Do I Have A Purpose Anymore?

Chapter 9: An Unexpected Reunion

The two Jinchuuriki dug their feet into the next tree branch, pushing off with massive force and soaring high above the tree-tops. Naruto then saw the clearing ahead, which the red flare seemed to be hovering over. Beneath it, in its red glare was a man, the bandit Naruto had let live to contact the bandit's leader. The man was alone and shivering inside a tent to shelter him from the rain.

' It looks like my message was delivered after all.' Naruto thought to himself.

Even though he did not see Yugito, he knew that she too was focused on the clearing and the man inside the tent as well. For her part, Yugito cast a quick glance at Naruto and she saw a sly grin on his face. The sight of his stoic, yet strong and handsome face sent a shiver running down her spine and then throughout her entire body.

And what confused her was...

It wasn't necessarily a bad shiver. She actually liked that fierce and savage look on his face. It meant he had a firm grip of himself and that he takes no orders from anyone and would do whatever the hell he wanted. She desired that in a man. Someone who was aggressive and passionate and wasn't afraid to get their hands dirty...

Nibi noticed this as well, her tone laced with amusement, as she noticed the light blush on the face of her vessel.

"Oh, are you getting the hot's for him kitten?"

Yugito'sblush deepened for a moment, before she silently hissed back at her demon.

'Shut up you stupid cat.'

"Don't blame me, I just call them as I see them."

Casting another quick glance at him, she looked away before he could feel the sensation of her penetrating eyes upon him.

'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

However, Nel had noticed the strange glances that Yugito kept sending towards Naruto. And being an inquisitive child asked her adoptive father a question.

"Naru-kun, why doth the cat-lady keep looking at you so funny?"

A bit taken aback by this question, Naruto stammered in response.

"I, I don't know Nel-chan, I didn't know she was."

This answer did nothing to quell Nel's curiosity about the situation before her eyes grew wide as saucer plates and she gave a startled declaration.

"Oh I know what it ith! Hey cat-lady, are you still thinking about being Naru-kunth new wife-chan?"

For the second time that night, a simultaneous squawk of surprise erupted from the two Jinchuuriki and could be heard for miles around.

"NANI!"

Below, in the clearing, Daisuke, the man who Naruto had threatened with death looked up as he thought he heard a startled shout and thought to himself.

'Hmm? What was that?'

Daisuke wore a dark muscle shirt that fit well against his muscular frame, along with long baggy pants that were already soaked through with rain. Strapped to his back, was an enormous shuriken, easily twice the size of the one Mizuki had worn and it was apparent that only one such as he with his titanic strength could wield such a weapon.

But strength or no, he was still very nervous as he peeled back a strand of brown hair, long and unruly much like Kiba's hairstyle, which was now wet and soggy, as he pulled the hair away from his black eyes and he peered about into the rain, looking for any sign of the missing nin. What if he did NOT show? Leader-sama would think he had failed, and he had no desire to fail.

He HAD to show up. His very life depended on the presence of this, 'unimaginably' powerful nin he had described to his boss, who had given him the benefit of the doubt and allowed him to come back out here to extend to the man an invitation to meet him.

Or was it a he? No one had ever seen the face of the Leader, nor did they know if a woman or a man led them. He/she was always wrapped in a dark robe and wore a facemask distorting his/her voice, thus further obscuring the identity of the powerful leader of the mighty gang known only as the Crimson Blades.

But when he had mentioned the name of Naruto Uzumaki, he had visibly seen a difference in the way Leader held himself.

"I want you to bring him to me. I wish to meet him."

Thos had been the specific words of the leader and everyone in the Crimson Blades knew that he/she did not tolerate failure. So, for some reason, he decided to look up into the sky and just as he did he saw two black shapes in the air one of which had a very familiar sword strapped to his back.

''Is that him?'

Something in his gut told him yes. There was no way you could mistake the dark energy that even from this distance, was emanating from him, making his blood run cold and his tan skin go pale.

'It is!'

With a startled yelp he leapt back, his sandals sliding in the mud and bringing him to his knees. No sooner had he moved, than, the two specks of black rocketed down to earth, one of them landing right where he had been mere seconds before, shaking the ground with the impact. As Naruto rose to his feet, his mask now donned and making him a truly fearsome sight to behold. Despite the rain that was clouding his vision, Daisuke could tell by that mask.

It was him.

Naruto's yellow black eyes bored deep into the startled black of Daisuke's, as he rose to his feet and said.

"It's a good thing you did as you were told; I knew you were smarter than you looked. Tell me, did you set up a meeting between your boss and me?"

"Hai Naruto-sama, my boss does wish to meet with you and has ordered me to escort you to our encampment." Daisuke humbly replied, before he noticed Nel and Yugito and asked.

"Who are the brat and the babe?"

A second later, a hand was wrapped around Daisuke's throat and he felt his large frame lifted into the air effortlessly, as Naruto growled out.

"The brat and the babe are with me! And if I ever hear you refer to them by those names again, it will be the last words you ever speak!"

"My-my apologies Naruto-sama." Daisuke stammered in a choked voice.

After a moment, Naruto released his hold and Daisuke fell to the ground in a heap. Rubbing his throat Daisuke looked over to see Nel sticking her tongue out at him and giving the bandit a raspberry, while Yugito glared menacingly at him. Daisuke gulped nervously, as he could feel a great power radiating off the statuesque blonde. The Crimson Blade bandit made a quick mental note of not to piss off this woman in the future. It was then that Naruto's metallic echo of a voice cut through the air once more.

"So when do we go see this leader of yours uhhhh,…..what is your name?"

"My-my name is Daisuke Naruto-sama and we will see the leader tomorrow, as soon as the escort squad arrives to takes us to him."

"Very well, that works for me. My companions and I are weary and could use a good night's sleep. And it will be nice to get out of this accursed rain for awhile"

My apologies Naruto-sama, but I did not know you would be traveling with companions since the last time I saw you. I'm afraid the tent I brought is only big enough for two people to occupy."

"That's not a problem; Nel-chan is small and can sleep in-between Yugito-chan and myself."

Yugito felt her cheeks blush a bit at hearing the suffix 'chan' added to her name.

"But-but where will I sleep Naruto-sama?" Daisuke questioned.

Naruto released a slight bit of killing intent and his eyes flashed from their yellow and black to crimson red before he declared in no uncertain terms.

"You won't be needing any sleep, as you will keep watch during the night. You don't have a problem with this do you Daisuke?"

"N-no Naruto-sama, I don't have a problem with that." Daisuke stuttered as the pressure of Naruto's killing intent made him weak in the knees.

The Crimson Blade bandit then made his way over to a tree to try and get some shelter from the rain, while Naruto and his companions entered the tent for a well-deserved rest.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was late in the morning and the rain had finally ceased, as Naruto and the girls finished breakfast when the blonde missing nin sensed several chakra signatures approaching. Motioning to Yugito to be on alert and watch over Nel, he waited patiently to see who was coming. A few minutes later a voice from the forest called out in an annoyed tone.

"Is he here yet Daisuke, this demon' of yours?"

"Hai Sakaki, he's here!"

A moment later several thug like men emerged from the forest followed by a tall man with long red hair and dressed in a formal red kimono. A look of disdain marred his features, as he beheld the threesome, his arms hidden in the folds of his robe and crossed over his chest.

"So this is your demon? He looks like any other man and by the looks of him not a very strong one."

A few of the men surrounding Sakaki snickered at that comment before Daisuke shot him a glare, annoyed at the perpetual arrogance of his comrade.

"You would be wise not to make him angry, Sakaki. He took out my squad in less than a minute flat. I'm sure he would do the same to you, in half the time."

Naruto arched a blond eyebrow and silently mused.

'There seems to be some bad blood between these two.'

Once again, the robed man known only as Sakaki, looked upon the ragtag group and now his dark eyes focused on Yugito and Nel, who stuck out her tongue at him.

"Who are these two, Daisuke made no mention them?"

Naruto finally spoke now, his voice dark and ominous as he put his mask on sending a nervous shudder through Daisuke, who had witnessed the fearsome power of this rogue nin first hand.

"They're with me! I met them only recently, after I...dealt with your little group of bandits."

Naruto's tone left no trace of guilt whatsoever, but still Sakaki was unfazed.

"And what make you think you are worthy of joining the Crimson Blades? Surely you don't think senseless slaughter will get you anywhere."

Yugito rolled her eyes, as Naruto reached for the hilt of his blade, his right hand clenching and unclenching as he did so.

'Great, that idiot is going to piss him off and he's gonna start a fight.' The Nibi vessel thought to herself.

But as Naruto gripped the handle, he paused, and his gaze met that of Daisuke's once more, ignoring the rant of Sakaki.

"What did your boss say?"

Daisuke now recovering himself, reached into the waterproof pouch he kept at his side, his hand trembling slightly from both fear and worry, as he opened the pouch and groped around for something within it.

"Leader-sama has expressed interest in you and would like to meet you, preferably in person."

"Does that include my two comrades? I won't leave them behind."

Daisuke paused at that and then with a sneering glance at Sakaki, shrugged his shoulders.

"Ehhh, I don't see any reason why they can't come along."

Sakaki frowned at this and spoke once more in a sneering tone.

"Wait a moment, I never gave you permission to-"

Sakaki suddenly found himself stifled, as Naruto drew his sword and held the large blade to the throat of the pale man, his eyes gleaming with murderous intent.

"I'm growing tired of you, so silence fool, unless you wish to be deprived of your head."

Sakaki paled even more, looking white as a ghost now.

"You, you would not dare."

"Try me!" Naruto hissed venomously before adding.

"I've DARED to do a lot of things lately. One more wouldn't hurt."

A murmur passed through the gathered thugs, as they looked from Naruto to Sakaki, as no one's ever done that to Sakaki before."

Naruto now turned to Daisuke and gave a small nod, as the muscular bandit found what he sought, a brown piece of parchment.

"Give it to me." Naruto sternly ordered.

Daisuke did so, tossing the wrapped box to Naruto, only for Nel to snatch it out of midair and hand it to her adoptive father instead, who still held the blade to the throat of Sakaki with murderous intent in the eyes of the robed man.

"If you kill me, Leader-sama will not allow you-"

Sakaki wasn't able to finish his sentence, as Naruto snarled and Naruto moved the blade to the left and with a hard tug in that direction whipped it around giving the man a nasty gash that traveled from his chin to his shoulder blade. Immediately, it began to bleed and with a horrified scream, the man placed both hands over it, in a vain attempt to stifle the blood loss.

"Annoying Worm!" Naruto hissed,as he sheathed his weapon and looked over the contents of the package he had been given.

Several of the men rushed forward to tend to the wounds of the pompous fool, who was now writhing in agony, his body convulsing on the ground wildly, as he twisted every which way in pain.

"Your arrogance will now serve as a constant reminder. If you live through this, that scar will haunt you for the rest of your days."

Turning to Daisuke, he saw the smirk the Crimson Bandit was leveling onto Sakaki and mentally made a note to consider recruiting this one.

"Let's go, I don't have all day to waste with these fools. I have an errand to run first before I meet with your boss. You may accompany me if you so choose, Daisuke-san."

But before they could make any move to set out...

It was there.

All of a sudden, right out of the blue, he felt a VERY familiar chakra signature and he hissed in surprise, just as he heard her footsteps and thought.

'It can't be….Hinata? What the hell is she doing here?'

Then, bursting out of the trees, the Hyuga girl made her grand entrance, sword drawn and held at the ready. But as soon as she saw him, mask and all, it dropped from her fingers, to clatter onto the muddy terrain. Her eyes grew wide with recognition, and with a sharp tug, she pulled down the mask that she wore exposing her lovely alabaster face, as she spoke with tears welling in her soft lavender-colored eyes.

"Nar-Naruto-kun? I-Is that y-you?"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Author Note: I'm back! Yes, I know it's been awhile, but I had to get some work done and posted on my other stories mainly Naruto vs Sasuke: The Aftermath. Which by the way if you haven't checked out yet, you should. If you're a fan of the angst, drama, suspense, surprises, and romance I've done with this story. Then you should really enjoy reading that tale as well. It's a long read, as it's the first story I have ever written and continue to write, but it's definitely worth it if I'm to believe the reviews I've gotten on it. So please check it out when you have the chance and let me know what you think via review.

News:

A couple of my readers and fine authors themselves brown phantom and Zentary have set up polls on each of their accounts asking the question.

Who is the best Naruto fanfic writer on this site?

They have each listed 50 authors and you're allowed to vote for 10 choices on each poll. Both authors have graciously placed my name on both polls. I humbly ask if you feel I'm worthy of being one of your 10 picks to please place a vote for me. If you haven't voted yet on these polls please do so. I thank you in advance for your support and the links to the profile pages for both brown phantom and Zentary are listed below.

brown phantom http:/www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/u/1634435/

Zentary http:/www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/u/2022054/

End of News:

Well, if you made it this far, then congratulations for surviving the dreaded filler chapter of the story. Not a very exciting chapter I know, but necessary to set up the future storyline of the tale. I hope you all can find something positive to say about the chapter and will leave a review. If nothing else it will let me know who survived the reading and who didn't? Thanks again to everyone for all of your support and your reviews; it's much appreciated by me.

Take it easy and be good!

Kingkakashi