Chater 14
Thunderstorm

Land of Lightning
Yotsuki Controlled Land

Samui marched through the barren rocky land with confidence she hadn't had in years, with Naruto shadowing her from a distance she felt like she finally had a friend instead of rivals and enemies.

Currently, she was heading to the main outpost in this part of the country, usually, she would send a messenger bird in order to avoid the Yotsuki at all cost but this time was different so she would have to return in order to help Naruto.

Samui realised she had been so lost in thought that she had crossed the invisible threshold into the Yotsuki land proper and three shadows dropped from the sky and landed in front of her, it was three teenagers older than Samui and Naruto but not yet adults two boys and one girl the standard formation among the Yotsuki.

"Halt!" One of the boys called and Samui did so.

"Oh, it's just one of the dogs coming back." The other boy said disappointed.

"Did you really think that there would be an enemy attacking us?" The girl asked him sarcastically.

"Utsubyo, Ikari, Genki." Samui greeted them by name.

"Samui." Utsubyo the leader greeted back but the other two didn't even acknowledge her.

"What are you doing here Dog?" Ikari the female asked her harshly.

"Reporting back on the success of my mission." Samui answered ignoring the dog comment, she was used to this kind of abuse from them.

"Mission? Oh, that scouting against Samurai." Genki said with a click of his fingers as he remembered.

"I'm surprised she came back alive." Ikari commented snidely.

"Was there any complications?" Utsubuyo asked, Samui always liked him because he simply didn't care enough to hate or abuse her like the others, he just wanted results.

"I was chased by two members of the Ginkaku Clan though I managed to get away." Samui lied easily, she was always an unemotive person so there were very few people who could read her properly.

"The Ginkaku? Those bastards and the Kinkaku are acting up again it seems." Genki said to Utsubyo who was absorbing the information.

The Ginkaku Clan were the direct descendants of one of the strongest and worst Ninjas in the entire history of the Land of Lightning, Ginkaku who wielded the Shichiseiken and Benihisago two of the Treasured Tools of the Rikudo Sennin he was of course a team with his brother Kinkaku who also wielded two of the Treasured Tools which were the Kokinjo and Bashosen. Their worst ability however was that they were both Pseudo-Jinchuriki as during their travels in the world they were both consumed by the Kyuubi no Yoko after attacking it, the legend says they lived on by eating the Fox's stomach lining before eventually being spat out by the fox because they would not die but this left them with the ability to use the Fox's malevolent Chakra and made them even more dangerous.

Both Brothers had the horrific habit of sacking villages and taking all the women above 13 and below 50 as 'wives' though in reality, they were sex slaves and the brothers indulged every vice they could there were no depths that they would not sink to and eventually both would found their own Clan though these Clans were created from the numerous children from the women they took and raped.

Both Clans maintained a good relationship after the deaths of their founders but eventually, the war-like nature of each Clan turned them against each other and the Ginkaku and Kinkaku Clans went to war with each other for years though when the Great War occurred they allied together to the shock of everyone and went on a rampage against the other Clans in the Land of Lightning even wiping a few out down to the last man.

As such both Clans were despised and constantly harassed by every other Clan in the country as a way to check their power and make sure they could never do such a thing again.

"It appears your mission was more important than we realised," Utsubuyo said as he seemed to make up his mind.

"Samui go to A-Sama and report this to him directly, he will want to know about the movements of the Ginkaku Clan." He ordered her.

"Ikari, Genki we shall continue our own mission but we shall also scout the fringe of Ginkaku territory." He said and got nods from both of his teammates.

"Go see A-Sama right away." He said again to Samui before he and the other two disappeared in puffs of smoke.

"Hah." Samui let out a sigh of relief they hadn't noticed her lie and Naruto who was following her.

She looked over her shoulder at the open rocky wasteland and if it wasn't for the fact that she knew Naruto was there she wouldn't know she was being followed, he had used Fuinjutsu to suppress his Chakra he was also using the extremely basic Kakuremino no Jutsu which was mainly used to teach extremely young Ninja how to hide and was never actually used for infiltration but Naruto seemed to have a creative mind and a unique way of thinking to solve problems so he was hiding under some cloth that looked like rocks and basically crawling along behind her.

"What's wrong Samui?" His voice asked far closer than she was expecting making her jump.

"Wow! did I scare you?" He asked cheekily jumping up from right beside her.

"Yes! Why are you so close, what if you got caught." She scolded him.

"Well, you didn't notice me and you knew I was here, they definitely didn't notice." Naruto rightly pointed out making Samui blush from embarrassment, she was regarded as one of the better Slave Ninja yet Naruto who was ambiguously trained was able to slip past her senses.

"That's not the point even with that Chakra suppression Seal the Yotsuki are paranoid and if they find you we're both dead." Samui scolded him anyway.

"I won't get caught there's too much riding on this." Naruto said looking far more serious than before.

"Ugh. As long as you understand the stakes." She was taken aback by his serious demeanour, most of the time he was more annoying and cheerful but then there were times like this where he changed.

"Let's get going, you have been given new orders after all." Naruto said as he shifted the disguising cloth ready to blend back in.

"We should, the meeting is tomorrow so I need to get back today." Samui said as she turned back around as Naruto hid again.

Later
Yotsuki Clan Outpost

Samui arrived at the outpost just as the sun was beginning to fall in the sky, the outpost was not the main Clan Compound rather it was simply their main hub in this region of the country it was also where Samui lived as Slave Ninja were not allowed on the proper Clan grounds and instead had to live in these outposts.

The outpost was carved from rock, made through the use of Doton Ninjutsu even the doors were rock and could only be opened and closed through the use of Doton. It was the largest outpost owned by the Yotsuki and could comfortably house over 300 people though the conditions were not luxurious except when a member of the Clan came for a mission or to inspect the outpost.

"Returning from a mission Samui!" She announced as she got close to the gate per the normal protocol.

"If the lark fly's on the northern wind, where does it return home?" The phrase for opening the doors was asked.

"On the southern mountains upon the lake." She gave the correct response and the gates screeched open as stone ground against stone.

Samui entered through the gates and took in the outpost, there was a lot more activity than when she left a lot of her fellow Slave Ninja were moving frantically around in a hurry and even the Yotsuki guards seemed more on edge than their usual casual disdain attitude.

"Nee-San! You're back." The annoying voice said and Samui turned to see her brother Atsui running over to her.

Atsui was one of the unlucky children to be bought by the Yotsuki, he was also along with another girl the only one still alive most of her village friends who had been taken had died and in the end only she and Atsui remained at this outpost while the other was taken away somewhere else. Samui had a bad feeling about what happened to her and it involved pregnancy and multiple male Ninja.

"Atsui." She greeted back cooly.

"Nee-San, you're back just in time, A-Sama is on his way here!" Atsui shouted while walking alongside her, the streets were actually clean for once and even the Slave Ninja were being made to look more presentable as they bathed in the cold well water both male and female were walking around naked and cold it was not an unusual sight it was not like the Slave Ninja were allowed privacy after all and communal bathing was the norm.

'Where's Naruto did he manage to get in?' Samui asked herself as Atsui rambled.

"I know about A-Sama, I met Utsubuyo and his team on the way back. I have orders to meet with A-Sama and report on my mission." Samui told him in order to shut him up.

"Those assholes." Atsui whispered carefully to make sure no one heard him, if any of the Yotsuki heard that Atsui would be beaten into a pulp then sent on a suicide mission.

"A-Sama isn't here yet, we think he'll be here in an hour or 2 so you can go eat and clean up." Atsui advised his sister.

"I suppose I could get some rice gruel." She commented.

"Better than nothing." Atsui reminded her.

"I know, I'll grab something." Samui told her brother.

"Good, I have cleaning duty so you go relax." Atsui said with a thin smile, and he walked off with a wave.

Samui sighed watching her brother go, despite finding him annoying he was also one of the few people she could stand to be around and his upbeat demeanour kept her from going too cold and depressed. There were times when she was alone that she thought about taking a kunai to her own throat and freeing herself from the Yotsuki Clan.

'Now I have something to look forward to now, Naruto promised to remove the seal and free me. Maybe I can convince him to free Atsui as well.' Samui thought as she entered the dirty mess hall.

She grabbed a bowl and had it filled with rice and water, it was a terrible meal but people of her status got no better food. She ate it and had a glass of cold water, even the stew made by Naruto with wolf meat was a better meal than this stuff.

Samui was moving automatically at this point she was back in her normal routine and went about it without thinking or paying attention to anything there was no point in doing so here surrounded by misery.

There was no privacy here and the Yotsuki took whatever liberties they wanted with the Slave Ninja, she had been lucky so far since she was so skinny and young but she had seen some of the older teens get taken and they would end up pregnant and after 9 months a child would be born and taken by the Yotsuki to be inspected and if they were 'good' then they would be raised by one of the Yotsuki's many branch Clans while 'bad' babies were sent back here to be raised, of course, this also meant that there was a lot of orphans when their mother would leave on a mission and get killed leaving a child alone, this ramshackle village had sprung up around the military outpost because of those incidents.

'I shouldn't be thinking about this, just concentrate on laying low and doing what is expected and help Naruto where I can.' Samui scolded herself for dwelling on the situation.

With Naruto

Naruto was currently inside the main office of the outpost being very careful not to wake the sleeping man at the desk, the office was little more than a paper dumping ground with multiple reports and other stuff just spread out all over the place.

'God this place is disgusting in more ways than this.' He thought as he looked for the good stuff like Jutsu scrolls or juicy information and the like.

Eventually, he did find what he was looking for and began diligently copying them onto his blank scrolls, Naruto did not steal he copied which was different.

'Seeing all those people bathing was depressing.' Naruto recollected thinking back to it.

Every single Slave Ninja was underfed and as a result very skinny to the point where he could see their bones poking out under their skin and not in a way like Kimimaro.

'I can't believe people would treat each other like this, would kindness really be such a bad thing to a Ninja?' Naruto asked himself as he went about his business.

The more Naruto saw of the world the more he didn't like it, the civilians lived in fear of Ninja and that was not even mentioning the obvious tension between Ninja and Samurai and by proxy the Daimyo who ruled the countries.

It was like the entire world was an Explosive Tag just waiting for the right spark of Chakra to ignite and explode, there was tension everywhere and the various Clans just seemed to be unendingly cruel to everyone not part of their family. Samui was an actual slave who was expected to fight kill and die for people who did not care for her.

'The world needs to change at this rate, everything will just get worse and we will all end up in a never-ending war.' Naruto's thoughts and words had been gloomy ever since he walked through those stone gates.

Naruto finished his work and left the office to explore, he saw Samui enter some food hall and decided to leave her to her food and privacy especially after he overheard her brother telling her to bathe, now Naruto was a healthy 13-year-old boy but he didn't want to see Samui like that, when he was carrying her earlier she felt far too light for someone taller than him honestly he was amazed she could fight as well as she could because he knew she must get exhausted very quickly due to not eating well.

Naruto snuck around looking for a good hiding place where he could sleep and set while he waited for this A to come to the outpost, the current plan was that he would follow the entourage to meet with the Bofu Clan where he could steal their Ranton Jutsu scrolls and also the Ranton itself, then he could move onto the Land of Earth and attempt to get his third Kekkei Genkai.

Eventually, he found a good place above the main stone building of the outpost, a small nook in the mountain that the outpost was built out of. It was big enough for him to get in there and sleep comfortably at least and it was high up so he could see over the courtyard and most of the surrounding area.

Naruto got himself settled and began to read over the scrolls he copied, there was a lot of Raiton Ninjutsu which was expected but surprisingly there was also a lot of Suiton and Doton Ninjutsu. But the juiciest thing was all the information on the surrounding area and even better the relationships between the various Clans of the Land of Lightning.

The Yotsuki were the strongest right now, the Kinkaku and Ginkaku Clans were the next then there was the Bofu and the rest were all competing for what was left for them by the big ones. The most shocking thing Naruto read was about how the Yotsuki planned to completely conquer all the other Ninja Clans in the country and gain a complete monopoly on the missions in the country and even gain leverage on the Daimyo.

"This is amazing and terrifying," Naruto whispered reading over the scroll again and again.

This A was a man of pure ambition and power he wanted to rule the country like a Daimyo essentially overthrowing the current one for a puppet who would do whatever he asked and to Naruto, it would be the biggest change in the world but he couldn't agree with it, he had seen first hand how the Yotsuki treat their 'allies' so he shuddered to think about the horrors they would unleash on their enemies if they gained enough power.

"Our Leader is incoming get ready!" A voice shouted loudly snapping Naruto out of his reading.

Naruto looked over and saw a large entourage of Ninja approaching the stone gates which were already flung open, he could also see that everyone had lined up on either side of the gate in military formation like it was the Daimyo visiting.

'I wonder just what kind of man this A is.' Naruto wondered about the answer he would receive soon.

'I will do what I have to and come back and get Samui.' Naruto vowed as the party entered through the gates.

Naruto with his enhanced vision could see a very large dark-skinned man with white hair, he was wearing really unique clothes that Naruto had never seen before with pants and a huge belt around his waist and a short haori which was the most normal thing about him.

'I can feel his Chakra from here.' Naruto thought in shock, the man's Chakra was powerful.

'There's another one as well.' He went on sensing the presence of another powerful Chakra this one felt restrained like it was barely being contained.

"This Clan has 2 monsters!" Naruto whispered looking down with wide eyes.

The only other person Naruto had ever met with Chakra like this was Nagato who was always gentle and calm and his Chakra reflected that these two however felt like an earthquake and a thunderstorm at the same time.

'With a man like that in charge, it doesn't surprise me that no one ever rebelled even with the Slave Seals.' Naruto sighed and went back to his makeshift cot.

The events in the Land of Lightning would set the stage for the future of the Ninja world and Naruto who would be at the centre of those changes.

AN:

Here you all go Chapter 14 hope you enjoyed it.

Chapter 15 will be half a Naruto and half someone else's POV so look forward to that.

Also, I have to ask do you think I'm being too dark in this story in regards to the Slave Ninja thing, I initially created it as a way to have Non-Clan Ninja in the Land of Lightning have training in Ninjutsu and the like but reading this over makes me doubt if it's just a bit too much.

Translations:

Shichiseiken=Seven Star Sword

Benihisago=Crimson Gourd

Rikudo Sennin=Sage of the Six Paths

Kokinjo=Golden Canopy Rope

Bashosen=Banana Palm Fan

Kakuremino no Jutsu=Cloak Of Invisibility Technique