Naruto: 8-9-3

-xXx-

Two days passed by and nothing had happened besides the fact that Atlantis, Naruto's sea theme restaurant was nearly ready to open for business. All that really needed to be done was to wait for the head chef to arrive as well as start hiring waiters and waitresses.

His other place was nearing completion too. The large traditional teahouse under the monument was already generating a lot of buzz around the Clans, especially the Hyuga who had already contacted Osamu about being aloud to rent the whole place out for their tea ceremonies.

It too was in the same boat as the other place, they were just waiting to hire everyone they needed and wait for the clansmen to come arrive and guard the place.

As a matter of fact Naruto had already started the interviewing process at the teahouse, putting an ad in the paper looking for ladies to be waitresses, and to his surprise, the turnout was... shocking.

Girls ranging from the ages of 13 to 40 lined up at the door, the line stretching down the street and around the corner. So many that he had to send Nishki alone to supervise the tea shipment with the genin team and their sensei.

So without a partner, he recruited Yayoi to help with the interviews, seeing as he didn't want to give one of those ladies the chance to say that he tried anything on them because they weren't hired. A practice that many men had suffered through in the past.

"Next!" The woman sitting next to him called, watching as the young lady, a civilian girl who wanted to work there part time after-school walked out the door.

One of Yayoi's soldiers held the door open to the teahouse and let in a girl just a few years older than Naruto in.

"Name?" Naruto asked in a muttered voice, his face burred in his hands after hours of sitting on the pillow behind the low table.

The girl cleared her throat and spoke in a slightly nervous voice, "Ichiraku Ayame,"

Naruto's head shot up, "Ayame?" he questioned looking the girl in the face, who looked at him and gasped.

"Naruto-kun?"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" they both asked each other at the same time.

Yayoi looked between the two, "Lord Chairmen, do you know this young lady?"

Naruto turned to Yayoi, "She's one of the few people who treated me like a human," he answered before standing up and sliding across the table to give the girl a hug, "Kami it's been forever,"

The brunette returned the hug, "I know... just look at you, your taller than me and I'm older than you,"

Naruto broke the hug and gave a small smile, "Things change... speaking of which, why are you here? Don't get me wrong but don't you work at the ramen stand with your dad?"

Ayame nodded, "Yeah but dad hired two other boys to help out and I don't work as much, I was planning on quitting after I found a better job."

Naruto returned to his pillow/seat and motioned for Ayame to do the same, "Does the old man know?"

She nodded, "Yeah and he understands, those two guys he hired might be clumsy and... well dim... but they work hard, harder than me since I've started going back to school."

"For what?"

Ayame blushed slightly, "Well... I've been taking classes on art... but that's really just a hobby, what I really want to do is... well be a model,"

Naruto let the images run through his head, he had always had a small crush on the girl when he was younger so the thought of her modeling for him turned him on... slightly.

He mentally shook his head to try and rid himself of the images before he did something unsavory, "Well I know you've had experience as a waitress," he spoke before looking at Yayoi, "You got any thing to ask?"

Yayoi nodded, "How is your public speaking?"

Ayame looked thoughtful, "Pretty good, I couldn't go out and give a speech to the whole village but I'm not afraid to be in front of an audience."

"Wonderful, now, do you think that you could keep yourself in check under pressure?"

Ayame nodded, "You couldn't servile as a ramen chef if you couldn't,"

Yayoi nodded back, "One last thing... how do you feel about dressing up and wearing a lot of make-up that takes nearly two hours to put on?"

The brown haired girl smirked, "I'd say that it'd be the same as any other day,"

Naruto and Yayoi looked at each other and smirked. the blonde nodded to the older woman who looked at Ayame, "Your hired,"

Ayame gave them a bright smile, "Great when do I start?"

Naruto patted the pillow right beside him, "You start now Madam Ayame,"

She blinked, "Madam?"

Naruto grinned, "Yes, you are now the Manager of this branch, It is only fair that you have a say in who works under you here at the Black Rose Tea House."

She gaped, "B-But wouldn't that interfere with my studies?" she questioned, not wanting to give up her dream or the job.

Naruto shook his head with a chuckle, "Of course not, as manager you don't have to be around all the time, and I'd rather it be you because of how you treated me when I was young,"

Ayame moved to sit next to Naruto, almost thinking that it was some dream. Not only was she getting a job at place like this but she was managing it, it was too good to be true.

Yayoi looked to the door, "Next!"

-X-

Nishiki laid in the cart in a fedle position, his mind was scared for life. The horrifying sight he had just saw would haunt his dreams forever. The horrid green monsters... their screams of youth...

Next to him, a young lady with her hair in two buns looked at him sadly, "I told you not to do that Guy-sensei,"

"But TenTen, we are in the prime of our youth!" Lee cheered.

Nishki shivered again, muttering about spandex, and living eyebrows.

-X-

For Yugao everything was a blur, all she could remember was receiving a letter from Jin, the man who she had been getting jobs from outside the brothel. In the letter he had been pleading for help that she needed to meet him behind the brothel as soon as possible.

She was so surprised that he was somehow alive that she hurried to the brothel where Shinja had been murdered and went into the alleyway behind it, where she found Jin leaning against the wall smoking a joint.

He apologized and suddenly, she felt something hard slam into the back of her head, knocking her out before she hit the ground.

Had they found her out? Did they know she was a spy?

Her hands were tied as well as her feet and a bag over her head made it hard to see. She felt herself being dragged along the ground, her shoes sliding across the surface of the floor.

Where were they taking her? Were they going to torture her? Rape her? This was the worse possible outcome that could happen to a spy, to be caught and captured by the enemy.

They stopped just long enough to open some soft of a door, probably to the room where they would do all sorts of unspeakable things to her.

She felt them sit her in a chair and untie her hands and feet, she was about to fight them off but the bag was ripped from her face, revealing that she wasn't in some torture room, nor was she in some horrid room full of sex toys were they would spend hours playing with her and fulfilling their sick fantasy.

She was in a small restaurant, sitting at a table across from a familiar man.

"Ah... we meet again, allow me to introduce myself, I'm Taiga... just Taiga,"

Yugao looked around in confusion, "Ah... I'm Yugao U."

Taiga nodded, "Well Ms. U. forgive my men but knocking you out was for the best. No doubt you are on guard because of the death of Shinja and his boys, you probably thought that you were also targeted."

"Ahh... yeah,"

Taiga thought so, "Well your not, someone has taken interest in you Ms. U. and so you were taken off of the hit list. For some reason you caught my Bosses eye and he asked me to offer you some work."

"What kind of work," Yugao asked.

Taiga smirked, "Shinja was a small fry, the lowest of the low, he had you doing common chores like pulling off hits. I'm sure you noticed that Jin was much better at supplying you with jobs."

The man stopped and pulled a picture out, it was of a man around the age of thirty wearing a police uniform

"This is your test, find him... and kill him, he's a corrupt cop, he's been covering up cases for a while, most of which have been rape and molestation. Help us clean the streets of this filth and prove your steel, maybe we'll have a place for you in our family

-X-

Naruto sighed from his place at the table, "Finally," He spoke to the two women, "I thought it'd never get late,"

They had been there for hours, interviewing all the girls young and old who wanted a job there, and finally well into the night, they were finished

Yayoi nodded in agreement as she stood up, adjusting the katana at her side. before straightening her kimono, "I think I'm going back to my hotel to rest," she said fighting back a yawn.

Ayame did yawn, "I feel like I could just fall asleep right here,"

Naruto chuckled, "Come on girls, I'll walk you both home."

The blonde led then outside and Yayoi stopped, "Hold on I jest need to do something right quick,"

She turned and walked back towards the teahouse where two of her guards were standing by the door, "Lock the place up, we won't be returning tonight."

They bowed, "Yes, right away miss."

She turned around to walk back to Naruto only to hear a loud scream. Running towards it, which was a feat to her as she wore a Kimono, she was shocked to her core to see a man in all black plunge a sword through Naruto's gut.

"LORD CHAIRMEN!"She screamed, rushing foreword and drawing her own blade.

The man saw her coming and went to pull his sword from the blond's stomach, but Naruto grabbed the mans arm and refused to let him go.

Yayoi reached them in a flash, her sword singing as it sliced through the air and took the assassins life, sending a magnificent spray of crimson across the ground and even a few windows.

The roads were soon full of screaming civilians, it had happened all so fast and those who were on the street before had barely seen it all go down.

The assassin fell limp to the ground, his neck sliced open like a pezz dispenser.

Naruto too fell to his knees with the mans sword still buried in his gut, all the way down to the hilt, He grabbed at the handle and slumped over just as Yayoi grabbed him and held his head to her chest.

Everything seemed to run together and his wide blue eyes could make out her screaming face, He knew she was screaming at him but all was silent.

The attack had been a surprise, just as Yayoi turned a corner the man had struck, screaming about revenge while stabbing at his face with a short katana. He dodged the first two but was forced to protect Ayame when he saw her start screaming. So he pushed her, sending her stumbling back and giving the assassin the perfect chance to strike.

He coughed up some blood and felt himself being picked up, Yayoi's face was gone and a strange warmth washed over him, followed by the strangest feeling of calmness. He closed his eyes then let himself go and soon, he felt nothing at all.

To be continued...

-X-

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