(Started 10/25/22 Finished 11/2/22)
Beta SilverStreak93242
A hooded figure sat in the back of a smoky bar slowly sipping the watered down drink the bartenders called sake. The roar of the half-drunk mercenaries around him blocked off the sound of the conversation he was trying to listen to between two of them, his sole eye never leaving the man he had been trailing for the past two days.
Taking another sip of his sake he watched as the man shook hands with another one of the thugs and started making his way towards the door of the bar. Being none the wiser about the shadow that had been following him.
Naruto threw a few ryo down on the table as he stood up and shadowed the man out. With all the coming and goings of the mercs no one was going to pay attention to him as he made his way out of the bar behind his mark.
Or that was what he thought.
An older man with white hair placed a few bills down on the table and started to walk out as well. His walking stick barely making a sound as it touched down on the wooden floors of the run-down bar, he had seen the hooded man follow out behind the daylight guard of the warehouse he was looking into but his focus was on the night-shift guard.
Letting the door swing in the wind behind him, Naruto walked step and step with the man as he stumbled towards the bunk he called home for the night. The jingle of keys could be heard from his hip as he swayed side to side in the run-down street.
Naruto watched as the man stumbled and caught himself on the corner of the building before he held up his hand. The muffled sound of air being dispelled could be heard over his shoulder as he watched the man drop to his knees before falling face first into the muddy streets.
'Good shot Karin…' he glanced to the rooftops above as he slowly walked up towards the man he had been tailing since he landed on the shores of Nami no Kuni. Bending down he unclipped the keys on the belt of the man he had been after for the past two days. 'With these she can get into the warehouse and figure out where that gas is.'
Above him on the roof another hooded figure slowly crept back into the shadows. She had used her modified rifle to shoot a sleeping dart at the man below. It was her own design, quiet as a midnight mouse but accurate enough to land three shots under an inch at seventy-five yards, the trade-off for this system was four shots per air canister and nothing lethal. Unless she used a different trigger.
A masked figure on the other side of the street watched as the man fell to the ground her mind running a mile a second as she tried to figure out how the hooded figure did that with just a raised hand. Under the wolf faced mask her eyes darted from shadow to shadow trying to locate the person who could have done the deed before landing back on the hooded man as he picked up the keys off the man her sensei had figured out was the daylight guard for the warehouses.
Nothing about the figure in front of her screamed danger but at the same time nothing about him screamed easy prey either. There was something about the man in front of her that said he was dangerous, just like the fact that the person he signaled to was just as good at stealth as she was.
Naruko watched as the hooded figure looked around before making a single-handed seal and disappearing in a swirl of leaves. 'Shit Konoha shinobi!' she thought as she watched him leave, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the glint of steel and the falling of leaves from one of the shadows she had been watching. 'An ANBU team, this just got bad…' she thought as she turned around and dropped off the roof, landing quietly in the alley below before she took off running towards the designated meeting spot her and her sensei had agreed on.
Taking off running through the trash covered streets her mind was elsewhere as she thought back to the pair she had just seen. From what Ero-sensei had told her ANBU were the best of the best in their fields, each team having three people at minimum as they conducted ops.
A stealth specialist, a field medic, and combat specialist. She had just seen two of the three members, if she was to guess with the one in the shadows being the stealth operative and the one in the street being the medic or combat operative.
Reaching up she removed the charka suppression seal on her neck as she neared the rally point with Jiraiya. The amount of issues that had shown up in the past hour alone made her wonder if the mission they were on was really easy enough to be called 'easy' for her.
'No sense in worrying about it now.' she thought as she used her charka to launch herself into the trees on the outskirts of town. Each jump taking her closer and closer to the cave they were using as a base.
Landing outside, she looked at the woods around her once more before walking into the darkness of the cave, its damp interior showing that it had indeed never been used before as any form of base.
"How did it go?" she heard her sensei say as he looked down at the makeshift map they had made. His head never turning to meet her as she approached the table.
"Not good, I wasn't able to get the second set of keys because an ANBU team got to the guy first." Naruko said placing her hands on the rough table "I was only able to see two of them before they left."
"Was one of them wearing a greenish cloak?" Jiraiya asked looking up from the map as Naruko removed her mask.
"Yeah, I couldn't see the other until they had left in a Konoha Shunshin. From what you told me the only people that used that were from Konoha." Naruko told her sensei before taking off her supply pouch and kunai holder.
"Yes and no, there are plenty of people who are in the bingo book who know that jutsu, but only a handful are in the age bracket of active shinobi." Jiraiya said as he mentally went through the list of people that could come close to the level of skill his minion had described, with the list growing shorter and shorter with each second. "You didn't see the glow of a Sharingan did you?"
"You mean that red eyed pin wheel thing you told me to keep an eye open for?" she got a nod from Jiraiya "Nope, only thing I saw was a brief glint of steel sadly. I wish I had unsealed my eye and saw that other person so I could tell where they had went gone not went."
"It's fine you got us information that we didn't have beforehand so it was worth it in the end." he said as she placed the copy of the key they needed on the table "Besides right now we need every scrap of intel we can get if we are going to figure out what the hell is going on here, and our answers are going to be in that warehouse."
"Understood Sensei…" Naruko said as she laid down on the cot they had brought with them. It wasn't as good as a bed in a hotel, but there was something about this bed that made her feel at ease, something that told her this was the life she needed to live.
Something that made her be at peace.
The Creed Reborn
Closing the door behind him, Naruto looked around the room of the run-down shack that him and Karin had been using as a base. It was an old fishing hut next to the coast that was both far enough away from the port town of Nami but close enough to, that it wouldn't take hours to reach, for a shinobi that is.
"Karin you back yet?" he said looking around the room. They had maps on the table, drawings of key people pinned to the wall and a cut out of Gato with a kunai in his eye.
"In the back!" he heard her yell back. Each board creaked as he walked across the floor and went towards the second room of the hut. She was sitting over a bucket mixing some brown sludge with a stick her rifle leaned against the table beside her.
"Still trying to air tight this room?" Naruto said as he looked around the makeshift lab she was working on.
"Yeah, it's not up to Isu standards" Naruto's eye twitched when she brought the Isu up "but it should do the trick if all I'm trying to do is study the container the gas is in." In the back of her mind she couldn't help but think that whatever they were dealing with she inadvertently had a hand in. "How long until the old man is back with the ship? Kinda need that medical equipment and charcoal."
"Well, it's only been a week since we landed and we didn't know what all we needed till a few days ago so your guess on that is about as good as mine." Naruto said before bending down and picking up the trowel and spreading the mud clay mix on the walls of the room. "Every time I think about it, I forget that it's been four years since we met, heh it feels like yesterday we were at Oni lake."
A small smile formed on her face as she stopped stirring the mix "Feels like yesterday Itachi and Deisui were kicking our asses around the training field, just to prove they could." Karin replied before she picked up her own trowel and started working on the wall as well. "Remember when Tayuya tripped and launched herself into Itachi on accident?"
"Hehe how could I forget that he said 'I told you when you landed the first hit at this level of training, I would raise the stakes.' but I didn't think that an accidental headbutt would count as a hit." he thought back to all the days on the island that they had spent training under Itachi before Deisui came along and helped out. "Remember the time that Ichirou tried to get his dad to stop drinking."
More laughter could be heard from the other side of the room "How could I forget that? It was like watching a play where the main character gets chased by the evil villain. I don't think Ichirou could ever look at an ear of corn the same after that." Karin said before stopping and getting a long expression "Do you think we will ever go back to that?"
That question had caught Naruto off guard, he had expected her to continue down memory lane for a bit longer. "Someday we might go back to that, when the world is rid of people like Minato Namikaze, until then just hold onto those memories."
Unknown to him, her mind wasn't even thinking about the days they had spent training, she was thinking about the days that they had spent together. The days she spent with the person she loved.
"I'll take first watch tonight." Naruto said as he sat the trowel down in the bucket and started for the door. Karin couldn't face him as she just listened to him walk away.
'Someday Naru, I will tell you how I feel and when I do, I will pull you out of the pit you are headed down, but until then I will stand beside you and be the light.' she thought as she heard the door of the hut close.
Finishing her own work, she set everything down and went to get some sleep but no matter how hard she tried,her mind wouldn't rest.
(The following morning)
Karin was leaned against the side of the hut as she watched the sun rise from the ocean. Her eyes had bags under them from the lack of sleep, the only thing keeping her awake at this point was the cold breeze that came off the sea.
Hearing the door open, Naruto walked out looking about as tired as she was. In his hands were two cups of tea. He turned his back to the water hoping that the thick wool of his cloak would shield him from the cold wind. "Morning." he said as he handed her one of the cups.
Wrapping her hand around the steaming metal cup she just nodded to him, too cold to really say much else. Taking a sip of the tea she let the warmth and caffeine fill her body "What's the plan today?" she mumbled.
"Well, I was thinking we could get into that warehouse and steal whatever has the gas in it. It's not like we need the equipment to study it before we steal it right?" Naruto said before taking a sip of his own tea. "Besides there might be more info on Gato in there, since none of the rank-and-file mercs seem to know where he is."
"No, we don't need it, but we need to be careful transporting it back here I would hate to think about what could happen if it was to bust." Karin told him thinking of all the nasty mixes that could be in the cans.
"Let's make breakfast and head out I know you have to be starving." Naruto said as he finished off the last of his tea. "Pick your food, erbswurst with hard tact, or…"
"Hard tact with erbswurst, either way crap or more crap…" Karin sighed as she walked into the hut, Naruto just chuckled as he followed the girl on in.
The Creed Reborn
Naruko was sitting on a roof a few blocks from the warehouses they had been watching for the past four days. While she was out and surveying the area her sensei was gathering info on the man that had 'Hired' them. He never spoke to them directly, only through his two main commanders Zori and Waraji.
'I have to wonder what this person Tazuna did to Gato…' she thought as she stared at the warehouses. 'Take that back, how is a local drunk able to build a bridge and still not get killed by all of the mercs around here?'
The situation surrounding this place had confused her ever since she had been told what their job was back on the ship. On one hand, the person they had been looking for, they found because he hired them, but the man they were hired to kill had nothing more than a small group of workers and shoddy building materials. Why were two rouge shinobi needed to kill him.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she saw a pair of hooded figures walking down the street headed towards the warehouse. She watched as soon as one of the patrols came near, the pair broke off and darted down an alley. 'Where is your team mate…'
Naruko's eyes darted from roof to roof trying to locate their eye in the sky as the pair evaded the patrols. 'Almost like one of them….shit sensor!' for once she was thankful for the stealth lessons of Ero-sensei and his advice on the use of suppression seals.
Jumping down she took off running through the streets towards the warehouse hoping to get a better look at the pair and maybe get eyes on their teammate. Stopping at the corner, she poked her head around just in time to catch a glimpse of them entering through the locked doors.
(Inside)
Locking the door behind him Naruto and Karin looked around the dimly lit warehouse. Just like the last one he was in four years ago it was stacked to the roof full of crates waiting to be shipped.
"Just like we talked about, you look for the weapon, I'm headed to the office to find any info. Someone has to know where the hell Gato is." Naruto said as he looked around at the warehouse "I want to be out of here in ten minutes."
Nodding her head, Karin shot off through the rows of crates, while Naruto headed towards the second-floor offices.
Thankfully the stairs were right next to the doors so he didn't have to go searching for those, the only issue he had was the idea that there could be a trap or something. He couldn't see that well as he ascended the stairs making sure that each one didn't have something on it.
When he reached the top, thankfully the door to the office was wide open, and there were no traps that he could find anywhere. 'Am I just over thinking this since I'm use to the ruins in Uzu?' walking into the office he looked around at all the papers that were stacked there.
'What am I looking for here…ledger no, file on exports, orange book of…' he shook his head and tossed that book in the garbage 'wait what is this…' he pulled out a paper with a broken wax seal on it.
'Keiji,
Make sure you keep that Templar weapon somewhere it doesn't bust, or else the whole island dies and I really don't like having to waste time on finding new help.
I'll also have a team drop the building supplies off in a few days so that the workers can continue building that bridge like the 'Grand-Master' wants, just to keep him off our backs until the shinobi I hired can do their job.
I thought this was a simple business venture not some induction into a damn cult. I got a letter from him the other day saying that the architect was going to be arriving with some Konoha shinobi in a few days.
So, until then, let's keep the little monster happy, and once we are clear we can sell that weapon to the highest bidder and everyone will be a little richer.
Gato'
Naruto read and re-read the short letter to make sure he had that right. Every thug in town had a kill on sight order for Tazuna so what was going on here. Flipping over the letter he saw that it was postmarked four days ago, sadly lacking a return address. Meaning that either the shinobi were in town now or coming close to town.
Grinning he folded the letter back up and read the postmark once more, "Tetsuzou Neihay, Postal Manager, found my link…" he mumbled with a grin as his sole eye stared down at the one person who might have an idea of where that little midget Gato was hiding.
'Someone like him would know where every piece of mail was sent, meaning that he would have to know where Gato's mail was sent.' Naruto thought as he started back down the stairs to the bottom floor. All he had to do now was put a face to a name.
His head whipped around at the sound of a black powder rifle going off. "KARIN!" he yelled as he took off running through the boxes, this wasn't her air gun going off, meaning that whatever she shot at, she meant to kill.
(A few minutes before with Karin)
'So, I have ten minutes to find whatever they are using to store the gas in…' Karin thought as she ran through the warehouse looking for something that would work. Each crate was marked thankfully with something telling her what was in each.
She didn't have to go through each box thankfully, she just had to locate the ones that were marked with hazardous. 'Unless…'
Sitting all by itself in the corner of the warehouse was a pallet of canned goods. They were far enough away from everything that even if something was to fall it wouldn't land on any of the cans, making it the only thing that wasn't stacked.
Walking over to the pallet she pulled out her knife and cut the straps holding the cans together. 'Canned Peaches my ass, there isn't anything edible in these cans…' she thought as she picked the can up each one was filled with a gas and not the food item that was on the label.
Unknown to her, there was a masked person on the roof above her trying to watch what she was doing. From under her hood, she saw a shadow slowly blocking out the light, it was at that point that she felt the smallest sliver of charka when she focused. The same kind of charka she felt coming from the walking tin cans back on Uzu, a seal.
In one smooth motion she grabbed the butt of her rifle and swung it around only catching the briefest of glimpses, as a wolf masked black haired figure tried to duck out of the way. A shot rang out as she pulled the trigger at the spot she still felt the seal was at before she took off running towards the place where Naruto was.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" she mumbled as she ran, she knew that the shot missed because she could still feel the seal but it had only missed by an inch or less because the wood threw it off course. "I should have factored that in, damn it!"
He saw her running his way one hand holding her rifle, the other hand holding a small silver can. "Catch!" she yelled as she tossed the canister to him forcing him to catch it. She took cover behind a stack of crates and pulled out one of her paper cartridges and held it in her teeth as she opened the trapdoor on her rifle.
"What the hell happened?" Naruto asked, as he held what he thought was the gas in his arms. He was afraid that if he got into a fight, then everyone in the area would be killed. Karin closed the breech on her rifle and swung out, firing one more-round at the spot she felt the charka was.
"ANBU!" she yelled as she took off running again with Naruto right behind her.
"So, they are here…" he mumbled as he followed behind her. "As soon as we get into the open, we need to put as much space between us and them as we can!" each second they were in the warehouse was another second for the ANBU team outside to surround them.
Kicking the door, the pair shot off into the streets before climbing to the roofs and taking off in the direction of the forests in hope that they could lose any of the ANBU that followed them. It was a long shot but it was the only chance they had at the moment.
Naruko watched as the pair ran across the roofs, but she knew there was nothing that she could do to stop them. Holding her neck, she felt the sting of whatever jutsu it was the girl used on her, it was pure luck that it missed.
Touching her hand to her forehead she felt as if she had seen something similar before, but she couldn't remember. She saw a crumpled-up piece of paper laying in the dirt roughly where the pair had jumped from, something she was sure was not there before.
Jumping down she picked it up and read the letter that told her people from Konoha were coming. "I have to get this to Ero-sensei." If there was one thing that he hated, it was a Konoha shinobi.
The Creed Reborn
"Not good, I was hoping to find the weapon before we had to do the job." Jiraiya mumbled as he finished reading the letter. "Did they have anything else with them?"
"They were carrying a can of something when they left the warehouse but I never saw what it was. It looked to be a little too small to be any kind of weapon like what Ao and the rebels are facing." Naruko told him, before touching her neck again, the phantom pain from whatever weapon it was seared itself into her mind. "Sensei…"
"Hmm?" it took a second for his mind catch up and process the fact that she had just called him Sensei and not Ero-sensei "Who are you and what did you do with Naruko?! Naruko would never call me sensei!" he asked in mock disbelief.
"Oh, come off it Ero-sensei, I was going to ask you something, but I think I changed my mind now!"
"I know, I know, I'm just messing with you, what were you going to ask me?" Jiraiya asked her as he folded up the letter and placed it on the table with the rest of the papers.
"Have you ever heard of a ninja tool that makes a loud boom when its used? Its long and kinda reminds me of a stick."
That was something Jiraiya had no knowledge of, at first, he had thought about a blow pipe but a blow pipe doesn't make any sound. Then he remembered the Iwa Demo corps and thought it might have been something they used. 'Maybe that hooded man is a freelance nin.'
There were hundreds of freelance ninjas across the world, most with skills in the range of genin to low chunin. But every so often there would be a few that learn enough to be on par with some jonin.
"Question is who hired them…" he mumbled still trying to figure out what was going on.
"What did you say?" Naruko asked as she laid down on her cot.
"Nothing, head on to sleep we have to get to work tomorrow." Jiraiya told her before he cut off the lamp on the table and laid down himself. "Maybe with luck we can hire them."
Naruko heard him say that but didn't comment, she didn't know what the big deal was with a pair of hooded shinobi that tried to kill her, nor did she really care. 'If they attack me again, I'll fight them…' she thought as she drifted off to sleep, unaware that a small amount of blood-lust came with the thought.
The pair woke up the following morning to the sounds of someone banging on the door of their hideout. "Oi, Shinobi! Its Zori, the boss wanted me to let you know that your target is going to be here today! He wanted to make sure you got the job done!"
Jiraiya opened the door and glared at the man "How we do our job is none of your concern!" he yelled flipping over to his made-up persona he made for this job. "I take that back, why don't we give you a first-hand look at how we do our work…"
The crazed smile on the white haired man's face, made Zori take an involuntary step back. "Nah, um, I think I'm good, uh just wanted to let you know." he said as he backed away from the door.
"Now scurry on little rat, I have a death to plan." Jiraiya closed the door after he watched the man run off. He was hoping for more time to poke around the island nation before having to deal with this issue. "Naruko get ready we're going to head out and see what we're up against."
"Roger." she said before clipping her mask in place and inspecting her gear. Breakfast would have to wait since they needed to be on the move fairly quick.
The Creed Reborn
(The day before)
"There once was a ship that put to sea. And the name of that ship was the Bully o' Tea. The winds blew hard, her bow dipped down. Blow, me bully boys, blow. HUH!" Deisui heard the crew start singing as they pulled up the rigging's as they left port. They had been up and down the coast line trying to find the items that the 'Mad Scientist', as many had taken to calling her, Karin needed.
After a lot of hard balling merchants, haggling with doctors, and buying on credit or favors. He had been forced to do something that went against everything he stood for as a self-respecting captain of Uzu no Kuni in order to raise the additional funds they needed.
He was giving passage to a bunch of damn shinobi from Konoha.
"Soon may the Wellerman come. To bring us sugar and tea and rum. One day, when the tonguin' is done. We'll take our leave and go!" The song in the background done wonders to take his mind off of the madness of the five people he had brought on to the ship, though only four were of issue to him.
One of them he recognized as the Son of White Fang, Kakashi Hatake. Even as a former shinobi he had heard about this white-haired man leaning against the rails of the ship reading a little orange book. His headband covering the sharingan he had in his left eye. He wore the standard Konoha Flack vest that nearly every jonin wore, dark blue pants and a long black shirt.
The only thing he wanted to walk up and rip off, was the Uzu swirl he had on the sleeves of the shirt. Turning his head, he watched as two kids with him started puking. They were as green as they came, both literally and figuratively, fresh out of the academy with next to no knowledge of how the world works.
"H-how many days…" a raven-haired kid tried to say before dry heaving again "Will we be on here?" he had a blue high neck shirt on with black shinobi pants and sandals. Over his right shoulder was a guard-less sword with the Uchiha Fan burned into the wooden sheath.
"The captain there said wave was an overnight trip from the port we met him at. Would have been a few hours if our contact had shown up at the meeting spot, and we didn't have to go hunting for passage." Kakashi said as he flipped another page in his book.
"That's too long!" the boy beside him yelled out before flopping back over the rails revisiting his breakfast. He wore a maroon shirt and black pants with his brown hair spiked on top. His only real outstanding feature was the giant scroll on his back.
"It's not that bad, kinda like a rocking chair." a light purple haired girl said as she moved back and forth with the ship. She was the only one that wasn't green. Her dark red shirt fluttered in the wind as she twirled a shuriken on her finger, she had pulled from her black shinobi pants, that were loaded with various weapon pouches. Something about her just yelled off kilter.
"Sasuke, Shinya, try and get yourselves sorted out, we're supposed to be on a mission. Even if our charge is passed out drunk." Kakashi said before noticing Deisui was looking at them. "First time seeing a shinobi?"
"Nah, I was thinkin back to my yunger days when I was as green as them two." Deisui replied taking a drink from the flask. "Spent half my life on the seas, and ya ain't the first group of shinobi I've ferried." what he didn't tell him was that all of those shinobi he had ferried were from Uzushiro.
"What did you do before this mister? Couldn't have been much if all you own is this pigsty." the girl asked putting her shuriken away.
"Mai…" Kakashi started before Deisui raised his hand stopping him.
"It's fine lad, what the little lass says don't bother me…" he said shooting a glare at a few of the crew members that heard her call their ship a pigsty. "But word of advice lass, unless ya want to be feeding the fish, as they pick yer skin off your bloated body. I would refrain from calling any ship a pigsty."
Placing his hand on the shoulder of the girl, Kakashi locked eyes with the old sailor, trying to figure out if he had the skill to back up his claim. It was then that his eye widened as he realized that the old man was carrying a military grade steel saber, not some second-hand saber that most merchant sailors carried.
Looking around the deck of the ship, most of the people on board were also carrying sabers as well. All of them well maintained, and if he was to guess, razor sharp. 'Damn it, these ain't merchants, their privateers! That explained why they aren't worried about Gato's ships! How did I miss that?!'
"Sorry about my student she won't be causing any more issues." he nudged Mai to apologize to the man.
"Sorry…" she said even though everyone present could tell that she didn't mean it.
"Accepted, in yer career, ya might have to use a merchant ship again. Better learn now while yer yung, else ya might be land locked."
"A poor old man came riding by!"
"And we say so, an we know so!"
"O poor ole man came riding by, a poor ole man!"
Deisui couldn't help but chuckle at the crew member who started singing after hearing the girl shit talk the ship. "Case in point lass…"
The green genin couldn't help but feel unnerved as the crew continued singing their shanty as they went about their work. Even the pair that had been throwing up had their nerves rattled by the sounds.
"Drop 'em down with a long, long rope!"
"An we say, an we know so!"
"Where the sharks have his body, an the monster takes the soul!
"O, poor old man!" Deisui yelled out finishing the song. The crew cheered, all the while a crooked smile plastered on his face, every one of them happy to have taken some form of revenge on the four shinobi.
All the while a drunk sleeping architect slept face down in a hammock below deck, blissfully unaware of the storm brewing above him.
The Creed Reborn
Naruto stared down at the post office he had been watching since early that morning. Unlike the warehouses which only had a few patrols in the area this building looked like a mini military post, if the military was a bunch of two-bit thugs and mercenaries with second hand weapons.
He had been trying to figure out how he was going to get in there since the only people that had come and gone were frisked at the door. Meaning none of them was this Tetsuzou guy.
The windows all had bars on them and the two doors were guarded by no less than four people, two more groups of four circled the area checking in on the ones posted at the doors, and watching the area. That was twelve people not including the unknown amount of people that were inside the building.
It wasn't like he had Karin here with him to find out how many were inside, she had to follow the ship since it bypassed the fishing hut this morning.
"Well kit you could always burn him out." the ever so blood thirsty voice in his head told him.
'How about no, since I don't know what the man looks like and there might be something else in there that I could use to locate Gato.' Naruto responded taking a sip from the water bladder he had. 'When did you wake anyways?'
"Yesterday after you and the vixen were raiding the warehouse." he heard a yawn come from the fox "You would think you would have some more excitement after you left the island, but outside of the ANBU yesterday it's been boring."
'Well not everything in life is going to be life or death.' Naruto watched as another person left the building carrying a bag of mail 'Seems like the only ones that ain't searched are the mail carriers.'
"Could kidnap one of them and squeeze him for info on this guy." Naruto had to admit the idea had merits. "A pair of pliers and a few fingernails later he would be singing like a bird, ain't like these guys are shinobi or anything."
'No, but they're not thugs either. Every one of the mail carriers have been civilians hired by Gato it seems.' Naruto replied, but the more he thought about it the more sense it made. If you work for the man who runs your island at least you and your family would eat. A sinking feeling entered his gut.
What happens to those that helped Gato during his reign after he killed the shipping tycoon. Things wouldn't just go back to normal, it would take years for the frustrations of the people to finally feel at peace.
The only reason Uzu worked at first was because Deisui and Himeko were married and each party trusted at least one of them. Then as time went on the original residents of the island started to interact with the people of the ship. The true bonding was thanks to Karin, everything she had done for the life of the islanders.
But in the end, it was the old man and his wife that held everything together until those bonds formed.
Here in Nami no Kuni there was no bond holding the people together, just those that worked for Gato and those that didn't.
"Kit, no sense in worrying about what could happen."
'What about the people who get caught up in all this just because they wanted to take care of someone they cared about?'
"Let me answer your question with a question, your father Minato Namikaze is a Templar. He holds power over a village that is called the strongest in the world, thus that means killing him would leave a power vacuum, and could start the next shinobi war. But if you don't kill him, the world is going to have another war regardless. So will you kill him?"
Taken aback slightly by the way the fox put the question, he wanted to scream yes, but Naruto had to actually think on the answer. If he sat back and did nothing the world would be ran by Templars. But if he was somehow able to figure out a way to get rid of Minato there would be no question of if there would be a fourth shinobi war, it would only be a matter of when.
And as it stood right now, he had no clue which villages were free of Templar control and which ones fell under it.
"You're learning, and here I thought all you had in that brain of yours was that mush you called ramen. When you have the answer tell me your reason."
'I will…' Naruto said watching another postal worker leave.
His attention was drawn away from the postman as a flare shot into the air off into the distance behind the building. 'What was that for?' it took a few seconds for the sounds of an explosion to reach his ears as well as the ears of everyone outside of the office.
A middle-aged man with pointy graying hair walked out and started barking orders "You three head an see what that explosion was! Everyone else inside lock er down!"
No one saw the hooded figure in the trees as he grinned and took off in the direction of the flare. 'Found you Neihay…'
The Creed Reborn
Jiraiya watched from the tree he was sitting in as a rowboat neared shore. The only reason he was watching it was because unlike all of the other ships he had seen off the coast this was the only one not flying Gato's flag.
It wasn't fly any flag for that matter.
Pulling out a spyglass he looked through the tube at the small amount of people on the ship and scowled when he saw his target, and one of the only people besides Minato who could fight him to a standstill, Kakashi Hatake, assuming that he didn't have Ma and Pa with him.
'It would be different if I could go all out, but Naruko still isn't ready for the storm that would bring.' he thought folding up the glass. 'I'll have to continue with the spying for now, and try to find an opening.'
Unknown to him there was another person watching the ship from the trees. Rested in the crook of her arm was a rifle, its brass scope dulled slightly with the help of mud and leaves. 'Why are they coming ashore here the hut is at least ten more miles up the coast…' the glint of metal caught her eye as one of the people on the boat turned and she was able to make out a shinobi headband. 'Shit!'
Closing her eyes, she focused on the world around her trying to feel the charka of those on board. 'Okay, one is close to Deisui when he isn't suppressing it and three are…that can't be right, just above those of crew?' she figured that any shinobi that left the safety of their village could at least take care of themselves to some degree and not be matched by a bunch of people who just had a few years of sword training and sailing skills, and to top it all off some of those were former slaves. 'Wait, whats this…' if she hadn't focused, she would have missed it even at this distance.
Another charka signature was nearby just a few hundred yards away, close enough that if they were in open fields, they could see each other. It wasn't like the ANBU and their seal yesterday, it was like Deisui when he suppressed his charka. Meaning whoever it was, was skilled in charka manipulation.
Removing her scope, she put it back in her bag and took off through the trees. Like a hunting dog on an old trail, she locked in on the charka and stayed just close enough to still feel it as they snaked their way through the woods.
Landing on another branch she nearly lost her footing in shock at the size and darkness of the charka reserves that just entered her range. It was like Naruto's darkness when the sentient charka came to the surface, but a hundred times bigger.
Getting over the feeling she pressed on, making a mental note that whoever had that kind of reserves needed to be avoided at all costs.
Then like a switch the charka disappeared. "Where did it go…" Karin mumbled as she jumped to another branch. She had a rough idea of where the charka was but now with it gone, it was more like an after image then it was a concrete location.
Landing on another branch she had to lean back as her eye caught a glimpse of a ninja wire hidden at waist height. Following the wire, she saw it hooked to a flare tube and explosive note. 'Well looks like I found them. Thank you, ancestors for setting all those traps.'
Pulling out her knife she cut the wire, a metallic twang being the only thing that was heard as the wire was cut.
The sharp whistling of a flare being launched could be heard for miles as a secondary wire was released.
"No, no, NO!" Karin said frantically as she shot off from the branch before the explosive note could detonate. She felt the overwhelming charka that had disappeared not even minutes ago explode along with the smaller but more condensed charka release its suppression.
Darting from branch to branch she took her rifle off her back and swung it around sending a shot at the closest charka signature. She briefly watched as a man in dirty brown clothes was sent flying from the impact. A dark colored liquid spraying from the spinning body.
"One down…" she mumbled as she caught the glint of metal out of the corner of her eye. Spinning in the air she used the butt of her rifle to knock the kunai away. Landing she looked up and saw another volley headed her way she was forced to take cover behind a tree.
Attaching a roll of wire to the ring of the kunai, Naruko threw it at the tree the hooded figure was behind. 'Damn! All I need is to catch them in the open!' yanking on the wire she grinned as the kunai changed course and the person shot out. 'Gotcha.'
It was only because of her eye that she was able to move her head out of the way in time as the heat from an unknown projectile pierced the spot her head was.
Seeing that she missed she pulled her second trigger hoping that her sleep dart was enough to land a hit.
Almost like she could see it coming the wolf masked nin shot off to the side as she ran through hand-seals "Kitsune Bi!" she yelled and pointed her fingers at Karin as the blue flames shot off her fingers like bullets.
Karin watched as the tree she was using for cover had holes put in it like the tree was made of paper. 'The hell is this girl!' she thought before the sight of the one of the blue balls that the woman had sent into air arched down towards her. "SHIT!"
Pulling her dagger, she sliced up, sparks arcing as the blade tried to deflect blue flame. The ball of fire burst sending fire all over the area.
'Did I get her?' Naruko thought as she looked around the burning forest. She had lost the hooded girl in the explosion of flames from her jutsu. Just then her eye told her of impending doom.
Karin had stabbed the tree with her knife, using it as a rest for her rifle. A blue shimmering light danced around the bore. "Lighting Release: White Tiger Shot…" Karin mumbled.
The forest seemed to buzz with electric power as a white tiger shot towards its target.
Naruko leaned back as her hairs stood on end from the static coming off the claw of the tiger.
Snaking her way through the trees she dodged attack after attack from the charka powered monster.
Opening the trapdoor on her rifle Karin put another round in the chamber. Beads of sweat rolled down her brow as she took the few seconds before her jutsu ran out to catch her breath. "I feel like I'm fighting Itachi." she mumbled.
It was only years of sparing with Itachi that saved her as she dove out the way as a multitude of fire enhanced kunai pierced the tree she was using for cover.
Jiraiya watched as the pair fought. He knew that he could intervene at any time during the fight and stop it, but he wanted to see what these freelance nins had to offer. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that the person in the bar was a male and this green hooded figure was clearly a female, one younger than Naruko.
Her fighting style is what drew his attention though. It wasn't like any of the other long-range fighters he had seen before, nor was her weapon of choice anything he knew of. Honestly, he was trying to figure out who this person before him could be, because if nothing else her weapon stood out.
It was then that he saw the lightning tiger attack Naruko, 'Highly skilled in Raiton, how have these nins flew under that radar? Not to mention the way she took out my clone at the start, tells me she's skilled enough as a sensor to tell where someone is.'
The attack from the ninja tool drew his attention again as the sharp crack signified its firing. One thing was clear to him this fight was just getting started.
Naruko spun on her heels as she felt the unknown object skim across the front of her mask. 'What the hell is that thing!' her mind was racing as she tried to keep up with the insane speed of the events happening around her. 'Need to get in closer.'
Using the tree behind her as a spring board, Naruko shot towards the area the girl was hiding. Hoping that whatever she was using wasn't ready yet.
Karin grabbed another cartridge and tried to reload her eyes widening as they met face to face with a wolf mask that shot beside the tree. For a brief second it seemed like time stopped as they locked eyes. She didn't even have time to block the kick as she was sent skidding across the ground.
Blood mixed with bile, as Karin rolled over on her side puking. A half-hooded eye glared at the black-haired wolf. "I have to admit your good, but just like any ranged fighter, once your opponent is in close, its game over." the wolf said as it approached.
"Not wrong there…" Karin said as she tried to run through ideas to give herself some space. She was good enough to maybe deflect a few blows in close, but almost everything revolved around her making one shot.
Almost everything.
She watched as the wolf ANBU slung her wrist and caught the kunai that came from under her sleeve. "I would say any last words, but I don't have time right now."
"That's fine…" Karin mumbled as she wiped the blood from the side of her mouth. "My last words wouldn't be directed at you anyways." she watched as the nin stiffened and tried to lunge at her, almost as if she knew what was going to happen. "Lighting Release: Chaining Bolts!"
Jiraiya continued to watch from the surrounding trees, and was getting ready to step in to save the nins life, when hundreds of sparks flew around the forest and went towards anything made of metal. Naruko's kunai bracer, her supply pouch, even the clips holding her mask on. 'Extremely impressive, anything she directs those arcs towards instantly becomes a walking lighting rod.'
Karin picked herself up and quickly ran through her limited medical knowledge trying to figure out if she had the strength to get away, or if all she was doing at this point was delaying her death. Pushing those thoughts aside, she picked up her rifle, she only had one thought now.
"I WILL LIVE!" Karin yelled cocking the hammer and pulling the trigger.
With everything going on, Naruko couldn't tell which future was real and which one was not, she had been so occupied with trying to dodge the bolts she had forgotten about the girl that made them, until one future out-weighed the others. Her death.
'This is what a life-or-death fight is like…to hell with it!' Naruko thought in rage seeing only one future where she lived. "KITSUNE WHIRLWIND!" blue flames flew from her hands as she spun her body forming a dome of scalding flames.
The lead bullet hit the wall and liquefied on contact but not stopping. This future relied heavily on the luck that the molten metal wouldn't stray far from its course. Lead met porcelain right above her left eye.
Crack. The molten metal won out as the mask had a chunk taken out of it by the force alone exposing her blue eye to the world.
Slowing down her rotation she stopped and looked at the fleeing hooded girl. Her most charka intensive and destructive jutsu barely saved her life from that thing the girl carried. It made her angry, no furious, that she spent four years of hell under her sensei and all she was able to do is land one kick.
Unacceptable.
'Not good she's starting to lose it!' Jiraiya thought as watched her start to walk out of the crater that her jutsu made. He could feel the shift in her charka.
Walking forwards through the blue flames still covering the battlefield, Naruko broke into a sprint after the girl. Each step taking her closer to her target as she quickly gained on the wounded girl. Slinging her wrist out once more she pushed off the side of a tree intent on ending the fight.
In the apex of her jump a foot planted itself in the side of her head. The impact sending her flying towards a tree, correcting herself in mid-flight she glared at the person who kicked her.
Standing defensively in front of Karin, Naruto slid one of his swords out of its sheath. "Are you ok?" he asked as he reached and flipped his eye patch up.
"I will be…" Karin said breathlessly leaning against her rifle. "Think you could have gotten here sooner?"
"I didn't even know it was you fighting when I saw the flare." Naruto replied before reaching into his pouch with his free hand and pulling out a vile. "Should help the pain. What can you tell me about miss red eye over there?"
'Red eye?' Karin thought before downing the vile of foul-tasting stuff. "She's skilled in fire jutsu, both mid and close range, and extremely fast." she managed to squeak out before coughing at the taste.
"How fast?"
"Itachi level of fast." Karin said feeling slightly better as the herbal pain killer kicked in. "How long until this stuff wears off?"
"Couldn't tell ya, never had to use it." Naruto replied before running ideas through his head. "I'll buy you time, get someplace safe and give me some cover."
Naruko stared down at the pair, her anger rising by the second. Was this man so cocky as to think that a short sword could take her on, the pure audacity of him. 'RIP HIM TO SHREADS!'
Naruto, who wasn't a sensor, could feel the dark opressive power behind the wolf's charka. Laughter erupted from inside his head as he slid his second sword out. 'What the fuck is your problem?'
"This is perfect, this is a fight, SHOW ME NARUTO! SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO!" the fox yelled in his head 'To think he would be fighting his own sister, and the best part is that neither one of them know it's the other right now!'
A high-pitched screech could be heard across the forest, as Naruto channeled charka through his blades and readied himself for the fight.
"Kitsune Bi!" Naruko yelled sending bolts of fire towards the man in front of her.
Naruto cut the fast-moving balls of fire in half, his wind charka nearly turning the blue flames white as they launched past his head. Turning on his heels, steel met steel and sparks flew as he locked blades briefly with the wolf.
Stabbing with his free hand the ANBU twisted out of the way before jumping back out of his reach.
Her kunai had deep cuts in the blade from the briefest of impacts, any longer and she wouldn't have had a kunai left. She clicked her tongue before tossing it away. 'Doesn't matter I have the one on my wrist…'
Naruto watched as she dove off to the side, not even a second before Karin's bullet reached its target. 'Damn it, even that didn't work!' he thought before taking off running towards the wolf. How did she know that Karin was going to shoot.
He watched in slow motion as she threw a handful of shurikens at him, forcing him to drop down and slide under them. It was then that saw the glint of ninja wire in the air. 'SHIT'
Slamming one of the swords into the ground to slow himself he swung the other one up and severed the wires as the shuriken sailed towards him from behind. "First Dance: Whirlpool!" Naruto yelled as he spun the blades in his hand like a fan. The shuriken struck the spinning metal, sending shards and sparks flying.
Ejecting the hidden kunai, Naruko shot towards the hailstorm of shards, using the trees as a way to speed up.
Naruto watched as she tried speed against him. Each strike with the odd bracer was blocked by his sword, only adding to the frustrations of the girl. "Second Dance: Shadow!" Holding the two swords close together Naruto swung at the same time, the second sword in the shadow of the first.
Another shot rang out as the wolf nin twisted out of the way and her arm shot out towards Naruto's face. Kunai in hand ready to end the life of the man who stood against her.
To Karin it looked like the pair was getting ready to take each other's life and there was nothing she could do to stop it as smoke wafted off the barrel of her rifle.
"Ok that's enough you three." a voice said before someone grabbed the hands of both Naruto and the wolf ANBU directing their blows away from each other. A clone of the man came carrying Karin making Naruto narrow his eyes. "I just want to talk."
Dropping his sword and flexing his wrist, Jiraiya was forced to let Naruto go, lest he lose a few fingers. Reaching in under his coat he quickly pulled out a double barreled pistol. "Let her go, NOW!" he said placing his finger on the trigger.
"Come on, this was ju-" he couldn't even finish, before Naruko managed to squirm out of his grip and shoot towards the hooded figure, still half blinded by the rage she was in. "NO! ENO-"
Naruto grabbed her outstretched hand and twisted it behind her back as he slammed her to the ground. The barrel of the pistol pressed against the side of her head. "Last chance. Let her go…"
The clone dropped Karin who quickly pulled her knife and held it at the ready, but Jiraiya could tell this was an act because her free hand gently held her ribs. "I'm serious I just want to talk, but it looks like Hirumi is still full of energy." Jiraiya told them, 'But Naruko has never pulled on the Kyūbi's charka before.'
Naruto stiffened for a second as he watched the man pull out a seal tag. "She's always been a bit of a hot head, but today takes the cake." he said before throwing the tag on her back, she screamed like she was in pain before falling deathly quiet. "Look, hear me out at least, then decide if you want the job, ain't that what you freelance nins want in the end? A good paycheck?"
The sounds of people yelling drew the attention of the three still awake. "Shit, forgot about them" Naruto said as he put his pistol back in the holster under his coat "We ain't freelance nins, so we ain't interested in your job."
"Even if it means the end of Gato?" Jiraiya asked making the pair stop in their tracks, "You know the man is a death merchant, isn't that why your here?" The search party started to get closer as the two groups stared at each other. "I saw you walk out of the bar and she saw you break into the warehouse. I think we are working towards the same end."
Picking up the sleeping girl Jiraiya waited for the hooded pairs answer "Tomorrow, I will meet you back here and we can go from there." he turned to Karin "Let's get you home and patched up."
"What's your name?" Jiraiya asked hoping to at least glean some info from the man.
Naruto stopped for a second and thought about what to even tell the man, true they weren't enemies right now, but who's to say tomorrow or next week they won't be. "Call me Mariner, and she-"
"Isu." Karin said cutting Naruto off. "Tell your coworker to lay off the super-powered kicks next time."
"Heh, I'll pass it along." Jiraiya replied before jumping into the branches above.
Naruto picked Karin up "I can jump perfectly fine on my own you know…" she told him with a blush but didn't make a move to get away from him.
"I don't doubt that, but your hurt." he replied jumping to the first branch of the tree. "Besides at least this way, I know you won't agitate your injuries any more and that your safe."
Karin couldn't do anything else but blush as Naruto jumped from tree to tree. 'You fool don't say stuff like that…'
The Creed Reborn
"So, yer telling me there's a pair of nins here, that not only was able to survive yer tag team, but may or may not be willing to help ya track the pint-sized prick?" Deisui asked as he sat with Naruto around the fire of the fishing hut. "Damn lad, yer either gonna drive me to drinkin, or I need to take yer ass to a casino."
"You already drink plenty and I highly doubt my luck is good enough to win against someone stacking cards." Naruto replied as he poked the fire sending sparks into the air. There was a lot going on in his mind right now.
"How's the lass now that she's asleep?" Naruto could hear the sound of Deisui's flask opening as he asked. "Looked like she took some pretty bad knocks."
Naruto had to nod his head in agreement, even if they were to work together, he doubted he could ever forgive that wolf masked girl for what she did to Karin. "Can I get a swig?" Naruto asked getting an unexpected look from the elderly Uchiha before handing him the flask. "Thanks. She'll be alright from what I can tell. Might be a few days before the pain wears off, maybe a week before she's back to normal, but then again, I ain't a doctor." he took a small sip of the sake held within before hacking "How do you drink this?"
"Years of practice, well that, an thinkin yer wife was dead, tends to help the process along." Deisui said taking the flask back from the blond. "Speaking of love, when ya going to ask that girl out anyways? Its bout the worst kept secret on the island that she's head over heels for ya."
Naruto couldn't help but blush and think about what had happened in the last port they were in, where Karin had gotten drunk. "When I know she's safe then I will."
Unknown to the pair, a red-haired girl was listening in as she stared at the wall from her cot. 'Naru you know that as long as we are the last of our clan, nowhere will be safe…' it took everything in her power to not cry in pain from the broken ribs,'Mama, I wish you could've met the man I fell for.'
"Lad, with the way yer family is, I doubt there will ever be a time when yer safe. Take it from me, unless you say something, you will live the rest of yer life alone an in a pit." Naruto heard him pull something from out of his bag and looked over to see what it was.
"Didn't think you smoked."
"I really don't, I just do it when my mind is a little scattered. Helps bring it all back in ta focus." Deisui replied before using a small fire jutsu to light the tobacco. "Lad this will be my last trip on the seas. I've spent nearly three and half decades on the water, and I plan on making my fourth quiet. So do me a favor, and don't become like I did for thirty years." he told Naruto before taking a long drag from the pipe. "Yer young, ya have yer whole life ahead of ya, and you need to start thinking about what comes after ya finish yer business with yer father."
Naruto had been thinking something along the same lines ever since the fox asked him the same question. He knew his father needed to be stopped, that was the whole reason he ran in the first place when he realized Minato was a Templar. "The question is…"
"What was that lad?" Deisui asked glancing up at the blond.
"Nothing just thinking about something…" Naruto replied looking down at the fire "Remind me to make Karin some pancakes in the morning, that's if you brought any mix?"
Pulling out a small burlap bag of batter he tossed it to Naruto "Happy wife, happy life, right?"
"Bite me old man…" Deisui just let out a chuckle at the response.
The Creed Reborn
"Ugh… my head…." Naruko mumbled as she started to come out of blissful unconsciousness. "I didn't think that girl could beat me that bad… wait…" her mind started to work in overtime as she looked around the unfamiliar room. 'Was I caught?'
The door opened and a robed man entered "Ah your awake, I swear, you have never gone that battle mad before. It was like something had a hold on you." Jiraiya said as he sat down a plate of food on the table beside her.
"What are you talking about Ero-sensei? I remember using my fire whirlwind, but after that I don't remember much, I thought that one of those little bolts of lightning hit me and you stepped in." Naruko replied as she picked up the plate of food. "Instant ramen? Really? Why couldn't it have been something else…"
"Sorry kiddo, kinda hard to get the stuff for a good curry here in Nami." Jiraiya said as he pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed. "Tell me, do you remember anything about the man?"
"What man, last thing I remember was watching that girl run off, after that nothing." Naruko replied as she broke the chop sticks "You're saying I done something else?"
"No, you were just in and out of consciousness the rest of the time. Her partner showed up soon after and we came to an agreement of sorts, turns out we might have similar goals." Jiraiya said resting his hands on the chair. "Going to meet up with him tomorrow."
"I'm coming too!" Naruko said basically jumping out of the bed earning a glare from the man.
"No, you are going to stay here. End of discussion." Jiraiya replied "Now eat up before it gets cold and get some rest. I need to head out for a few to check something, don't worry I won't be long." he got up and walked out of the room but his mind didn't even register the closing of the door.
'In the four years I have trained her, not once had that charka surfaced. So, what was so different about today from all of the other days?' Jiraiya thought as he looked up at the stars 'Something about that man today, something that was different from all the other days I pushed her to the breaking point.'
Whatever it was, he would have to keep an eye open for it since they might be working together, at least till they killed Gato and he was able to find whatever weapon was being shipped to Kiri.
AN: Well folks there you go a full 22k of reading for your enjoyment. Not gonna lie could have had this done sooner, but work was like fuck you I rule your life.
Anyway I hope you like the way that the twins met for the first time since they left Konoha. The next few chapters should be interesting since I really diverged from my original idea, not even gonna bother to tell ya since its changed an I've already put pen to paper. Ish.
So here's my thought process, since I have people reviewing giving me ideas for names for the Dōjutsu I think I'm going to do a poll where I let yall the readers choose. BUT FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY CAN I PLEASE GET SOMEONE TO TRANSLATE THEM AN NOT HAVE TO TRUST A DOLLAR TREE ROSETTA STONE (google).
Musōgen: 1
Sight of Truth: 1
Perception of God: 1
Veil Peircer: 1
Eyes of Kami: 1