"Talking"
'Thinking'
Flashback - "Talking"/ 'Thinking'
Chapter 7:
Naruto, Tayuya and Sasame were walking through the town where Fūma Clan lives, while looking around the place.
All around them, there were bars, casinos, and various other rip-off joints. Along with that, people are seen fighting and mugging one another in the middle of the street, and no one seems to be bothered by that. It's like they are used to it.
"You know," Naruto said. "Compared to this place, that other town seems like a nice honeymoon spot. I almost regret destroying that place instead of this one."
Sasame flinched because of Naruto's words, and Tayuya noticed it. "Don't say stuff like that," she said to Naruto. "You are scaring the kid here."
Naruto looked at the two for a second, before he looked back in front of himself. "All I said is the truth," he said. "This place is a dump. At least in that other place, no one was trying to rob you in the middle of the street."
Tayuya sighed and said. "Let's just go and meet with the leader of the Fūma Clan," she looked at Sasame, "what did you say his name was again?"
"The current head of Fūma Clan is called, Hanzaki," Sasame said.
"What kind of a man is he?" Tayuya asked.
"Well, he harbors great resentment towards Orochimaru for seducing many of our clansmen, that's for sure," Sasame said. "He also does everything needed for the clan's survival, including the robbing of random people, and is willing to kill if necessary. He also has respect towards fellow shinobi, as he tends to offer them to just hand over the money and everything valuable and he would let them live. He doesn't do that often with civilians, though."
"What about the rest of the clan members?" Naruto asked.
"They follow Hanzaki," Sasame said. "They might not like it, but that's the only way to survive. No one hires us for missions any longer, and we have to do whatever we can to survive. Man in the clan are usually attacking people and robbing them, while woman are also stealing, but not from some random people and not in the middle of the street. They do it in… different ways." She blushed in the end when she mentioned what woman are doing to get the money.
Tayuya bristled when she realized what woman in the Fūma Clan are doing to survive. She was angry at Orochimaru, at the Sound Daimyo, and even at Fūma Clan males themselves, because they are letting the woman doing those sort of things. Of course, she knew that they don't have much of a choice, but they could have at least tried to find and do something else.
Naruto didn't say anything, nor was he really bothered. After living for as long as he did, and after seeing many atrocities, he has toughened up. That doesn't mean that he is happy though, and will at least try to do something to help Fūma Clan members.
XXX
Kagerō, now in her real form, teleported in the middle of the forest, where the entrance to Orochimaru's base is. As soon as she appeared, with Jigumo and Kamikiri in her arms, she dropped them on the ground and then she also fell down in between them, as she was completely exhausted from the jutsu she used to save her friends and clansman, and then escape from Tayuya.
Jigumo and Kamikiri woke up soon, and saw Kagerō lying in between them.
"Kagerō," Jigumo called!
"Why did you risk your life for the two of us?" Kamikiri asked.
Kagerō though, she didn't say anything, and was just lying there, with half opened eyes, and with her lips trembling.
"Crazy fool!" Kamikiri said, before both he and Jigumo lifted Kagerō and carried her toward the entrance of the Sound Base.
XXX
Soon enough, the three of them were in a dark room, with many bottles, jars and scrolls all over the shelfs. Kagerō was lying on the ground in front of the kneeling Jigumo and Kamikiri, while on the other side of them, sit Orochimaru, with Kabuto standing next to his chair.
"Please, my lord." Jigumo begged.
"Our fallen comrade doesn't have long to live," Kamikiri continued. "Only you with your mastery over medical jutsu can save her."
"I want you both to bow your heads, put your hands on your hearts, and contemplate," Orochimaru said in low tone of voice. "Contemplate the many ways in which you have failed me."
Kamikiri got angry. "But my lord," he said. "We have risked our lives for your cause. Every order you've given us, we have obeyed! You promised to help us restore the Fūma Clan!"
"You must acknowledge our service to you!" Jigumo added, equally angry as Kamikiri.
Orochimaru looked at the two for about a minute, before he said. "There is only one way for the two of you to two atone for your failures."
Kamikiri and Jigumo looked at each other, before they nodded. After that, they pulled out their kunai, and jumped at Orochimaru, yelling at him.
It took an instant for both of them to be cut down before they could even land a hand on Orochimaru.
The two Fūma Clan ninja fell on top of Kagerō, dead, while Orochimaru laughed loudly at the sight before him.
He was interrupted by the voice which was heard from the chamber door. "You should stop with that laugh," the female voice said. "It's annoying."
Orochimaru and Kabuto looked toward the voice, and both flinched at the sight of an extremely beautiful girl, with long purple hair and red eyes. She wears a full-body outfit that highlights her curvaceous body, with metallic shoulder pads. On some places, her outfit is sea-through, and shows her stomach, most of her legs and arms, as well as her chest, except her breasts.
On her back, she has strapped a pure black, double-edged, longsword, with curved guard, and red line along with several red circles on the blade.
"W-What are YOU, doing here?" Orochimaru asked with fear clear in his voice.
The girl just looked at Orochimaru for a while, with disinterest in her eyes. She let both him and Kabuto squirm a little, before she finally said. "The boss sent me here. I wouldn't have any other reason to come here."
"B-But why," Kabuto asked? "If it's because these Fūma weaklings failed, then you shouldn't worry about it. We can take care of the problem."
"You can't," she simply said. "The boss himself went to check out that new lake, and once he saw and heard about what happened, he immediately sent me to catch those responsible, and then take them to him. He has a lot of interest in someone who can do stuff like, creating miles wide crater and fill it with water in barely a minute.
"The two of you along with everyone else in this base, put together, wouldn't be able to catch that person, thus, I'm here."
Orochimaru and Kabuto wanted to argue, even rage at the girl, but they knew better. If they do that, they would be done for before they could even blink.
The girl walked over to the two dead Fūma Clan members, and one barely alive, and looked at them for about a minute.
"You cannot defeat those people by yourself," she said. "But I can. Although, he has another task for you." She then looked at Kabuto and Orochimaru, before she showed a smile, which nearly froze both of them in fear.
XXX
Naruto and Tayuya have spent the last two hours, listening to the story of the Fūma Clan, and what they turned to after the wars and after some of them joined to Orochimaru.
The ones who were telling the story, were the current clan leader, Hanzaki, as well as few other.
After Sasame brought them to… well, let's call it Fūma clan compound, even though it's not that, and is more of a, several houses joined together to form one big house; Naruto and Tayuya have been in the meeting with the rest of the Fūma Clan.
At first, the Fūma didn't trust the two, as they didn't know, them. Then the distrust turned to fear when the Fūma realized who Naruto and Tayuya were, because by now, everyone in the EN knows about the new artificial lake which came out of nowhere on the same location where a town used to be. In the end, they calmed down, and relaxed… somewhat, and agreed to talk to them, per Sasame's request, as she is the one who told them that Naruto and Tayuya, or as she believes they are named, Alessandro and Lilynette, and not going to harm them and only want to talk about something.
From then on, Sasame's wound was treated by some clan members, while most others were talking with Naruto and Tayuya.
After they heard the story, which they already knew, at least most of it; Naruto and Tayuya finally got the chance to say, why they are there, and what they want from the Fūma Clan.
"Before I tell you why we came here and what we want from you, you need to understand one thing," Naruto said, with a very serious expression on his face.
Seeing the serious look on Naruto's face, everyone in the room turned serious as well, and some were even sweating a little, because they got a bad feeling.
Seeing that he has everyone's attention, Naruto said. "While I don't really care if someone sees me destroying stuff, nor do I really care if others find out that I have some plans, I do want to keep it a secret, what those plans are," Naruto said. "I don't want to keep them a secret because I'm afraid that someone will put a stop to those plans, but because if others find out, they WILL try to put a stop to them, and even though they will fail, it might cause me some trouble and prolonged the time it will take me to get those plans realized. Do you understand that?"
The members of the Fūma Clan nodded, as they did understand, but they didn't understand, where Naruto is going with this.
"So, what I'm trying to say is, that if I tell you what I want from the Fūma Clan, then you will only have two choices," Naruto said. "One is, that you go with those plans and join me, or... I will have to kill every single one of you."
Once Naruto said that, there was utter silence in the room, as everyone was floored by what they heard, and didn't know what to say. What they did know, is that they are suddenly all scared and felt like they are seating in the presence of death itself. Even Tayuya was surprised and scared, because she didn't think that Naruto would say something like that. What's worse, she knew that he would actually go through with it, and kill everyone in the Fūma Clan if he wants to.
It took ten minutes for Hanzaki to calm himself down enough to ask a question. "If that's how things are, then why would we even want to hear the question in the first place? If we don't agree with your plan, then you will kill us all, so why should we even hear you out, and not just tell you right now, that we are not interested, and you can be on your way, and we can get back to our business?"
"Well, if you agree to my plan and join me, they you won't have to be criminals any longer, and your woman won't have to whore themselves out for money." Naruto said with a straight face and with no emotions.
This made everyone to start thinking about it, and some of them actually remembered the time when Orochimaru's man was there to talk with them. One of those who remembered that time, was Hanzaki, so he said.
"You know, your words remind me far too much of what Orochimaru's man were talking about when they were here, only without the threat of extermination. He also wanted us to join his village, but the thing is, you have no village, so I don't understand what you mean when you say you want us to join you."
"To answer that question, I would have to tell you about the plan," Naruto said. "Are you willing to listen?"
"You really need to give us something more," Hanzaki said. "I can't risk it while knowing nothing."
Naruto sighed, and thought about what he should tell to Hanzaki. It took him a minute to realize, that there is nothing he can tell him without revealing the plan, and if he does that, and Hanzaki and the others refuse to join him… well it would be a problem.
Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by the explosion which came from the front door of the compound. It brought everyone on their feet, and they all run outside to see what happened. Naruto though, he didn't run, but he also went outside to see what's going on.
He was quite surprised when he saw Orochimaru, Kabuto and a black haired girl, standing at the entrance, with Orochimaru and Kabuto having smiles on their faces, while the girl wore blank expression.
"Why are Orochimaru and his butt-buddy, here?" Tayuya screamed! "And what the FUCK, is SHE doing here as well?"
Naruto looked around and notices that all members of the Fūma Clan are scared out of their skin, and look like they are about to piss themselves in fear. He then looked at Tayuya, and asked. "Who is that girl?"
"She is bad news," Tayuya said, while sweat was rolling down her face. She was scared, and Naruto noticed that right away. It made him wonder, who this girl is, if Tayuya is so afraid of her.
"You want to give me some more information?" Naruto pressed.
Tayuya sighed and was about to say something, but before she could, the girl spoke. "So, you are the one who blew up that town, two days ago and created the lake afterward." Her voice was calm and soft. It was as if she has no fear whatsoever, while in the presence of someone who can cause as much destruction as Naruto can. "I got to admit, I haven't seen the boss so happy in a while," she added, causing Naruto to narrow his eyes. Even Tayuya had her eyes narrowed after she heard what the girl said.
"When he heard that there is someone that powerful, he was so happy that I was sure he was going to have an orgasm," she continued to talk, and this time, her words cause many to sweat drop, even the members of the Fūma Clan sweat dropped, even though the fear was gripping their hearts. "Which is why he sent me here to catch the two of you and bring you to him. He is quite interested in doing some experiments on you two."
Naruto and Tayuya looked at the girl, then at Orochimaru and Kabuto, before they looked at each other. "Who is her boss?" Naruto asked Tayuya.
"It's Orochimaru," Tayuya said. "But why is she speaking about him as if he isn't standing right next to her?"
Naruto looked at Orochimaru and Kabuto, and shock his head. "I don't think those two are Orochimaru and Kabuto," he said, surprising Tayuya, but also members of the Fūma Clan, who were able to hear him. "I have met the real Orochimaru and Kabuto, several times, and those two don't feel like those two. These two feel quite a bit weaker." Naruto's words, brought hope to the Fūma Clan that they are not going to die here today.
"That girl, though," Naruto said again. "She's really strong."
"You bet she is," Tayuya said. "She is the strongest ninja Otogakure has, and not by a little. She's probably even stronger than Orochimaru."
Fūma Clan members almost had heart attacks when they heard Tayuya, and Naruto's narrowed his eyes.
Across from them, Orochimaru, Kabuto and the girl, also narrowed their eyes, for several reasons. One is, that they are surprised that Naruto seems to be able to tell that Orochimaru and Kabuto standing in front of him, are fake, the other reason being, that he can tell how powerful the girl is. That takes a really good sensory ninja, to be able to guess how powerful someone is.
Finally, the three are really surprised that Tayuya seems to know that the black haired girl sent by Orochimaru to capture them, is the strongest ninja in Otogakure. That is something no one outside of Orochimaru, Kabuto, the former Sound Four plus Kimimaro, as well as few others, knew. Out of them all, half are dead, so how the hell does this girl, know that.
This was the question running through the minds of the fake Orochimaru and Kabuto, as well as the black haired girls.
"Who is she," Naruto asked Tayuya? "What her name?"
"Her name… Tayuya said. "Her name is, Taya Takumi. She's better known as, The Yellow Dragon, Qilin."
Taya Takumi's physical appearance and outfit are based on, Scáthach from Type-Moon. Everything else though, is completely different. Only the appearance and outfit are based on Scáthach.
In this story, Taya would be voiced by Cynthia Cranz.