Chapter 9- The Laughing Ragdoll

The next morning when they woke they were all surprised at what they found Naruto doing in the kitchen with Tsunami.

Like when they had been travelling Naruto and Cooper had been hunting while they slept, but whereas before they had caught a few rabbits and a dear, last night they had caught what seemed like the entire forest that surrounded the area.

The room was full of dead rabbits, about twenty different birds and five dear.

The three were in the middle of skinning and plucking the carcasses and cutting up the meat.

None of them knew what to make of it. They all just assumed that when they got here they would stop hunting.

When the two boys saw them all just stood there staring their grin grew.

"What?"

Stepping forward, Kurenai explained their confusion.

"Naruto... why did you two go hunting? I could understand when we were travelling but why now?"

Cooper just started laughing.

"Ha ha ha! Gato has a stronghold on the whole island, Tsunami here hasn't been able to shop for decent food for a while and now that we are all here she didn't have enough food. So we went hunting."

Again, none of them knew what to say to this. It had never occurred to them that Tsunami couldn't shop for food.

Tazuna was nearly in tears at what the boys had done.

For the next hour they all sat and helped, except Kakashi and Inari. While they were doing this Kurenai thought about the plan. She realized it was not a good idea to leave any of the gennin unsupervised.

So as there were working she told them all her changes. They would still be in teams of two but she would go to the bridge with Tazuna's guard, while Kakashi would supervise the training. The other thing was that Kakashi would need to stay within hearing distance of the house encase anything happened.

They all agreed and the jonnin told them the teams for the foreseeable future and what they would do first.

Kiba with Shino would be the first to guard the bridge with Kurenai, Sakura and Hinata would be the first to train with Kakashi and Sasuke along with Naruto and Cooper would look after Tsunami and Inari a bit overkill but they could not be to sure with this mission.

About an hour before they set off for their respective assignments, Tsunami asked if it was ok for her to go into the village to try and find any vegetables that she might be able to buy.

After considering it for a moment Kurenai agreed that Naruto and Cooper could go while Sasuke stayed to watch the house and Inari.

This did not sit well with the Uchiha, but he just nodded his head and agreed.

An hour later Tazuna and his guard for the next two days set off for the bridge while Kakashi took Sakura and Hinata just inside the woods for their training.

The three stayed in the kitchen to finish as Inari sulked in a corner of the room.

When they were done with the animals Naruto and Cooper took all the organs that they couldn't use outside and dumped them in a circle around the house.

Watching him Tsunami asked what they were doing.

"Feeding my friends, I met a small pack of wolves when I was hunting and made a deal. I spread out some food for them and they will help guard the house. Nice bunch, after they tried to kill me they were very sorry. Hehe."

"You can talk to wolfs... wait did you say they tried to kill you!"

"I can communicate with most animals, with my bloodline to change my body all I have to do is alter my vocal cords and a few parts of my brain, simple."

"I can do the same thanks to my own bloodline that allows me to mimic other bloodlines." Cooper told her

"What's a bloodline?"

"Something that only i and anyone with Coopers bloodline can do."

"And the trying to kill you part."

Naruto just shrugged and started doing back flips until he hit a tree.

"Ow"

Giggling as he stood up Naruto went back into the house only to be close lined by Cooper.

"See what we meant last night when we said they were insane?"

Looking behind her Tsunami saw Sasuke a few paces away. Not saying anything, she turned to head back to the house with a worried look on her face.

XXX

Naruto, Cooper and Tsunami were walking down the road towards the village. They hadn't really talked much since the whole wolf conversation. She just didn't know what to say to the young boys. Over the last few years she had seen a lot of things, like men and women killing themselves and there families just so they wouldn't suffer. Or on the rare occasions that Gato and his men returned one of the women they took and they came back as empty shells.

But they were different.

they had this aura around him. At first she had mistaken it for happiness, but after she talked to the other ninja she realized that it was their insanity.

Whatever made them like this it was so bad that you could practically see it.

It made her sad to look at them; they seemed like such nice boys, a little... ok a lot strange, but still nice.

They were walking a little way in front of her, hands folded behind their head.

A few minuets later they were entering the town.

A lot of people had lost their homes over the last few years because of Gato.

Many of the houses were falling apart, or in some cases already fell down.

The streets were full of people, both young and old, and if you looked carefully you could see some of them were dead.

Tsunami tried not to look around at the people lying in the street.

Naruto on the other hand looked at everything with a smile on his face.

After wondering around for a while they finally found a stand that had some only slightly out of date products.

It was then that Naruto said something that shocked her.

"This reminds me of when I was little, rotten food at high prices, the smell of hopelessness in the air, or that might actually be that guy over there. I think he's starting to go out of date to. It brings you back to the good times when life was more simple should i put it"

"Yes that is the way i would put it friend when life was simple." Cooper said back to him smiling.

Tsunami didn't know what to say to this. Konoha was supposed to be the nicest place to live in all of the elemental nations, how could this remind them of their childhood?

Before she could ask them what the meant they had walked away.

XXX

It was on their way out of the village that Naruto noticed a building that stood out from the rest nanjing Cooper to get his attention the both looked at it..

Unlike those around it this building was not in disrepair.

It wasn't very good to look at but it was in one piece, had a fairly new paint job and a front door, which was more then could be said for most.

"Hey, Tsunami-san, what's in there?"

Following his line of sight her face took on a mixture of hatred and fear.

"That's one of Gato's buildings. He made it for his thugs. It's were they take the women they find in the village that they take a shine to and..."

She didn't finish, she didn't need to.

Then she saw a strange look on their face, it was like they were struggling to keep his grin.

Without saying anything they started towards the building, leaving her where she stood as the people around then all watching on silently as the two crossed the street towards the building if one looked bandages could be seen coming off of Coopers face.

When he came to the door Naruto picked up his left foot and slammed it into the closed door, which flew off its hinges, and the two of them walked inside.

The inside was nothing but a big room with sofas and beds. To one side of the room there were several women chained naked to a wall of all ages, the oldest looked to be in her late thirty's and the youngest being around his own age.

Even though it was the middle of the day the room was full of Gato's thugs, about fifty, all with a woman.

The air reeked of sex and fear, it was almost enough to make the young boys gag.

After the thugs got over their shock they started to get up and surround Naruto and Cooper. When they had him covered on all sides a very large, very fat man stepped forward.

"You's got a death wish or somin?"

His words were slightly blurred, he was obviously drunk.

It was then that the thugs saw something that hadn't been seen in five years.

They two stopped grinning.

The air in the room seemed to get colder and heaver and the sikly smell of death started to was over the room and all the thugs took a step back.

they didn't say anything, just stood there, looking around the room with cold, calculating eyes.

When nothing happened the thugs started to get their confidence back, the fat man from before walked up to Naruto, but because of the young boy's height he was only a few inches taller then the boy.

"Maybe you's didn't hear's me. I's said, you's got a death wis-ah"

He never finished.

As soon as the man had gotten close Naruto had thrust his hand forward and through the man's stomach.

He was still alive, but in a lot of pain. All the thugs in the room were shocked.

Leaning forwards Naruto put his mouth next to the man's ear and said loud enough for all of them to hear.

"You. Have. No. Idea."

Without saying another word Naruto gave a sharp pull and ripped out a long white object from the man's body. The man gave one last shuddering breath, and then fell over.

In Naruto's hand for all to see was what was left of the man's spine and yet Naruto didn't show any reaction, his face stayed impassive the whole time, until he dropped it.

It was like someone had thrown a switch in his head. Slowly a smile grew in their face, and then it turned into a grin.

They could hear the giggles in their throats as they became full-blown laughter.

Then he started to change.

XXX

Outside a small crowed had gathered, but they couldn't see inside because none of them dared to get closer.

"Tsunami!"

Turning around to see who called her Tsunami saw her father running to her side, Kurenai, Kiba and Shino right behind.

"Dad!"

"What the hell's going on, one of the villagers came to the bridge screaming about something happening."

"It's Naruto and Cooper, I don't know what happened. One minuet they were hear and then Naruto was kicking the door down."

At the mention of Naruto and Cooper, Kurenai pushed Tazuna out of the way and grabbed Tsunami by the shoulders, her eyes wide.

"What is in that building?"

With a shaking voice Tsunami told her what she told Naruto and Cooper.

Kurenai's eyes widened even more in understanding.

Cooper then walked out all ready in the middle of what looked like a very long hand seal chain with no end in sight.

Then they heard the laughter, followed by the screams of terror.

"Shit!"

XXX

It was like every other time he changed, the pain, the feeling of every cell in his body screaming in agony.

Oh how he loved it.

As the men watched Naruto started to get thinner and taller, but his body stayed the same size. His arms and legs seemed to be stretching. His clothes melded into his skin and turned into a patchy brown, cloth like material. His eyes changed into big, round, black buttons that looked like they had been sewn onto his face. Lastly his mouth sewed itself together into a malicious grin that stretched across his whole face.

When he was done changing he towered over all the thugs at about eleven foot. His arms as long as he was tall and trailed along the floor.

The only way any of them could describe him was a giant ragdoll.

They could still hear him giggling, although it was muffled by his lips being sewn together.

Cooper slapped a red seal on the now shifted Naruto and then turned around and started making hand signs as he left the building.

No one in the room moved until the doll reached behind its back and showed them all the black, serrated scythes it now held that were on fire.

When it moved it was like watching a puppet show, its limbs were boneless, turning its head a full 360' to look at each of them.

The dam broke and all the thugs through themselves at their weapons.

What happened next was a mass of flying limbs and blood. The ragdoll seemed to be just that, a ragdoll, it could bend in any way it wanted, twisting and bending around the thugs as they tried desperately to kill it.

It never stopped giggling the whole time they fought and with each swing of its arms another thug would fall with limbs missing, but none of them were dead or even bleeding out from the fire on the weapons cauterizing the wound soon as it was made but that did not stop it from bleeding a lot before it was carderized.

Before long there was only one thug left standing, he was nothing special, brown hair and eye's that were filled with fear.

The doll was covered in blood from all the other thugs that lay around them.

He was frozen to the spot as the doll made its way over to him on wobbly legs.

But it didn't even turn to him.

It walked over to the girls chained to the wall. They shrank away from it in fear as it reached out, only to cut their chains with its scythes.

One by one the doll cut the girls free and watched as they ran out the door with all the others.

The thug saw his chance when it had its back to him and ran forward and stabbed it in the lower back with his knife.

The ragdoll made no sign that it could feel the knife.

Slowly it started to lean back, it leaned so far that its head was in front of the thug upside down.

Falling back on his ass the thug tried to crawl away but stopped when the dolls mouth started to force its way open.

"Tell... Gato... I'm... coming... for... him."

Its voice was ruff, like dry leafs rustling together.

The thug just nodded quickly and ran out the door in a panic.

Standing back up straight the doll looked around at the men lying on the floor groaning in pain.

Seeing them suffer brought another giggle to the dolls throat.

"Naruto?"

Turning its head again the doll saw a crowd gathering outside the building, stood at the front was Kurenai, Shino and Kiba, along with Tazuna and tsunami.

Turning the rest of its body to face the group the doll slowly made its way over and stopped a few feet away, its head tilted to one side as it stared at Kurenai with its button eyes.

"Can you still understand me?"

Nodding its head slowly at her Kurenai let out a sigh of relief.

"Good, now I need you to cancel your shift, ok?"

She spoke slowly, making sure each word was clear.

It nodded its head but before it changed back to Naruto it turned to the thugs in the room. Forcing its mouth open again, but this time, instead of speaking it blew out a thick, black ash with embers floating in it.

Kurenai could feel the heat coming from the ash from were she stood in the door way as it filled the room. They could all hear the screams of the thugs as they were burned alive by the heat, then nothing soom were still alive but not many.

Turning back to the crowd the doll made its way towards them and out the door. The crowd all backed up when they saw it walking towards them.

When it was out of the building they could all clearly see the thick layer of blood that coated its body.

Slowly it started to turn back into Naruto. All the people stared at the boy in shock. Like the doll he was covered in blood from head to toe and had almost the exact same grin on his face.

"I regret nothing."

With those three words he fell face first into the road.

Cooper who they all had forgotten about had finished his hand sights as he shouted out for all to here "forbidden jutsu: core drop!" and with that cooper slammed his hands on the floor and the earth split dropping the building right into what everyone thought was an endless hole but in reality Cooper had send the building and any one that was left alive in it to the core of the earth before the earth came back together as if it was never split.

As Kurenai ran over to her other student she could here one question to her before Cooper dropped next to naruto "hay teach did they suffer before we killed them please tell me they suffer for what they did?"

"Yes Cooper they suffered you two did a wonderful thing today even if it will only bring you to the darkness faster i am so proud to call you my students both of you." Kurenai said before she picked the two up and held them crying slightly in happiness.

XXX

When Naruto and Cooper woke up they found that they were in a small room, the same one that they kept Kakashi in when he had fainted.

Getting up they found that they were in marching clean white shirt and black pants. they still had his bandages on, thankfully, but they still wondered where their clothes were.

Heading down stairs they found all the Konoha ninja along with Tazuna and Tsunami, who was holding his freshly cleaned clothes.

Taking the clothes from the woman with a nod they went back up to change.

When he came down a few minuets later they all just stared at them.

Looking at each in turn they said switching lines.

"One fine day in the middle of the night,
two dead men got up to fight;
Back to back they faced each other,
raised their swords and shot each other."

They all face planted.

After getting back up Kakashi spoke.

"Naruto, Cooper, what you did was reckless. You two could have been killed."

Naruto just laughed at this.

"we wish"

The room went deadly quiet at his words, until Tsunami asked.

"What do you mean you wish? Don't two you even care if you live or die?"

"Nope" this time it was Cooper that answerd

Tears filled her eyes when he said this.

"So how long were we out?"

Kurenai was the one to answer this time.

"2 hours"

"Why did you do it?"

They all turned to Tsunami again, they all knew what she meant by it.

Turning to face her Naruto got one of his rare real smiles.

"Some people need to die. What they were doing was wrong, we hate people like them."

Turning to face the gennin Cooper continued.

"It's like I said, the things I hate are never around for long."

After saying this, their grisn came back. Nodding to themselfs Naruto headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Roof."

Without another word they left the room.

And just like the night before a few minuets later they heard them playing their insterments.

Getting up Tsunami wiped her eyes and turned to Kakashi and Kurenai.

"I don't know what happened to make him like this, but I think I have an idea. Did you know that people say that Konoha is the best place to live in the elemental nations? If that was true then why when we were walking around town did he say that it reminded them of when they were young?"

Everyone in the room was shocked at this, except Kakashi and Kurenai.

Both jonnin looked away, unable to meat her eye.

"That's what I thought. I saw your face today Kurenai –san, when I said Naruto and Cooper had gone into that place I saw the fear in your eyes. I don't know how things work in a ninja village, but whatever you did to them... well I hope you are all ashamed of what ever it was, because those boys has done more for this village then anyone since my husband died."

It was then that Kakashi looked up at Tsunami, his eye was so full of regret that it made her gasp.

"You have no idea."