- Okay... this city is a lot bigger than I thought it would be.
The boy said, with part of his body leaning to the side on top of a huge tree as he looked at the high walls of the city ahead.
The city was indeed large, and at first glance, appeared to be a normal city.
But apart from the powerful protective circle around it, there were several massive concentrations of chakra at certain points scattered around the city.
And from what little he saw, the boy realized that they were chakra portals. Probably to transport these nukenins out of the forest.
- If these portals are here... then wouldn't this place have been discovered before? The authorities could simply teleport themselves here.
"- The portals teleport the nukenins to some random location at the edge of the forest, but there isn't a portal that teleports people into the city."
Naruto arched an eyebrow.
- Really? Isn't that a bit... dangerous? I mean, they stay on the shore, but, getting back to the city must be a lot of work.
He asked aloud, still not used to the Bijuu in his mind, and occasionally forgetting that he could answer with his thoughts.
"- Many of them don't come back. The stronger nukenins can take care of themselves. Others, on the other hand, don't even want to leave, there's nothing out there for them, plus they're not confident enough in their strength. So in a way, this city has become their new home because of the lack of options."
- Deserved.
He ran his eyes along the walls. There were two entrances, which were also used as exits. One not far from where he was, and one at the other end of the city.
- His chakra is inside... but I sense several chakras nearby, some of them quite powerful.
"- Nukenins of rank E to S who made it to the city are here."
- That's going to be tough... getting in is not the problem.
He said, focusing his eyes on a group of nukenins who arrived at the gates and were being checked by the guards.
He quickly hid his presence, and flexing his knees, jumped over the wall, right next to two guards. One was looking at the group of nukenins, and the other was concentrating on lighting a cigarette.
It was relatively easy to get in there. There were only nukenin, why should they be worried about being robbed? They were robbing each other all the time in there.
Besides, in that forest, the only things they had to worry about were the creatures, nothing else.
The boy, as soon as he landed, hid behind some wooden barrels and watched the road and establishments ahead for a while.
Strange that a criminal town would sell something. But the owners didn't seem too worried, as they all had strong presences, so there were few who would rob them.
Amidst the countless nukenins who came and went from outside the walls, there were men who could barely walk.
People in such precarious situations that it was pitiful... and some of them had been dead for at least a few days.
Nobody cared about removing the body of that poor man from the middle of the street?
Didn't they care about that? What about the smell?
Naruto was far away, and even then, he had to hold back from vomiting. Maybe it was his nose that was more sensitive than before.
After some time of watching, he noticed that some children were walking around as well. His eyes narrowed.
Children who were perhaps kidnapped... not all of them, some of them were chatting quietly with some men of dubious appearances.
Maybe children of nukenins. Mostly boys, but he noticed some girls too. Although, the people accompanying them seemed nervous.
Well, what could you expect from a city full of criminals?
But, although that was horrible in many ways, it gave him a way to go unnoticed.
Sneaking through the alleys, the boy's eyes narrowed as he noticed a not-too-tall, bald, light-skinned man ahead of him holding some clothes in his hands.
Naruto didn't need to think, the city was nukenins, no one there was innocent.
Using the darkness of the alley, he waited until the man was on his back, and attacked, grabbing the back of his head and throwing his head against the ground, again and again.
Naruto stared at the man's body for some time. No chance he would do something like that some time ago. Not with that coldness and certainty.
And that made him a little strange. He wasn't proud of that, and it still bothered him, but... it was easier to bear.
"- You and my sister have practically become one. Not only your body, but your personality has changed as well. What did you expect? She doesn't take pride in killing, but she doesn't hesitate to do it."
Naruto sighed and crouched down, picking up the clothes that had fallen to the floor.
Straightening his posture, he puts on an overcoat, already a bit old and battered, lowers his head, and walks slightly unsteadily to look like he was in a state of misery.
As long as he didn't bump into anyone and kept his chakra hidden, no one would mind a beggar, no matter how young he was.
Once on the street, he tried not to be bothered by the excessive noise, and the various disgusting smells that hung in the air on certain streets he passed.
He at least hoped that the nukenins cared about hygiene.
"Kami, what a stinky place"
"- Hm, I've been in worse. Amateur."
"Oh come on, you can't compare me to a Bijuu. How can these guys stand that smell?"
"-Most of them have been here for a while, they've gotten used to it."
At one point, the boy suddenly stops, and narrowly misses bumping into a redheaded girl who had come out of an establishment with a guy with most of his body bandaged up.
- Argh, I almost ran into a beggar again.
She grumbled, going on her way. Naruto just lowered his head, feeling the man's gaze in his direction.
- That's the third time. I don't know Tayuya, you seem to do it on purpose to annoy Juugo.
The man said, just before the boy continued on his way, trying not to focus on the conversation that was going on between the two of them.
After walking for a while longer, he raised his head slightly and looked at a place further ahead.
There were people bustling about in a flat area that contained a stage at one end.
Some kind of auction was going on... perhaps.
No... it was more like an art exhibition. No one there seemed to have the money to buy anything, although he knew that those cages would be sold to someone.
Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the cages on the stage. Caged creatures, such as some rare animals.
There was even a snake in one of the cages. Its white scales reminded Naruto very well of the white mamba he had killed some time ago.
Compared to the one he had faced, that snake was a baby.
Why would anyone sell a snake? And why would anyone buy one? And why were they showing such a beautiful animal as if it were a toy? That snake should be in the wild.
Another one that definitely should not be in a cage was a little girl cowering, hugging her legs from underneath, holding on to the light, battered dress she was wearing, and hiding her face.
Many men were shouting in her direction. From the girl's delicate white skin, the boy realized that she was quite beautiful.
What really bothered him was the things they shouted.
"- There's my jinchuuriki."
"She's a little girl..."
"- Do you think they care? Look at the way they scream excited by the few rags she wears. The way they insult her. This is a city of degenerates, Naruto. Human beings at their purest."
Naruto clicked his tongue, irritated.
There were a lot of people there, he would certainly be noticed.
A sigh escaped his lips. He would have to fight his way out of there as soon as he could rescue the girl.
The problem was how he would do it.
Well... good thing that city was full of nukenins... a fight, for example, was not hard to happen. And, consequently, maybe, quite likely those dangerous animals could magically escape from their cages and start a little slaughter.
Well maybe, you know... sort of, who knows.
Walking away from there, the boy enters a dark, empty alley, and concentrates to create only two clones. He couldn't expose his chakra to a level that would draw attention, so it took a little effort to make the clones in the least amount of chakra possible.
Soon, the clones used a henge of random men he had seen at some point in his life, and he just watched, thanking his father for teaching him basic jutsus before he started at the academy.
The clones approached and joined the crowd. And after a while between them and pretending to listen to what that nukenin on top of the stage had to say, both clones started arguing with each other.
Small insults, loud only for those around to hear, which soon increased in intensity and volume.
The nukenin's speech was interrupted by the loud voices of the two clones, and soon, they were the center of attention.
There was even a nearby nukenin who cheered and shouted, "fight", "fight", "fight".
The clones stopped for a while, looked at the nukenin, looked at each other, nodded, and together, punched the man in the face with a combined punch, sending him backwards.
And without waiting, one of the clones tried to attack the other clone, who deflected, and the clone who attacked ended up hitting, totally by accident, a nukenin further back.
It wasn't long before a fight broke out.
And before the clones disappeared, they both spat out a small ball of fire, and wind, just to put a little more wood on the fire.
The crowd started to fight, and some jutsus started to be thrown in different directions, where one of them even hit an establishment that had nothing to do with the story.
The boy grimaced, this had developed faster than he thought, it was time to act.
Quickly, he ran to the stage. Taking advantage that the nukenin didn't even know of his existence, he hits him with a strong kick on the side of the neck, sending him flying to the side.
Concentrating chakra, he makes some clones that left to open the animal cages, while he made a wind blade in his hand, and opened the cage in which the girl was.
Turning around, he throws the cage door toward some men who have noticed him, and takes the girl by the arm.
His red eyes met the pearly eyes of the girl, who was looking at him scared and confused.
- Come on, we have to get out of here!
he shouted, but soon he was forced to pull her away when he saw that she hadn't moved, and especially when he felt a fireball spit in his direction.
Turning around, he realized that more nukenins were approaching, and a large number of them had their eyes focused on him.
The point is, he was planning to use one of those portals. Well, that plan is gone. No chance he was going to get through all those nukenins. The nearest portal was still too far away.
Looking to the side, he nods to the clones that freed the animals, and they make a few hand seals as the original turned and starts running from there.
As he walks away, he hears the explosion of the jutsus the clones made, and gets their memories after they were destroyed. From the looks of it, he had made quite a number of enemies. The features on the faces of the nukenins who destroyed his clones were so cute that they made his body shiver.
"- This was your plan?!"
"And the worst part is that it worked!"
"- Argh, dammit! She's weak, Naruto!"
Naruto grumbles softly, turns around and picks the girl up in his arms, leaping onto the roof of a nearby building and dodging a fire jutsu thrown in his direction.
He felt the whole city on alert, and a huge number of ninjas running towards him.
"Thank you, Kakashi-nii for teaching me the Kage Bushin! Even with my mother forbidding you."
As he ran, he created a large number of clones that served to slow down the ninjas. These clones were occasionally summoned with seals already in place, which allowed the jutsus to come out faster and bought him more time.
And indeed, it bought him more time. However, there was one particular group of nukenins who simply ignored his clones.
Nukenim who were very strong.
And very fast, because they were literally on his tail.
- Let her go, kid! Or things are going to get ugly for you!
one of them shouted.
Gritting his teeth, the boy increased his speed a little more, and suddenly changed direction, using a shadow clone as support.
Soon, he let himself fall from the roof of one of the buildings and made a dozen more clones, where half stayed in his rear, and the other stayed in the front concentrating chakra in his hands and advancing towards the walls.
A huge explosion happened, strong enough to shake the ground of the entire city. And in the blink of an eye, there was a way out of that place.
Although he was still being pursued.
"-If you get captured, we're done for."
"Oh thanks, you're great at motivating someone."
The boy rolled his eyes and began to transfer his chakra to the girl in his arms.
Although her problem wasn't chakra per se. She was thin, probably hadn't eaten in a while, or was eating pretty poorly.
"Can you give her a honeyfruit?! How many do you have left?"
He used a clone as support again, changing its trajectory and deflecting a sword that had been thrown in his direction, at the same time the clone uses a certain amount of chakra to launch a fireball towards the nukenins who were chasing him.
However, the clone was quickly destroyed, and the boy groaned slightly as he felt a powerful jutsu move towards him, forcing him to jump to the side.
However, this didn't stop him from being hit by the impact, and he was thrown far away.
One of the nukenins advanced quickly toward him, apparently the leader of that group.
The man tried to punch Naruto. He probably underestimated him because he was a boy, or he didn't want to hurt the girl in his arms. Ironic, he does this after almost killing him with a fire dragon.
What the leader didn't expect, however, was that Naruto would dodge the blow and counter with a kick to the side of his neck, throwing him somewhat violently to the side.
"- Two. And to deliver the honeyfruit to her, I need to get out of your body."
"Ah, that's wonderful."
Concentrating chakra in his legs, Naruto jumps up and throws the girl into a clone he created next to him.
Turning around, still in the air, he creates four more clones, and quickly makes some hand seals.
- Katon: Housenka no jutsu!
All five "Narutos" began to machine gun the nukenins with countless fireballs.
Two of the nukenins took the lead, and made some hand seals, spitting out at the same time, two continuous streams of water towards the fireballs, creating a cloud of steam all around.
Because of the lack of vision, but still the presence of chakra, the nukenins land on the ground.
However, they go wide-eyed when they see the forest, especially when they see the huge amount of clones, which left the forest dark. There were so many of them, that they blocked out the sun.
The fireballs were just distraction, he was counting on them using some water jutsu.
- Katon: Haisekishou!
The clones spat a huge amount of chakra infused gunpowder towards the nukenins.
One of them made a few hand seals, and soon, blew a typhoon of wind around them, blowing the gunpowder away from close range.
But still. It was a lot of gunpowder. Even if they weren't in the center of that ash cloud, they would be hit.
The clone army smiled, and the real Naruto made sure to finish the job. Revenge for almost killing him earlier.
- Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!
The blond spat a huge fireball towards the ash cloud, and soon, a huge fire explosion happened.
Huge waves of flame spread through the forest, like a sea churning in a storm, and the fire engulfed the nukenins.
Naruto undid the clones, took the girl in his arms again, and got out of there as fast as he could.
A good strategist, Nibi had to admit.