PLEASE READ BELOW
AN: So to start this off with the part of the first chapter here is from the original so please read in full before you decide to just say to hell with this story, I swear it gets better. Ish...
(UPDATED 9/13/22)
Konohagakure no Sato, the village hidden in the leaves was a peaceful village, if it could be called that. In all truth it was a mini city. People were bustling about their daily lives doing the things that happen every day, shopping, playing, chatting with friends, or just relaxing. The same went for a blond headed ten year old kid lying down on top of a roof; he didn't have anything else to do. The people hated him, for what reason he did not know, when he tried to do something fun with the other kids their parents would make them leave and tell them not to play with the 'demon'.
This was his life, a life of sorrow, pain, and mistrust. The only thing he could trust was the voice in his head. He didn't know if it was his gut telling him what to do or just a voice he made to talk to. "Naruto don't just waste your day away again. Go do something."
"What is there to do other then sit here?" he mumbled "All I want is people I can trust, a loving family" he raised his hand towards the sky "I want a life where people don't look at me like a monster, NOT A LIFE WHERE EVERYDAY I HAVE TO RUN FROM THE BASTARDS OF THIS KAMI FORSAKEN VILLAGE!" he yelled slamming his fist against the roof.
"I know kit, I know. Just do something it's so boring here." Naruto sighed and slowly got up. He climbed down the latter on the side of the building into the street. Looking down the alley he swore he saw a man in white walk by, but brushed it off as his odd imagination. He walked off headed to kami knows where.
His walk took him by the Hokage monument, he then walked past an old house that was grown up and unattended, his final destination was a lake a few hundred yards away from the academy. It was deep blue in color and shimmered in the sunlight. He leaned against a tree and looked at the other side of the lake. There was a cliff that went up a ways and at the top was a rock sticking out almost to the edge of the lake.
Now he knew his mind was playing tricks on him as he saw the same man as before standing on top of the rock at the edge. He watched in horror as he jumped off and dove into the water, but there was no splash, no sound, no nothing.
"Hey kit what the hell are you thinking about?" asked the voice in his head. Naruto just closed his eyes and sighed.
"Nothing just my mind playing tricks on me." he mumbled and opened his eyes. He looked back at the cliff side and shook his head. He sat against the tree and looked at the lake, its deep blue almost calling to the ten year old.
"Naruto what are you thinking?"
"Nothing, just trying to figure out what the hell is going on." Slowly he got up and walked over to the edge of the lake and looked in. Two thunks were heard behind him he looked and his eyes widened at what he saw. He barely had time to shield his eyes before the explosion insured when the two kunai paper bombs went off.
Two hundred yards off a young girl with two buns in her hair was staring at the still intact target and whole class was laughing at her missing the target. Today was training with 'light duty' paperbombs. Little did they know she had almost killed a person.
Naruto was sent flying into the water and sank below the surface. He opened his eyes and saw the light fade above him as a current sucked him though some cave.
"Kit! Avoid the rocks!" that was a no brainer to Naruto as he was sucked though the underwater cave. He put out his hands and pushed off a rock he was going to hit. This caused him to spin and go feet first into the current.
He looked up ahead and saw an opening in the ceiling of the cave and swam to it quickly. He grabbed something that felt like wood and pulled himself up. His lungs met air and coughing insured. He hacked up water and fell on the ground.
"Kit thank kami you're alive. I thought I had lost you when you didn't answer." Slowly he rolled over and looked at the ceiling of the room he was in, he could just barely see it through. He sat up and looked around to see where he was at. It was an old room with cobwebs all over the place, and an old torch on the wall. He got up slow due to his head still swimming though the cave trying to catch up. When he stood up he almost fell back down had he not grabbed the torch holder. It moved downward and lit up.
He finally could see where he was, it was some kind of store room or something due to the amount of crates and barrels there. He slowly walked over to the door and looked down the hall. Torch by torch was lit going down the hall. He walked out the door and saw banners hanging on the walls. They were black with a red A on them, but missing the middle part and curved at the bottom.
He walked on and made it to a big room and saw that as he did it lit up around the sides of the room. In the middle was a statue of a man with a hood pulled up over his face holding a plate with something on it. Walking up to the man he saw the man in white bow to him and fade from sight once more. On the plate was a set of ornate bracers of some kind, and a white robe like outfit. He reached for them and touched them.
His world instantly went black.
"At last someone has touched the blades." Naruto looked around trying to see who was speaking to him only to see no one. "You will not find me for I'm just a memory. I have much to say and little time, you have the sense. Only those with the sense can see us walking among the people. By now it would have been a few thousand years since the last of the Assassin Brotherhood, the Creed now long forgotten. We walked among the people protecting them, but the same is not true about the Templars. For the illusion of power will never die in the hearts of men."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto demanded, but to no avail.
"We leave you our knowledge and history within these walls, tell no one, but those you trust with your life. This is the creed we live by and we need you to do so as well lest the world fall into corruption and dismay. Nothing is true, Everything is permitted. For we are, Assassins."
The pain that followed once the voice ended was unlike anything the young man had felt in his life, none of the beatings nor the slurs could even match this level of pain. Falling to his knees Naruto awoke touching the blades. For some reason he knew what to do with them, it was almost like an implanted memory. He grabbed the bracers and tied them on his arms under his sleeve. Flicking his hand back he made the blades activate. He looked at the craftsmanship of the blades with the hand chiseled engravings on them to the soft yet sturdy leather that held them.
He turned and looked over the room automatically see the doors at the sides of the room. He went down one of these halls and noticed the place was a base made for many people to stay here. He looked into a room and looked around. It was a good sized room with a different type of light. There was some kind of glowing light instead of the gas torches that were on the wall. In front of him was a table covered in books, but in the center of the table there was a glowing circular object.
He was hesitant to touch it if it had the same effects as the blades. "Hey what do you think I should do, I mean what is the worst that could happen?"
"Hmm that's a loaded question; well you could blow up and never be seen again."
"Shut up! The last time I touched one of those things it gave me a memory or something, I know now that the people who once were here are called Assassins. If it gives me the same thing as the last I would be happy."
"You know how funny it would be if you're so called mom heard you talking to yourself?"
"Wait I said that out loud?" he replied. In all of the five years he had heard the voice in his head he had never spoken out loud to it. He sighed and placed his hands on the table. "Kami I need a break."
His fingers touched the glowing object, and just like last time his world went black. This time though he saw a man open the box to the side of the desk and building something. 'Ezio these are bombs, unlike the smoke bomb you know of, these are made to kill and distract. Of course there still are your smoke bombs and bombs allowing you to get you out of a tight spot. Come on give it a shot.'
Naruto saw the older man pick up one of the shells and insert a black powder like substance into the center of the shell. The man then put small round balls into the rest of the shell before screwing a cap on the top it and setting it down the work table.
'Not bad, not bad at all for a first time. Given time you would be able to make more advanced bombs and even mold two types of them together.'
There it was again the rush of memories. It gave him a head ache. He went from room to room learning the different things that were recorded on the keys, as he learned from one memory, he learned about the Templars, the Assassins, the First Civilization, what had truly happened two thousand years ago.
He learned Desmond Miles chose to not allow Juno to rule the world, but instead lost almost all of mankind. He didn't teach the next generation of assassins thinking that the Templars were gone. But his father went behind his back and built this place as well as many others as a fail-safe should they come back.
He spent days down there not even allowing himself to be seen while he trained his body to allow himself to fight like the assassins of old done. Though he had the memories of the assassin's techniques his body had to grow attuned the swift motions that were required of him to preform them.
Slowly the days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into a month, it was a month later that the village saw Naruto again. He no longer wore the black tee-shirt and white and blue shorts, and gone was the little kid who could not defend himself. He wore a forest green long sleeved shirt and cargo pants with a black trench coat. The jacket hid his bracers well, he had wished he could salvage the rest of the weapons that was in the complex but it was mostly rusted beyond repair.
Maybe at a later time when he was older he could return an try to reverse engineer some of the lost technology there.
He found that the exit to the underground complex was just inside of the village gates about three hundred yards from it. He pulled the chain allowing the stone door to open. He walked out of the door and glanced at the night sky.
"Been a while hasn't it kit?" Naruto sighed and nodded his head. It had been a long month, but he was thankful for it. He had learned so much about the past and what people went through to help the world. He learned about the Templars and their plans for the world, the key people in the war who brought about change at large levels.
"That it has that it has." he mumbled and started walking. The streets at night were empty and unlit, the only light came from the moon and stars overhead. He walked around the village with no set place in mind.
"Hey kit,"
"Yeah?"
"Why don't you go home I know your tired and all, so let's head home."
Naruto scoffed at the word. Home. That was a foreign concept to him, of course he had parents, and a sister, but that house was far less than a home. It was border line hell, but it did serve its purpose, it gave him a place to sleep, a place to be alone, which was almost everywhere he went, and a place to hide from mobs.
"Fine we'll head to that hell hole." he said with mild disdain and started walking off in the direction of Namikaze home. He started absent mindedly activating his blade. There was a soft sliding sound as he done this, it was almost silenced as he did this.
He saw as the house came into view and noticed the lights were still on. Sighing for what felt like the thousandth time he pushed open the gate and walked up to the door. He entered the house and almost as soon as he did he had to duck to keep from getting kicked in the head by his sister.
He then did a combat roll to avoid getting hit on the head by a drop kick. In a flash he grabbed her arm and flipped her over on her back and placed his hand under her chin. "I would advise you not doing that again unless you want your brain to be well scrambled."
She gulped at the icy tone that her brother had taken. Her red hair pressed against the floor. She wore a red and white coat zipped up and red shorts with yellow flames on them. Her hair was short and pulled back in a pineapple like hairstyle and had blue eyes just like her father and brother.
He and his sister haven't always been on good terms, but they didn't hate each other. If anything either one of them could say that they have been rivals in a sense. They didn't really care for each other it was more of a who can beat the shit out of who relationship. With Naruko winning all the time, but now.
"Naruto let your sister up right now young man." Naruto looked up and saw his so called father staring at him coldly.
"Go to hell, you have no control over me." he told him pushing the barrel tighter against her head "Look I have nothing against Naruko, yet, so you shut up and leave me the hell alone."
"Young man I will not ask you again. Let. Her. Up."
Bang. The gun attached to Naruto's wrist had went off and grazed the side of Mianto's face leaving a small trail of blood. He leaned forward a bit allowing a red cross to fall out of his shirt, something that did not go unnoticed by Naruto.
Kushina ran into the hall and saw Naruto sitting on top of her daughter holding something that was smoking out the end of. She then saw her husband's face bleeding and wondered what had happened.
"I missed on purpose not because I have shitty aim." he could see confused look in the man's eyes as he reached up and touched his cheek where the blood was. His mind was racing, would Naruto have killed him, what had he used to cause the cut, how did he get what he had used to cause it?
Naruto stood up and walked past the stunned parents, and started walking up the stairs. "Oh and for the record you might as well tell Naruko the truth about the Kyūbi." With that said he continued walking up the stairs.
Minato looked at his wife and then to a confused Naruko. "This is going to be a long night."
Naruto closed his door and went to his desk. He pulled out his chair and turned on the desk lamp before pulling out two pieces of paper and a pen. He wrote down what he wanted and left it there. He got up and pulled out a back pack and started stuffing clothes in.
He put it on his back and looked over the room one last time before opening the window and jumped out. "You sure you want to do this, I mean they will find you."
"I know, but it will be a long time before they do, and when they do I'll have to end Mianto, no not just him but all the puppet masters of the Templar Order will have to fall." he replied. Hopping to another tree branch he looked back one last time.
Mianto rubbed his head at the headache he was getting. Everything was perfect until Naruto had to say something about the Kyūbi, which started a whole line of questions from the red head. "Look Naruko for the hundredth time we will tell you when you're older. Till then train until you're ready to go out into the field and become a shinobi like your mom and dad."
"Why won't you tell me, does it have to do with the way Naruto is treated by the people in the village?" she asked hoping to get an answer.
"Like what your dad said we'll tell you when you're older." said Kushina "now go to your room. It's time for bed."
Naruko sighed and left the room heading up the steps. When they were sure she was gone Kushina turned to Minato and gave him a cold stare.
"Hey don't look at me, it was Naruto who brought it up." he said holding up his hands. "If you want to blame anyone blame that bastard."
"No if I'm blaming anyone it's you for ignoring your own son, the one you call a bastard."
"Hey it's his fault for bringing the subject of Kyūbi up, I don't know how he found out but I plan on finding out some way."
The Creed Reborn
Naruko stopped outside of her brother's room. She felt something was off about the house, like something was missing that had always been there. She knocked on the door and watched as it opened from the force. Inside the room was dark except for one place the desk.
She slowly walked over to the desk and picked up the piece of paper.
'Naruko,
I'm sorry but I have to leave I cannot stay in the same house with Minato. I know he didn't tell you but you and I hold the Kyūbi no Yoko. I know that he was split in to two halves the yang half and the yin half. I don't know which is placed in who, but I do know those two facts.
As for the reason I can't stay with Minato around is due to the Red Cross hanging from his neck. I know you have seen it before, but it wasn't till tonight that I saw it. He is what's known as a Templar, a group of people hell bent on controlling the world. I wish I was able to tell you more about them but at this moment I can't tell who I can or can't trust with the full truth.
We have never seen eye to eye on many things, but I want you to know that I never truly hated you. I resented the fact that you of all people were coddled an looked after by those things we call parents. Maybe one day I will come home or you will be free until then know that I will forever be in the shadows, watching an waiting. I'm sorry that it has to be this way, but I need you to be strong for me. When the time comes I will see you again.
And should you fail to heed my warning an follow that bastard, we will most certainly meet again, not as family but as the hunter and prey.
Naruto
By the time she was done with the letter she was crying. It all made sense now. The beatings he got, the fights he got in, the villagers calling for his blood. It all made sense. She looked out the open window into the darkness of the night.
'Be safe Naruto.' she thought before wiping her eyes and burning the paper. She walked out the room and heading to her own. Locking the door she laid down on here bed and cried herself to sleep.
Naruto looked back toward the village that had once been his home. "Be safe Naruko." He said before running off into the night once more.
The Creed Reborn
Naruto looked down at his compass with a bearing of south south-east. He had read in the old assassin's base there was another one on an island to the north, his first thought had been Uzu no Kuni the land that his mother had been born on, but the map he had seen showed a smaller island to the south of the island of Uzu no Kuni.
Most of the gear he had he was able to either repair or reuse from the crates in the old base. The food stockpiles were useless being that they were over a thousand years old but the crates of sealed gun powder, oil, and some survival gear were usable. While not quite up to modern shinobi standards of gear for the needs he had at the moment, an the fact that it was all he had, they were serviceable.
Stepping over a log he noticed the leaves had been stirred up almost as if there was a struggle.
Looking around he began to map out the struggle to better understand what happened. Two people were walking down what looked to be a wildlife trail, when they stopped in the clearing that Naruto had walked into. Looking around he noticed four more sets of footprints that were heavier almost as if they had just landed from a jump, at least that was what it looked like to him an ten year old with only reading knowledge of tracking.
He looked around trying to figure out what happened after the group landed in the mud, but he couldn't tell with any certainty what went on only that the four people won the struggle but one of the two people they ambushed managed to get a strike in leaving a blood trail behind.
'Any amateur could track this even without training…' Naruto mused looking at the blood that lead deeper into the woods.
"If they left behind a trail to follow you can be assured that these people ain't shinobi." a voice replied in his head.
'Finally awake are ya fox, yeah I was thinking the same thing maybe bandits, or low rent mercs.'
"What are ya going to do kit I mean they wouldn't be that hard to follow, but on the other hand this ain't your fight an we are still in Hi no Kuni. You and I both know that if that bastard found out you had left he sent trackers after you."
Normally his father would leave him alone to his own devices for weeks at a time an his mother knowing this would follow suit, but the recent fight that he had with his father might have spurred the man to send someone to track him down, if for no other reason then to get a hold of the weapons he had.
'I know, but I can't leave people to their demise if I know I might have a chance to save them. Besides you said it your self they are either bandits or mercenaries, an given what I have on hand I could put up a hell of a fight.' he responded as he checked the hammer on his hidden pistol. Naruto flipped up the hood on his black hoodie and started walking following the trail of blood on the ground. Looking at the sun he had maybe four hours of light left.
"I hope you know what your doing kit."
'I do too.'
The woods of Hi no Kuni were thick an full of under growth, one of the main reasons shinobi traveled by tree was to get above the thickets. Naruto had little training in the shinobi arts an couldn't travel like that even if he tried. Pulling out the compass he noticed he was going well away from the original course of south-east an now was going west. He had been following the trail now for over an hour at didn't know how far it was to wherever the end was.
Stopping dead when the wind shifted he noticed the smell of wood burning from a fire. He had to be close now. Getting low he continued forward making sure he watched his footing since even bandits know how to set up a trap. With each step closer he smelled more smoke and heard more activity from the camp. He noticed the trees starting to thin out ahead.
'Must be where the camp is. If only I had a way to get a good view on what was going on.' he thought. Looking around for a tree he could climb he slowly started to edge his way forward. Everything was elevated his hearing his sense of smell his eyes darted from shadow to shadow looking for a man to jump out at him, but most of all his heart rate he could hardly hear anything but it in his ears. He thought he was ready, he believed he was ready after all the mobs, but he couldn't calm down. Each step sounded like he was stepping on glass.
"Kit steady yourself, if you go in there now you will die. Take a deep breath and focus tune out all of the sounds but those that are man made. Look for shapes and colors that don't appear in nature, smell the world around you an focus only on those that are out of place. Your body knows subconsciously what the difference is."
Naruto stopped when the voice reminded him that he was in control of his own body. He could either make it through this or freeze up an let this be the end of his life he wasn't about to die here today. Those people needed help an he was their only chance. 'Thanks Kyūbi…'
Closing his eyes he took a quiet calming breath an cleared his mind. Upon opening them there was a spark of determination that he didn't have before. Looking around the world was different then it was a second ago the world was sharper, clearer, and the shadows had receded from the world.
He watched as the world almost showed him what to do. At right there was a tree with a low enough branch he sprint to an climb, he had an almost out of body experience as his body moved with motions that were honed as he climbed the tree. He stopped climbing about half way up an crouched on a branch overlooking the camp below. Any higher up an he could have been spotted any lower an he couldn't have seen over the makeshift walls that had been set up.
He watched counting the people below he noted 4 tents set up in a half circle around what looked like an old hunting cabin. The opening of the wall had a guard who was leaning an flipping a coin not even looking at the approach to the camp. There was one who had a katana out slowly going over it with a stone. Three were sitting around a wooden bowl with bottles in their hands shooting dice clearly drunk. Two were sitting on a bench with one of them drinking an the other stitching up a wound on the left arm. The last one out in the open was a man standing in front of the cabin, muffled sounds could be heard coming from inside, but he couldn't make out what.
He jumped across to another branch just a little lower then the one he was on an started moving around the base through the trees. His first target was the man at the gate he wasn't paying any attention an thought they were safe. His second was the man sharping his sword, the third was the pair tending patching up wounds, before moving on to the one standing in front of the cabin door. He couldn't take that man out without his pals shooting dice seeing it, and he was hopping to use the fact that they were drunk to his advantage.
He wiped the sweat from his left eye once he landed on the ground. There was about 100 feet from him an the front gate guard. Slowly he crept towards the man with each footfall being as quiet as a mouse. Ten feet away he flicked his wrist and the blade that would end this man emerged from its hiding place. Five feet he prepared himself for the kill. With his right hand he grabbed the mans mouth an with the left he plunged the blade into the back of the mans neck killing him instantly.
For a nine year old the body of full grown adult wasn't easy to hold on to when all he had was limp body weight. He knew he had just killed a man his mind knew he had but he hadn't felt it hit with anything, he had a job to do an subconsciously he knew he had no time to worry bout the fact he had just killed a man.
Sitting the body down against the outside wall he quickly moved to cover behind one of the tent on the inside of the wall. The man he was after was just on the other side of the wall, he could still hear the grinding of metal on the stone through the thin canvas of the tent.
Sticking his hand under the heavy canvas he lifted the wall of the tent up an slowly crept up behind the bandit. Reaching up to cover his mouth he could smell the sake on the man it was almost nauseating. Smoothly he slid the blade into the base of his head the only thing the soon to be dead man could do was widen his eyes. Falling back Naruto placed him on the bed he was sitting on making him look to be asleep.
Leaving the tent he heard the footsteps of someone approaching. Naruto's eyes widened as one of the three people shooting dice walked into the tent. His eyes unfocused from alcohol noticed the blond an the blood on the end of his hidden blade. Going for his club Naruto quickly sped back into the tent to avoid the uphanded swing of the heavy wooden club that struck the lantern hanging in the tent.
On reflex the blond flicked his left hand and grabbed the string to the hidden gun under his bracer. With a loud crack the weapon went off throwing a cloud of black smoke in front of him. He watched as the brute of a man fell backwards trying to plug the hole in his neck.
"Shit you done it now kit! Get moving or your going to be killed!" not even responding he darted out the front of the tent only to dodge the wild swing of a pike. He rose his right arm letting the pike hit his bracers. In doing so he was launched into another tent.
'note to self bracers can take a lot more then me…' he thought as he shook the cobwebs out of his head. He regained focus just in time to dive out of the way of a lunge with the pike that pierced the box the blond had been thrown again. Standing up he ran towards the man an sliced the back of his leg while sliding forcing him to take a knee, spinning around he slashed his throat throwing blood all over the blond.
Standing up the world around him started to spin. He was starting to have a hard time breathing, but he knew he couldn't stop now he still had four people left that wanted to kill him.
He walked out of the now crimson tent an stared at three of the four people. The one on the left was holding a short sword, the middle one was cracking his knuckles sporting a pair of spiked gloves, and the right one was leaning against a large sword as he eyed the blood soaked blond.
"Don't suppose you people are just willing to walk away an forget you ever met me?" the blond asked with a tired voice. His response was five sets of chuckles which quickly turned into full blown laughter from one of them. Turning his head towards the cabin he watched as a man stepped out.
"Boy you've impressed me an that's not an easy thing to do. A boy such as yourself would be a strong ally, hell with the proper training you could even rise to a region boss. What do you say blood soaked child join us or die by a former shinobi?" the boss asked Naruto.
"Attacking caravans, killing civilians, an all around degradation of the world we live in just to have a few years of fun before being killed by the local samurai or a shinobi team. I think I'll pass on that offer." he glanced around the saw the men bristle at him 'Well then again a few years of living verses a minute or two of living….nah I'm good.'
They watched as a pair of blades slowly slid out of his wrist, almost like the signal to start the fight. He sprinted towards the three sliding under the swing of the large sword Naruto swung his blade at the one with the short sword and only landed a grazing blow making the man back up. Turning his head just in time to receive a kick to the face from one of them causing him to be sent into the frame of the tent. His nose was broke an his hood fell as he looked back up towards the three.
'guess this is how I die eh, some assassin I was.' he knew that he wasn't going to be able to dodge in time to avoid a death blow from the three. He resigned himself to his death, but after what felt like an eternity it never came. The three in front of him were moving so slow it looked like they were standing still. He shot off the ground forcing his blade through the neck of one of the bandits rising his right arm he sent his second pistol round into the face of the large sword wielding bandit. He watched in slow motion as his head shot back and the blood an gray matter pelted the third one.
Side stepping the reflexive swing of the third he extended his blades and sliced the wrist as he tried to pull back. Following with almost mechanical accuracy he sent his blade deep into the gut of the finial bandit. Slowly he fell to his knees an Naruto raised his other blade an plunged it into the side of his neck.
Watching three people be killed by a kid who hasn't even seen his first decade in life stung the almost former boss of the bandits. To him it looked like the blond was holding back against the group an he just now decided to get serious. But when the blond looked his way the hardened shinobi turned bandit blood became chilled.
In the left eye of the blond there was a golden slit eye.
"Dōjutsu…." he mumbled.
"Boss what are we going to do?!" the last of the bandit underlings asked in clear fear.
"You are going to do nothing this brat is mine, damn freaks an their inbred abilities." he said unclipping the retainers on his axes "If this brat somehow kills me you just run cuz this fucking monster will rip a man like you apart." He stepped forward an drew his axes before taking off like a bullet at the blond.
Naruto seeing this in slow motion side stepped an held his blade out in the hopes that he would be cut in half with it.
Knowing that he was going to do that the man held one of his axes aiming to catch the blade under the beard of it an either break it or the blonds arm. With a loud clang the two weapons met an sparks were sent flying. The blade wasn't broke like he had hoped but the blonds arm was. That was the issue with having a weapon attached to your body.
"You might have a Dōjutsu but you lack the experience to make any use of it against someone like me."
Holding his good arm up Naruto starred down the man. He knew that he had to do something but with both of his ranged weapons down and his arm broke, his options were limited. He watched as the flames from the lantern licked at the dry moss trying to burn, an a plan was beginning to form, a reckless, wild, an sure to hurt plan.
He charged the larger man an slid under him forcing him to spin so as to keep the blond in his eye sight. With his good arm he threw dirt into the eyes of him making him back up to clear his vision. Naruto pulled a ball out of the his pouch he held the string to the flames of the lantern an threw it at the bandit.
The explosion rocked the short space between them kicking up dust an leaves. Naruto stood up and surveyed the falling dust trying to catch a small glimpse of him through the dust. He leaned his head back to avoid an axe strike aimed at his head.
"You know kid if you weren't a damn Dōjutsu holder I would say good fight but you monsters deserve nothing less then a slow death." the dust was starting to clear as the man said that his body coated in burn marks from the explosive "When I was a Kiri ninja we stacked your kind so high we could use them for sandbags in some battles. I never thought I would die to your ilk."
Naruto couldn't hear a word the man was saying his ear drums had been busted by the explosion. He could just tell the man was talking. He watched in slow motion as the man fell face first into the ground, raising his arm he plunged it into his back killing the man an saving him from what would be a slow an painful death.
Stepping over the man Naruto watched as the finial bandit took off running towards the gate leaving the blond the only one left in the compound. His body ached his eye hurt an his chest cramped as he walked towards the cabin door.
He stood in the door frame as his eyes adjusted to the darkness within, before stepping in and looking around. He noticed two red heads in the building one a kid about his age the other was a older woman on the verge of death with a dagger in her back.
He walked over to the woman an tried to give her first aid but couldn't reach the kit on his left due to his broken arm. A hand grabbed his and he looked into the red eyes of the dying woman. She tried to speak to him an he just shook his head not able to understand her, she made a biting motion an grabbed the back of his head an forced it down to her arm.
He could tell she wanted him to bite him but he couldn't understand why she was dying there must be something more to this then what he could understand. Taking a proverbial leap of faith he bit down drawing blood. His hearing slowly returned and the pain in his arm was leaving but his chest and eye still hurt like they were on fire.
"KIT CLOSE YOUR LEFT EYE NOW!" came the booming voice of the Kyūbi. For the first time in the fight just had the nine tails voice finally reached him. Quickly doing so the pain in his eye subsided an the tightening of his chest lessened.
With a clearer head he reached for the med kit but a hand stopped him. Before he could open it.
"Don't...waste your….time…." the red head said lowly.
"I cant let an Uzumaki die on my watch I refuse to let those who cant help themselves die when I can do something to help them!"
"...not many….know of…..the...Uzumaki...protect….my...daughter….then…. young Uzumaki" he watched as the life left her slowly left her eyes the once bright red eyes of the woman now dull an lifeless. Obeying the last wish he turned to the child tied up in the corner. She was crying and even through the gag he could hear her sobs.
Unsteadily he rose and limped towards her the blade on his right arm slowly slid out of its resting place. She was unable to hear her mother's parting words. The fear in her eyes only came back ten fold at the sight of a blood covered blond standing over her looking down at her with one blue eye.
He kneeled down an lifted her hands so he could cut the ropes that bound her, but doing so made her flinch in anticipation of her own death. Slowly she opened her eyes as the rope fell to the ground. He smiled at her an retracted the blade before slowly removing her gag.
"My name is Naruto, and you are?"
Her eyes darted to his hands where the blades rested unsure of how to answer the question.
"Karin...Karin Uzumaki." she replied with a choked an raspy voice.
"Karin, I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner to save you both. But we have to move I don't know if that was all of the bandits, and I don't have the strength to fight anymore."
"We cant just leave mama here!" the red head replied in tears. She shot up an tried to move to her mom before a hand grabbed her.
"I'm sorry but we have to move I promise we won't leave this place standing." Naruto stood up and grabbed another ball out of his pouch. "We cant carry her so please say your goodbyes while we have a chance to." before walking out of the cabin to allow her to have a moment to say goodbye.
'Kyūbi what is going on with my eye?' he figured he would take this moment to figure out what was going on, so he turned to the only thing who might have an idea what it was that caused his pain.
"Kit you seem to have a dormant Dōjutsu."
'Like the Uchiha and the Hyūga?' he had never heard of the Uzumaki having one, maybe it was a Namikaze trait. ' I swear if I got something from that man I will gouge out my eye, fucking bastard!'
"I cant tell who gave you what all I know is that its old, older then the sage. So there is no telling who genes it come from. All I know is that if you over use it it starts to attack your body, fatally so."
'So I don't use it, but I cant keep my eye closed like this my depth perception sucks right now.'
"I wouldn't not use it just use it sparingly right now the only thing you can do is keep it covered until we know more about it."
Nodding he looked around for something to cover it with. He couldn't find anything that wasn't covered in dirt or blood. Opening his med kit he pulled out one of the small rolls of gauze an used it to make an eye covering.
Hearing something behind him he noticed Karin standing in the doorway. The child had lost everything to her in one night unwillingly. He chose to walk out of the life he had. The only thing he could do for her now is take her somewhere safe.
"Have you said your goodbyes?" the only response he got was a small nod, "Then the only thing we can do now is send her off with the knowledge that your safe." he lifted up the hood on the lantern an lit the fuse on his only incendiary bomb. Before tossing it in the doorway. "Death is the only truth in life, its is a constant that we will always have over our heads, but with each death comes a new life, be it the literal death of a person or the death of an ideal." he looked over to the red head as tears fell down her face. "As it may be the death of your mother gave you a second chance at life an I intend to let you have it, so I'm giving you a choice I can either escort you to the nearest town an leave you there allowing you to make a life of your own or you can come with me an make a life of your own, either way you have the choice."
"What do I have left my mother is dead my father ran off and we have been hunted since we left Kiri. What do I have left to live for there is no one in my family alive! I have nothing now!"
A hand was placed upon her head as tears began anew. "Your an Uzumaki just like me, our family has been hunted down since the end of the second shinobi war, that means that you and your mom were survivors." he held his hand out for her to take "Your mom asked me to look after you an make sure that you were safe. Now asking you a question will you come with me?"
She looked at the hand held out to her an the one blue eye looking down at her. Tentatively she took his hand and he pulled her up. "Are you really an Uzumaki?"
"Naruto Uzumaki Nami…" he stopped midway through an looked down "Just Naruto Uzumaki now." The quizitive look in her eye told him that the question was going to be asked of his other family name, but thankfully or unfortunately the sounds of people yelling in the woods made them both realize that they had little time before the bandit that got away arrived back in camp with friends. "We can play twenty questions later we need to run NOW!"
Grabbing her hand he took off as fast as they could go an ran into the night. They ran until the glow of the fire filtered out an only the light from the stars remained. Leaning against a tree the out of breath pair looked at each other, unknown to the other they were both wondering what they were going to do now.
After catching their breath Naruto pulled out his compass again an tried to tell which way was south east again, sadly the needle only had luminescence on the north needle so he had to guess at the direction he was facing.
"We'll have to travel a good ways away before we can set up camp for the night, I don't want anyone to be able to track us or stumble upon us while we sleep." he told her, "sadly I only have enough sleeping gear for one person so we'll have to make due till we get out of Hi no Kuni."
"Why are we leaving the country?" he knew that questions were coming after all he did say he would play twenty questions later.
"Let's just say that Uzumaki's ain't really wanted in this country either."
"If that's the case then how did you make it this far?" she asked as he held out his hand to help her down into the stream they were going to follow.
"Lots of luck and a good place to hide." he replied, while not really true it wasn't a lie either the place he was referring to when it came to hiding was the Namikaze house, after all who wants to piss off their Kage by burning down his house to get at the Demon Brat.
"What is the angry feeling that's coming from your charka?"
He almost stumbled with that question, how could she tell what his charka was? He could tell the Kyūbi was amused by the line of questioning. "How should I explain that? Hmm you kn…." his body froze up an a numbness entered his core the last thing he remember before falling over was the girl reaching for him.
The Creed Reborn
Naruto awoke with a splitting headache an the feeling of warmth around him. He remembered passing out but that didn't explain the location he was in or the warmth he felt slowly he opened his eyes an looked around. The pain that hit him when he did just made his headache even worse.
'Shit I need to remember that my left eye is basically fucked right now.' he closed his left eye an tried to sit up to look around. It seemed that he was either in a cave or a large tree base. The warmth he was feeling was a fire going. On the other side of the room Karin slept against the wall in her hands a makeshift spear.
He tried to locate the entrance to the cave but the only thing he was able to spot was what looked like leaves piled up in a form of camouflage for the entrance of the cave.
'Hey Kyūbi any idea how long I was out?' he asked the only thing he hoped was awake.
"I can't be certain because I was, you know, TRYING TO KEEP YOU ALIVE AN ALL!" the Kyūbi roared "Do you have any idea the trouble I had to go through to keep you alive after the healing that the woman gave you, if anything that just delayed it, you were dead multiple times an it took everything in my power to force your heart to start back up. I'm pretty sure that girl has done nothing but watch over you since we got here."
'Jeez I guess sorry doesn't cut it here, all I can do is offer my thanks for you saving me.'
"Brat it you die I die its that simple with me being split in half the only thing that is keeping me alive is you, an with me only having half of my power the most I can do is act like a giant raiton charge. That's half the reason you feel like you've been ran through a meat grinder kit."
'Whats the other half of the reason?'
"You'll have to find a mirror to figure that one out, best I can tell is that awaking that Dōjutsuforced your body to either go into a state of shock burning all the fat you had or it caused you to enter puberty faster then normal, either way your about an inch taller then you were before you awoke."
That would explain the pain he felt. Grunting he tried to move his legs but the only thing he got was pain and stiffness for his efforts. He fell back into the sleeping bag more annoyed then when he woke up.
The grunting of something awoke the other resident of the cave, red unfocused eyes opened slowly trying to take in their surroundings. That was when she noticed the blond trying to move, her eyes widened an she shot up fully awake and focused on the person she had been tending to.
"Your awake! I wasn't sure what to do, but I couldn't leave you, and we were running low on food so I...I went out trying to hunt, and I couldn't catch anything….."she was rattling off stuff so fast that she was forgetting to breath making her head spin "You've been out for almost five days now. For the first three I thought you were going to die and the other two days you just laid there motionless, if it wasn't for the fact that I could see you breathing I would have thought you were dead. I thought you were dead." tears started to form in her eyes happy that she didn't loose another person so soon after her mother.
Happy that his companion didn't leave him he gave a strained smile an looked at the tears forming. Unsteadily he reached up an brushed one away. "Takes a little more then charka exhaustion to keep us down, you should know after we're both Uzumakis." he wasn't going to tell her that he did in fact die if what the fox said was true.
A small smile graced her lips as he said that. It brought her comfort to know that another person precious to her didn't leave her alone in this world. She looked down at the sole blue eye an nodded.
"My turn to extend a hand to you." she held out her hand for him to grab and slowly pulled him up out the sleeping bag. She could tell that everything hurt for him, who wouldn't be in pain after being comatose for days. Slinging his arm around her shoulders she helped him walk around and try to stretch out the muscles.
It was all they could for the remainder of the day. Thankfully she didn't realize that he had grown slightly during the time he was in a coma.
As night began to fall Naruto was starting to feel better his body was sore still but he was able to move under his own power and only time would fix the rest of his issues. He took stock of what they had an if he was being honest it wasn't enough for two people. Of course when he left out he had only packed enough for one person for two weeks, with eating two days worth before he had the fight with the bandits that left him with twelve days of food factor in Karin, who didn't know how to ration food, that left him with a week worth of food for one person split that in half an they only had enough for three and a half days of full meals, five days if they rationed reasonably.
This was going to be the last fire that they had as well because she had used all of his matches trying to start one. He still had about twenty shots left for his hidden guns, so if he were to use some powder to start another fire they could use a spark to start it. He really didn't want to use that option if he didn't have to since he didn't know when he could get more powder.
Pulling out his compass an trying to remember the world map he had. He was currently facing back towards Konoha to the north-west. The shortest option was to head straight south to the coast but if he knew Namikaze, an he did, chances are he had put word out to keep a watch for him.
Running his hand through his hair he silently weighed his options, continue south-east towards Tea, or go straight south toward the coast. Either way what little advantage he had was ate up by his current state.
He looked up towards his new traveling companion who was boiling water in the can for dinner. He knew that alone he could make it, but he also knew that without supplies they both wouldn't be able to make it. Thinking back to the limited shinobi knowledge he had he remembered that bandits set up camps near roads for quick access to strike caravans, where there was a road there would be a village on the road.
It was a long shot but the quicker they had supplies the quicker they could both get out of Hi no Kuni. The only question he had was where were they now?
"Karin how far away were you able to get from the bandit camp?"
She looked up at the blond while trying to figure out how best the describe the distance she had managed to drag him. "I'm not really sure a few miles at best I couldn't get very far with me trying to carry your gear and dragging you at the same time. I know I traveled down the stream until the moon was right over head then it was only a few minutes till I was able to find this place."
Based off her description they were still in the danger zone if the bandits were looking for them, but that was also a good thing since they wouldn't have to back track to far.
"Tomorrow I have to go back upstream and figure out where the nearest road is. I'm betting that the camp was near one."Her head shot up at that comment a barely contained spark of fear at the thought of having to go back there. He noticed the look and quickly held up his hand to stop her before she lost it. "I have no intention of taking you back there I'm going back to try an locate a road, otherwise we will run out of supplies before we are able to find safety. Your job tomorrow will be to break camp an make sure that when I return you are ready to go."
Nodding her head she gently ran her hand down the spear she had made. "Your not going to leave me behind are you?"
Understanding the reasoning behind her question she shook his head no "I promise I will come back, an if there is one thing about me you should know is I never break a promise." he flicked his wrist an extended one of the blades before cutting a slice in his hand "I swear on my blood the blood of an Uzumaki that I will protect you until the day you no long wish for it."
Her red eyes began to water at the promise, she might not have known her clan but she knew that an Uzumaki promise was the same as a binding contract. Her mother at least taught her that much.
"Okay I will wait here. You better not be late."
His response was a light chuckle. "I won't." he picked up one of the cans of rice that had finished being cooked. Before taking a bite "OUCH that's hot!"
"Of course it is dummy it was just boiling a minute ago."
"Oi I ain't a dummy I'm quite smart I'll have you know!"
"Says the person he just ate boiling water with rice before letting it cool down."
He growled at her for a min before both of them started laughing. He was happy because it was the first time she had laughed around him.
The rest of the night was filled with idle banter bout likes, dislikes an just about anything else that come to mind for the pair. It was calm and that was all Naruto needed before they both became ghosts once more.
The Creed Reborn
A weasel masked ANBU inspected the now burned camp. He had been sent here to deal with the missing nin that had set up shop a few hours from Konoha while the person was only a chunin at best it was the fact that there was a former Kiri nin this close to home that he had been dispatched in the first place.
Most of the ANBU had been dispatched in search of the fourth's son. It had been a few days since they realized he was gone, and it was for this reason that he was flying solo on this op instead of the standard three man team.
The Fourth, while a man he respected greatly, was someone that rubbed the young ANBU wrong. His methods while benevolent on the outside always had a motive that made him question the reasoning behind it. The newest example was the fact that he didn't send out trackers to find his son, he sent the most loyal bordering on Root level ANBU out with the order to bring him back alive but if he resisted force was authorized.
For a kid who had no shinobi training that made him question the reason behind it.
Snapping out of his idle musing he looked back to the camp around him. There was a fight here, one that was very bloody. The bodies were starting to degrade because they were left to the elements, but they hadn't degraded to the point where they were rotten yet. Meaning the fight had taken place in the past few days.
Flipping the body of his target he noticed the signs of severe burns on the chest neck and face. If it wasn't for the sulfur smell he would have believed that someone burnt him with a Katon jutsu. Whoever did this was small, maybe even kid sized, but if they were skilled enough to take out a missing nin then have to be at least chunin level or above.
Looking around more he looked at the burned cabin, what was left was little more then charred wood but he could make out the body of a human underneath all the debris. Paying the body no mind he decided to start his way back to Konoha to make his report that the job had been complete. He had the proof he needed of his death.
Walking out the front gate he was about to take to the trees when he noticed a color in the woods that wasn't natural. Blond hair.
Taking to the trees the ANBU shadowed the blond he knew he had found the son of the fourth, but the look of the boy said had been in a fight one that involved blood an fire. His black hoodie had burn holes in it an the green shirt he had on was stained a dark color. If that wasn't enough his hair that was naturally a golden blond had flakes of red in them.
He watched as the blond stopped an pulled out a compass trying to find his barring. After breaking a branch he continued to walk on.
'If I was to guess he was looking for a road or something.' the man thought. He landed on a branch above the last spot he saw the blond and he was gone. Like a shadow that was never there.
BANG. He had moved his head just in time avoid a death blow from under him. The loud shot had cracked his mask and grazed just above eye. He saw a black shape duck into the brush to his right.
The hunt was on and it was an ANBU vs the Child of the Hokage.
The Creed Reborn
Minutes before
Naruto had managed to follow the stream back up to the camp. He could see the the walls over the undergrowth of the forest. Deciding to go to the right first his plan was to try an go a mile or so in each direction to see if he could find a road that could take him to a village or town.
Snapping a branch to mark his path back to the steam he carefully walked though the woods not knowing if the bandits had split or if they had stuck round. It was hard to see with only one eye open in the woods he couldn't see what was coming at him from the left so to compensate he cocked his head a little off the to the side.
After walking a bit through the woods he pulled out the compass to see where he was going, unconsciously opening his left eye. The mirror in the top of the compass was pointed behind him, and in it he saw a blue outline in the tree line.
'Shit I've been spotted! Damn bandits must have waited to see if I would come back!' internally he was panicking while trying not to tip off the rest of them if there were any he turned the mirror trying to locate anymore behind him. Thankfully he saw none but the one.
Snapping another branch, he started walking, up ahead he saw a tree with a hole big enough for him to duck into. His goal was to surprise the man an quickly end him with a shot from his gun before disappearing into the woods before the rest of the bandits could show up.
He turned the round the tree an ducked into the hole, counting to ten he poked his head out and saw that it wasn't a bandit but a weasel faced Konoha ANBU. 'SHIT SHIT SHIT this is bad!'
"Seems your luck finally ran out kit." he could hear a deep chuckle "well look at it like this even if you are caught that girl has enough food for five more days, she might be able to make it."
'Not the time fox.' quickly he raised his arm an fired off a shot before running into the thickest brush he could find.
He looked back through a hole he found in the brush an saw there was no body. 'Damn it I missed!' he looked around and saw nothing, but every shadow was now his enemy.
"Kit use your eye its the only shot you have!" the Kyūbi roared. He knew it was his only shot he had found the man because of it but the side effects of the new power made him hesitant to use it.
'No other choice.' he opened his eye an looked around the world was brighter an the shadows no longer hid any occupants. 'THERE!' to his left under some brush was the same blue outline that originally tipped him off.
Almost as if their eyes met the pair took off at the same time, one with the goal of capture the other with the goal escape. The ANBU threw a kunai with a string attached to it in hopes of capturing the blond, but as soon as he threw it the blond extended a blade from his arm and reflected the knife.
'His reflexes are spot on, there is almost no way a kid could deflect a kunai without serious training.' the raven thought 'There is more to this then meets the eye….' ducking behind a tree the operative pulled out a flash bomb an tossed it into the air.
Expecting another kunai Naruto was unprepared for the flash bomb. He knew he had been checkmated, by the time he would be able to clear the spots from his eyes the ANBU would be on him and he would be unable to do anything.
He felt the thin ninja wire spool around him before becoming tight restricting his movement. All he could do now was wait to be taken back to his father, back to a Templar. He heard soft foot falls well before he could see an by the time he could see the cracked mask of the ANBU was leaning up against the tree behind him.
"You know in a few years you might very well be one of the more dangerous people in Konoha." he chuckled "For a kid your age to deflect a kunai as well as nearly kill Konoha's youngest ANBU member, I must say you've impressed me."
Spitting on the ground he looked up at the man and for the first time he could confirm the golden slit met the red pinwheel. "I will sooner die then go back an be under that mans thumb."
Removing his mask the young Uchiha looked at the blond. He had been in enough battles to know that the kid below him would make good on that promise, he would kill himself before he let himself be taken back to the village. The question then became, why?
"Well lets start like this then, my name is Itachi." the man said as he sit down under the tree "chances are you know my mother an brother, Mikoto and Sasuke. If I remember correctly your mother and mine are good friends."
"Well Weasel, or should I say Itachi, how bout we both cut the idle chit chat an you just let me go an forget you ever saw me. I don't know what that bastard of a father told the ANBU but I left of my own free will and since I'm not a shinobi nor am I yet in the academy he has no rule over if I left."
The blond had a point since he was yet to be enrolled in the academy like his sister had been the Kage had little to no authority over him, son or not he was a civilian. This was just making the raven haired teen even more questioning of what was going on.
"How bout we cut a deal then?" the blond looked up at him wondering what deal he wanted to make "I cut you loose on the condition that you talk to me an tell me what is really going on, your father has basically sent every ANBU in his inner circle out looking for you with the option of using force to bring you back. Now based on what I've been able to see you are dangerous but no where near ANBU." he looked back in the direction of the camp "That was your handy work back there wasn't it?"
"Yeah I was trying to save a person in the cabin, but when I got there she was already on the verge of death an there was nothing I could do." he sure as hell wasn't going to tell any Konoha ninja about Karin, especially with his father basically putting a beat on sight order on him.
"Noble but stupid I would say the reason you ain't cleared out of this area yet was because you were injured." silence was all the answer he needed "Look I'm not saying you done wrong hell I would have done it anyways, but you messed up an that brings us back to my offer."
"Fine, we can have a chat."
Nodding he pulled a kunai out of his pouch an knelled down to cut the wires. Before he could cut the first one he had to dodge out of the way of a wooden spear that was thrown at him. The normally calm Uchiha was instantly on alert, he almost threw the knife when a young red head ran out of the brush an tried to grab Naruto.
"Karin what are you doing I told you to wait for me!"
"I sensed someones charka an tried to come warn you!" she glared defiantly up a the man while trying to cover Naruto "You'll have to kill me before I let you hurt him!"
Itachi couldn't help but smile. "Well I ain't going to kill you nor was I going to hurt him we were about to have a chat." he tried to move to cut the blond loose but she refused to let him near "Do you want to cut the wires and I'll take a step back?" she nodded an he sat the kunai down on the ground.
After cutting the blond free Karin held onto the knife and watched the raven haired man with the intensity of a hawk, well a baby one. Getting comfortable he finally got a good look at the kid an was impressed by he saw, natural sensor, willing to risk it all to protect the things she cared for, and if the red hair was any indication she was an Uzumaki.
"I'll tell you what I can but don't think I'll be forthcoming with things that I don't want people to know." Naruto told Itachi while rubbing his wrist to get feeling back in his hands.
"That's acceptable." he paused an wondered what to ask the blond, he was trying to think of ways to word stuff going forward so that he could gain the most insight without crossing that line. "Lets start simple shall we, who's your friend an was she the reason you went on a one man rampage?"
The first few questions were basic an covered stuff that the blond really had no need in hiding. They spent the next hour or so talking about what had happened naturally he didn't tell him the true locations or the factions. He told him that his father was a power hungry narcissist of the highest order, and how he had to leave or he would have been killed at a later date.
Other then asking questions about his answers Itachi didn't interject and quietly listened, Karin on the other hand butted in very often with almost each time Naruto telling her he will explain later.
The exchange went on for the better part of an hour, with each party gaining something they didn't have before. For Naruto he was able to gain that there was a town nearby, a small one, but a town nonetheless. Itachi learned things that he had been suspecting since the order to find Naruto came down, and knowing the full story he couldn't let the blond be caught. If he was there was a high chance that the Hokage would turn him over to Danzo for training.
Lost in thought the young ANBU tried to figure out what to do next, he had to return to the village by nightfall or a search team would be sent to find him, but at the same time he couldn't leave the pair or they would be found by one of the other teams. There had to be a way for them to get by without being found.
Reaching onto his belt he removed his standard gear pouch an navigational pouch. "I'm going to leave these with you, I can easily say I lost them in the fight, and with the cracked mask you gave me that just adds more truth to the story." he pull out and unfolded the Hi no Kuni map before marking their location. "Arakawa Village is just east of here, you can get supplies there, once you will follow the river east it will take you away from the standard routes of ANBU patrols. At your speed in four days you should reach the Oni Lake." pointing to a blue dot on the map "From there you will shoot straight North east an there is a port village that is mostly abandoned, but is stop point for cargo ships going up an down the coast."
Naruto followed along with rapt attention. The map lacked names mostly because it was a standard issue ninja map for Konoha nin, but given that all he had was a compass and a mental map it was far better. Never in a hundred years did he think he would get help from a Konoha ninja, much less an ANBU under the direct command of his father, there had to a catch.
"Whats the catch here…" he asked never taking his eyes off the map.
"I wouldn't call it a catch as much as I would call it you making a promise, get as far from here as you can."
Picking up the pouch an map he nodded "That was the game plan all along."
"Then be safe an godspeed Naruto." Itachi placed his broken mask back over his face an turned before disappearing into the trees.
'To hell with God' Naruto thought looking at the place that Itachi just was. "Come on we need to get a move one if we are going to make Arakawa by nightfall before the shops close." motioning for Karin to follow.
"Can we trust that man, you said it yourself that Uzumaki's ain't very welcome here."
"No I'm not sure we can but right now we don't really have a choice, that's the closest village at our food supply will allow us to get to, an I don't think we can rely on fishing an hunting to make it out here." He looked towards the sky before pulling his hood back up.
After all the only easy day was Yesterday….
So I'm back like I said I would be. I'm still working on replacing/updating the rest of the story an with my work life that will be inconsistent at best. Sorry for the long wait y'all. Leave me a message if you like the new start of the The Creed Reborn, till next time this is Sharp signing off.