Chapter 21
AN: Aaand here we go again good folks. Apologies for the delay, I blame laser-equipped terror squirrels from the Kuiper belt.
"Good morning Naruto-sama," Harusame said as Naruto entered the building. Naruto nodded in response but paused when seeing the looks on the man's face.
"Quite a grim look on your face," he said, "what's happened?"
"The equipment we ordered," Harusame began and Naruto got a sinking feeling in his guts. That equipment was due to arrive within the week: new computers, research material, and lab equipment. Altogether, it was worth ten million Ryo Why was he looking so grim? "It's been stranded in Wave country," the man eventually said.
"Oh for the love of," Naruto began as irritation overwhelmed him. "What has happened?" he demanded to know.
"From what we can make out, a sabotage attack at the docks has made the Gato Company shut down all outgoing transports." Harusame informed him, "Until the perpetrator is found, no one leaves Wave. The smugglers can't leave for Kiri without giving themselves away."
"Someone shall burn for this," Naruto sighed. The good mood he had started the day with, for once, vanished. However now only frustration filled him. He rubbed the bridge of his nose in exhaustion. "I will see Mizukage-sama about this matter at once." Spinning around, Naruto left the labs with quick steps. It always was something it seemed. Had everything gone too well these last weeks for misfortune to be able to stay away any longer? He'd have to convince Mei to do something.
"Well that's not good." Was Mei's comment when Naruto had told her what he had just heard from Harusame. The woman leaned back in her chair with her hands clasped, and her eyes narrowed. "Knowing that little cockroach of a merchant he'll gladly let the ship sit for months if that is what it takes."
"And while it does, the labs are at a standill. Not to mention that a lot of the equipment there will deteriorate to a useless state if it is away from the proper storage facilities for too long. We'll lose millions if that equipment is allowed to sit!" Naruto exclaimed. Since they are looking for someone, they will double check the cargo manifests. So unless we extract the equipment with haste we might as well buy a new set!"
"Gato hasn't made any requests for Kiri shinobi." Mei said, "The worm prides himself on his personal shinobi force. Other villages' shinobi aren't welcome. We could have solved it peacefully that way."
"No such option Mizukage-sama," Naruto said. Whatever she was going to do, she had to do it now.
"Oh well," Mei said after a second. "I suppose Kaito's team was getting fat anyhow. The exercise will do them well."
"Kaito?" Naruto asked and Mei nodded.
"Yamada Kaito, Honjou Tsubame, and Nagare Shien," she said, "A chuunin team specializing in "repossession" of stolen items. Admittedly, a cargo ship is a bit bigger than the usual stuff, but they'll cut it."
"How soon can you send them?" Naruto asked. He wanted those items secured as soon as possible.
"Within the hour," Mei said. "Give me a kiss, and I'll have them sent within thirty minutes," she added impishly. Naruto gave her a dry look. He didn't say anything and only folded his arms and looked at her for a minute straight. In the end, Mei raised her hands. "Fine, fine," she said. "No fun at all," she added with a mutter, and Naruto only rolled his eyes.
Within a short while, the trio of shinobi had been summoned to the Mizukage's office. They were all in their mid-teens. Kaito was a ragged-looking young man with a wild haircut and who wore a vest and armguards. Tsubame was a brown-haired girl with ponytails and suspiciously wide sleeves on her clothes. Shien, meanwhile, was a gangly fellow with red hair held in a tiny little ponytail, spectacles, and a vaguely aristocratic look on his face.
"Your mission is to head to Wave Country," Mei begun, "For the last week the cargo ship Fortune's Wind has been held up in the main harbour there. A sabotage attack on the harbour has made the Gato Company lock it down; no one gets in or out. Your job is to extract the Fortune's Wind from there and to bring the contents to Kirigakure."
"What opposition can we expect?" Shien asked swiftly.
"Unknown," Mei admitted, "You will definitely have to tangle with the Gato Company's thugs, perhaps even missing nins. You're to avoid bloodshed and violence as long as possible. We do not need an incident with the Gato Company."
"What's on the boat Mizukage-sama?" Kaito asked and Mei looked to Naruto.
"Research equipment," Naruto answered, "Ten million Ryo's worth of it. Most of it is fragile and a lot of it needing special storage space, space the ship it's on doesn't have. Speed is of the essence."
"You move out at once," Mei said. "Secure the ship and contact us as soon as you are heading for Kiri. Notify us at the latest within the week's end. Good luck."
"Yes!" the three shinobi all saluted and left. Naruto found himself wanting to pray that it would work out.
One week later there had not been a word from any of them.
"That is out of the question!" Mei told Naruto her face frigid. Naruto was as cold glaring her down with a gaze that could cut through rock.
"I'm not making a request here," he said angrily, "I'm stating a fact! Already you've lost a team and lab work stands still while those items remain stranded in Wave Country!"
"Weren't you the one saying you had plenty to do?" Mei asked pointedly.
"This takes precedence!" Naruto said, "my entire work here will be undone if those things don't get out of there! Already parts of it will have deteriorated, and I'm not letting all of it go to waste!"
"Forget it!" Mei said sharply, "I'm sending a jounin team this time. I'm not approving you going there end of story."
"That only works if I am actually your subordinate," Naruto informed her coldly, "And in case you have forgotten; I am not. I am not subordinate to you, and I don't need to obey your orders."
"Don't you dare!" Mei snapped in anger at him, and Naruto calmly met her eyes.
"Watch me," he said plainly. "I will not be bullied into submission on this matter. You can either accept it or not. You should be smart enough to realize my position here. Your move!" With that, he turned around and left hearing how Mei seemed to sit down behind him. When he reached for the door handle however, she spoke up again.
"Please," she said quietly, Naruto stopped by the door. Looking back, he saw a glimpse of Mei's eyes. Worry and fear were in them both. It was only for a split-second before it was gone again going so fast that Naruto could very well have mistaken it for something else. Not in the mood to take the risk, he turned around and folded his arms.
"Is there something I should know?" he asked her calmly. He made sure to push down any irritation he still felt and asked neutrally, looking straight at her. Mei sighed, looking to the side for a few seconds before answering.
"Wave country is under Gato's control..." she began and Naruto was about to raise an eyebrow but forced himself not to. Sarcasm wouldn't help here.
"And?" he asked.
"I've been getting reports for months now... that so are some of the renegade Shinobi swordsmen." Naruto blinked realizing instantly why she was so tight-lipped. Shinobi swordsmen serving Gato as well as all the other scumbags under the man's control? That would mean that Gato had to be even more militarily powerful than anyone had expected. Mei hadn't only an unsteady village, belligerent elders, and a complete lack of trust amongst the elemental nations to deal with. They also had the Gato corporation that very well could be counted as a challenger to Kiri.
This was bad, tremendously so. The shinobi swordsmen were Kiri in many ways. The Mizukage might be the Mizukage but to Kiri in many ways the swordsmen trumped even that. With more than one with Gato and only one in Kiri there was a genuine question of legitimacy for the village. Mei didn't want Konoha to find out about this, but Naruto realized now that she had told him something that could end her rule if used well. Naruto sighed realizing just how much it must have taken for Mei to reveal this.
"Then we solve that situation too," he said "If Gato loses both his pet swordsmen and the swords then there's no issue, is there?"
"Please Naruto, I do appreciate your confidence, but we are talking about the shinobi swordsmen! Two of them!" Mei was agitated now. He could tell. And why shouldn't she be? The shinobi swordsmen were legitimate threats no matter who you were. Still, Naruto couldn't help but feel a sense of smug confidence at the moment. He had via the shadow clones gained a full year of intensive training. Training where he hadn't just ground on with what he knew but instead unlocked several new weapons in his arsenal.
"Spit a fireball at me," Naruto answered. Mei only looked at him with a look showing her confusion. "A small fireball please," he said, "Trust me."
"Why?" Mei asked, "And what does that have to..."
"Mei!" Naruto interrupted her, "Fireball, please." He moved into a stance and readied himself. Mei looked at him for a second before she obliged. With a pair of quick seals she moulded the chakra, inhaled, and then spat a small fireball at him. It was tiny perhaps a decimetre or so across. Still, it would suffice. Naruto put up his hand and formed a tiger-seal with the other hand.
"Kai!" he said just as the fireball hit his hand and when he did so it dissipated. It didn't explode or impact or anything. It merely ceased to be. It was snuffed out like a candle. Naruto smirked to himself as he lowered his hand and watched Mei's dumbfounded look. A success indeed and Mei's beautiful face was a glory to behold.
"What..." she whispered, "How did you..."
"A little secret," Naruto said, "But take it as a show of my capacity." Now Naruto gave her an attempt at a more honest smile. "I will not fall to them Mei. I will return, and when I do I will bring you some of those prodigal swords of yours. Take care." With that, he turned around and left the room.
The day was still early when he set out and Naruto decided on the swift option. He summoned Manda by the beaches rather than take a boat, and as he sat on the head of the giant snake while it swam through the waters towards Kiri he pondered his situation. Idly looking at the seal that now adorned his hand, Naruto traced a slow circle around it with his index finger. Flexing his fingers, he wondered if he'd get to try this jutsu while in Wave. Whatever had dealt with those three chuunin would at least be a worthwhile target..If nothing else it would pay to deny Gato that asset. If it was those prodigal swordsmen, all the better...
"You seem eager," Manda remarked and Naruto looked down. An interesting predicament rose from the fact that he was sitting on Manda's head. He was used to meeting people's eyes when talking, yet how should he do that now?
"Does that show?" he asked. Despite the wind blowing past him thanks to Manda's speed, the snake could hear him and it hissed.
"If you know what to look for," it told him. "Did sleeping with the Mizukage get monotonous?"
"Behave," Naruto said dryly, "And yes, I am very much eager." He smiled to himself as he looked towards the horizon. "I have during these last two months acquired a lot of new jutsu. All that remains is field testing them. If they pan out I might have created something revolutionary."
"You have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies Namikaze," Manda said, "This partnership is only becoming more and more interesting."
"Thank you," Naruto said. Getting praise like this was somewhat weird. Still, it wasn't unwelcome. "Also that reminds me, did you have that saké with Gamabunta yet?"
"I did," Manda answered, "The old toad is quite the mahjong player." Naruto found himself laughing at this.
"How droll," he said, "If I may, how do you move the pieces without hands?"
"I told one of Gamabunta's children to either help me or be eaten," Manda responded with an amused hiss.
"That works too I suppose," Naruto said with a chuckle. After this, the conversation petered off and Naruto found himself considering what was to come. Naruto guessed not just two swordsmen but a lot of traitor nins would have gone over to Gato's side and that was a troubling prospect in more ways than one. Blood would be spilled in Wave; the only question was whose it would be.
The entire situation as it was made him feel a sense of grim satisfaction. Gato's missing-nins were as far as he was concerned fair game. Merely by employing them the man was defying the great villages. In a more belligerent time the man's throat would already be slit. Still, it never hurt to be on the safe side, so Naruto therefore exchanged his Kiri headband for his Konoha one. Hell if things were as he suspected they indeed might be this mission was more in Konoha's interests than Kiri's. An irritating issue, balancing two different missions at the same time. He'd be relieved when it was over.
Day turned to night and to day again. When they reached Wave, afternoon had settled in, and a heavy mist lay over the world. It seemed gloomy, and Naruto decided to take the land-route in order to avoid the ruckus a giant snake swimming into the main harbour would cause. He was now alone and on a mission. It had been a while hadn't it? Naruto dismissed Manda and started in through the wilds. Not really surprising him, the rest of Wave was as decrepit and as uninteresting as the harbour town. It really was evident that the Gato Company did its best to suck the life-blood out of this place. What a vile man really.
Still, Naruto made good headway towards his goal the harbour on the other end of the island, and he didn't bump into anyone. Instead, he moved quickly and silently, approaching the harbour after only an hour.
On the way however, he came to bump into something big indeed.
It was about ten minutes from the harbour town that Naruto heard the sounds of fighting. From the sounds of it, it was a quite big one as well so he decided to investigate. Not really a surprising decision, he needed to know what could be found in the area and a fight no matter the belligerents was something worth looking into. Changing his heading in moments, he leaped through the trees a little faster. it took him a minute before he reached the area and could get an overview of things. What he came across made him freeze in shock.
To his amazement one side of the conflict consisted of none other than two of the demons of the mist, namely Hoshigaki Kisame and Momochi Zabuza. Wearing some kind of black cloaks with red clouds upon them, the two demon swordsmen were nevertheless easily identifiable both through their bloodthirsty presence and the giant swords they wielded. At the moment they were eagerly attacking the other side, and Naruto could tell that the battle was going badly for their opponents.
That was not what caused him to freeze up. It was the fact that the other side consisted of people he recognized. Not the trio of chuunin from Kiri or anything like that. Oh no, the group of people currently seemingly only moments from defeat were four in number. Four who wore Konoha forehead protectors. The leader of the quartet was none other than Hatake Kakashi who at the moment was fending off Zabuza's furious assault with what seemed like a bolt of lightning egripped in his hand. The remaining three were all genin. First, Sarutobi Konohamaru, who was lying face-down on the ground with blood running from his face, the second was Uchiha Sasuke who at the moment was trying to move. Forcing himself to his feet with teeth gritted and a kunai in his hand. The third, who currently was being held by the throat and slammed into a rock by Kisame, was Kimiko.
She screamed in pain, multiple wounds visible all over her body, and looked at Kisame with fear and anger in equal amounts as tears leaked down her bload soaked cheeks.
Naruto in his life had faced many mysteries. Some of them tantalizing, some of them giving him a base sense that he was touching something forbidden. Some of them were both though. Some of these mysteries were equally as terrifying as they were alluring. Secrets and mysteries that he wanted nothing more than to understand yet every fibre of his being warned him to stay away from.
Today he found such a moment. In one second everything fell away around him. It was as if reality, or rather his perspective of it, was snapped in half. What remained behind he could not tell whether it was perfect clarity or deranged madness. What he did know was that his mind which had grasped perfectly at all things around him, been able to take stock of dozens of things, analyse them and draw conclusions in instants, suddenly had no such capacity at all. Instead, he had only one setting, only one goal, only one thing that mattered in any way whatsoever.
Death. Two people were dying today. Plain as day, as obvious as gravity and as simple as one plus one, it stood clear to him. Hoshigaki Kisame's and Momochi Zabuza's lives were forfeit.
Thus, it was decided, and thus it was acted upon. He launched himself forwards with a speed he honestly tell if he had ever shown before and the twist of his hand that brought the Kusanagi into his hand was lightning fast. His body was as supple as a whip. It was better than he could ever remember it being, and when he struck against Kisame he did so with the force of a bijuu. One, two, four, eight, twelve, he struck the man twelve times and even though none of them did more than graze the missing nin he kept going without missing a beat. Indeed, it seemed as though Samehada cried out in pain from the sheer force as the swordsman reeled away from Kimiko having dropped her and raised his sword to defend himself.
Smashing his foot toes first into the soft ground he got enough momentum to stop almost mid-leap and twist around ending up with his chest up and the Kusanagi lashing out towards the other side with its blade extending as fast as any eye could see. It hit the Kubikiri Houcho straight on managing to penetrate the thick metal and made Zabuza lift off his feet from the impact.
Zabuza was going through the air and Kisame reeling. Naruto un-summoned the Kusanagi even as it drove into Kubikiri Houcho and instead formed seals. With another foot landing on the ground he now stood leaning forwards and spat out a massive cloud of virulent poison straight into Kisame. That was not enough however. Lashing his hands out to the sides, he summoned two large piles of shuriken and with a twist of his arms he sent them flying towards both of the swordsmen. He leapt up into the air before he wove another ninjutsu. This time, it was fire that he spat. A massive swarm of fireballs struck Kisame and Zabuza, making them vanish in a storm of fire.
Naruto, meanwhile, landed in front of the giant conflagration that now raged in front of the group. He stood only a dozen metres away from the inferno, not registering the heat. Behind him, he could hear movement, and after a while a voice cried out.
"Oniisan..." Her voice was weak, but was filled with so much joy and relief that it was heartbreaking. In his current state of mind, Naruto failed to even notice her joyous whisper. Instead, he swiftly threw up his hand.
"Quiet!" he demanded with a voice bereft of any kindness or recognition. "It's not over yet," he continued, pushing off his hakama to free his chest and summoning the Kusanagi again. As if on cue, the flames begun to sizzle and in a storm of water they vanished revealing the two black-robed assailants again.
Kisame and Zabuza looked only a bit frayed around the edges. Some patches of soot here. Some smouldering threads there. Yet beyond that there was no sign of the furious assault they had suffered. What more Kisame was grinning widely and Zabuza emmitted a darkly amused chuckle. Their bloodlust was palpable. It surrounded them like a dense mist. It made the water swirling around them seethe and boil.
"Well, well, well," Zabuza said, "If it ain't the clever snake of Konoha."
"Namikaze Naruto in the flesh," Kisame said, "A surprise indeed to see such an illustrious man here." Naruto didn't respond to what they said, being beyond words as it was. Instead, he slammed his hands into the ground and threw up a massive earth wall that collided with the water swirling around them. Soon transforming them into mud. It went fast due to the sheer violence of the impact between them, and only seconds later Naruto slammed his fists into the mud again. This time the skin on his arms begun to move as if something crawled beneath it.
Seconds later his arms burst open in several places and snakes crawled out of them. By the dozens and the hundreds the snakes dove into the mud. They crawled through it and in an instant the two shinobi swordsmen found themselves not only standing in a field of loose mud, but one infested with countless snakes as well. The snakes shot out of the mud by the dozens wrapping themselves around Kisame and Zabuza both. Sinking their fangs into the two swordsmen the snakes found their effort thwarted as the two fell apart. Collapsing into water the two swordsmen vanished, and in the next second the lake beyond begun to roar.
Zabuza appeared on the water, flashing through seals so fast that his hands became a blur, and Naruto produced several kunai from his clothes with explosive tags on them. With a flick of his wrist, he sent them flying towards Zabuza and charged again. The kunai were stopped however. A tidal wave rose from the lake high enough that it towered above the trees. The explosions that came when the kunai impacted did little to divert the deluge that rushed forward straight at Naruto. Zabuza was on top of the wave running at the very edge of the tsunami with his sword whirling.
If he jumped up, he was a prime target for Zabuza. If he dove into the water he was a prime target for Kisame who currently was moving inside the water, swimming as fast as Zabuza was running. Naruto sneered at their attempt to trap him. Throwing the Kusanagi over to his other hand and letting it land in a backhand grip, he spread the fingers of his now free hand wide and narrowed his eyes. Forming a one-handed seal with the hand holding the Kusanagi he shoved his hand forward into the tsunami just as it reached him.
"Kai!" he roared, and in the next moment the tsunami was no more. All momentum vanished. All the force was neutralized, and all that was left in its wake was a mass of water free-falling towards the earth. Kisame plowed into the earth, and Zabuza found himself without footing mid-air. It left the swordsman unbalanced enough that when Naruto jumped towards him he had no way of dodging. Instead, he parried and the Kubikiri Houcho stopped the Kusanagi only inches from Zabuza's head. The sword was stopped, but that did not mean the attack was neutralized. Zabuza's eyes widened in the next instant and Naruto bared his teeth as he saw that the sound-attack had affected him.
With all sense of direction being torn from him, Zabuza was unable to respond as Naruto struck again. This time he cut deeply into the demon's back. A scream came from Zabuza, an enraged and surprised one mainly, and Naruto spun around mid-air. He held onto Zabuza and now moved the Kusanagi to stab the man straight through the heart. His opponent had already suffered what to swordsmen such as these was a great humiliation: a wounded back. Now he could die in disgrace and failure. Naruto stabbed feeling such a profound sense of rightness when doing it that he couldn't stop himself from smiling.
The smile turned into a snarl however. Kisame had managed to get out of the water and throw himself up into the air knocking the attack out of the way before it hit Zabuza. Grabbing his fellow swordsman and slashing at Naruto, Kisame propelled himself away from his assailant and landed further away. He was still grinning.
"Now that's more like it." he said viciously, "I'd gladly stay and cut off some bits of you, but I think we are done for today." With that he lashed out and struck the water. Knocking up a cascade of water, the Shinobi swordsman and his wounded compatriot had both vanished when it fell again. Naruto landed in front of the cascade with bared teeth and he nearly snarled again after seeing that his two opponents had gotten away. The battle was over, but he was unable to calm down. Cold, calculating fury that just wouldn't go away choked him. He sheathed his sword he looked back towards Kimiko and her group. Coldly and almost uncaringly he quickly took stock of the situation. Kakashi had fallen unconscious. Konohamaru still didn't move. Sasuke was helping Kimiko using her arm wrapped around his neck to drag her to her feet. Also, a civillian was coming out of hiding a short distance away from the group. Naruto reached the group quickly. He checked Kakashi and Konohamaru in seconds. From the looks of it, Kakashi had merely overexerted himself and Konohamaru's bloody face came from a broken nose.
"Oniisan..." Kimiko Began, Naruto looked up and noticed that she had an eye swollen shut, several scrapes, bruises, and a small trail of blood coming out the corner of her mouth. He was so focused on getting them to safety that he didn't show any of the effect seeing her in that state had on him.
"We're not clear yet," he said tersely before turning to the civilian who was a bearded grey-haired man with a tired face, glasses and worn clothes. "You!" he exclaimed startling the man, "are you the client? Is there any place close we can head to? These two need attention."
"My... my home is close by master shinobi," the man managed to tell him. Naruto nodded.
"You take this one," he said indicating Konohamaru. "Move!" he continued as he picked up Kakashi, "We need to get into shelter as soon as possible." It was in this manner he drove the group as fast as possible towards the available shelter. The area around them was still filled with mist and they were way too close to the water for him to be calm. Kiri shinobi and water was a potent mix. He didn't trust Kisame's claims about them being done for today. As it was his priorities were clear. First, get them to safety and stabilize Konohamaru and Kakashi. Second get a run-down of what had happened until now. Third find out who other than Zabuza and Kisame that were going to die for this.
The man's home was a large, if worn-down two-story, building at the outskirts of the nearby town. As they entered the house, with Tazuna leading, they were greeted by a woman in her thirties whose suprised expression quickly turned fearful.
"Tsunami!" the man yelled, "Get the guest room fixed up. This kid needs help!"
"Oh gods..." the woman said breathlessly with one hand up to her mouth in shock before she managed to get moving. Naruto felt an errant thought shoot through his head about what a bloody noise they were making over a concussion and a broken nose. Nevertheless, they got both Kakashi and Konohamaru put into bed and within the minute Naruto could see about correcting the boy's nose. By the looks of it the nasal bones were nigh shattered and if left to heal naturally he'd end up with an utter mess of a nose. It'd be detrimental to his career if he couldn't even breathe through it.
Kneeling by Konohamaru's side, Naruto ran one of his hands over the nose while the other steadily pushed the bones back into position before healing the fractures. Kimiko was standing by the door looking on anxiously
"Is... is he going to be okay?" she asked timidly. Naruto felt a sting of irritation.
"He suffered a concussion and a broken nose only," he told her frankly. "If this is all it takes to break him he shouldn't be a shinobi to begin with."
"Hey!" Kimiko began no doubt instinctively but after that she sort of floundered. It seemed she couldn't figure if that was an insult or not. Naruto ignored her. She was passed by the woman Tsunami who came into the room with a bowl of water and a towel. Naruto reached out with his bloody hand, and the woman offered him the bowl to clean himself. A quick rinse got rid of the blood and Naruto moved to check Kakashi as Tsunami went to clean off Konohamaru's face.
The former student of the Hokage was unconscious judging from how his body was entirely limp. There was literally no control in his limbs, not even the fitful one that came with sleep which kept you stable. Kakashi was like a bag filled with bones and meat. Chakra exhaustion. One couldn't fault the man for not having gone all out to keep his students out of the fight he'd give him that.
With the first issue addressed, Naruto went to confront Kimiko and Sasuke. They both stood in the doorway. Kimiko looked as if she wanted to throw herself into the room and fuss over her teammates. Sasuke leaned against the opposite wall with his arms folded. Curiously the boy had lost his glasses and his posture seemed quite different as well. The once unkempt geek now seemed much more like an actual Uchiha. As he looked towards them, Kimiko's eyes showed her worry and at the same time her trust in him. She was completely convinced he'd have saved them from near death or something.
"Exhaustion only," he said, "Give him a few days of rest and he'll be on his feet again. Oh, and Tsunami-san?" he turned to the woman, "When the genin, the younger one, wakes up he'll most likely want to puke. Would I impose if I asked you to watch him? He'll probably wake up within a few minutes."
"I owe you my father's life shinobi-sama," the woman said and bowed from her kneeling position, "I'll gladly watch the boy."
"Good," Naruto said, brushing past Kimiko. "You two come with me," he told Sasuke and Kimiko brusquely. Without looking back, he headed back down into the kitchen where he found the civilian they had escorted sitting in front of a bottle of saké.
"How are they?" the man asked worriedly.
"Unconscious but alive," Naruto told him, "Could I ask you to vacate the kitchen? I need to hear their story." Naruto didn't miss the fact that the man got somewhat stiff now. The man was obviously worried about him hearing Sasuke and Kimiko's story. How suspicous. "Surely that will not be a problem considering I saved your life?" he asked letting his voice turn frigid. The man swallowed. There was fear in his eyes as he retreated from the room. "Sit down," Naruto continued turning towards Kimiko and Sasuke. The two did so as Naruto walked over to close the door into the kitchen before turning back to them. "I want to know your mission and what has happened thus far. Give me every detail without any exceptions." He made sure to emphasize the last part and Kimiko looked towards Sasuke worriedly.
Yes, something was going on here and Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that he'd be in an even fouler mood when he knew what that was.
The door slowly slid open as Naruto stepped into the hallway. It didn't really surprise him that the man, Tazuna was his name, was standing only a short distance away. Walking up to the man, Naruto proceeded to lock gazes with him. His eyes cut like knives into the man's as he spoke up. What he had been told had made the sense of sociopathic clarity return in force, and while he was calmer he was no less out for blood.
"Tell me," he began with a deathly calm voice, "Do you have any family members beyond Tsunami?" The man in front of him had hired Kimiko's team for an escort mission claiming that they'd face only bandits. Konoha had believed him and sent a team of three genin and one jounin, Team 7, with him.
"Wh... what?" the man asked. It was easy to see he was taken aback by the question. Naruto didn't say anything and instead only stood there, waiting for the man's answer. "Why do you want to know that?" Tazuna asked after a while. Naruto wasted no time giving an answer but instead punched him in the gut. The man keeled over with a choked exclamation. He was a liar! He had lied to Konoha! Wanting to get away cheap he had omitted the fact that he was hunted by Gato and the man's cadre of shinobi.
"I will ask again," Naruto said icily as Tazuna clutched his stomach at Naruto's feet, "Which other family members do you have?" Naruto had resolved himself to bring the man down on the floor a world of horror and pain for this. The fears he had held when Anko had died came back in full force. Vile dregs that lied to Konoha about the details of the mission and caused the death of shinobi had exploited the leniency shown the last time this happened.
"What the hell is your..." Tazuna begun and this time Naruto kicked him in the face sending the man in an arc backwards where he eventually hit wall. Blood started to stream down his nose and Naruto drew the Kusanagi. No more, never again. He'd send a message to the entire world right now!
"This is your last chance," he said, "Which other family members do you have?!" With that, he placed the Kusanagi against the man's jugular, glaring at him with all the fury of a bijuu.
"I... Inari!" Tazuna answered, "My... my grandchild!"
"Good," Naruto said, "For the time being we are guests in your house," he explained, still holding the tip of the blade against the man's throat. "Yet when we leave you will have chosen one member of your family. Inari or Tsunami, I care not which. That person will die when we depart from here. That is what you will reap for having tried to deceive Konoha." He might have objected to this if he had been in a more rational state of mind. As it was however, he was not. He was livid, angrier than he ever could remember being, and the anger gave him focus. It made him a sociopath that coldly and logically considered how he would make this man suffer.
"O... what are you doing Oniisan!?" Kimiko exclaimed disbelievingly behind him and Naruto ignored it staring into the man's eyes as the colour vanished from his face.
"But... but..." the man began. Naruto wasn't done however.
"Be aware that your hospitality in this moment is what makes me give you this leniency," he cut the man off. "If you withdraw it try to trick us or run away from us then, I will kill them both, and I will do so first after a long session of gruesome torture which you will be forced to watch. Then, I will crucify you upon a hill overlooking the town. As you hang there bleeding to death, I will proceed to raze both the town and your bridge until not one brick remains atop another. Do I make myself clear?" he had not raised his voice one decibel during this speech. He felt as though he was too angry to do so. "Do. I make. Myself. Clear?" he repeated his question. After a while the man nodded. Seeing his face gave some sort of satisfaction at least. The sheer horror evident in it was a small reward but a reward nonetheless. Sheathing his sword now and spinning around, he came face to face with Kimiko who was halfway about to throw herself onto him. From the looks of it she wanted to disarm him or something. Naruto simply moved faster and slapped her.
The sharp slap echoed through the room and Kimiko stumbled away with wide eyes. She came to a halt first a metre or so away and looked up at him. The look of shock, disbelief and sense of betrayal in her large eyes could have made him falter at any other time. It was immense. Kimiko's emotions had always raged and as she looked now she could very well not know what she was going to do. But this time it did not make him hesitate or regret what he had done. Naruto merely took one step forward, glaring at her.
"I expected better of you Kimiko," he told her with a still glacial voice, "Your client outright admits to having lied to you and not only do you overlook it, you demand that you continue the mission. You've defied mission parameters and chosen to act in a manner not just as foolish as I'd expect from you but outright treasonous!"
"Y... y..." Kimiko began still clutching her cheek as her eyes seemed about to mist up.
"At this point," Naruto said, "What you've done is tantamount to treason! I cannot comprehend that you, even you, would sink this low. And that goes twice for you, Uchiha Sasuke!" he snarled, looking towards Sasuke who looked as if he didn't know in what direction he should flee. "The two of you..."
"You dummy!" Kimiko yelled now. The girl lashed out in anger at him, kicking towards his shin and Naruto's eyes narrowed. Reaching down, he caught her leg and shoved it upwards in order to make her fall flat on her back. Pulling out the Kusanagi scabbard and all he put it against her chest, locking his gaze with her.
"Right now, Namikaze Kimiko," he told her with a low hiss, "I am not just very disappointed with you. I'm disgusted." Pulling away the sword, he started down the hallway towards the exit. Staying here solved nothing; he should be out reconnoitring the area. "You two stay here," he snapped at them, "And if you leave the house I might as well consider you missing-nins and get it over with at once. Looking back towards the group, he pushed out the Kusanagi an inch or two out of its scabbard by using his thumb. "Do I make myself clear?" he asked with a growl before leaving the house and slamming the door shut.
Sitting amongst the higher branches of a tree deep in the small forest right next to the bridge-builder's house, Naruto watched the full moon with an impassive face. Three hours had passed since he left the house, and he had used that time well. Efficiency and clear goals did wonders for how expedient one could be. Secure the area, prepare it defensively, and get estimates. It was a mission he could have done as a genin. The forest and the general area had been scouted and he had a good overview of the situation. A few dozen powerful seal traps were hidden amongst the trees as well. Any shinobi that tried to move that way would be dead before they knew what hit them. The very tree Naruto was sitting in carried one of those seals right now. It was sitting only a few metres above his head. Naruto had sat down here to gather his thoughts after having done what he needed to, and as the night went on the young man pondered the day that had passed.
What an utter mess they were in. Hoshigaki Kisame and Momochi Zabuza the two people he had equally much expected and feared he'd meet here. What more Kimiko was caught in the crossfire due to such an asinine reason as the one he had been told of. After they had been attacked by two shinobi during a supposed C-rank mission, something meant to be shinobi-free, the fact that their client had lied to them had come out in the open. Thanks to Kakashi's quick action none were hurt bar a small scratch on Kimiko. And what had they done? The mission had ended the instant the truth about how their employer had lied came out. They were expected to head back at once and leave the liar to his fate. Yet for some utterly insane reason they had continued the mission as if nothing had happened. In the end they had arrived at wave and walked straight into Kisame and Zabuza. That bumped this mission up to an A-ranked at the very least. S-ranked in his opinion.
Whatever respect he had carried for Kakashi was undone at the moment. How could the man have become this stupid, this utterly idiotic? He had risked his entire team on the behest of Kimiko! Kimiko whose stubborn pride had made her cling to a mission that already was terminated! That little idiot!
She really didn't realize what an utter mess she had caused for all of them. Naruto looked towards the harbour and the half-finished bridge visible there. He wasn't even going to try returning to Konoha as it was. Kisame and Zabuza would be too risky to take on and he knew the two renegade swordsmen would wait for them if they tried to go over the strait. Two swordsmen versus him, Kakashi and three genin?
No that wasn't going to happen. Especially not when considering who those two swordsmen were after. Black cloaks with red clouds... A dawn... an Akatsuki. Too much came together and made sense for Naruto to be the least happy about it. And yet, the most terrible implication lay in the fact that they showed up here and now. Were they working with the Gato Company?
There'd be a lot of time to find out the details though. Kakashi would be out of action for days by the looks of it, and they'd be confined to Wave until the bridge was finished. That bridge was the only real way they could get away from here as it stood. The sea would make them sitting ducks for the shinobi swordsmen.
Naruto eventually decided that there was nothing more to be gained from sitting up in a tree like this, and with a spin he rolled off the branch. Effortlessly, he landed on the ground and began walking towards the bridge-builder's house. It was just as well to go back and get a few hours of sleep. He had to the best of his abilities fortified the perimeter, and if the two swordsmen would be able to break through now it would be out of his hands.
The fact that there was nothing more to do was usually the hardest part to accept and live with. Yet to Naruto there was a much harder truth to live with. In his mind, the incident at Tazuna's house still stood firm. Kimiko's look of disbelief, shock, and even horror was branded in his soul. To see his little sister look at him like that burned in him. Idiot though she may be, the little girl held a special place in his heart. To see her look at him with those eyes was not pleasant. After having been separate for so long, they had come to meet again in the field of duty. While Naruto saw no real reason to re-evaluate the choices he had made, he did admit he had been crude and brutal in the enforcement of said choices. His idealistic sister had been faced fully with his coldest side. As a shinobi he had to be cold, focused, and ruthless. That was something Kimiko hadn't seen in him before.
With a sigh, Naruto slowed down as he looked up at the moon again. What a monster he must seem to her. The bridge-builder she had sworn to protect had been told by her beloved big brother that one of his family members' life was forfeit thanks to his actions. Her idealism and his pragmatism clashed savagely to say the least. Naruto didn't doubt this would be painful for her.
Still that didn't matter. Naruto remembered Anko's death like it was yesterday. He remembered how he had stood in front of her coffin looking down at the wood shielding him from seeing the face of the woman who had saved his sanity. She had died thanks to lying, deceitful clients who saw Konoha's shinobi as expendable weapons only. He remembered the pain and the outright madness which had come in the wake of her death. For no better reason than lies... No not lies he had moved past that! The "mistakes" of the client, she had died alone and unloved.
Naruto had enough clarity to see that there was an element of selfishness to what he was doing Anko's death had nearly shattered him. For all his talk of being above Orochimaru, Naruto had long suspected it wasn't moral as much as fortune which had kept him off that path. Anko's death had brought up the possibility and it had brought more than enough data with it to make the premise plausible. If he lost what mattered to him, Kimiko, his research... Mei. What would happen then? With everything gone and with the power to possibly bring them back... would he be able to stay away from it? Only with Anko he had balanced on the edge... He didn't want to experience that once again.
He could become his master, he knew it. For all his claims of being superior to Orochimaru, he knew the same vices lurked beyond the surface. His vices were different from most people yet the same as Orochimaru's and for that he was judged harder. Naruto knew his vices were those of wanting to control his surroundings. Pride if anything would be his downfall. The day he refused to accept there were things beyond his control he'd cross the line and start down that path. And as his power grew that line only crept closer and closer.
For now, he held it at bay due to the beacons in his life showing him the path. He knew Kimiko shone the brightest amongst those beacons. Anko's death had nearly undone him yet Kimiko had saved him, shining all the brighter for it. If she died as well, Naruto could see his life play out in front of him. He would hunt down the responsible, find no satisfaction in his eventual revenge and would be left in a black abyss with the memory of Kimiko burning as a source of fanatic mania that could spur him to any level of deranged experimentation.
He had already lost Anko to clients not telling the full story. He'd be damned before he lost Kimiko to it as well. Anyone who touched his little sister would die, plain as that. Zabuza and Kisame would die. If Gato worked with them he'd die. The organisation behind the two renegade swordsmen would die. It was that simple, no hesitation or uncertainty, there was nothing but death in store for them. And if she hated him for it... well, at least she'd be alive to do it. It was a somewhat disgusting stance to take in the matter yet Naruto couldn't do anything else. The girl that had become his anchor to reality as firmly as Anko had ever been was sacred to him. It was possessive, irrational, and frankly quite pathetic, but at the moment he didn't care. Anyone touching her would die.
Stepping onto the porch of Tazuna's house, he pushed the door open and walked into the house. It was in the middle of the night, and everyone was asleep. Not everyone, Naruto corrected himself. Sasuke was sitting by the kitchen table seemingly asleep, but the boy's attention was focused on the door. They had at least put out a sentry Naruto thought.
"Password?" Sasuke asked as he came inside. Naruto raised an eyebrow and didn't respond. "Good" the boy said after a while and Naruto wondered again how Uchiha Sasuke could have agreed to do this. He didn't doubt that Sarutobi Konohamaru was the same, and they served under a man he had thought eccentric but capable. Indeed, even Kimiko had her capabilities... a real Rookie Ace team that had gone off track like this.
No... no matter what Kimiko might think, this was not acceptable. He didn't care if her idealistic view of the shinobi world shattered or if she came to hate him. As he passed by the room in which Kimiko was sleeping, he could hear her mutter inside. Something about "show you". What she was dreaming about he didn't know, only that the dream she seemed to live in had to end soon.
Dark thoughts came creeping to him now as he took up position sitting sideways in one of the open windows with the Kusanagi resting in his hand and one leg up on the windowsill. Orochimaru had brought him out of what idealism had remained in him in the most thorough manner possible, and he had done the same, albeit, in a more limited form, with Sakura. Perhaps, it was time for Kimiko to be subjected to that as well?
Naruto remained seated there as the night passed by and stared out across the fields with ice in his eyes and cold rage his soul.
PS: You ARE reading Ouroboros: side stories, right?