[Jashin & Jiongu Chapter 10]

(The New Job)

XXX

In the Land of Fang a young man was getting a fairly large surprise. This young man was the same young man who had killed before he turned ten, he had been trained by a man who would as soon as kill you as do something for you, and a man who had survived training that would be considered to brutal to watch let alone be inflicted upon one's self.

He had been enjoying a relatively good day. He had killed a few low level ninja and had just turned their bodies in for cold hard cash. He hadn't found them a challenge and had been fairly unhappy since his trip to the Land of Hills where he had fought one of the illustrious members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist.

It had been a battle that had his heart racing and he didn't know if he would be able to walk away or not. In all honesty, Naruto had been a little worried he was becoming an adrenalin junky, but pushed the thought out of his head. He figured it would only help as he would not get bored fighting, and if he enjoyed a rush, then his plans would assure him of all the adrenalin he could ask for.

His battle with Riaga had been spectacular, and he made quite a bit of money from it as well. He was sure that Kakuzu would be so pissed off when he found out that Naruto had defeated such a high level shinobi while he was out working for some weird organization that he called "Akatsuki", whatever that was.

That battle had been beneficial to Naruto in many ways. He had gained a powerful new weapon in the Kiba Blades. They were sharp enough to cut through his arm like a hot knife through butter, and even had the power to somehow control natural lighting, something that Naruto hadn't even thought possible until he fought Riaga.

On the other hand he had also learned a very interesting, and exciting new fact about his kinjutsu. Apparently Kakuzu hadn't told him all that there was about the kinjutsu (Not that he had really told him anything. All Naruto knew was from watching the man at work) as he learned that Kakuzu was able to utilize all five of the basic elements to their fullest because he had stolen the hearts of other shinobi who had affinities for whatever affinity Kakuzu hadn't, and then he used the Jiongu to tap into their chakra networks.

This was both interesting and depressing all at the same time for Naruto. He realized that by using the Jiongu in this way he would be able to use all five nature elements, but that was only if he were able to keep them intact. If one of them were damaged then he was sure that he would lose his affinity for whatever element that the heart possessed.

Another problem that Naruto had run into was a very basic one. Space, not the space in outer space, but space as in the amount of room that matter takes up. It was very basic stuff. A full grown man's heart was larger than his own. It also took up a fair deal of room in his body. With the amount of room in his body that he could spare, Naruto estimated that he would only be able to fit three hearts inside of his body at a time, until he grew up a bit.

With the limitations on his size Naruto knew that he was at a disadvantage when compared to Kakuzu, but he did have some advantages on the ancient giant. While Kakuzu was large and could fit more hearts inside of his body, Naruto was basically immortal and did not have to worry about his original heart being destroyed. On top of that, Naruto's original heart had two strong natural affinities, which meant that he would always be able to use at least two elements (an offensive and defensive element at that) to their fullest potential.

The up side to all of this though was very simple. Naruto loved ninjutsu, and elemental ninjutsu had always captivated him. With the Jiongu, Naruto would be able to master elements for all five of the basic elements within a short amount of time, and get the maximum results for his efforts. It was something that kept him up at night with excitement.

On the other hand the Jiongu also possessed an offensive capability of its own. The black threads had proven themselves highly capable in combat with their strength and speed, so even without the elements he knew that he was not helpless. He just hoped that the black threads gave him a heads up the next time they decided to go on autopilot.

It did worry Naruto a bit knowing that the black threads inside of his body seemed to have some semblance of sentience to them. He was sure that they didn't have their own agenda, but it was easy to see that they were able to act on their own. Naruto had wondered if this was just to help him, or to help itself.

That being said Naruto had not begun to learn to harness his new lighting affinity even in the slightest. He had become interested in his first kinjutsu, the Gift of Jashin and the book that the mad man who had placed it upon him had left for him.

Naruto had already learned a bit from the book while he was staying in the Fuma clan with Mai. He learned that he could use and control his blood, and had trained a bit with it, but had never really had the time to devote himself to it.

Being that Naruto didn't have someone there to teach him lightning release, or any new jutsu, he decided to take out the book and learn from it. After all, idol hands are wasted hands.

In fact Naruto had been reading the book when he stumbled upon the weird sight that currently had him so captivated.

At first Naruto had believed that someone was using some kind of weird jutsu, but it was coming from side of a tree and Naruto knew from Kakuzu's sinister history lesson about the first Hokage and his wood release techniques that nobody other than the first Hokage could use wood release.

The weird movement eventually revealed green hair which was surprising, but nowhere as surprising as the rest of the man/creature that popped out of the tree. One side was a solid black color while the other side was a sold white color. Oddly the black side didn't have a mouth, not pupils, just one big solid yellow eye that creeped Naruto out. The other side did have an eye, but it didn't have a pupil. It was solid yellow as well, but instead of taking up the entire eye, it only took up about the size of a normal human eye.

The rest of the man was no less weird by Naruto's definition, and Naruto knew weird very well.

He was wearing a weird black coat like how Kakuzu's when he and Naruto would work together, but this one had weird red clouds on it. Naruto had been worried at first, but when he finally came out of the tree Naruto saw his ankles and noticed that there where the bottom of pants, meaning this thing wasn't free balling it under the cloak. As far as Naruto could tell they were standard ANBU pants though his feet had solid black sandals on them.

The final thing that made Naruto do a double take was the giant Venus flytrap like protrusion sticking out of his body. Naruto realized that it was a bit hypocritical judging someone else on their appearance given that he had thousands of black threads calling his body home, but this guy was just too weird to him.

Naruto reached towards his back where his tanto that Kakuzu had given him was. He quietly griped the hilt and eyed the weird creature closely in case it decided to attack him. He also noted that he should get a coat like that as well; it was really cool in Naruto's opinion.

"Hello there, you wouldn't happen to be Naruto now would you" asked the white side in a kind, almost docile tone of voice that surprised Naruto. "We have been looking for you all day, and we have found it most difficult to track you, if you are indeed Naruto."

Naruto wondered why this creature was looking for him, but couldn't get the fact that only the white side's mouth was moving, not that the black side had a mouth, but still he wondered he was able to create words with only one side of his face.

"Who wants to know" asked Naruto, deciding that neutrality would be better than hostility. It never failed to bite someone in the ass that didn't use manners or common sense when it would have easily made their lives so much better simply because they thought they were big and bad, or just had an attitude problem.

"He has that same look that Kakuzu has" spoke the black half, freaking Naruto out because not only did it not have a mouth, and still was able to speak, but its personality was the opposite of the white half. "If he wasn't Naruto, then he would have simply told us that we have the wrong person, but he gave up an answer that really didn't give us a solution to our question."

Naruto soon realized that the weird black half was the brains behind this two man operation. The white half seemed to be the public face, metaphorically speaking, which used kindness instead of hostility to try and coax out what it wanted.

If the white half didn't get what they were looking for, then the black half came in and caught the other speaker off guard with his logic and bold behavior. It must have been like a hawk waiting for its prey to lower its guard then swoop in to take out the victim when they were unawares.

"Oh, that makes sense" spoke the white half. It was odd because it really did look surprised, even though Naruto assumed they shared the same brain. "I was wondering why he gave us such a roundabout answer."

"You really are an idiot sometimes" spoke the black half before it looked back down at Naruto. "No matter, we have who we are looking for now."

While they were talking Naruto was thinking to himself trying to figure out what was going on. Kakuzu and Mai had made it very clear that the best tool a shinobi can have is their mind. A strong mind is worth more than any jutsu, and would save you every time, while said jutsu would only be useful in a limited number of situations.

'Ok, let me get this straight. The right and left sides seem to be two different beings though they share the same body, even the same brain, so why is it they are so different? Obviously they would see and experience things the same way, they are always together, so why is it that they are so different while seemingly are the same entity' wondered Naruto as he continued to push his brain to come up with a solution. Naruto was naturally a sly person, often being compared to a fox, but he always thought about things in a way that kept his enemies guessing, while breaking down enemy's plans was a bit more difficult.

Zetsu looked down on Naruto and observed him for a moment. He was used to being the errand boy of the Akatsuki, and he was also used to people being shocked by his appearance. He was used to it, so Naruto's hard look did little to nothing to bother him.

He was surprised though. The usually silent, if not rage induced Kakuzu actually came to him with an errand for him to run. At first he thought it was pointless, but the look in Kakuzu's eyes said that it wasn't a request, and in the interest of peace in the Akatsuki, he did as he was asked.

The mission did surprise him, but the fact that he could not understand Kakuzu's reasoning was bothering Zetsu. Being what Zetsu was he prided himself on believing that he was smarter than any human alive, and had easily come up with reasons as to why in some cases humans were smarter than he was, but Kakuzu had always been different.

Kakuzu was old, really old. He was nearly a hundred years old and had lived a majority of his life alone. At first Zetsu had believed he would be easy to anticipate, just look to where the money was and you would find all you needed to know about Kakuzu. It had been because of this ideal that Zetsu had been proven so wrong about Kakuzu.

The man was quick to anger, and his reason where always shrouded in secrecy. Understanding him quickly proved to be much more difficult than Zetsu had predicted, so Zetsu had taken it upon himself to study Kakuzu more, finding the challenge fun.

He had believed that he had figured Kakuzu out, but then all of a sudden Kakuzu left the organization for about two years before coming back, and never did he give a real reason as to why he left. Soon Zetsu found out that he was training an apprentice, but who it was or why he was doing was once again a mystery.

After his return Zetsu noticed that Kakuzu had changed a fair deal. He was still the insufferable ass that he was before, but he seemed less likely to anger, and even a bit less violent, though many didn't notice this. Zetsu had been interested in Kakuzu's new change in personality, but knew that Kakuzu would never answer any of his questions, so he stuck with watching and observing him.

It wasn't until recently that Kakuzu had reacted differently then he would have expected. It just so happened that Zetsu had been with him when his behavior surprised him.

Kakuzu had been going through the new bingo book when he found out that Riaga of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist had been taken out, and that his large bounty had been collected. It wasn't that Riaga being captured that surprised him it seemed, but more in the way he had been killed that captivated the bounty hunter so.

Apparently the missing Kiri nin's heart had been ripped out of his chest, which was odd, but still it shouldn't have surprised Kakuzu to such a degree. Zetsu had gotten the privilege to watch Kakuzu leave and go to one of his connections in the black market to question him about Riaga's killer.

The bounty hunters face really showed how determined he was to find the killer, but in the end he seemed pleased for some reason. Zetsu watched Kakuzu pore over the bingo book for weeks until he approached him and told him to deliver his message to a boy named Naruto.

After getting all the info that he could, he left and went looking for the boy. Usually Zetsu didn't have such a difficult time finding someone, but this Naruto boy seemed to have a weird chakra signal, so hunting the boy down had been difficult.

"So are you" asked the white side snapping Naruto out of his thoughts.

"What" spoke Naruto, berating himself on the inside for letting his concentration lapse in the face of a possible enemy?

"He was asking if you really were Naruto Uzumaki, though I don't see the point. I know that you are, but this softy really doesn't get the whole deductive reasoning bit" spoke the black half insulting his white counterpart even in a passive aggressive way.

"Yea I am Naruto" spoke Naruto not seeing any reason to keep on lying. "What is it to you, whoever you are?"

"Oh, I am sorry, my name is Zetsu" spoke white Zetsu, but he was cut off from saying any more by his black half.

"He doesn't need out bios! Now, give the boy Kakuzu's message so that we can get out of this god forsaken land" spoke the black half as he berated his white half again for being such a softy.

"Wait, did you two say Kakuzu sent you" spoke Naruto, not sure how he should take his sensei being involved with such… interesting people. "What connections do you two or one have with Kakuzu, and why are you to running messages for him?"

"We belong to the same group… OOFPH!" The White Zetsu was cut off before he could say any more by the black Zetsu.

"Our organization is supposed to be a secret you blabber mouth!" The Black Zetsu seemed to sigh in exasperation from dealing with his white half.

Naruto could relate Kakuzu was a difficult person to deal with as well.

"Just give him Kakuzu's message so that we can get out of here already" the black Zetsu nearly shouted as he seemed to breathe more heavily than he had been a minute ago.

"Oh, ok" spoke the white Zetsu in a submissive manner. "So, right, Kakuzu sent us to tell you that he has someone that he wants you to take out. He says that you can keep fifty percent of whatever you make and he will take the rest as his informant fee."

Naruto was a bit surprised that Kakuzu wanted him to take out someone to his specifications. He wasn't completely surprised though because he couldn't see any other reason Kakuzu would want to communicate with him, but the fifty percent thing was not ok with Naruto.

"I hope he gave you more than just a name because I am not going to go around hunting down a shadow for him" spoke Naruto in a 'this is final' tone of voice. "I need to continue to get stronger. I have my own goals, though Kakuzu is a good ally to have, but he doesn't own me."

"Well this is a surprise." The black Zetsu's opinion of Naruto seemed to increase a bit. "I had suspected a loyal servant when I thought of what Kakuzu's apprentice would be like, but he seems to be much different than I had previously believed him to be."

"Yes he has a good deal of spirit. I had suspected he would be nearly devoid of emotion, or be half psychotic" spoke the white half like he was talking about the weather. "It is good to see that he still has his mind."

"Hey ass whole or ass wholes I'm not sure, don't talk about me like I am not here!" Naruto was gritting his teeth at the passive way in which this thing was talking to him.

"Yes I see that" spoke the white half in a kind tone.

'This guy… I don't know if he is trying to piss me off, or if he just has an infuriating personality.' Naruto looked at the creature for a moment before deciding that he was tired of all this. "Just give me the information that Kakuzu gave you to give to me."

"Finally" spoke the black half as he pulled out a scroll and threw it to Naruto. "That scroll should have what you need, but it doesn't have everything."

Naruto opened up the scroll and read through it for a moment. It said that there was a man operating by the coast or close to the Land of Waves who was an accomplice of a man named Orochimaru, someone that Naruto knew about fairly well thanks to all his time reading the bingo books, and that the man was also a scientist.

Apparently Kakuzu didn't like this Orochimaru character because Orochimaru was searching for some kind of immortality. Naruto thought it was stupid, and Kakuzu seemed to think it was infuriating, so Kakuzu seemed to want to do all that he could to hinder or stop the Snake Sannin's operations.

"It says that he wants me to find and take out this Amachi person, but his skills are not listed, nor is any specific information" spoke Naruto in an annoyed tone.

"Yes, unfortunately Kakuzu seems to think you rely too much on his connections and wants you to start doing your own investigations" spoke white Zetsu with a friendly smile.

Naruto just grit his teeth, but before he could retort black Zetsu started to speak.

"Yes, it seems that your skills and abilities are just copies of Kakuzu's. You don't seem to possess any originality of your own." Black Zetsu's words cut the deepest because not only where they true, but also was the fact that his skills were so inferior to Kakuzu's that his mimicked style looked even more pathetic by comparison.

'Damn it, I will show Kakuzu that I am not just some cheap copy' thought Naruto with a dark look in his eyes. 'I will just have to come up with something that sets us apart, which may take some time, but no longer will I just be a miniature Kakuzu.'

"Fine, I will start getting my own contacts, and then I won't need Kakuzu for anything" shouted Naruto as he pocketed the scroll and turned around. He quickly set a fast pace towards the Land of Waves.

"A feisty one isn't he" spoke white Zetsu.

"He has too much energy. I couldn't imagine what Kakuzu must go through being around a boy like that all day. It would be worse than what I have to deal with when I am with you" spoke black Zetsu as he and white Zetsu started to merge with the tree.

"Oh, you are always so mean" spoke white Zetsu with a fake hurt voice.

"Shut up weakling" was all that black Zetsu said as they disappeared completely within the tree.

XXX

The Land of Waves had once been a beautiful place with white sandy beaches, clear blue waters, gentle breezes, and clear sky's full of the sun's great warm energy. Now the Land of Waves was dark and misty creating an ominous feeling in the air along with a sense of dread.

The cause of this was a man named Gato, who even though was one of the richest men in the world, was still not happy with his acquired wealth. He sought to establish a point in which he could control then use to import and export his illegal merchandise, thus the Land of Waves because his newest target.

It was not hard for Gato to take over the country, nor was it illegal, well not in the beginning. He used his vast wealth to buy up all of the businesses and industry in the small island nation, and then he started to send in some muscle. After a while he had the country's Daimyo right where he wanted him, powerless and in fear.

After the Daimyo was moved out of the way, he had free reign to do as he pleased. He cut off communication with the main land so that his new subjects could not start to spread rumors about what he was doing there, or else a force that he hated, feared, respected, and loathed would come in and put a crash to his parade, ninjas.

Gato hated and loved ninjas more than anything else on the planet, besides money, power, and fear. They had the power to take over any nation that they wanted, and had the power to keep the people there in line no matter what they did. With ninja at his side Gato knew that he could do anything that he wanted, and never have to worry about any trouble.

The sad part though was that shinobi and their villages were hard to find, and nearly impossible to corrupt in the way that Gato liked to do. Gato's style was to use money and force to get his way, but you could not buy lands within a Hidden Village's territory unless you were a part of the ninja village, but if you were then you would be watched like a hawk.

Without the ability to manipulate the economy of the Hidden Villages, and because his thugs could not bully the ninja around, not even in their wildest dreams, Gato's influence over the Hidden Villages was at a level of zero.

That didn't mean though that ninja help was out of his reach though. Like all humans, which ninja were, some were unhappy with their lot in life and chose to do something a little frowned upon, such as leave their village, and become a criminal.

These missing ninja were always in need of money, and because they were being chased down like animals by their ex hidden villages they were willing to do nearly anything. This was something that Gato had used in the past to great efficiency, but he was always weary of being discovered by the missing ninja's hidden village and being tried as aiding and abetting a missing ninja, a fate that was to crew to mention.

Recently Gato had come to need shinobi help, so using his connections in the underworld Gato had been able to obtain the serves of a very powerful missing ninja, or so he had been told. The man went by the name Zabuza Momochi, and he had a small crew of three other ninja with him. Normally this would bother Gato, but it was cheaper this way, and with what he had heard Zabuza should be able to take care of any problems he may have.

Naturally seeing a good deal Gato jumped on it and hired Zabuza right away. He really didn't like shoveling out the money to pay for such a high level missing ninja, but he was sure that with someone like Zabuza at his side there was no one who would be able to oppose him.

Gato wasn't happy to say it, but the original reason why he had hired Zabuza was because his hired lackeys were not doing what they were supposed to be doing. Gato wasn't stupid, he realized that it was partially his fault that the bridge builder had gotten away, after all, to think that hired thugs with little to no real training would be able to tell when someone has run away when they were not being watched at all times was asking a bit much. Hire thugs were pretty stupid after all.

XXX

Inside the Land of Waves was a giant cocoon shaped fortress that the Missing Ninja Zabuza Momochi, also known as the Demon of the Mist was staying, along with his two henchmen and prologue Haku.

He had been hired by some little man with way too much money in his pockets and far too much self-pride to kill some run about civilian. At first Zabuza thought it was a trap, but when he learned that the bridge builder had gone into the Land of Fire, more than likely looking for ninja help, he realized that the mission was ok so he took it.

He didn't like Gato in the least. The man wore an ugly little suit and his beady eyes really worked the missing nin's nerves because in them he could see that Gato really only saw him as a lesser creature when compared to himself. He was getting tired of the man ordering him around, and if the money didn't start to flow in soon then Gato would be missing a head.

The reason he had not already left though was because he needed more money if he was going to start his own rebellion and also because his followers needed to keep their skills sharp. If he waited too long then they would undoubtedly just get weaker, and in the world of missing ninja the weak get eaten and the strong survive.

'We need to find a way to gain more money quickly, without raising the ire of the Hidden Villages who would quickly send their best ANBU to try and take me out' thought Zabuza as he sat in his chair. Resting against his side was his faithful companion, the Executioner's Blade.

"Lord Zabuza, I have just sensed a strong chakra signature entering the island" came the muffled voice of his student Haku. "What would you have us do?"

"Why not send us" asked one of the demon brothers as he came out of the shadows.

"Yes, we could deal with one little chakra signature" spoke the other brother with a slight chuckle. "We would shred him up good."

Zabuza thought about it for a moment before turning back to look at them with a sharp look. "No, if only one chakra signature was sensed then it is possible that it was a mistake and the shinobi with it are skilled enough to hide their chakra from a novice sensory ninja" spoke Zabuza, though he did notice the slight lowering of Haku's head. "I will go just to make sure that whoever this is is actually alone. I will bring Haku with me, just in case, but I want you two to keep an eye on Gato. He seems like the type who would stab you in the back."

"Yes my lord" spoke the first demon brother right before he disappeared into the shadows.

"As you wish my lord" spoke the second brother as he followed the first into the shadows.

"Haku, don't sweat it. You have come a long way in your sensory training with the skills that you have. I wish I could teach you how to harness your unique ability, but like your other skill, it is one you will have to harness alone" spoke Zabuza as he left to confront the newest threat.

"Yes my lord" spoke Haku as she followed Zabuza.