yugito scoffed.
Kurenai opened briefcase and started to thumb through it, "Not like me you don't. Sorry if I'm being frank here, but time is of the essence. I need you to tell me all of the evidence that they have on your right now that could connect you to Gato's murder."
Yugito could see she wasn't in a position to negotiate, so she tried to remember, "Um, they said they had some emails and bank statements that could've pointed to me paying a hitman."
Kurenai wrote that down on a pad of paper, "Circumstantial at best. The only motive they got is the money from back when you worked with Gato, correct?"
Yugito nodded dumbly, "That's the only time I've ever talked to the guy, so yeah."
Kurenai was feeling more and more confident, "Is that all, or is there more?"
Yugito kept trying to think, "I don't know, the cops who talked to me wouldn't tell me shit. It was like talking to a wall."
Kurenai knew what she was talking about, "They didn't tell you anything that you didn't already know. That's how they do it. Give nothing, take everything and all that shit. If this is all they've got and they're just bluffing, you're safe. If this isn't a scare tactic and there's more, we could be in for trouble. My boyfriend, Asuma Sarutobi, should be able to help me out with some of what I need. That's all I require from you right now. Thanks for your time."
Yugito nearly asked more, but Kurenai practically ran out of the room. This wasn't a woman who fucked around. If she wanted something done, she got it done! There was only one thing Yugito could think to say as she left the room, "Holy shit…"
