It was a stormy night when two ships arrived at the docks. None of them was large so it was surprising that they made it to their destination in one piece.
The crews were in a hurry to tie the ropes that prevented the ships from drifting away from the dock not very happy that they had to go outside on such weather. Everyone moved in a hurry and did not pay much attention to the surroundings but two masked silhouettes were watching from nearby rooftops.
They were both dressed in black ninja outfit but the smaller one had a fox mask and dark red belt while the taller one had a dog mask and blue belt.
Once the crews finished their job and got back on board for the rest of the night the ninjas jumped from their observation points and headed to the target ships with expert stealth.
"I see you came back with fresh merchandise, Orochimaru." Hound said as he closed the door to the captain's cabin behind him. Orochimaru tried to ring a bell that would alert his crew but Hound was faster at cutting the rope. "You won't be needing that. Your crew is dead anyway and now it's your turn." With a swift movement of his katana he slit the captain's throat.
Meanwhile Kabuto was facing a similar problem on the other ship.
"Are you telling me that two slave merchants who arrived last night at the docks are dead?" Itachi asked prime minister Danzo with disbelief.
"Yes my lord."
"And no one has seen or heard anything."
Danzo bowed in front of the emperor. "There was a terrible storm last night and the wind could easily be blamed for any noises outside my lord."
"And all the slaves escaped?"
"Yes, my lord."
Itachi was sitting on the throne his fingers tapping the wooden armrest. "I want you to get the head of police and take care of this personally."
"Yes my lord." The minister turned to leave, happy that he escaped rather easy from the emperor's anger.
"And Danzo-dono…" Itachi added making the man stop in his tracks "Keep an eye on the Senjus. When slaves disappear they are the first that stand out."
"Yes, my lord."
Danzo went straight to see Ibiki, the head of police and was glad to find him in his office. He was invited in and offered tea which he accepted since he felt a little anxious after seeing the emperor. The tea might be just what he needed to calm down.
"You seem disturbed Danzo-dono. Is there any way in which I can help."
The minister twisted the half empty cup a few times watching the green liquid turn inside it. "I have just seen the emperor and he is most displeased. With the war and all our troops abroad the last thing we needed was a couple of ninjas killing merchants."
"Slave merchants." Ibiki corrected him but just received a glare from the minister.
"That's not the point." Danzo started angry. "The point is that they are mocking us, killing the merchants in the capital's market and dock. As if saying that in the absence of general Nara we can't even protect the merchandise in the market. This is blasphemy. " he roared "I'm not saying that general Nara is not a brilliant man but the capital has other intelligent people who can keep it safe and who have the duty to do so."
"I agree entirely Danzo-dono."
The minister finished the rest of his tea in one gulp and stood up to leave. "I trust that you will do what is needed to get rid of these pests. In the meantime I will investigate another matter that the emperor entrusted to me." Ibiki stood up and bowed in front of the minister as he watched him leave the room.
"Tobi!" he called the man who was keeping guard at the door. "Get Kotetsu, Izumo, Ebisu and Hayate here, now!"
"Yes." The man left in a hurry to find the officers. Less than half an hour later the four men were in Ibiki's office waiting for his orders.
"The prime minister visited me today and he was displeased because we haven't been able to find and capture the masked ninjas who kill the merchants. I want you each to take a group of five men and focus on catching those hooligans."
Two masked figures moved swiftly without a sound across the rooftops of the lower city of Cydona scouting the area. Suddenly they stopped on the roof of a taller building back to back.
"They raised the number of patrols in the lower city." Fox noted.
"But that means that the security in the middle and upper city is not so tight. The police don't have enough people to keep this level of security in the entire city." Hound added. "However they may have not reduced security in the upper city only in the middle."
"Do you think they keep an eye on the Senju's?" Fox asked.
"Yes."
"Should we start a diversion in the middle city?"
"There's no point. Our intensions are clear to them and the slave merchants don't go beyond the lower city."
"So then what do we do?"
"One of us has to fall."
The prime minister went to the palace to report once again.
"I hope you bring good news." Itachi said bored.
"There haven't been any other incidents since my lord. But there are some disturbing rumors."
Itachi waved a hand in a dismissive manner. "I don't want rumors, I want facts, results."
"Yes my lord but the police officers who encountered the ninja said that they can clone themselves."
"Clone themselves?"
"Yes, sometimes there's one and sometimes they are two but sometimes they are four."
"That's ridiculous. There must be a trick."
"We have thought that they may have identical masks and switch them since the rest of their attire is similar but there's an obvious difference in height between them. Hound is at least one head taller than Fox."
"Then they dressed someone else like them to distract and confuse the officers. There are obviously some impostors there and probably some accomplices which is good. They should be easier to catch and might hold some valuable information."
Naruto and Sasuke went to another training session with Kakashi in the woods.
"I see you made it." Kakashi greeted them.
"Barely." Sasuke rolled his eyes "It was a bit hard to shake Sakura off after breakfast. She kept on saying that it's a beautiful day and we should have a picnic.
"Her idea is not so bad….I might propose that to Rin later but first I want to test your skills and for that I brought a sparring partner. Say hello to Tenzou."
Naruto jumped in excitement and went to hug the man.
"Easy there Naru-chan." Tenzou teased the blonde who still had his arms around his neck.
"We haven't seen you in ages." Naruto pouted letting go of the man.
"What can I say…I've been busy."
"I understand that but still." Tenzou ruffled the blonde's hair and gave him an apologetic smile.
Tenzou Senju was Kakashi's childhood friend and had been introduces to the boys some time ago during their training. Aside from Kakashi and Iruka he was the only one who knew that Naruto was trained in fighting and Kakashi trusted him to keep this secret.
They split in two teams: Sasuke and Naruto on one side and Kakashi and Tenzou on the other and began to clash. Naruto and Sasuke were faster but the older men seemed to be able to read their movements and compensate for the speed. Swords clashed against kunai, metal against metal then a rain of shuriken that was dodged with precise swift movements by both sides.
"You have improved my cute little students." Kakashi said with a smile as he blocked Sasuke's attack.
"Don't call your prince 'cute'." Sasuke complained.
"He is right, Kakashi." Tenzou pointed out "Naruto is the cute one not Sasuke."
"I am their teacher…I should be allowed to at least call them that." Kakashi whined earning some kunai thrown his way by the prince.
"Will you two get serious?" Sasuke asked launching another long ranged attack.
"We may joke but I assure you that we are always serious in battle." Tenzou said with a stern voice.
"You have improved greatly and so has you team work." Kakashi praised them. "You can go now and have that picnic with Sakura." He waved the boys good bye and walked away with Tenzou in tow.
Sasuke and Naruto were left sitting on the grass, catching their breath. Naruto fell on his back and looked at the clouds.
"It is a beautiful day, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Maybe you should take Sakura to that picnic after you take a bath."
"Maybe if you pay me, I will."
"I'm a slave, I can't pay you and why would I pay you to do that?"
"You do have a point there." Sasuke captured Naruto's lips in a kiss, licking and nibbling the lower lip until Naruto's lips parted and captured Sasuke's tongue between them. The blonde sucked on it hungry as if it was the most tasty thing in the world.
"You like my tongue that much?" Sasuke teased when the blonde let him go.
"It's the best. It feels so good over my body."
"Good, because I like to taste you too."
Four teams of police officers were sent to patrol the dock and market area of the lower city at all times however the rumors about the dead slave merchants have traveled beyond the walls of Cydona and others hesitated to come to the capital city.
"The ninjas had not been seen in days Ibiki-dono." Hayate reported to his superior one day. He was really tired, not having slept properly in days since he was given the assignment. "There aren't more slave merchants in the city and none have come this week. I don't think the ninjas will appear again."
"Then we'll make them come by setting a trap. Tell the others to go home and get some proper rest until everything is prepared." Hayate bowed and left Ibiki's office glad that he could go home and get some proper rest before he will have to face the ninjas again.
One day later the trap was ready. There was a new ship in the dock filled with slaves belonging to a merchant name Mizuki. Mizuki was not a slave merchant though. He was known in Cydona for the luxury goods that he brought from distant lands across the Golden Sea that seemed to go well with the noble houses from the upper city but this time Ibiki had hired him to present a different type of merchandise, slaves.
On the board of the ship all slaves had collars with 10kg weights around their neck, making escaping impossible even for the stronger ones but most were women and children and were too frail to even attempt escaping such conditions. The four police teams were paroling the area as usual to not raise suspicion. The only thing left to do was wait for the pray to take the bait and they did.
Hayate was the first to notice the silhouette dressed in black with a dog mask and sent a messenger pigeon to the teams patrolling the market area as he gave orders to his men to pursue Hound.
"Where is Fox though?" he mumbled, his eyes searching left and right for the other target.
"Captain" an officer, not from his team called him. "Fox in on board of the ship." Hayate followed the man to the ship where Kotetsu and Izumo were perusing Fox.
"Over here." Izumo signaled but just a moment later another officer yelled from the other side of the ship.
"He's over here captain."
Hayate was confused but not taken by surprise. If one of them was the real the other was fake. Ibiki had said that it doesn't really matter if they capture the real one or not but he wanted to capture the real one and get a promotion. Which one was the real one though? It had to be the one closer to the door that led downstairs where the slaves were.
He ran left where the officer had called before and saw that Fox had been cornered by Kotetsu's team.
'Damn it. If Kotetsu gets the promotion…' Hayate thought as he called his own men for reinforcement.
Fox was taken to the palace in the middle of the night with his hands and legs chained.
The emperor, dressed in his night robe entered the throne room and ordered for Fox to be taken there too and have a weight attached to his shackles.
"Ibiki-dono please sent someone to bring the ministers here. I want them to be present at this interrogation." Ibiki bowed and gave some orders before some of the officers in the room left to get the ministers.
Itachi sat down on his throne with a bored expression of his face but he was pleased. This time he had won a battle against the ninjas.
The ministers arrived in a hurry. They were all properly dressed as if they had not been in bed when the officers knocked on their doors but looked agitated and tired. Maito Gai couldn't even be bother to stop yawning and Danzo gave him a disapproving glare although he felt tired too.
"Now Ibiki-dono" The emperor spoke once he had everyone's attention. "Tell us how exactly was this Fox caught?"
Ibiki bowed politely in front of the emperor "My lord may I let Hayate speak in my place, he was there. We were in such a hurry to bring the prisoner to you my lord that I didn't get the report."
"I don't mind."
Hayate made a step forward and bowed. "The first one we spotted was Hound and a team went to get him but he escaped the pursuers. Fox was spotted moments later on board but there were two of them. I thought that I should pursue the one that was closer to the door that led to the slaves and two of our teams surrounded him leaving him no other choice than to jump in the water which would have been crazy. He had nowhere to run so he tried to put up a fight but was no match for ten people. The other one escaped I'm afraid."
"No match for ten people, you say?" Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Then this one is the fake one." Hayate gasped. He was sure his reasoning was right and this Fox was the real one but it seems the emperor didn't think much of the police's strength or their ability to fight such ninjas. "Take his mask off, Gaara." The emperor ordered his slave. "Let us see who is behind that mask."
"A slave?" minister Homura asked with sudden interest in the events that were unfolding in the throne room. Before the fox mask was removed he had been rather sleepy and could not be bothered to care about anything else but once the mask was removed and the slave collar with the Uchiha crest was revealed things had changed.
"Get Sasuke now!" Itachi roared.
Sasuke came only minutes later in the throne room with a robe over his night clothes and a panicked expression on his face. Haku who was sent to summon him had told him that Naruto had been caught dressed as the ninja Fox and Itachi was most displeased.
"What is the meaning of this, little brother?" Itachi asked with a calm voice but Sasuke was not fooled. This voice was the calm before the storm. "Care to explain why Naruto was on board of a ship full of slaves in the middle of the night?" Sasuke was speechless "He is your slave, is he not? He is your responsibility!" Itachi roared.
"My lord, don't blame master for this." Naruto spoke drawing everyone's attention upon him. "He didn't know anything about this."
"That's exactly why I blame him, but I'll deal with that later, in private. You on the other hand will give us answers now." Itachi stood up from his seat and made a few steps towards Naruto. "Tell me the real identity of Fox?" Naruto stood silent, his blue eyes piercing Itachi's black ones. "You won't speak? Do you dare defy your master?" Itachi walked to Naruto and grabbed his chin lifting it up so that their gazes met. "Tell me Naruto who is your master?"
"Sasuke-sama." Itachi nodded seeming pleased but Sasuke knew that he was furious. There was nothing he could do for Naruto though.
"And I am the emperor, master of the entire Spring Kingdom soon to become the Spring Empire. Am I not your master too?"
"Yes, my lord."
"And shouldn't slaves obey their masters?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Then why don't you answer my questions? Where does you loyalty stand? With traitors?" Itachi roared. "You will be punished for this insolence." Itachi turned to Gaara "Put that weight around his neck and strip him."
Gaara did as he was ordered and soon enough Naruto was on his knees, completely naked and with a 20kg weight around his neck and hands tied. He couldn't even stand much less walk.
"Who wants to start punishing this slave?" Itachi asked around the room. "I promise not to be angry that you fuck my slave….anyone?"
But no one dared speak much less move. The emperor was scary when in a bad mood.
"Very well then. Naruto you like to be fucked, don't you?"
"Itachi please…." Sasuke cried "He might not know the identity of those ninjas."
"He had done enough to deserve punishment, Sasuke. Why are you defending him? Don't tell me you became fond of him while you fucked him."
"How do you know about that?" Sasuke asked surprised and concerned.
Itachi rolled his eyes. "Please little brother. He wasn't exactly quiet when screaming 'Fuck me, Sasuke. Fuck me. Fuck me deeper.'" He said with a poor impersonation of Naruto's voice. "Don't worry though, I don't blame you for wanting to release some hormones and he is quite a pretty specimen."
Returning to Naruto he walked around him drinking the naked body with his eyes from every angle. "You are beautiful indeed, Naruto. Sasuke doesn't have bad taste. Now correct me if I'm wrong but you like to be fucked." Naruto didn't answer which only annoyed Itachi even more. "I'll take your silence as a yes." Itachi grabbed a whip that was on a table nearby and grabbing the blonde's butt cheeks spread him. A long pale finger entered his hole and Naruto clenched his teeth. Itachi fingered him adding more fingers after a few thrusts. The other pale hand wrapped around his member squeezing it hard. "Beg me to fuck you, you whore." Naruto stayed quiet once again. "Katon." A small flame was released from the tip of Itachi's fingers right inside Naruto and the blonde streamed in pain.
"Itachi, stop…" Sasuke was horrified. He wanted to run to Naruto, take him in his arms and kiss him but he couldn't do that without letting his feelings for his slave show.
"Not yet. Gaara, fuck his face." The red head shoved his member in Naruto's mouth and started ramming the back of his throat while Itachi fucked his hole with a tremendous force. There was no pleasure just pain and humiliation. Yes, he felt humiliated but not because he was being fucked in front of the police and the ministers… no… he couldn't be bothered to acknowledge their presence. He was humiliated in front of Sasuke. He couldn't look in his eyes because he felt ashamed that he couldn't keep himself for the one he loved.
He was getting dizzy from the lack of air and there was a throbbing in his head from Gaara's administration. The mixture of saliva and cum in his mouth made him gag but the most frustrating thing was that he was getting hard in the pale hand. He didn't want to get hard to anyone else's dick but Sasuke's but his body failed him. Tears formed in his eyes from all the pain in his body when Itachi used the whip on his back adding a stinging sensation to the already unbearable pain.
"Enough Gaara." Itachi ordered. "He looks like he's going to faint and we still need him to talk." Gaara stopped and pulled his pants on but Itachi did not. "Are you ready to talk or do you want some more of Gaara's dick. Did it taste good?" Itachi seemed amused and Naruto was just disgusted but too weak for his expression to show it. He tried to catch his breath, fill his lungs with much needed air.
"I don't know who Fox is…" he said with a weak voice and Itachi stopped thrusting him.
"Go on." Naruto's eyes met Sasuke's and the realization that Sasuke had seen everything hit him hard. Sasuke was looking at him right now as he was with Itachi's dick shoved up his ass and cum dripping from his hole in front of the entire court. He couldn't bare that. How will he go back in Sasuke's bed after this? He wasn't worthy of his master anymore.
"He came to me as I was getting ready to serve master his tea and told me that he needed my help to free the slaves. I told him I was only a slave myself and I couldn't leave the castle with all the guards around but he said that he and Hound could easily get me out and that for them it was easier to get a slave out of the castle than out of any other house."
"How so?" Itachi asked intrigued.
"The castle is large and the slaves' rooms are far from their masters so if the slave leaves for the night the master won't even know." Itachi nodded in understanding taking a mental note for later to enhance the number of guards around the castle. If Fox and Hound managed to enter the castle and approach one of their slaves then they could just as easily free them. "He took me to their hideout and gave me a set of clothes identical to his and instructed me what to do once we were on the ship."
"Where is their hideout?" Itachi asked.
"On Peak Island. There's a cave on the shore facing the docks." Peak Island was a small rocky island with tall cliffs that stood tall just about two kilometers away from the main land. There was nothing there but rocks and some vegetation so no one bothered to go there. Not even the beach was worth exploring.
"Good boy." Itachi said with a soft voice but whipped Naruto once again making the blonde cry in pain.
"Itachi please stop." Sasuke interfered again. "He told you everything…"
"Did he?" He resumed thrusting Naruto harder, spreading him, tearing his insides. It was a terrible mixture of anger and arousal that overwhelmed the emperor and he wouldn't be stopped until it faded.
"I did." Naruto cried in pain. "It's all I know, I swear."
"Very well but you have defied me enough to be punished some more." Naruto could feel the lord hard inside of him although he had come several times already and hungry to satisfy his sexual needs with him. "You may go." The emperor addressed the court still fucking the whimpering blonde's ass.
Everyone left the throne room but Sasuke. He pleaded for Itachi to stop for what seemed like hours to him but his brother was deaf to his words. He watched Naruto on his knees with his head resting on his hands, breathing hard from the pain. Beneath him was a puddle of cum and piss and from his hole dripped cum and blood. He didn't want to look anymore but he couldn't look away either. He would have looked away at this point if it had been anyone else but Naruto was there, his Naruto.
Sasuke was the prince of the Spring Kingdom but never before had he felt so helpless in his life. He had sworn to protect Naruto and he had failed. Would Naruto trust him after this? Would he love him anymore?
Itachi pulled out his member covered in blood and cum and asked for Gaara to clean him up. "You may take your slave away, Sasuke. I hope he had learned his lesson." He said tossing Sasuke the key to the weight.
Sasuke didn't need more and he rushed to take Naruto in his arms and out of the throne room. He will never see this room the same way again even after every trace of what had happened that night was carefully removed. He ran to Kakashi's chamber and knocked on the door before he stumbled inside in a hurry.
"Naruto needs help." He said as the gray haired man looked concerned at the blonde in his arms.
"He needs a doctor. Let's take him to Shizune." Kakashi grabbed a robe and helped Sasuke dress Naruto then as quietly as they could left the castle and made their way to the house of Senju Tsunade and Jiraya.
Shizune was a close friend of Tsunade's and the Senju's personal doctor and Kakashi knew that he could trust her to do her best even with a slave. There were quite a few doctors in Cydona with good reputation but very few would even agree to help a slave unless they were overpaid for the job.
The doors to the Senju residence were opened for them in the hours of early morning and Tsunade personally saw that Naruto was taken to a guest room. She sent a servant, Ten Ten to get Shizune and began cleaning Naruto's exhausted body with a cloth dipped in warm water.
"What had happened to him is obvious but who did it?" She asked on a low voice full of sadness and frustration.
"Itachi and Gaara but mostly Itachi."
"He has changed since he became emperor…" She mumbled to herself.
"Not really…" Sasuke said "He always found pleasure in torturing slaves it's just that he wasn't doing it so openly when father was around. He used to do it in the dungeons, now he does it in the throne room." Tsunade let out a sigh.
Shizune entered the room and Tsunade made room for her near Naruto's bed. With expert movements she examined his body and after giving Ten Ten some instructions she turned to the rest.
"We need to clean him up thoroughly before I apply ointment on his back and bandages. After that he will need at least a week of rest in bed before he will even be able to stand again."
"He will be alright, right?" Sasuke's voice trembled and he felt tears form in his eyes but he had to be strong.
"Physically yes but such treatment leaves more than one type of damage."
Naruto woke up around noon and Sasuke had never been more glad to see those beautiful sky blue eyes open. His fingers brushed a stray lock of blonde hair and his lips kissed the tanned forehead.
"Did I do well master?" Naruto asked with an exhausted voice.
"Perfect, although I would have never allowed you to do it if I knew this would happen to you."
"The Fox had to fall though…."
"Yes, that is all according to plan."
"I failed you though, master…I let someone else inside me although my body belongs to you. I'm not worthy of you anymore."
Sasuke never got angry at Naruto but these words made him angry. He was angry at Itachi for doing such a horrible thing and he was angry at Naruto for having such thoughts. "Don't say that again." His voice was calm but firm. "It was all Itachi's fault. He got angry because you wouldn't beg him to fuck you and overdid it."
"I couldn't do that even in chains. I don't want him inside me, he feels nothing like you. You showed me pleasure even in pain but he only showed me pain."
"It's ok, I don't blame you for anything. Now stay here and I'll go get Kakashi."
Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi and Sasuke were all in Naruto's room. Now that Naruto woke up they had things to talk about.
"So what will happen now?" Tsunade asked Kakashi.
"Fox had fallen according to plan and gave them the false information. If they take the bait and I'm sure they will, they will look for the hideout on Peak Island. They will send the police again I assume and we will capture them there."
"We are lucky because they believe that Naruto is the fake Fox." Shizune interfered.
"And he is not?" Tsunade asked.
"There is no fake Fox, lady Thunade. Naruto is Fox and so am I." Sasuke explained.
"Sasuke is correct. Fox and Hound are not two people but four and none of them are fake." Kakashi added.
"We have established a base in the Valley of Shadows a couple of hours away from here and took the slaves that were set free there. Tenzou is training them to fight and with the money you provided we brought weapons for them to use." Shizune explained.
"We plan an attack on the capital before the general and admiral come back from campaign but first we need to lower the security in the city."
"I see you planned things well, Kakashi-dono."
"I wasn't alone. We have Iruka-dono and Tenzou to help with the plan and Rin really does her best at the camp."
"Ah, your wife…how is she?"
"She cleans and cooks at the camp and sometimes patches wounds. She is not a doctor but she helps Shizune as much as she can."
"She's a fast learner though." Shizune giggled.