Chapter Four - Rage Is A Disastrous Thing
"Good morning, Kamizuru-chan," Naruto greeted the kunoichi with a bright smile.
"Hello, Uzumaki-San," she greeted back neutrally, already having gotten used to the boy's use of affection over the last week. "What is our plan for today?"
"Oh, you know, since it's our fourth date, I believe a nice relaxing walk to one of Gato's storehouses will be fun," Naruto nonchalantly teased with a crooked grin, making the Iwa kunoichi's cheeks flush pink. "Then I was thinking that we kill all of his hired thugs as a warning and watch how they respond to a form of blatant aggression with some snacks and a blanket to keep ourselves warm as we cuddle."
Ignoring all of his teasing comments with a blush, Kurotsuchi was able to piece together their mission for the day and nodded her head in understanding. "Understood."
She didn't feel at ease with his crooked grin still in place, but it wasn't a feeling of danger or foreboding that bothered her but the butterflies and flips that were happening in her stomach every time the young Konoha shinobi flirted with her. It was harmless, as she was sure it was just his personality when he was comfortable, but it was also very new to her as back in her village everyone saw her as the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage so no one was brave enough to speak to her so casually or with any romantic feelings.
She did not get around to finding out if the blonde is the child of her village's dead rival, partly because she was also afraid to find out. She wasn't sure what she would do if it turned out that the boy that treated her normally, despite their village's tensions with each other, put her in a difficult spot. On one hand, she does nothing and let the offspring of a one-man army grow up and become as much of a problem as his father but she is able to act ignorantly unaware and find out where her feelings actually stood. The other hand, however, had her betray the mutual trust they developed to capture him and bring him to her village to either torture him for information and execute him as a show of revenge and strength or indoctrinate him as an Iwa weapon which will make it impossible for her to be close to him since he will be nothing more than a kunai in human form.
Nonetheless, she would not admit it to the blonde but she was greatly enjoying her time with him and their collaboration together. They even took a step in their temporary alliance to share their goals for the future and their ideas on their strongest attributes. For goals, she found out that he is aware of his ancestral clan and wished to reform and rebuild not only his clan's island but his clan as well. He wished to have a family since he grew up as an orphan and was lonely for most of his life, which made her sympathetic and approaching the topic of his father even harder. But their abilities and skills are something they have in common and that's their prodigious skill in ninjutsu.
Naruto admitted he used seals in combat more often than ninjutsu, as he also admitted his struggle in maintaining proper chakra control because of his insanely large reserves at a young age, which made it impractical to use destructive ninjutsu if he could accidentally overpower it and cause more harm to his allies. Despite that, they were able to share their preferred elements, she with fire and earth while he with wind and fire, and she was even more surprised by his intense study into advanced chakra theory and elemental manipulation.
She also had a feeling that he had the Scorch Element as he had eluded to it but it could be possible he is keeping a few skills in his back pocket. While it did strangely hurt her that he would keep something hidden from her, she had no room to criticize as she was keeping her own Lava element hidden as well. But it still hurt.
Stupid emotions and stupid boy for making her feel mentioned emotions.
Kurotsuchi blinked her eyes owlishly when she noticed Naruto looking at her with a small kind smile as he patiently waited for her. "I-I'm sorry, Uzumaki-san, I must have spaced out for a bit. What did you say?"
"I didn't say anything. I just like looking at the cute faces you make when you're thinking hard about something," the blonde answered flippantly with a larger smile that made her stomach do more flips.
"Stop teasing me," she quietly whined as she rubbed her face as it was practically burning to the touch. "Don't lie and say I'm cute."
Naruto frowned for a split second before his smile returned. "I was not lying but if you truly don't like it then I will stop if that is what you wish."
Kami why is he doing this to me! Kurotsuchi could only groan in desperation and defeat, her dark eyes looking at the blond with a small frown. She loved his compliments and teasing, even if she wanted him to think otherwise, but now she was stuck. She sticks with her refusal and he stops teasing her, or she cracks and admits that he is breaking her down little by little with every teasing grin and innocent compliment.
"I'm not telling you what to do, it's not like I'm your wife or mother or anything," she finally muttered, hoping the idiot would accept her statement.
It seems Kami had other plans.
"But you did propose to me when we first met, so that does make you my fiancé," Naruto grinned before turning around to walk towards their objective for the day. "And what kind of husband-to-be would I be if I did not compliment my woman?"
"Why must you do this!"
Naruto turned to look at the kunoichi and raised an eyebrow at her outburst, but before he could get a question in she had stomped up to him and grabbed him by the collar. She is surprisingly strong and sturdy, something that went through his mind when she had actually slightly raised him off the ground to bring his face to hers until their noses were touching, his feet only barely scraping the ground by the toes. He was always a bit on the short side in comparison to others his age, but Hiruzen always chuckled and told him he was going to hit a later growth spurt.
She breathed deeply and quickly as she looked into his eyes.
"K-Kamizuru-chan, I'm sorry if I upset you-…"
"Shut. Up. Now." She bit out each word and he flinched and nodded his head without meeting her eyes. "All of your teasing, your innocent compliments, and the way you look as we work together. It drives me mad! What do you have to say?"
"I-I-I…"
"Why are you so…cute!"
Naruto flinched and it took him a few moments before his brain processed what his ears heard, and his eyes widened before looking up at the foreign kunoichi in surprise. Her dark eyes were narrowed but he could see and feel the emotion burning underneath. Love. A burning desire. For him!
"I do not understand, Kamizuru-chan."
Kurotsuchi growled in the back of her throat and a look of frustration crossed her face before she yanked him up and with a yelp the blond had his lips against hers and she held him close to her body. Her fists left his collar and traveled to his neck that gently grasped his neck with the slightest bit of pressure, but that did not stop her fierce kiss as she leaned forward to follow him when he was let down to fully stand on his own.
He gasped suddenly when she used a fingernail to lightly scratch his sensitive cheek and she capitalized that moment to slip her tongue into his. He never had a kiss before, let alone something this intense, and his inexperience caused a bit of drool to travel down the side of his mouth before she pulled away slightly to take deep breaths.
"I hate how much you wormed your way into my heart, Uzumaki-sa-… Naruto-kun," Kurotsuchi breathed in his scent, nuzzling her face against his as she gently traced a fingernail across his whispered face. "Forbidden love, almost as if it was written by your village's perverted Sannin, but you make me feel normal. I feel like a genuine woman with you and it hurts that it comes from someone in a rival village."
Naruto gasped and moaned when he felt her hand squeeze just a tad bit more on his neck and she hovered her other hand against his body with faster breaths. "You are mine, and while you made it clear you will take multiple partners for the rebirth of your clan, I just ask that you let me know whenever you decide to take another love or wife. Understood?"
A gentle squeeze around his neck was all it took to make Naruto nod his head, "u-understood, Kamizuru-chan!"
She smiled deviously before letting go of the young boy, a coy expression making Naruto's own stomach do a couple of somersaults. "Then let us continue on our date, Naruto-kun."
Naruto nodded his head and followed the confident girl to their date location, not knowing there was a proud and amused individual watching and hearing the entire situation.
"Oh, sensei, you would be proud of the casanova your son is today. And the granddaughter of your biggest rival among the Kage, this will certainly spell disaster later."
"And if only I could make a deal with God, I'd make him swap our places," Naruto quietly sang to himself as he followed the Iwa kunoichi towards one of the many buildings operated by Gato's thugs.
"You know, the whole point of scouting is to not be found."
"I know," Naruto answered and continued humming to the song in his head.
"That means you should stop singing."
"We use flashy and bright jutsu to kill our enemies, I think my light humming is the least of our worries to be spotted," Naruto shrugged and glanced at the raven haired girl. "Unless you want to do something to make me stop."
Kurotsuchi gave a pointed stare at the blonde, knowing the intention of his statement by the smirk on his lips and the mischievous gleam in his eyes. "I will not play into your hand, Naruto, but if you keep teasing and being a nuisance I will make sure you get your punishment later."
"Ooh," Naruto mocked with an even bigger grin. "I'm so scared, Kamizuru-chan- ah!"
Naruto yelped as he rubbed his rear and winced at the pain that would surely cause troubles sitting. He looked at Kurotsuchi and saw her wearing a smirk of her own and her eyes glinted dangerously in the sun as she stared at him. Her hand, the one that must have smacked his rear, was held behind her back and not bothering to hide the smirk that she gave him.
"Behave or I will do that again," Kurotsuchi threatened before continuing her walk.
Naruto winced and nodded his head, all the while blushing in embarrassment due to the girl's own smirk and Kurama's laughter inside his head. What have I gotten myself into?
With that question, he noticed Kurotsuchi slow to a stop and he followed where she was looking and was horrified at what he saw. A small outlying grove with a small cabin that must have been a small farm at one point is now burning with the crop destroyed. However, it is the mutilated bodies of an old man and woman outside the broken front door that upset Naruto's stomach.
Despite his unease, he slowly approached the building with careful steps as he looked around for anything else. He saw nothing up until he reached the bodies and he just gazed at them with a blank expression but he could feel his eyes tearing up at the sight. Looking up, he moved around the corpses and into the house where he found it in complete disaster.
Overturned furniture and shelving, broken picture frames, and shattered glass over the floor, it looked to have been looted for anything valuable not nailed to the ground. A blood trail led further into the house and he followed it, not hearing or noticing Kurotsuchi slowly following from behind. She had a pained expression on her face as she took in what happened, but her attention followed her blonde companion in worry about how he may react.
He reached a bedroom that seemed to be a kid and adult's room if the small and large beds were anything to guess, but what grabbed hold of his attention is what is at the end of the blood trail. A man in his mid-twenties, bleeding heavily with multiple slash and stab wounds but still barely breathing despite the wounds. His eyes slowly tried focusing on his as he approached and a few gasps came out with his breathing.
Naruto crouched next to the man and looked over the wounds with a small grimace; he won't survive even if his wounds were treated.
"W-who are…you," the man gasped out with shudders.
"Shinobi of Konohagakure, hired by Tazuna. Who did this?"
"S-so Tazuna wasn't j-just talking out his ass," the man gave a weak and shuddering laugh. "Gato's men came. W-we wouldn't sell th-the farm. Killed my p-parents, left me for d-dead. They stole my w-wife and da-daughter. P-please…"
Naruto nodded his head at the small pleading word, putting his hand on the man's shoulder. "I promise. Where did they take them?"
"Comp-pound south of h-here. Thank you, shinobi-sama."
"Naruto Uzumaki will be fine," Naruto said softly and the man smiled.
His breathing soon stopped, and Naruto stayed there for a few moments just staring at the man's small smile. The man believed that Naruto would save the last of his family, and died with a relieved conscience. He picked the man's body up and brought him outside, passing Kurotsuchi with just a small hurting glance.
Setting him down next to his parents, he called out, "Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Five clones popped into existence and looked over the bodies with the same blank expression. The original looked into the sky as he spoke. "Bury them properly, headstone and all."
"Understood."
Naruto let his clones get to work before turning to Kurotsuchi but what shocked the girl was that instead of the beautiful blue eyes she grew used to now only scarlet red eyes like that of a demon looked at her. Despite the rage she can see bubbling beneath the eyes, she knew that it was still her Naruto that was there in front of her.
"Naruto…"
"They're all going to die."
She understood the sentiment and nodded her head. "Agreed."
With the agreement, Naruto launched himself in the direction of the compound with Kurotsuchi following a bit behind. They knew the exact compound the dying man had directed them to; it was the barracks for Gato's out-of-town operations inside Wave and it is also one of the places on Naruto's list to destroy.
Naruto stopped on a branch as soon as he reached the tree line at the edge of a clearing. He looked over the area, finding various laughing thugs outside a rundown building with broken windows and defaced walls. There seemed to be a few fighting rings where some chickens and dogs and even various wild animals were pitted against each other. What sickened Naruto though is the abused condition the women are in, with bruises and torn clothing being the shared description between them.
"Shut that kid up!"
Naruto's eyes snapped to the man who was walking outside the building, roughly shaking his head. It must be the kid that was kidnapped from the farm.
"There are a lot of bandits here," Kurotsuchi mused silently as she scanned the area. "A little over twenty men outside, and more inside. Even if they're bandits, their numbers will overwhelm us in a frontal assault."
Naruto scowled before unzipping his jacket, tossing it to the ground below while making sure he knew where it was when he was finished here. "One thing you need to know about me, Kurotsuchi-chan, is that I am never overwhelmed by numbers."
Without a second glance, Naruto dropped below while creating multiple shadow clones, before using the headhunter jutsu to submerge into the ground.
Kakashi felt the spike in chakra. A faint feeling so familiar to one of the most traumatic experiences in his life caused his muscles to lock up and a shudder wracked his body like a full speeding train. The hatred and utter loathing that was felt within the calming depth he associated with his student had him immediately concerned and it took all of his willpower to get to his feet.
Sasuke and Sakura looked at their sensei questioningly, confused by him getting to his feet and the look on his face.
"What's wrong, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura asked with a tilt of her head, taking the time away from her Earth Chakra manipulation training.
"Go inside and watch after Tazuna and his family until I get back," Kakashi ordered his students without looking at them. "Do not leave and do not follow me, am I understood?"
Hearing the seriousness in Kakashi's voice, Sakura and Sasuke nodded their heads; although the Uchiha was a little more hesitant.
"What about Naruto," Sasuke asked while getting to his feet. "He's still out there."
"I'll return with him, now do as I said." Kakashi took off into the trees without another word.
Kakashi was thanking the heavens that Wave isn't as large as the ruined islands of Uzushio as it would have been even more likely for his independent blonde student to have wandered off further than he is now. As it is, his student was only a few minutes away at his top speed and his heart pounded as he felt that malevolent chakra seemed to grow into a blazing inferno.
Landing at a clearing with his body in prime position to react to anything, he was surprised to see what can only be described as a massacre. Dead bodies were laid around with no sense of care and the damage done only made the sight more gruesome. As he walked forward, noting the small rivers of blood that run along the dirt like a murky swamp, he came to the rundown building where he could hear voices inside.
Looking inside, he not only found even more dead bodies but cowering half-clothed women of various ages. They didn't even acknowledge his presence as they were too struck by the sight of one of the individuals in the room. It was Naruto, who is on top of a grown man beating his face in without stopping.
"Naruto-kun, please stop."
Kakashi looked to see who spoke and he found a kunoichi with an Iwagakure uniform hugging his student from behind with a quivering voice. It slowed Naruto's movement to a stop but judging by the blood and bone it was useless to think the man was alive.
"I was too late."
Hearing the broken voice of his student, Kakashi decided to slowly enter the room and approach the blonde. He was shaking with clenched fists, gripping his head even as the unknown kunoichi whispered words into his ear. He sobbed finally and that one noise was enough to break a dam.
"Aaah!" His scream is full of pain and anger, arching his body as if he was ready to go to the heavens, only breaking Kakashi's heart even more as he was sobbing and sniffling through it all. "I was too late to save them! I failed in my promise! I failed! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Forgive me, please! I'm sorry!"
Kakashi couldn't take it anymore and he used a reality genjutsu that would be able to put everyone in the room to sleep. I'm sorry Naruto.
I upload a chapter when I finish another one. So long as I have two chapters already made ahead of time, I will just release them when I finish. I don't mind the number of reviews or likes or follows I get as I don't do it for that, although I am very grateful for people enjoying it.
Dreadix: Who said he would need a mission there, or for it to be sanctioned? As for how the nation as a whole feels about what happened, it will remain to be seen how Naruto goes there. I already made a snippet and I actually like it, so I can't wait to share it in about ten chapters or so.
Netto Hikari1: Whether Hinata will be relevant remains to be seen as I'm dancing on the idea of her being with Naruto since I have added other anime as well. I have a few ideas for the Hyuuga clan, whether it is the clan in Konohagakure or not. As for adding Kurotsuchi, she was the second girl I had planned for Naruto; it was Anko, Kurotsuchi, and Tayuya that I wanted since their attitudes are a fun dynamic most of the time. Erza is included but not as part of the Uzumaki royal family, but she and her mom are related to Uzumaki. Characters will be added slowly from the other anime, and in no specific order, so as to not overwhelm readers with "Hey here's all of these bleach, one piece, black butler, etc characters. Now they won't show up in a few chapters or at all." I don't want that.
Majestic Yo-kai Fauntleroy: That has yet to be revealed, but I will say that no Jiraiya had nothing to do with it. He was more focused on fighting on the western front against Iwa and Ame, before becoming obsessed with the Child of Prophecy whom he thought was Nagato.