Corruption Of Blood: Rebirth

Chapter 10

Artifact

By Nexusofpain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other literary works I may reference in this story.

The greasy looking man laughed in his annoying pitch. "Me, no I'm no enemy, just an honest man passing through, I promise." The smile the man tried to plaster on to his face, was much to fake for anyone to believe, Naruto included. He spoke to Naruto as though he were just a normal child, easy to fool, after all most of the time a kid would believe anything an adult would tell them. However Naruto was no normal child.

He may have been a bit thick headed at times, but he would never be so easily tricked to believe that the scene in front of him was a normal one. "You should go." Naruto said to the woman in his deep growling voice, one that did not fit his age. Naruto could feel the hesitation and nervousness that the woman was exuding, part of her wanted to tell Naruto to run and save himself, but the other half, the half that believed that Naruto was no more than a demon in human skin was all to willing to abandon the boy for her own benefit.

Naruto honestly didn't mind, he couldn't blame her, he was sure that in the same situation he might have acted the same way. "Just go!" Naruto shouted, that being all the encouragement the woman needed, she took off running away as fast as her trembling legs would carry her. The man's fake smile faded in an instant as he made to chase the girl. "Now that's not nice, we weren't done playing." The man said a frown on his face.

Naruto was surprised at the speed the man was able to move, running past the young boy without him even noticing. The man appeared in front of the fleeing woman, swiftly and without warning. "I think you should stay a little longer." The greasy man said backhanding the shirtless woman, sending her toppling to the ground. Naruto saw red, and before he was sure what he was doing he had sucker punched the man across his rat like face.

The greasy haired man, leveled a glare at the young boy, rubbing his jaw. "For a kid, you sure do have a strong hook." The man said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a familiar object, reaching up he tied it around his forehead. Naruto couldn't contain his surprise as he stared at the familiar insignia that adorned the metal plate, that of an opened book. "From the look on your face, I think you may have met my friend."

Naruto saw another flash, just a second long, but that was enough as he bent backwards just a little evading the strong kick that was aimed at his head. This was the first time he had ever seen things like that, flashes of what was about to happen, he just chalked it up to his powers getting stronger. "You've got pretty good reflexes." The man said stopping to clap his hands together, almost as if encouraging the young boy.

"Unfortunately for you..." The man trailed off, looking into the sky a shocked look on his face. Naruto followed his gaze but didn't see anything, a moment later and a sudden force hit Naruto in his unprotected face effectively busting his nose. "Kids are so easy." The man laughed jumping backwards to avoid any retaliation that Naruto might try. The man had meant to knee the young boy in the stomach but the huge height difference had made it to where instead Naruto had been struck in the center of his face.

Naruto had thought that the hit would've hurt more than it did, not that he would complain about it. Quickly regaining his bearings, Naruto made a mental note not to take his eyes off of the man again. "Was that the best you could do?" Naruto said cockily, wiping the blood from his face, not that it did any good as it continued to run from his possibly broken nose. "You wish kid." The man replied jumping from one leg to the other, like he had too much energy to stand still.

Ironically the tall greasy man acted more like a kid than any of the students Naruto had seen in the academy. "I'm just takin it easy on ya, after all if I gotta fight a kid, might as well have some fun while I'm at it." The man used his jumping motion to launch himself at Naruto with a burst of speed, that caught Naruto off guard. Naruto managed to move his body just enough for the man's first hit to roll off of him.

The follow up however landed squarely on Naruto's cheek, the force of which knocked him to the ground. Naruto could tell the man was in fact pulling his punches just as he said, the hit not doing much more than stinging his face. The man backed off afterwords letting Naruto get back to his feet. "So kid, I don't suppose you know what happened to my buddy." The man pointed at his headband to emphasize his point.

Naruto grit his teeth, everytime he looked at the insignia adorning the man's headband his anger would return burning stronger and stronger. "I'll kill you!" Naruto charged forward recklessly. "In some cases charging forward might actually manage to catch an opponent of guard." The man said stepping back slightly, allowing Naruto's blind strikes to miss completely. "But this is definitely not one of those times." The man said retaliating with a short kick towards the blonde's leg that was meant to knock Naruto off his feet.

Reacting quickly Naruto jumped, one of his feet landing on the man's outstretched leg, while the other traveled further upwards, nailing the man directly in his nether regions. His eye's widened as he fell to the ground clutching at his wounded area. Naruto breathed a sigh of relieve as the man struggled on the ground, it was short lived however as after only a few seconds the man rose back up to his feet. "You fucking little shit stain!." The man yelled kicking the boy in the center of the chest sending him flying backwards.

All the air left Naruto's lungs as his back struck the concrete wall of a nearby building. His small body crumpled to the ground, where he lay struggling to get his lungs to work correctly again. Marching towards the young blonde, the man had a fierce look on his rat like face. "I guess I need to take this more seriously!" He yelled stomping down on Naruto's back, causing the boy to yell out in pain.

Bending down so that he was at face level the man looked directly into the young boy's eyes. "You should have left when I gave you the choice!" The man continued yelling as he lifted the boy up by his shirt, spit flying from the greasy man's lips as he raged. Pulling back his opposite hand he launched it forward, burying it in the young boy's soft stomach. "But you had to be the hero!" He hit him again, the force of which caused Naruto's body to go limp.

"C'mon boy you can't be dead yet." The man slammed Naruto's small body against the concrete wall again, eliciting a weak groan from the boy. "That was pitiful." He said grabbing Naruto by his blonde hair and staring into his barely open eyes. The fierceness in Naruto's eyes had still not faded however, the young boy using all the strength he could muster to move his head enough to glare at the man, making a noise in the back of his throat, Naruto reared back before launching a glob of saliva into the man's face.

"That's the spirit!" The man yelled excitedly, bringing his head forward harshly headbutting the child, Naruto felt dizzy as his vision blurred, the strike seemed to affect the man as well though. "Damn what's your head made of?" He said throwing the boy to the ground. Naruto couldn't didn't appear to be able to muster the strength to rise off of the ground, and was unable to protect himself as the man began stomping repeatedly on his small body.

Arms, legs, chest, head, it didn't seem to matter as the man viciously attacked Naruto's small body. The cracking of bones filled the alley as the repeated attacks began doing permanent damage to the child. "Too bad kid, you just couldn't cut it." The man laughed out loud, still stomping on the now bloody and broken lifeless body of the young blonde boy. "This wasted more time than I thought." He used one of his hands to brush his greasy hair back.

The girl in the wheelchair sat a little ways away, sweat covering her brow, with her eyes closed in deep concentration, hands forming a seal. Naruto stood in front of the man, not taking any notice of the girl, too distracted by the the rat faced man violently attacking what appeared to be thin air. "What's going on?" He muttered to himself, as the man started stomping on the ground repeatedly. Turning his attention away briefly, he noticed that the woman from earlier had still not left.

"I said to run!" Naruto exclaimed pulling a knife from his pouch and turning back towards the man, just as he heard him speak. "This wasted more time than I thought." Rushing forward Naruto jammed his knife deep into the man's exposed back, hearing Ayame's warning just a little to late. "No don't, just run!" He turned his head finally recognizing that the girl had followed him. "What?" He asked as the man groaned in pain, reaching behind him and pulling the knife out of his back.

"To think, I'd get tricked by genjutsu." The man sighed throwing Naruto's kunai to the side. "Though on the bright side." The man turned his gaze to Naruto again. "This means I get to kill you all over again!" The man made to grab Naruto, who dodged quickly by stepping to the side, counterattacking with a jab that hit the man in his side. "I don't have much more time to play." The man didn't react to Naruto's hit in the slightest, instead staring up into the sky.

"I was supposed to get the artifact back too, they won't be happy." The man reached into his pocket pulling out a small metal ring, that he slipped onto his middle finger. "I'm surprised that your as strong as you are, being as young as you are anyway." The anger the man had displayed before had disappeared being replaced by an odd air of calm.

"But I do have to kill you, the little crippled girl as well, can't let anyone know I was in the village after all." The man outstretched his hand a small fireball appearing in his palm. "This will finish it." He said the fire growing in intensity as he spoke. "That's what you think." A familiar voice broke in as a figure dropped down behind the man. "Sorry I'm late Naruto, though in my defense I didn't think you'd be getting in so much trouble lately."

Naruto felt excitement bubble up inside of him, though a little regret was there as well, along with the knowledge that once again he had failed to protect anyone, and was the one who needed protecting."Yu-" Naruto stopped himself from saying her name out loud, she was dressed fully in her Anbu uniform which meant that right now he was only allowed to use her code name. "Cat, what are you doing here?"

"Anbu, huh.. I guess I really did waste too much time." The man spun trying to shove the fireball that rested in the palm of his right hand into the woman's cat mask covered face. "Try harder." She said grabbing his wrist with one arm and twisting harshly causing the man to hiss in pain, as the sound of the man's wrist snapping filled the air. "Bitch!" He lashed out with his other arm, which Cat lazily dodged by moving out of the way by just a fraction.

"You should watch your mouth." She reached up grabbing the hilt of her standard issue Anbu katana, and drawing it quickly, slashed at the man, almost too fast for the eye to follow. "There are children around." Just as quickly she sheathed the blade, leaving the man on his knees trying to use his broken right hand to stem the bleeding from his now missing left. "How dare you!" Flames erupted around his remaining hand, the one that had been broken.

Still on his knees he slammed the ground with his flame covered appendage causing a large explosion to erupt from the point of contact. Cat and Naruto were both flung away by the shockwave of fire, the nearby walls cracking from the force. Ayame used one of her arms to block the dust from getting into her eyes, coughing wildly she attempted to see through the thick dust and debris for any sign of blonde hair.

Ayame breathed a sigh of relief when the female Anbu appeared beside her the young boy in her arms. Naruto was still conscious, and struggling to free himself from the strong grip the woman had around his waist. "Let me down!" He demanded, which Cat eventually did, releasing the boy and allowing him to fall to the ground landing hard on his backside. "That hurt." He muttered rubbing his back and glaring up at the Anbu.

"What are you too good to thank me for saving your life?" She asked, staring back at the boy, at least that's what it looked like, Ayame couldn't really tell because of the mask. "Thanks." Naruto mumbled barely audibly. "That's better." The cat masked Anbu said reaching down and ruffling the blonde hair that covered his head. "I will not be beaten by a woman!" The Anbu turned at the man's scream, taking in his slightly altered appearance.

His clothing had been almost entirely burned off, exposing his blistering flesh to the night air. On top of which his previously long greasy hair, was now only barely covering his burnt scalp, in some places all of it had been scorched leaving bald spots all over his head. His lips looked like they had melted off, revealing his yellow teeth and bleeding gums. "You look like shit." Cat said reaching up and grasping the hilt of her sword again.

"Die bitch!" The flames grew around the man's body getting brighter and brighter, Naruto could feel the heat radiating from the man. "I'll take out half this village!" Cat wanted to call the man's bluff but the absurd amount of chakra the man was emitting made her believe that he might actually be capable of what he said. "Hotter, I have to make it hotter!" He yelled, the rocks underneath him started to pop and explode, as the fire swirled around his body.

"What's he doing?" Naruto asked the cat masked woman, she made no move to indicate she had even heard him speak. Yugao shifted slightly, eyeing her opponent. "I'm not sure, but it can't be good." A thought occurred to the young boy. "He put on a ring, right before he started using those seal less fire jutsu." Ayame confirmed his story having seen the same thing. "A ring huh... He is part of Chishiki, it might be an artifact."

Naruto didn't know what Yugao was talking about but he nodded anyway. "Yeah, what you just said." Bending her legs slightly she looked for an opening, observing his remaining hand, she noticed that there were no burns whatsoever on that part of his body. "Now die!" He brought his hand downward again. Yugao disappearing from both Naruto and Ayame's vision just as quickly, everything was over in less than a second.

"Stupid bitch..." Those were the last words the man muttered as Yugao's sword bifurcated him, The man had just enough time to watch as his right hand was separated from his body as well, before everything went black. Ayame covered her eyes, and Naruto felt a rather compelling urge to vomit, as the man was split vertically in half, a strong meaty stench filling the area. Due to the way he was standing Yugao had managed to remove his hand and kill him in the same swipe.

The woman in the cat mask stood impassively as the man's entrails flooded the ground at her feet, bending over she plucked his severed hand from the growing pool of blood. Quickly she removed the silver ring from it's place and threw the dead appendage to the side. "Disgusting." She muttered turning and making her way back over to the children who were waiting for her. "You two okay." She said placing her sword back in it's sheath, and slipping the ring into her tool pouch.

"Uh... yeah, I'm okay, how about you Ayame?" Naruto answered turning to the girl in the wheelchair who still had her eyes closed. "Yeah... but can we get out of here?" Yugao gave a halfhearted smile at the young ex ninja's question, not that either of them would be able to see it. "Of course, but I will need the both of you to come with me to the Hokage's office." The young girl nodded but another question was forefront in her mind.

"Can we stop by my house first? I need to tell my father where I'll be." Yugao agreed to the girls simple request. "That won't be a problem." She answered reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small vial of red liquid, which she threw on the ground making a cloud of red smoke appear. Only a few seconds passed before three shinobi dressed similar to Yugao made an appearance, the only difference being the masks they wore.

"We'll need a clean up crew, wouldn't want some innocent civilian coming across this mess." She motioned towards the pile of organs that was once a living person. All three quickly and wordlessly disappeared, Naruto could only guess where they were going. "All right, let's get going." It didn't take long to reach the ramen stand, where the obviously distressed Teuchi insisted on accompanying the three to the Hokage's building.

"I apologize Teuchi-san, but as this is official shinobi business I can not allow you to-" Naruto had never seen the normally kind man's face so red. "This is my daughter, and I will not be told that what she does isn't my business." Yugao sighed. "I understand, however-" Teuchi interrupted the Anbu again, "Good if you understand then let's go." Yugao was quickly losing her patience, one of the main reason's she had joined the Anbu was because she didn't like dealing with civilians.

"Very well." She sighed, Yugao knew that she had given in a bit too easily, but she didn't feel like wasting time arguing with the man, especially when the Hokage had no doubt already heard of what had happened, and was more than likely waiting their arrival. "You may come, but understand that the Hokage may not allow you into the room." Teuchi gave a short nod, happy that he had got his point across, or at least he thought he had.

The trip to the Hokage's tower took longer than normal for Yugao was used to, simply because she was traveling with a civilian, even Ayame managed to move faster than Teuchi, and she was stuck in a wheelchair, it astounded Yugao how anyone could let themselves be so out of shape. "Haven't had to make this walk in a while." The man let out a breath, brushing his sweaty gray hair out of his eyes, and rubbing his lower back.

When the group did finally arrive at the Hokage's tower, they were promptly let in, well all except for Teuchi. Who as with Yugao, was all too happy to let the secretary know how unhappy he was, Yugao silently thanked the woman, who ushered them past. Making a note to apologize to her for leaving the stubborn man to bother her. As the large doors closed behind them, the old man lit his pipe taking a long drag of it, and letting the smoke fill the space in front of him.

"So then I heard that we had a little rat problem in the village tonight." He said giving Yugao a look that she knew meant to start explaining. "Yes Hokage-sama, there was an infiltration, but it has been dealt with." The old man nodded sagely. "So I've heard, can you tell me what he might have been looking for." Yugao looked at the children, who looked completely lost as to what they should say. "I'm not sure, Hokage-sama, but I think it might have something to do with the incident in the forest last week.

"Did he say anything, to make you believe that?" He said taking another drag from his pipe. "No sir, I didn't get a chance to speak to him much." Nodding again, he turned his attention to the children. "What was your part in this, Naruto-kun." Naruto gulped nervously never had he seen the old man this serious, and he would be lying if he said it didn't worry him. "I heard a girl.. screaming." The Hokage got a bit of a surprised look on his face.

"Really, was that young Ayame, or was there another girl there I am unaware of." Naruto shook his head in the negative. "It wasn't Ayame, it was the girl that works at the grocery store." Naruto wasn't sure how else to describe her. "Good, so which grocery?" Naruto racked his brain trying to think of the actual name of the store. "I don't know, its the one by my apartment." The Hokage nodded understandingly, motioning with his hand.

As soon as he did so, a man with grey hair appeared dressed in a similar state to Yugao, but without the mask. "Now then Naruto do you know her name." He didn't but he made a show as if he was trying to remember anyway. "No, but she has black hair." The Hokage sighed, it wasn't much to go on, but that's why his Anbu captain was so useful. "Kakashi, go to the scene, see if you can't sniff out our last witness." Without a word the man known as Kakashi, disappeared leaving behind a swirling mass of leaves in his wake.

"I do get tired of them doing that." The old man sighed to himself, turning his attention back to Naruto. "Is there anything else you could tell me." Naruto had a lot to say, but he wasn't sure what was important and what wasn't. "He wore a headband with a scratch through it." The Hokage smiled at the child, encouraging him to continue. "And he could throw fire, and um... he said that he was trying to get something back." This made the Hokage raise an eyebrow.

"That is interesting, tell me Naruto-kun he didn't happen to say what this thing he needed to get back looked like." Naruto strained his memory as much as possible trying to recall everything the man had said, but eventually had to tell them that he hadn't said anything like that. "I can't remember everything, but I don't think he said anything like that." The Hokage accepted this answer, and Yugao took the break in their conversation to step forward, pulling the ring out of her pouch.

"I believe that he was trying to reclaim one of Chishiki's Sacred Artifact's." She placed the ring in the Hokage's hand. "I see that would be a problem, if an enemy village got their hands on such a thing." The Hokage said raising the ring up to his face, and slipping on an old pair of glasses. "You believe this is one as well?" Yugao nodded. "Yes sir, I believe that he was using this object to manipulate and create fire from nature chakra."

The Hokage's eyes widened a bit in surprise as he slipped the ring onto his finger. "Indeed there is quite a bit of power in this piece of jewelry." The old man said concentrating for a moment and managing to bring forth a small bit of flame from his finger tip. "I see, the children can go home." He turned his attention to Naruto and Ayame, speaking to both of them equally. "It shouldn't need to be said, but this incident is not to be talked about outside of my office."

Both children nodded simultaneously. "Good now if either of you think of anything else, don't hesitate to come see me, otherwise we will take of this, you shouldn't need to worry about it anymore." Ayame gave another nod and turned her wheelchair to leave the room, Naruto following shortly afterword. "Also Naruto-kun." The Hokage spoke one more time. "Yes sir." Naruto said trying his best to sound formal. "Have you had any luck in controlling your chakra yet?"

Naruto tried to think, and began to wonder if that surge of power he had felt before had been chakra. "Of course it was, fool." Naruto heard the deep voice rumble out from the depths of his mind. "Yeah, I think so anyway." Naruto said as the fox instructed him. "That's good, I think you'll make a fine addition to the shinobi forces in a few years." The Hokage said emptying the pipe in his hand of it's contents and refilling it.

"Thank you." Naruto thought about telling him, about the fox talking to him, but something told him not to, and that something was quite intimidating. "Keep your mouth shut boy, if they find out, they'll strengthen the seal, and I will have no way of bringing back your precious friend." With a quick bow Naruto left the room as well, chasing after Ayame. "Sir." Ayame started, having an internal debate with herself. "Earlier, I think I felt-" The Hokage waved his hand cutting her off. "I'm well aware, the boy was using 'Its' chakra today, but nothing I could do would matter, Naruto must decide for himself, what is truly important to him."

"His life as a citizen of Konoha, or the power that thing will no doubt dangle in front of him."

End.

A/N: I'm not getting much response, which is alright, but if you guys would help me with any mistakes in the story, that would be great.