Hello, Soluxy here with another chapter!
The Zodiacs
The end of the first month, they had moved to the second town when a bird arrived on Jiraiya's shoulder. He used that to communicate to the leaf village, then he presented a green scroll to Naruto.
"It's finally time for you to be a proper ninja, the classic bandit camp, most genin and chunin teams pass this stage, it's a defining moment in most of the ninja of the leaf, although you don't have a team on this mission, nor will I hold your hand through it."
"What's the mission? What do I do in that camp?"
"It's simple, you have to track where this group of bandits are staying in the region, and then exterminate every single bandit, if they have hostages or slaves you are to recover them immediately after you finish the camp…. That's usually how it goes"
"Killing people… I see." Naruto closed his eyes.
"Haven't killed before? it's in your job description."
Koyuki-chan's uncle came to mind when he hit him with the rasengan, as well as others who have been killed in similar ways. "No, I have, but I'm not used to it, I guess."
"Nobody is. There are more detailed information on the scroll, you still have to track where they are, how many there are, any other foreign dangers to the mission, and you need to come up with a plan to exterminate them"
"I need to do all that?"
"Yeah, and without teammates and a mentor, it's time to use your head Naruto."
A search and destroy mission, with his dog summons Kakashi would have no trouble, but Naruto was completely alone in this.
Using Jiraiya's interrogation and info gathering social skills and using his shadow clones was all he had.
The mission had a time-limit of thirty days, designed by the client who was the samurai in charge of the region. A big reward if the bandit camp was found, an even higher reward if the bandits were all killed.
When he asked about it.
"The samurai don't want to lose their members in a raid, so if we kill the bandits for them instead of giving their location, they'll give more money."
All in the name of cost-effectiveness, samurai were employed by the state, much like the ninja were, they were basic public security, however many of the members were less than genin, just sons of farmers who took up the job of protecting the cities and villages around Fire country.
The elite of the samurai who measured up to jonin, were employed by nobles and the Daimyo's family in the capital.
The Daimyo family…and nobles, huh…? Lately, Naruto's thoughts were focused more on the world around him, instead of what was just in front of him.
XOX
Mizuno watched the crackling fire in front of him.
His comrades were all sitting around the campfire, singing boastful stories. Laughing and drinking to their heart's content.
He was an older man, in the business for more than 20 years, on his youth, he was brash like them, boasting about lies, fucking women, a greedy bastard as well when raiding homes. Now he was just tired of this life as a criminal.
"Serizawa, how's the booze?" he asked the lad on his side, a youth called Manabu Serizawa
"Great, Mizuno-senpai, that farm had some great sake hidden don't you think so?"
"Yeah..."
Serizawa was a son of a poor man from Tawatoro, a city nearby, he joined some three months back, he was not a hardy youth, hiding his fear as bravado, he said he liked the booze, but to get it, the bandits raided a poor farmer's home, killed the bastard in front of the wife and son, and raped both of them.
That's how things worked here, raid people for their money and supplies, capture the woman and children for sale on the black auction.
A man like Serizawa shouldn't be working on the other side of the law in the first place, he was weak in the knees and got sick of their actions but hid well, he was just here to support his elderly dad, since the life of a bandit seemed more profitable than the life of a beggar. As his elder, Mizuno pitied the young man, he didn't have the greed or cruelty of other bandits, he was a young man put in a difficult spot for many.
Being a beggar or a bandit didn't have much difference in the eyes of the law either, in Fire Country a samurai may as well cut both of them down as soon as they see it. All for the sake of public beauty that the Daimyo ordered, beggars would get their heads rolling down the sidewalk if a samurai passed by.
People didn't care for beggars in this country, that's why this youth joined the band.
"Serizawa..."
"Hmm, what is it, senpai?"
"No, I'll tell you later." Mizuno took a swing of the drink, drowning his sorrows in booze, he felt like an old soul haunted by all of the evil around him.
Then, a man with a short goatee walked rapidly out of the main tent, with a face of a slimy snake oil vendor, he was a man named Terada, and he was as sneaky as he looked.
"Terada, what did you do?"
"Noo… I was tryin to get a little financial help for my visits to the brothels on 'Toro, but I was unlucky, the boss is a bit mad since our losses in the raid near Tea Country."
"Hrm, that makes sense, but he must be very mad if he took out his frustration on you"
Terada was a very convenient snake for the boss, he was a thin man with no fighting capabilities, however he made it up with strategies and info gathering.
What was cruel though is that this band had a new boss since a year ago, the old boss was killed and replaced by this big-shot missing ninja from the Grass Country.
Mizuno mourned the death of his old boss Baisho-san, this whole slave trade started because of the new boss, Baisho-san had a shoddy, but noble morals.
Now they were just a band of bastards who shouldn't be living.
Mizuno disliked Terada for one simple reason, Baisho-san was very close with Terada, almost as if both were best friends, but when the new boss took Baisho-san's life, Terada sucked up to the new boss as soon as that happened.
While many of the old guard mourned the death of Baisho-san, Terada was a slimy bastard who clung to the new boss without mourning Baisho-san, that's why many of the older generation in this band hated Terada, Mizuno himself included.
"Many hate Terada-san, but why?"
"It's an old story, Serizawa."
"Hrm, but he always plans things out for us, and we haven't had a single loss since he took the strategist role."
"Yeah, he's a smart one. No denying that."
"And… he's a better human being, he doesn't use the girls we capture for pleasure, unlike the others in this band." the young man sighed and took a large sip of booze.
"Idiot, he thinks that the women we capture are tainted and filthy, about to be sold as slaves, he prefers whores in the city than slaves, that's just how he works, that man."
"Hrmmm, is that how it is with him."
"Yeah, now let me enjoy the booze brat." Mizuno complained and sucked every drop out of his cup and slammed it on his leg with a tipsy look.
Serizawa just looked at the thin man called Terada, walking away from the camp to go to the city to sleep on the brothels there. After a while he joined the party around the fire.
XOX
The madam bowed to Naruto as he arrived. "We've been expecting you Naruto-sama."
The madam of this establishment was wearing a heavy Yukata with a flowery Haori around her, she was kneeling and bowing down to his arrival.
"Nozomi, thank you for being so kind to me these past few weeks."
"No, Naruto-sama, you are our celebrated guest, the apprentice of Jiraiya-sama, we welcome your patronage anytime, plus many of my girls are overjoyed when you arrive."
Naruto had a pink hue at her words, madam Nozomi was the manager of this establishment, this was a brothel he visited most nights when he was training around these parts.
"Now, Naruto-sama, all of my girls are very eager for your care tonight, how many of them do you wish for?"
"Actually Nozomi, I need a favor..."
After investigating around town, he found that while the band of criminals remained elusive, there was one loose link, a man regularly went around the brothels of this town. Naruto has been on the lookout since yesterday and when he received this information he sent out clones to cover all brothels in town, and since he was acquainted with many madams of this area he had a distinct advantage in this mission.
"...I understand, the gentleman you speak of, I know him, his name is Terada-san, he usually comes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, however I heard he frequents other establishments when he's short on cash..."
"So he will come tomorrow huh?"
"You can monitor him tomorrow if you wish, Naruto-sama, the gentleman doesn't deserve customer privacy when the gentleman is involved in crimes such as slave trade." Nozomi spoke calmly, but she had a vein popping on her forehead of how angry she was at the mere mention of slave trading.
Brothels in seedier areas bought slaves to fill their roster, and that was a practice she hated with all her heart, in her mind her girls needed to enjoy their job, have dignified wages and not be an abused slave.
Madam Nozomi took the high-road in an industry of cruelty, and Naruto respected that.
She started the tea ceremony in the tatami mat and Naruto sat in front of her, admiring her work, when she was done, she took a breath out of her long pipe.
"Naruto-sama, it is quite late already, and since the gentleman you're pursuing will only come tomorrow, would you like to spend the night with us?"
Naruto had a tender look at the madam. "Yeah."
She gave him the brightest smile. "My girls will be overjoyed."
XOX
Serizawa was a young man who wanted simpler things in life, he wanted to work for his poor father, but never found any work in the respectable world, being poor and no education made him be forced to a life of begging or thievery. Both quite likely to be cut down by the samurai employed by the Fire's Daimyo.
He knew of this and thus he turned to the life of a criminal, working for a band of slavers, honestly there were nights where he could barely stomach the job.
The part where they raided small villages and settlements was easy, kidnapping people, murdering people, he could stomach all that, what he couldn't stomach was the men around him of the same age reveling in raping women and kids.
Young men barely old enough to drink, who were scared of the job a few months earlier now enjoying the cruelty.
Serizawa wonders if some day in the future he would become a monster like his peers. Even after months he cannot even look at the women and children in the cages that he captured. He hasn't raped anybody yet, and wonders if it's only a matter of time.
As he sits again with Mizuno-senpai tonight, he was glad that the older man took him under his wing, Mizuno is an honorable man, part of this band before the new leader arrived, or so he tells him in his stories of the past.
However Mizuno, who is a high ranking bandit within this band, and Terada-san who also boasts the same are always at odds. Some nights, the strong and wise Mizuno has this hatred within his eyes for the weak and thin Terada.
Serizawa has no clue how their relationship has gotten this far, last night, just asking around he got some sense, it seems that everybody respected the old boss Baisho-san, that he was very close with the thin man Terada, best friends, they told him. However when the new boss killed Baisho-san, Terada had a sudden change in demeanor, and snaked his way into the new boss's graces.
Hearing the story, Serizawa was convinced of the situation, Mizuno and Terada were very different people, they were water and oil, one was honorable, the other was a slimy snake.
"Slimy snake Terada-san" Serizawa whispered in silence,
After dinner he put his hands on his ears, not wanting to hear the screams of the new woman being gang-raped in the tents by his peers of the same age.
XOX
After a few hours following the man around, Naruto found the camp, stationed a few clones to scout the band of bandits, roughly fifty-seven criminals, thirty-six slaves.
The criminals were mostly men within the age of seventeen to forty, no specialized training in chakra from what he noticed.
Following Terada-san in the morning after he left the brothel was the right choice, he was the most involved with the camp's leader.
"None of you will survive, come tomorrow night." Naruto promised that.
XOX
Terada walked towards the camp, his preparations were made, as he lopoked to the paper, he had made enough money for the eventual release of the slaves, and the death of his new leader.
Many people thought he was a slimy snake that ingratiated himself with the new leader Okube, but they were wrong on one account, it wasn';t to save his own skin, or get into a privileged position, it was all so he could get revenge for Baisho-san. Terada wasn't a strong warrior that could contend with a missing ninja such as Okube, but he could work behind the scenes and make a plot to kill the new leader.
Terada was truly Baisho-san's best friend, after all this time, he never forgot his old leader, therefore he never would forgive Okube for killing him. It didn't matter how many years it took him, he only had two objectives in life, have Okube die no matter what, and save the slaves in the auction houses happening all ove4r the continent.
Yes, Terada, hidden from his peers and his new boss actually helped the slaves live a better life, and helped them during their suffering, for that the slaves in the camp were ever grateful to him.
Now, after two years, he finally had the money to hire a team from the village hidden in the rock.
Terada walked happily into the camp, however part ways, her fell on the ground, like a marionette with the strings cut,
A simple bloody kunai behind his neck.
He gave one last whisper, as he didn't know what had occured.
Then pain for just a second.
Then death followed.
A clone approached from behind and hid the body, while he did his job, the clone took the paper from the man's hand, highlighting the plan he was concocting.
The clone of Naruto widened his eyes, as he looked at the body, a measure of guilt reached his eyes, however he soon thought more about it. Terada-san was a hypocrite.
The clone let the paper fall on the man's body, and dispelled.
XOX
Naruto overlooked the slave pens full of women, little girls and boys, naked and abused. The original Naruto up in the trees while the clone set up flaming traps to encircle the camp and don't let anybody escape.
Then the memories from the clone returned to his body.
"So you were a good person all along, Terada-san, you wanted revenge from your old boss, however you spent two years forming strategies for raiding vi;llages and hamlets, killing husbands and capturing wives and children, even if you wanted to help, what did you expect in the end, that you'd be patted in the back?"
Naruto closed his eyes in apoplectic rage as he took a look at the slaves, it was hard to describe what he was feeling in the moment. "It feels like nobody knows what true justice is in this world. Not even me."
"Before I set the traps alight, I need to rescue these people, to think these women and children have been suffering while nobody was none the wiser, these bandits are despicable." Naruto was young, barely fourteen, however he was creating a code of honor, high morals that he wanted to follow of his own will and he couldn't forgive these men for doing this.
His clones surrounded the slave pens, carefully sniping the bandits with kunai on the back of their skulls, then without frightening them too much, Naruto's warm chakra enveloped the slaves as he approached them to free them. With a golden smile he helpfully led them out of the pens, calming down any hysterical victim, and soothing those that were crying that he saved them.
The clones led them out of the camp site undetected and moved them towards a clearing five-hundred meters away to tend to their injuries and needs, all the while his clones exuding charisma and warm aura to calm them down.
The original who was still back in the camp.
"No more innocent people in the camps... and set alight..." he made a quick hand sign with one hand to activate the seal formulas scattered around, every single one unleashed a small flame out of them, but they were many and put in vulnerable areas, with a dry chilly wind the embers quickly spread, making any exit impossible for a non-shinobi.
Naruto with a hand sign quickly summoned fifty clones and as the bandits scurried out of their tents they were met with a clone with kunai in hand, the clones quickly disposed of the offending bandits, with Naruto looking sad at every death, while going for the kill he had no usual hesitation that he learned many ninja had when they went for the kill. But he always had a sad look about him.
Even if these people were irredeemable beasts.
A youthful bandit tried to run, but a clone went behind him and punched him in the spine so hard it ruptured his organs and blood vessels.
The massacre continued for a few minutes, as an older man kneeled at the youth's corpse. "Serizawa!" the man screamed with tears running down his face, Naruto thought it was touching, even beasts like him had human emotions.
"He was just, wanting to help his father, he never acted cruelly, why?!" He grasped the youth's hand in a touching moment, between a father figure and his dead child.
The older man roared to the sky in rage and met a clone with a sword. "You killed Serizawa! You bastard die, die, die!"
The clone parried the strike with a simple kunai, not having any emotion displayed.
"He came before me! — to me yesterday, he didn't want to work here anymore, he said the screams were getting to him, I— I wanted to smuggle him out of this damned job, it's all been shit since Baisho-san died and— " He forced his sword but couldn't make the young ninja care.
"I don't care, old man" he punched the older man hard on the temple, his whole skull cracked as the air whiplashed on the other side of the punch.
"Ack! Haah.. Ahakh kh Ah- Haaah Haa..." the man cried on the ground, as his vision darkened, he tried to crawl to his young ward, but couldn't even take the first step, Mizuno died with his hand extended towards Serizawa.
Naruto didn't even bat an eye to this scene... those that pillage, and murder shouldn't complain when the same happens to them. However he pitied the young man who couldn't find another way to live and had to work as a criminal.
"What, I thought it was a ninja team attacking, but it's just a brat!" A man opened his tent, he scratched his eyes as if he just got out from the bed, his hands helped his head stretch from side to side, he was a tall man with a built body, tanned skin.
He was carrying a scythe and chain with him, and on the other a sealed scroll.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked, looking at the scratched metal band on his forehead, a ninja from the Grass.
"Tch, haven't heard of me brat, I am Okube-sama, the greatest ninja of the grass village." He stated, he was a missing ninja from that village, A-ranked jonin, capable of mass murder and kidnappings.
"Never heard of you old man, anyways mine name is Naruto, the one who's going to end you." Naruto said in a matter-of-fact as the fire closed all around them, now only the embers flew on the wind, this closed arena, full of bodies on the ground, and as bright as if it were day.
"Watch your words brat, I am an A-rank missing ninja, I'll enjoy hanging your dry body on a tree later."
Naruto didn't care, the guy in front of him was just one of many evildoers, he was a slave trader, he just deserved death, it didn't matter if the enemy was a an A-rank ninja, or an S-rank criminal, it didn't matter if the enemy in front of him was a Kage, it didn't change what he had to do.
Naruto rushed towards the ninja, but Okube just smirked at the brat and kicked the boy away, but the boy just popped out of existence, a clone. The cloud he made was blocking the criminal's vision, then hundreds of Kunai pierced through the mist, as if he was watching in slow motion, those mini blades were ready to pierce his body, however he, using his inhuman strength made a cyclone with his chain and scythe, blocking the kunai with the power of wind, he smirked. However that was also just a distraction, another Naruto teleported behind, with his left hand in a spear-like motion, Naruto was going to eviscerate his heart with just one hand.
Okube grit his teeth, and sent a poison cloud from his lips, he clicked his fingers and the poison exploded, burning the clone, however that was also a distraction, and beneath him a paper bomb burned, and exploded. Okube was a very skilled and powerful man, he escaped the explosion with a sprained hand and two degree burns on his arms.
"Krh!" he cursed the brat, however he couldn't let up because two clones engaged him in close quarters, one of them was the one that survived the explosion. The two clones of the brat were just using their fists, they were winning, they were pushing him back, just clones, he couldn't believe it. His pride was severely damaged. He screamed in rage and started becoming more reckless.
He used fire techniques as the embers burned the surrounding forest, he used earth techniques to confuse the clones, but all they had were bored looks. With insane difficulty he was able to defeat the clones, however his whole body was panting, "You..."
Naruto was watching dispassionately from over the tree, hiding himself but not really, he was disappointed with the A-ranked missing ninja, he knew highly destructive earth and fire techniques, his proficiency with the scythe was masterful, his scroll unleashed a hell of poisoned knives, he had explosive poison breath he could activate with a mechanism under his molar teeth.
All things that put him on the level of Zabuza, this man Okube could have seriously killed team seven a few months ago, he was faster than sound, something that Naruto and Sasuke could barely react to when they first started as genin, but that was it.
An A-rank jonin, were they really that weak?
The slave trader grabbed the chain and chucked his scythe to the tree where Naruto was barely hiding, Naruto didn't react at all. He was so disappointed, the scythe nicked his arm, a barely-there cut.
Naruto looked at it with dispassionate eye, a poisoned wound, was this man really dumb?
Naruto lazily got out of his not-so hiding place, he approached the open battlefield of fire.
"Brat, your life is over, that scythe of mine is poisoned"
"Unfortunately for you… poison doesn't affect me — It hasn't since seven months ago." Naruto responded, with concealed disappointment, the man didn't notice that his clone had survived the poison cloud, not by luck, but because he was immune to poison.
Okube closed his eyes in rage, first was his men, then his camp and business, this brat was destroying everything he built.
"Terada, he was out and about, did he betray me, brat?" He asked in a moment of weakness, ever since two years ago Terada was his best friend.
"No, this elimination mission comes from the samurai guard itself, Terada-san, was it? He had nothing to do with this, however he was also formulating his plan to kill you."
Okube grit his teeth in frustration, Terada was his best man, he was the one who came with the best plans, he was the one he confided the most with, and this brat was saying that he was going to betray him. "No… I don't believe you."
"It seems Terada wanted to avenge his old leader, that's why he got close to you, he was planning to release the slaves you captured and attack with a massive ninja squadron form the earth country next week, however since he's now dead, he can't go out to make the payment, that team will never arrive." Naruto answered with a professional speech, his personality had changed a lot from the brat he was a few months ago… He was showing signs of maturity, however he was still showing signs of arrogance.
"You… Arrrgh!" Okube cried in rage, his eyes watered, it seems even the missing ninja had emotions, but Zabuza taught Naruto about that when he was just a puny kid.
Everyone in the world had their motives, no one was strictly evil or good, however Naruto didn't care about how this missing ninja felt, Okube dabbed in slave trading, something that Naruto was starting to hate… now that he's been witness to it.
"It's over, Okube-san." Naruto whispered as the man blew a giant fireball into his direction in fury.
Contrary to everyone's expectations Naruto rushed, front and center and was consumed in the fireball. Okube smirked as the brat was done for, however the fireball was parted in two as if something of insane magnitude forced it into submission. Naruto just rushed forward without care, no burn marks or anything.
Okube couldn't react, because Naruto was moving faster than the eye could perceive, this was his real speed, the speed the clones were using was just to measure the slave trader's ability.
Okube took a step back but Naruto arrived in front of him with his right hand back, and in a swinging low motion, his palm came from the ground towards the man's upper body, on the open palm was a white ball that distorted gravity and reality itself.
Okube flinched and his upper body was erased in an explosion of blood that reached teen feet up in the air.
Naruto had his palm raised, the white ball was pristine, this was his new and improved rasengan, Naruto started at it, a tiny ball, half the size of his previous rasengan, but with enough power to kill anything and everything it came into contact with, be it chakra, humans, even god.
Sustained with even less chakra than he used before. Yes, this ball of death didn't use much chakra at all, the reason why it was so powerful was in the twisted concept of the first step of the rasengan training.
He closed his hand and the white ball of death was erased… Hs first step to improving the rasengan was complete… He wondered what his next mission would be as he led the former kidnapped slaves towards help.
XOX
How was he able to improve the rasengan until this point?
He had already completed the fourth step which was continual and self-sustained usage of the rasengan… The next step was to improve upon the rasengan and the answer was simply look at the other steps to make it and see if something can be changed.
Naruto had truly grasped what the fourth and what Jiraiya had missed. He overhauled the most basic foundation of the rasengan to make the ultimate grinding force of the universe.
The easiest answer was the second step Power — simply adding more chakra to the existing rasengan would make it bigger and more powerful, but there were diminishing returns here. Naruto couldn't choose the simplest answer, it wouldn't be right.
Then what did he do…?
The overhauled first step he looked at was Rotation — the user learns to spin their chakra in multiple directions at once. Looking closely under observation Naruto was able to grasp something, the first step is making fine chakra threads that spin clockwise and counter-clockwise to form the ball.
How many threads there were in a normal Rasengan? The answer was 16 in total… They were tiny and long pieces of hair that rotated bended in various ways until it formed a ball… that was the rasengan. He had checked this when Jiraya used the rasengan again… 16 threads.
What would happen if he added more threads to the equation?
He tried and discovered it was really hard to add more threads, the more he added the harder it was to maintain, like adding another difficulty to the most difficult chakra training exercise, however with the help of his clones he was able to do add them more easily.
And he arrived here… his own Rasengan had 128 threads… that was why the color changed, it was so condensed and heavy that it altered space itself in its presence.
If adding more chakra to a rasengan was additive power, adding more threads was exponential to the number of threads. He still hadn't made the jump to 256 threads yet due to fear for his own improved technique… Right now his Rasengan was able to disintegrate everything it met… Matter and Chakra alike.
He found another utility for the rasengan as an absolute shield for himself, no enemy technique was able to go against the rasengan it obliterated everything, just point the rasengan at a jutsu and it will annihilate any attack. It wasn't an absolute defense like Gaara or Neji's since his back continued to be exposed. However it wouldn't lose as a shield to anything — Just point the rasengan at the attack and watch it be obliterated when it meets the rasengan — This was Naruto's strategy for defense.
XOX
He was admonished again for the mission, while he was perfect in handling almost everything, Jiraiya still complained like a big taskmaster, it appeared that the missing ninja had a bounty on his head or something… Jiraya went on a rant about how its important for the body, especially the face to be intact so Naruto could receive the bounty for them or something.
Jiraiya became more and more like a hard-ass when he was teaching Naruto, but the blond ninja welcomed it, it feels like he was truly progressing forward and not being neglected like he was with Kakashi, no offence to the sharingan-wielding ninja, but that man wasn't teacher material.
Jiraiya even tossed him an updated bingo book, still the blond ninja didn't; care about bounties on someone's head, if he wanted money, he could just go on a casino spree and soon become as rich as that Gato asshole back at wave. "This book is useless; I don't care about bounties…"
Jiraiya hit him on his head with enough force that it cracked the ground, however Naruto was still fine with no wounds whatsoever, almost as if his body was harder than the ground itself, these past few months he had been building his own body strength ends and endurance while his clones learned actual interesting things, he felt like a bodybuilder not a ninja and was a bit envious of what his clones were training on day after day. Stuck on PE duty for his entire training regimen was an easy shortcut but still. He almost wished for the end of the day where he could fight all his clones so he could use the techniques his clones worked on.
Jiraiya started writing his shitty porn novel again. "Hah, you are still a brat, just skim it, you might find something interesting"
Naruto laid no the ground and lazily turned the pages, until four names caught his attention, Sasuke — missing ninja from the leaf, he as listed as an A priority ninja despite his rank as genin and wasn't sighted for two months, presumably in one of Orochimaru's hidden fortresses, listed were his last updated skills and techniques. Warnings were that he was as strong as a regular jonin despite being thirteen years of age and low rank— being a genin.
Sasuke is a lot tougher than a normal jonin, he could have handled that Okube guy with ease. Naruto praised his rival skills and it was the truth. His A-rank priority was probably due to his heritage, being a Uchiha survivor and all.
The next names that caused attention were Itachi — Orochimaru — Kisame. The three ninja he had met before and were the blond ninja's enemies for the foreseeable future. There was a wealth of information and warnings not to get close to any of those three, it appeared that ninjas of rank-S were in a completely different world than normal ninjas. Naruto wondered if by the end of his training he would be able to match their power and surpass any of them. To know of this, he needed to be able to match the most prolific ninja to ever live, the pervert writing smut beside him… His master was one of the most revered and powerful ninja of this era… To beat any of them, he had to match his own master in prowess and sheer power.
Naruto was now motivated again.
"Let's test your rasengan one more time."
Jiraiya was serious, his clones all stopped working as Jiraya opened his hands to the sky and then a rasengan as big as a building was created over the sage, it was incredible how powerful the rasengan the sage created was, fi he rammed that against a fortress it would be a ball of destruction that melted everything in its way. An unstoppable demolition ball that shredded even steel like paper.
The sage wasted no time from them moment of the rasegna's creation and rushed Naruto with the intention of killing him with this rasengan.
"Great big ball rasengan!" Jiraiya yelled as he jumped and was about to strike the blond Uzumaki who hadn't even had the time to raise any defense, or that what it looked like to any observer, in truth, Naruto slowly raised an empty hand to meet the big ball rasengan.
And within that empty hand a small golden ball was formed, it met with Jiraya's towering rasengan and blew it to bits without any and all delay. The force of the implosion was so massive that it chucked Jiraya back so fast he hit a hill with the speed of a missile.
Naruto stood still with his peerless golden rasengan, the size of a small coin, still rotating normally in his hands, as if not affected by anything.
Jiraiya was astonished, there was a hundred times less chakra being used in that small golden ball, yet it was a peerless attack of annihilation to anything it met. An unstoppable force.
His disciple had taken the technique of the fourth and elevated it by modifying its application and nothing else, and it was something that only Naruto could truly be capable of. Naruto had spent several lifetimes worth of clones to make that small golden ball a reality, almost a millennia of focusing on that one task. Truly it was a one of a kind technique that couldn't be replicated by anyone.
For the first time, Jiraiya was actually terrified of the shadow clone technique and what it enabled.
"Now that your rasengan is stronger, its time you improve on another technique in the meanwhile… Now Naruto, show me how you can improve the shadow clone technique." Jiraiya said with a serious tone.
XOX
They were at the Rasa's office,
"Why are you doing this Rasa-san?" Naruto asked his employer, him and his assesors were around him, wielding Katanas.
"Now that Yushimaru is dead, I can start collecting the real estate around here, I can't let a brat of the leaf know what happened between us, sorry kid, but that's how it is in the Real estate business. You ready for this, huh?!" Rasa yelled with arrogance.
"You're free to come at me however you wish" Naruto cracked his own neck in preparation for the coming battle. "But you'll find soon how badly you've angered me."
Rasa ordered his men to attack, the nearest tried a stab with the katana, however Naruto sidestepped and delivered a crushing elbow towards the man's shoulders,m the man fell to the ground and Naruto stomped on his face, blownig the man's skull inside out by the massive strength the Kyuubi container had.
The men were so slow to attack, almost as if they were in stoppd time.
Naruto picked up Rasa's sofa and hit the men with a whirlwind, knocing ebven Rasa to the ground.
He picked up the nearest body by the leg and tossed it over the shoulder towards another fallen man, killing them both with one strike.
One man rushed with his blade, however this time Naruto wanted to put the fear of god into them, he caught the sharp edge with his teeth and pressed with his jaw, breaking the blade into pieces, He looked at the man who frightfully took a step back, however that was the last thing he ever did as Naruto put two hands on his shoulders and ripped his arms off with the strength of a monster, then he turned to face another and with a claw-like motion strike the man's neck, making it bend sideways.
Then with a glare he knocked everyone out of the way as a tank rushing through ants and bear-hugged Rasa breaking his spine and throwing the body over his shoulder. The other men were frightful of Rasa's death; however the room was already locked and there were on escape from them, they were locked in a bear cage, and they were weaker than rabbits.
The massive bear that was Naruto killed them all with his brawn alone, showing how superior he was to normal people.
"Yoru and Lily died because of these shits."
The war between Rasa and Yushimaru started over as simple protection, then Rasa ordered Naruto to assassinate Yushimaru with damned proof that the man was running a slave ring, however on the way he was attacked by none other than Yushimaru's bodyguard.
It looked as if both rivals had the same idea. Yushimaru's bodyguard was an orphan named Yoru, the young man was a self-taught ronin, a wandering ninja with no affiliation or village, more-or-less a mercenary who used ninja skills.
The man was strong, too strong, they tied for two battles in a month, while the third ended with Naruto slicing Yoru's aorta.
As he laid dying, the man gave him a journal and told him to protect Lily, Yoru's adopted sister.
It turned out that Yoru was a mercenary because he wanted to sustain his own sister, his own family that he found, however unfortunate that his career led to him meeting with Naruto in battle.
Naruto took Yoru's request to heart and went to recover Yoru's little sister form their little house they were living in. However when he arrived, Yushimaru, the owner of the slave ring, Rasa's mortal enemy and Yoru's contractor had kidnapped raped and killed the little girl.
Naruto had arrived too late.
Yoru's little adopted sister had been caught n the crossfire due to Yushimaru's inefficiency in finishing off Rasa.
Over a month of bodyguards fighting each other led to the slave master being impatient.
Naruto annihilated every single one of Yushimaru's man and dismembered and cut Yushimaru to pieces for dishonoring Yoru's sacrifice for him.
Yoru the wandering ninja only wanted to provide for his little sister, and even in death he was betrayed by his contractor.
"Of course in the end, even I was betrayed." Naruto looked at Rasa and his crew, all dead at his office.
This mission was a massive catastrophic failure, it honestly reminded him of Zabuza and how he was betrayed by Gato.
He retrieved Yoru and little Lily's body and buried them together before going to Rasa's office to report and this was the end of it.
Then a ninja arrived on top of Rasa's mahogany desk, it was an ANBU, from the leaf, with the mask of a monkey.
"What a devastating Taijutsu you've built." The sole ANBU surveid the scene, then took out a notebook to record stuff with a pencil.
His style was based on a bear's strength and ability to withstand attacks. A nigh unstoppable force and a nigh impenetrable defense, built with attacks that could crush steel, it primarily focused on grinding a man's bones to dust with its sheer force, but when confronting lesser powerful foes like normal humans, this style tended to blow people from the inside.
"Mission completed, you did well, ninja Uzumaki Naruto." He said nonchalantly.
"W—Wait, this mission was a catastrophic failure, Rasa, our contractor betrayed us and is now dead!" Naruto onestly did not understand.
"Oh, him betraying us was in the acceptable parameters of the mission, if he didn't betray us we would use his debt to collect all of his properties around the country."
"I don't understand."
"Then I shall explain, you are the most important ninja of the leaf right now after all."
The ANBU with the mask of a monkey then went on a lengthy exposition about how Konoha was immersed in another type of warfare ever since the third ninja war, a warfare of money and capital, scattering the highest ranking ANBU form the Zodiac team on other countries and acquiring real estate, the main mission was to have a superb amount of cashflow flowing to Konoha's coffers to invest in technology, weapons, information warfare and doubling investments in real estate.
Rasa and Yushimaru were in the way of a complete monopoly for this region. Cashflow, real estate, owning business, it was all a financial war in the end. It didn't matter which side Naruto was, with Rasa or Yushimaru, they were to be leveraged against or killed either way.
"This has been your first A-rank solo mission, great job. Tsunade-sama has told us Zodiacs to offer missions to you as you pass through the countries we wish to control, Your contribution has been recognized by the ANBU and the Hokage, you shall earn your next field promotion effective immediately, welcome to the Jonin squad, as it were." Monkey explained to him with a detached and professional tone, as if he was talking to a normal convenience store clerk.
The mission was initially denoted as a B-rank bodyguard mission and assassination mission bundled up together. To think its true rank was hidden from the start and nobody warned him.
Most superiors in rank looked down on him as a child or someone inconvenient, so it was refreshing to having a super high-up in the ANBU corps not looking down on him, even respecting him for what he was but, Monkey mask was the one who issued this mission.
"We dragged Yoru and little Lily to a war of real estate, what joke is this?" Naruto asked with the most neutral tone possible, he was trying to understand all of this.
"The ronin and his adopted sister, they were acceptable losses. The only reason the civilian child lost her life was because you were slow, your speed did not reach her in time, learn from your powerlessness I guess." He said not giving a hint of emotion, he was really professional, the man behind the monkey mask.
"…But!" Naruto protested, a bit of his frustration coming out.
The man with the mask of a monkey cut him off before any weak arguments could come out. "Also you liked fighting the ronin Yoru and testing your skill against him, so you dragged your fight with him for over a month when reports of your current power shows that you could have killed the ronin or subdued him in the first battle… While it was true that they were casualties of this mission, it was your actions that sacrificed them, do not misunderstand, you could have wholly made them live if you had chosen a different path in the mission."
Everything he said was the truth, for Naruto, even if it was subconsciously, he had been treating this bodyguard mission like a game he could play against Yoru, even if there were hidden information that the scroll neither the mission giver gave him that this was a real estate war Naruto did not even try to see what was underneath, he had been comfortable and dragged two lives under because of his own arrogance. He killed Yoru because of his hidden anger at any mention of slave trading. He hadn't reached Lily in time because he was slow, and because he dragged the mission to the point where Yushimaru became frustrated with the lack of progress his own bodyguard Yoru had shown.
"I hope you understand that there was only one person that cared about their lives, it was you, if you want to save someone next time be more proactive." Monkey warned him as he was writing on his strange list and looting the bodies.
"Why are you telling me all this stuff?"
"As I said, you're the most important ninja in the leaf right now, because of your sheer potential the ANBU and Tsunade-sama had surmised by your and Jiraya's reports that you will become Konoha's most powerful asset in a year or so… We of the Zodiacs hope to count you as a member soon as well."
"A member of the Zodiacs? Why?! I'm not interested!" Naruto was wholly uninterested in this financial war of real estate and investments in other countries to gain hidden monopolies.
"You should, as of right now Fire country has been left without a Zodiac for over thirty years… The mask of the dragon still remains without a master." He said as he turned around and Naruto saw, a massive tattoo on the man's back, covered slightly by the uniform of the ANBU.
A massive depiction of a tale, with a prominent monkey with fierce eyes, wielding a massive cleaver sword. A colorful tattoo denoting the Zodic symbol as the man vanished.
Naruto down and grit his teeth violently, the slave trade happening in Fire country as well as countless other suspicions when he completed missions there. Monkey had offered a high enough position to monitor and control the entire Fire country's financial situation, the land where his own Daimyo ruled, the land where his own village was situated. Right now it was being handled by Tsunade and the Fire daimyo and his advisors, however someone could rule it from the shadows and set things right, the Dragon…
Naruto vanished for the room of dead people and appeared on top of the highest building, overlooking the city, the office was now miles away. He breathed in the cold air as he contemplated.
He leaned nothing of Gato's quest in wave country and made the same mistakes here as he did with Zabuza and Haku, he was but a child wandering around, full of himself because he was so powerful, he hadn't stopped to think of what was underneath, he failed what Kakashi always told him and two lives were lsot as a result, Yoru, who was such a friendly rival, their battles were so interesting, he could have been a friend, and little Lily, who was but an orphaned child, a little girl who couldn't understand what was going on.
"What a fool…" muttered the blond Jonin, not even fourteen years of age and already receiving two field promotion, bare months of each other. Not knowing what Tsunade or Jiraya or these Zodiacs truly expected of him. "I am such a joke…"
He kept self-criticizing for more than a minute when he raised his head with a determined glare. Today he was a baby who couldn't see the world for what it 10
Tomorrow he would be a grown up who understood what was underneath the surface. He wouldn't let down all those people who hammered the same lessons down, he could not, should not betray their hopes and expectations, he would be staining Zabuza and Haku's memories if he kept this blissful ignorance going on forever.
Review Corner~
Lifelessman, inacioqgs10caedwards, caedwards.
Thank you for your initial reviews, it gives me hope that this fiction might have somewhat of a future.
A Simple Library, camdawg.
I love that you always leave a review on my works, don't worry Ambition of a God will resume and The world breaks will continue because I'm in love with the persona series.
Author's notes.
This chapter went a bit more into the AU side-stories as it explored two of the most defining missions in Naruto's training years, the next chapter will focus on whirpool and water country as Naruto fights in a war of blood and families in the hidden mist, aiding Mei and her resistance against the forces of Yagura and his butchers.
As for the Kyuubi, in all of the fictions I read of Godlike Naruto is that fem Kyuubi is always helpful and is an integral part of Naruto's strength. On this fiction however I've decided to go the opposite route. This Naruto dislikes relying on the Kyuubi so much that he would like to never even talk about it. In fact his hatred of the Kyuubi will only grow in time as he learns of his parentage and that Kyuubi killed both Minato and Kushina. However that hatred will eventually turn into love as he comes into terms with his dream after the pain arc and before the war arc.