The Golden Mission
Katabami-Kinko - Kawa no kuni
It is raining in the Land of Rivers today, so named because it is a land crisscrossed by tributaries, streams, and yes, by its namesake, rivers. Because of the abundance of natural, water resources, Kawa is a lush, fertile paradise of vegetation, mostly deciduous hardwoods, and a few fruit baring varieties, the Land of Rivers is a land of plenty. Sandwiched between two of the Five Great Nations, Fire and Wind, River, has one more resource that makes it one of the wealthiest of nations, below the Great Five; its abundant gold reserves. Specifically, the Katabami Mountains, and more specifically the Katabami Goldmine, it was one of the largest goldmines in the Elemental Nations, other than those that could be found in the Land of Earth. It was also where Tanigakure no Sato, and Takumi Village, the artisans village is located, but this part of the country is remote to the rest of the nation, and Konoha is more, accessible to this place than either of the two previous villages. When locals need ninja, they invariably contact the Hidden Leaf, not the Hidden Valley.
From the top of the valley overlooking the Katabami-Kinko, stood Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. It has been one month, since he returned Mizuki to Konoha, and four-months since he left a single Shin-Bunshin at the Uzumaki compound, with his cousin Karin, who had decided to become a Hidden Leaf kunoichi. Tsunade paid Naruto, five thousand ryo, for leaving his mission for the iron merchants of Fire to catch her wayward Chunin, but most of those techniques were Namikaze techniques, or at least invented by his great-grandfather, so it was a family obligation, and a favor between friends. The Ʀ5,000 was just a pleasant bonus. The true clone would continue to train in the Uzumaki way of the ninja, create another shin-bunshin, every morning, before dispelling and sending all of the benefits of the training to the original Naruto, and any other shin-bunshin still in existence, at the time of dispellation. Naruto's wardrobe was largely the same as when he returned the Missing-nin, Mizuki to the village, except he had returned to carrying the original Tokichi at his side instead of his mother's sword. Which he still carried in a tattoo of five water droplets on his left arm, in storage seals concealed by the tattoos, and a tanto on his belt, he kept the Raijin sword in his right arm, in a storage seal, obfuscated by the tattoo of a vajra, disguised as the unity jewel.
Today, he was on a mission from Delta, the capital of Kawa no kuni. About two months ago, the owners of the Katabami Mine received word that a gang of bandits, called the Kurosuki Clan, attacked, and took over the mine. They forced the magistrate, not to mention the mine's management, to flee, reports from the magistrate and management said they were led by a ninja called, Raiga. Most of the ronin ninja, passed on the assignment, saying it was too dangerous, and Naruto could understand their position since the only Raiga in the Bingo Book, was an A-ranked Missing-nin, named Raiga Kurosuki, a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and a member of the Hunter-nin Corps. They specialized in attacking and killing ninja, and if he were from the Village Hidden in the Mists, he could be incredibly ruthless. Everybody in the Elements, unless they have been living under a rock, has surely heard of the Bloody Mists, most of the Ronin felt that the danger was much too great to risk themselves, even if the reward was annual royalties from the goldmine, for as long as the person lives. Naruto, however, was hungry.
Not for food, he had become quite skilled at hunting, even before joining Ryozanpaku, his keen-fox senses and reflexes, and survival training, meant he would never lack for food; he was a good cook to boot. No, Naruto was hungry to grow his reputation as a ronin ninja, he had spent three months in Konoha learning about his main profession, working metal, he felt that his knowledge of those trades was as high as it could go at the moment. Now, he wanted to work on his side-line business, and he needed to test himself against a truly skilled opponent, most of the foes he had faced thus far were at best, B-ranked ninja, with Aoi being the most skilled enemy he had killed. Aoi-teme underestimated me, he thought that I was the same weakling he would torment back in the village, just for fun, he never thought that I could change enough to become a threat to him. He also relied too much on the Thunder Sword when he faced me, Naruto remembered, he thought it would be enough to cover any lapses in his training. Susumu-nee-san always said that each enemy we face, can teach us things about ourselves, well I intend to follow Aoi's lesson. Never rely too much on one thing, always allow your training to evolve, but do not forget to practice your basics as much as you can, and above all, never underestimate anybody.
During the time he was furthering his Metalmancer education, he was also improving and refining his katas, his endurance, his chakra control, incorporating certain Uzumaki tenets into his basic training. He was eager to test himself against a real enemy, one who would not underestimate him, but would fight him with every iota of their skill and intelligence.
The Katabami Mine was located at the bottom of a ravine. A modest-sized river, cut through the valley floor, and was used to cool the smelters at the collection point, before meandering out of the valley. The mine consisted of three mine shafts going deep into the mountain, there seemed to be a steady stream of miners trudging into and out of the mine. On a plateau, overlooking the shafts of the mine, was a graveyard, and walking through that place was a funeral procession. It was a contingent of fifteen figures, each of them wearing dark-gray cloaks, trimmed in gold, what was odd about the melancholy platoon, however, was that none of the miners showed up for the funeral. Work in the mine had not stopped, and while that could just mean the one that was in the casket, was not well liked, miners would have never passed-up a chance to take a day off.
Naruto focused his perceptions and allowed his Eye of the Heart to awaken, and it seemed to home in on one of the mourners. The one that seemed to have the place of honor among the macabre parade, he seemed to be crying especially hard in Naruto's opinion. Naruto's Eye of the Heart was a slightly more evolved form of his cousin's Mind's Eye of Kagura, where hers could only find and track chakra over a vast distance, as well as perceive any unusual chakra activity within a radius of several dozen kilometres, by focusing on a particular chakra, she can perceive her target's location and movements in great detail. It also gave her the capability to perceive fluctuations in a person's chakra, made when they were lying or when anyone, including herself, was under a genjutsu. Naruto's Eye of the Heart which utilized all five, fox senses, and even his metal sense, which when he focused, as taught to him by Karin, could assess the general health, and emotions of anybody, even at this distance. When Naruto brought his Kokoro no me to attention, he was forced to make one correction, he could sense one of the miners nearby, slightly below his own position, watching the funeral.
Naruto listened to the 'mourner' speak, "Why? He was such a good man, truly," Naruto listened, to an obviously fake, wale, "why did he have to be taken away?" The mockery of a mourner approached the foot of the freshly, dug grave, and continued his travesty of a eulogy, "such sorrow," and Naruto's sensor, seemed to be divided into three different directions. Two were directed at the fake mourner, there seemed to be two different, chakra signatures in that one form, but the third was directed at the coffin, which was made of iron, and within the casket… was a living, breathing human-being. If his sensor was not enough to be sure, the shaking of the box, indicating that the man was beating desperately on the lid, and muffled pleas of mercy to be let out was all the evidence he needed, to know that someone was about to be buried alive.
Naruto listened more attentively to the mad man leading this evil congregation, "I remember the day you showed me, one of your most prized possessions," the demon in human flesh falsely confessed, it was taking all of Naruto's discipline, not to leap down the side of the mountain and destroy these men, but he had to keep his passions bottled up, there was no telling how powerful these men were. It would do neither of them any good to get himself killed, so he watched and waited, plotted and listened, "with a twinkle in your eye, you told me how it had once belonged to your father. It was a gorgeous, pipe box, no wonder you were so proud of it… even when I ripped it from your hands and smashed it on to the ground, you only laughed. When we booted you in the ribs and tossed you into the coffin, you just smiled, that beautiful smile of yours. Truly lovely it was to behold," by now the dirt had been filled in, with a piece of iron scaffolding, placed over the grave to mark it, "Kanpachi of the beautiful smile."
This evil man had the audacity to turn to his men and exclaim, "funerals are truly spectacular events, are they not?!" Without waiting for a reply, he began marching back into the village, and seemed to say almost to himself, "I can't wait, until the next one," he stated under his breath. The one, Raiga walked by, seemed to shrink away from his words, and Naruto's senses found him, he was still new to this band of savages, and had not yet been hardened to this kind of game. Naruto was thankful for that, it meant this man could be saved, and would not need to join the others when Naruto took them down, it was his choice of course, only he was responsible for the health of his own soul.
Raiga seemed to stop just before leaving the cemetery, as the other chakra signature spoke to him in a small voice, "we have a couple of people watching us, one of them is a villager and the other is a stranger, and he is terribly angry at the moment."
"Oh, well, not everybody can appreciate funerals, the way we do," Raiga enthused, "maybe they will be able to appreciate it more, when it's their own funeral," he mused, before walking off to get Ranmaru out of the weather.
The others lingered in the cemetery for a few more seconds, before they too, left to find shelter, but not before leaving two of their number to guard the fresh grave. Both were relatively new to the Kurosuki Clan, one was the man that Naruto's senses told him, was still new enough not to have become hardened to sights like this, the other one, unfortunately would not get off so easily. The miner had left as soon as the lead man departed. The moment the last of the retreating figures was out of sight, Naruto moved, "Hiraishin," by engaging the Power of the Thunder God, he went from standing still to Mach 3, in a nanosecond, he was down to the valley floor faster than gravity could fall, his limbs were already configured into mangalloy-titantung, hammer-like weapons, then less than a microsecond later he was burying his hammer fist into the skull of the Kurosuki clan member he wanted to kill. It did not have the finesse and panache of his normal fighting style, but it was brutally effective, and by combining the speed of his Flying Thunder God power, increasing the kinetic force imparted upon the hammer-fist, the results were that man's head exploding like a ripe casaba melon. This painted blood and brains all over the cemetery walls, and even in the face of the one Naruto would spare, for now.
Naruto turned to look at this man, with a fully, matured Sharingan – he had set all of his Shin-Bunshin to practicing with the Uchiha dojutsu, as soon as he completed his three-month training with Naori-sensei, and he had achieved the three-tomoe-state just last week – the tomoe were spinning rapidly, the pupil was elongated the way a fox's or a cat's would appear, and was glowing an ethereal-blue, from his Mag-viz technique. As those eyes locked onto his, they seemed to spin faster, becoming almost a blur to Karashi's perceptions, a voice was heard in his mind, "mark well, Karashi-baka, this is the fate of all those who seek fame through the despotism of others, it leads to nothing but death."
Then all went blank and he fell unconscious, but the last thing he remembered was a gigantic, nine-tailed Fox staring down at him, it opened its maw and flames shot out directly for him. Just before it hit however, he seemed to awaken with a start, he looked around and found the graveyard empty of all other human life, the remains of his companion, not to mention the gaping chasm of the reopened grave and coffin. The casket, itself, seemed to have been ripped open by a monster. The rain was quickly washing away the blood of Ayumu-san, and with that Karashi bolted for home, like a jackrabbit fleeing a fox.
A few seconds later, Naruto came to a stop on the path leading away from the village, they were in front of Naruto's base of operations while he was in this region. It was a curry shop, run by a kindhearted, yet feisty, old woman, Grandma Sansho. Naruto was carrying the man he had rescued over his shoulder; the man was still unconscious. Naruto had no way of knowing how long he had been in that coffin; all he knew was how long he had been in the ground. Naruto opened the front door to the shop and yelled, "Baa-chan, are you here?"
"Naru-chan, what's the meaning of this," Sansho demanded, even as she ran to clear the raised platform, on which sat her table for serving customers her curry, "who is that with you?"
"I don't know his name, Baa-chan, but he was being buried alive by the Kurosukis," Naruto informed her, as he kicked off his shoes and laid the man down. His hand began to glow a greenish color, as the Buddha Palm cloaked it, at the same time he sent his metal-sense into the man's body, and began rescue compressions by using the iron in the man's body, to expel the carbon dioxide from his bloodstream, and the calcium in the man's rib cage, to pump his lungs. At the same time, Naruto began to engage his wind chakra, to push pure oxygen down his patient's trachea, all while tilting the head back to prevent the tongue from blocking the airway.
(A/N: The author is not certified in CPR, and the reader should not use anything in this passage for real life-saving emergencies. If you wish to learn these, contact your local health care practitioners for more information.)
Naruto continued his work for a few minutes, when there was a gasp of air from the patient, followed by him immediately rolling-over and vomiting up, what appeared to be every meal he had ever consumed. Just as he had recovered from being sick, he looked around at the smiling faces of strangers, and returned it as best as he could, "I expected to be greeted by my father and mother when I died," he quipped, "not a strange old woman and a boy with red-hair."
Naruto chuckled, "not to worry, otoko-san, you will not be standing before the Pillars today. My name is Naruto," he introduced himself, then pointed to the old lady, "this is Sansho-baa-chan."
He smiled then, and Naruto had to agree with Raiga on one thing, it was a beautiful smile, "my name is Kanpachi, I was a ramen chef here in the village, before the Kurosuki came and shut down my business."
Before he could speak further, the sliding door to the shop slammed open with a loud, "CLACK!" "Mother," came the bellow from the front door, and a drenched, bedraggled young man stepped into the curry shop, "mother, are you here," he asked, just before he saw the others in the room?
"Karashi," the old woman asked in a quavering, disbelieving voice, as her eyes widened in surprise, before recognizing her son. "Karashi, what're you doing here," as hopeful tears welled up in her eyes, "you said you were done cooking curry, and wanted to be strong, the way that Konoha shinobi was strong?"
Karashi turned and looked at his mother, as actual tears of relief and joy welled-up in his face. Before his face crumbled and he launched himself at his mother, who met him half-way and hugged him to within an inch of his life. Behind them Naruto discreetly held a kunai in a reverse grip, which allowed him to conceal it behind his arm, and Kanpachi's eyes had narrowed into a steely gleam, as soon as Karashi entered the room.
"Mother, I am so sorry, I have led a shameful life since I left you," Karashi sobbed, "I became a bully and a tyrant, and allowed others to do the same or worse." He looked away from his mother in shame, and that was when he spotted the two others in the room, and he recognized both of them. He moved around his mother, he was looking directly at Kanpachi, "but the worst thing I have participated in was when we buried this man alive, earlier today," he said, pointing a shaking finger at the beleaguered man. He turned his head to look at Naruto, who merely grinned, a predatory grin, which brought Karashi's finger around to point at him, "and this one, literally knocked a man's head off, before knocking me unconscious, and I think, he sent me a dream of a monster fox throwing fire at me, before devouring me."
Before he could say, anything more, he felt the heavy end of a metal ladle rap him on the head, "you, orokana shonen (stupid boy)," Sansho screeched, "is that how I raised you, to be a party to the brutalization of other human beings?"
"I'm sorry, mother," Karashi pleaded, "but I just wanted to be strong. The way you have always wanted, and I want to be strong like that Genin we met from the Leaf."
If his aim was to soften her anger towards him, then he missed his target by a mile, her assault on his head, continued with one more blow from her hand, "I may have wanted you to be a strong man, but strength should be used to protect those that are precious to you. If this is the kind of thing you would use your strength for, then you are better off as a weakling. Why, if, Kanpachi-san, called for your head, I would say he would be justified in his vengeance," she roared, before her anger left her and she deflated, she turned away from her son toward the man she had just helped revive.
Kanpachi was sitting up where he had lain, he was not looking at anybody in the room. Naruto had returned the kunai to his tool pouch and waited patiently to the side, when his patient spoke to him, "Hey doc," his voice was rough, barely containing his anger, "I may be revived, but I do not feel the strength returning to my body, as quickly, when do you think I'll be fit enough to travel? I want to leave this place," he stated as he turned his face up to look at the red-head, "this region, I do not feel safe here anymore."
Naruto looked between Kanpachi and Karashi, then directly at the son of the curry shop owner, "Karashi-Baka, from what I heard from your mother, when we first became acquainted, she told me that you seemed to have a gift for making curry. She said that your gift was even greater than hers, and that you seem to be especially gifted with something she called, the Curry of Life. She said that yours can even revive people from a nearly dead state, is that correct," Naruto asked him?
The question surprised everybody in the room, but still Karashi answered with a nod and, "I do have a certain instinct about the curry, and that Genin, Rock Lee, was at near death when me and mom fed him some. He seemed to get better almost instantly…"
"CAN YOU MAKE THE CURRY OF LIFE OR NOT," Naruto roared, while unleashing his Killer Intent (KI) upon Karashi, which sent him to the floor like a lead ball?
"Yes," Karashi all but squeaked out his answer, "yes, I can make the Curry of Life!"
Naruto returned to his calm façade, "then you will make this Curry of Life for this man, and he may choose when he is fit for travel," Naruto turned to look at Kanpachi, the purpose of his exposition, was not lost on the ramen chef, who seemed to possess a great wisdom within him. "As for me, I will complete my mission, and I will also taste this Curry of Life. It might give me the energy I need to complete my mission," he stated, as he stared off toward the Mine, and his prey.
Meanwhile, as everything was unfolding at the Sansho Curry Shop, the rain had slackened a bit by this time of night, as a man snuck into the graveyard to find and rescue his friend. He had short black hair and black eyes, and wears a grey bandanna tied backwards, with a blue yukata over his torso. He had watched the day's proceedings unfold, except for when he was called away to work his shift in the Mine, if he had missed his shift it would have been, he, who would get the funeral. Therefore, he was in for quite a surprise when he returned to the cemetery and found his best-friend's would-be grave had been opened, and the coffin within, ripped apart like a piece of rice-paper. He found the headless corpse of Ayumu-teme, identified by the tattoo, the number 44, on both of the man's forearms, lying several feet away. He moved through the graveyard with widened eyes, the rain had washed away most of the blood, "What in the name of the Three happened here?"
"That," came a voice directly behind him, "is a good question, Rokusuke-san, what did happen here?" Rokusuke was so startled by the sudden voice, that he instinctively recoiled from the sudden noise, which caused him to rebound off of another body, and sit down hard. He looked around to find himself surrounded by eight men in the cloaks of the Kurosuki Clan, he was so frightened that he fainted like an old woman.
He came to in a different place than when he fell unconscious, he was surrounded by a half-circle of men wearing the Kurosuki Clan cloaks. There were six men in total, surrounding Rokusuke, and worse, they were within the palisade enclosure, which meant they were in front of Raiga's house. As soon as, Rokusuke realized the danger he was in, he began shaking, violently as he stared at the men around him. They seemed to enjoy Rokusuke's terror, because they were chuckling wickedly at the unfortunate mine worker. "Raiga-sama, we caught one of the villagers, desecrating the graveyard," one of them called out to his leader, "Ayumu-kun was found dead at the graveside, and another of our men has gone missing."
The creaking of the heavy wooden door behind him, caused Rokusuke to turn, and if anything, his fear seemed to increase exponentially when he saw the leader of these men come into view. "Well done," Raiga said addressing his men, "but while the vandalism of my garden is important to me, the well-being of my comrades is even more distressing."
Rokusuke immediately groveled before him in the dirt, "Oh please, Raiga-sama, please believe me, I had nothing to do with the deaths of your men, the cemetery was like that when I arrived there. I came to pay my respects to my best-friend, since it was after my shift in the mine…"
"Oh, I know you did not kill my men, you were there during the beginning of the funeral, but left to make your contribution to your village," Raiga looked at the man sitting at the foot of his porch, "and Ayumu-kun, was one of the better fighters among us, except for myself, and Masami-kun over there," he stated, while indicating with an open hand, a man with an eye-patch, "I'd say he was one of the best combatants we had among us. It is just inconceivable for a man like you, a coward and a weakling, to be able to attack and kill my man." Raiga addressed his men, "how did you find things while you were there?"
Their leader, second in command, Masami, stepped forward and answered his captain, "My best guess, from what I saw of Ayumu's remains, and the other debris at the scene, is that Ayumu was killed by someone powerful. Ayumu's head, looked like the kinds of wounds one might get from a high-density, small to medium-sized object, thrown with high velocity, perhaps aided by a slingshot of some kind. The coffin appeared to have been wrenched up from the grave, and it looked like a can-opener was taken to it. There was no sign of any other body, so my guess is, whomever killed Ayumu-kun, took the body but left Karashi alive," Masami sighed, "I suspect, he ran home to mama."
Raiga turned back to Rokusuke with a benevolent smile, "see, you didn't have anything to worry about, you were never a suspect. I'm sorry that my men scared you so bad, Rokusuke-kun," Raiga offered sincerely, even going so far as to cast an exasperated smile around at the six men in the yard, "they can be a bit overzealous in their fun."
Rokusuke shared Raiga's smile, and even added a small chuckle, that had a little bit of hysterical relief mixed into the commiseration, and said, "Oh no, Raiga-sama, think nothing of it, boys will be boys after all."
Raiga continued to chuckle with the miner and seemed to cant his head to the side, as if he were idly thinking of something, and with a casual, sounding voice, said, "still, I can't have that big, gaping hole smack in the middle of my garden," he said conversationally. Then turning back to the visibly relieved Rokusuke asked, "say, since you've been so helpful, would you mind filling up that hole in the graveyard," as he spoke his men had moved up closer to Rokusuke, but without touching him, until Raiga gave them the word, and his eyes were laser focused on the hapless man.
Rokusuke still on the ground, bowing before the former Mist Ninja, was blinking rapidly, his shaking had returned, and was even worse than before. "Please, Raiga-sama," he groveled further, his head coming to rest on the ground, "not that, not a funeral, just kill me, please!"
"Why would I ever do such a thing, Rokusuke," Raiga asked in an appalled tone of voice, "you've done nothing to warrant killing you. For all you've done here today, you deserve to be the guest of honor, at your own funeral," Raiga finished with a twinkle entering his eyes.
"No, Raiga-sama." Rokusuke pleaded!
"Don't you like funerals," Raiga asked, with hurt in his eyes?
"No, please," he bawled, "not mine! I'm not ready to die!"
"Personally, I find funerals very comforting," Raiga informed his new 'friend,' and adding, "when they are alive, people can be so cruel, and unkind to each other, betraying, envying, and hating each other. There's nothing like a funeral to bring people together, to allow them to let go of their differences, and cherish the good times… people are at their best during funerals. Right, Rokusuke," Raiga asked as if expecting him to agree with his logic? "Let's have a nice, big funeral, for our dear friend, Rokusuke," he said as his men closed in on the cowering man.
While all of that was going on, the miners worked diligently in their toil. They were going in and out of the mine, while above them, Naruto was crouching in a small, jumble of rocks. He watched as the Kurosukis hustled them along mercilessly, not letting them stop to take so much as a breath. He watched as a frail, old man, carrying a heavy load and nearing the end of his vitality, stumbled and fell over, spilling the contents of his bag onto the ground. "Hey, old man, what do you think you're doing," the four guards surrounding him demanded, but when the old man did not budge, one of them threatened him with, "I think we should tell the Boss, it's time for another funeral!"
Naruto watched as the old man, who should have been enjoying the twilight of his years in front of a cozy fireplace, telling only slightly, exaggerated tales of his exploits to his grandchildren, get treated like dirt by these worms. There were four of them surrounding the elderly man, when Naruto decided to act. His assault was as swift and silent as a summer breeze, he had buried his fist into the first one's stomach, before the man even knew he was there. He disabled the next one with a chop to the man's neck, before throwing him directly into the man sneaking up on him from behind, and a jumping-backspin roundhouse, felled the last of them. They all lay in heaps before the might of the Demon-wind style of Uzumaki taijutsu.
"Are you crazy," the far from pleased, old man, looked on in wretched horror, "you've got to do to me what you've just done to them?"
"What are you talking about, you old codger," Naruto asked in bewilderment, as he brought the Buddha's Palm closer to the man's flesh?
Only for the old-timer to knock his hand away, and say, "don't you see, if they find out what you did, they'll think I was the one behind it, and they'll give me a funeral." His face was just a mask of pure, hopeless terror, and he took it one step further, "if you won't do it, then I will do it myself," and literally began hitting and punching himself. It was all Naruto could do to restrain him, without hurting him further.
At that moment, a brass gong was sounded, and if it were possible, the old man's terror and dismay, rose even higher than before. Naruto looked toward the noise, and asked, "that gong, what can it be," then turned to look at the elderly local, "some form of alarm perhaps?"
"No, it's summoning everyone to a funeral," the man said in defeat, "if any of us displeases, Raiga-sama, the leader of the clan, as punishment he arranges a funeral in which the guilty party is buried alive."
"I saw it yesterday, and thought it was just something he invented for certain cases," Naruto said, "but if yesterday was not just a onetime thing…" then Naruto realized something. "That gong, it couldn't be for you, could it, sofu-san," he asked?
"No, I heard they caught Rokusuke this morning," he answered, "one of the other miners, it must be his funeral."
Naruto stood up, in his mind the Kyūbi's own eyes were blazing in fury, [and you, ningen, call my kind, demons," Kyūbi growled in outrage, "what he is describing is an abomination!] In reality, Naruto said in a growl, "No, old man, it will not be this Rokusuke's funeral you speak of, it will be theirs," he snarled, and leapt into a run, dashing directly for the graveyard. There was no need to use the Hiraishin for this battle, these cowards did not warrant such techniques, and he wanted to fight them, he needed to cool off before he went looking for Raiga, because his senses told him that the former Mist Ninja, was not attending the funeral today.
Raiga had looked down upon the funeral for Rokusuke, Ranmaru, the most precious person of Raiga's existence was in a harness on his back. Ranmaru was a sickly, little boy from a tiny village, Raiga found him all alone and nearly starving to death. It had been a mission from Mist village, his Hunter-nin squad had been dispatched to look for a spy, which they never found, and ended up killing everyone in the village. They were a provincial village, scared of their own shadow, and had pretty much left Ranmaru to die, simply because he had funny eyes.
Ranmaru possesses a unique dojutsu, remarkably similar to the famed Byakugan, except it was red in color, not white. When he activated it, his eyes glowed red, which allowed him to see and hear in vast distances and even through walls, he can cast genjutsu with them, and when he emitted a mist of particles the same color as his eyes, he can cloak himself and others from other dojutsu. Raiga and Ranmaru have been together for about two years now, and they seemed to be two parts of the same whole. Raiga acts as Ranmaru's hands and feet to allow him to experience the world, and Ranmaru acts as Raiga's eyes, and helps him fight, Raiga would gladly sell his own life to protect Ranmaru.
"I remember the first day I met Rokusuke, it was a happy memory," Raiga told Ranmaru.
"Is it," the little boy asked, "that's nice."
"Yes," Raiga confirmed as tears leaked down his face, "I can still see the smile on his simple face, when he heard that we were taking over the goldmine." He wiped the tears from his face, and sniffled, "when we told him the days of cruel taxes were over. He was so happy," Raiga's weeping voice believed, "he was almost dancing for joy. That's how I'll always remember him," he declared to Ranmaru, "I like funerals, they're so nostalgic."
"Will you have a nice funeral for me too," Ranmaru asked?
"Don't talk like that," Raiga roughly assured him, "there will be no funeral for you." Raiga took a deep breath to calm himself, "because you're not going to die, and you've always been a good boy. I don't need a funeral to remind me of the good times we've shared."
There was a sudden gust of wind, and storm clouds moved through the darkening sky, "Raiga, he's coming, he'll be here very soon. He's terribly angry, his fury is like a raging storm in his heart," the child quivered to his benefactor, "he will seek your life."
Raiga's eyes turned from the interior of his cloak, and he stared into the distance, "Good, we will see how his thunder stacks up against ours. I am curious to see who will be rescuing him."
Naruto channeled chakra to his eyes and, "Sharingan," and Naruto's modified, Copy-wheeled eye activated, and he focused all of his senses, activating his Eye of the Heart. {I've found Raiga, and someone else, the same person as before is with him too," Naruto told Kyūbi, "he is watching from a cliff, and I'm going to show him something.} In his Mindscape, Kyūbi grinned a predatory grin and replied, [show them no mercy, Naruto, it is time to be ruthless.] {Agreed," came the host of Kyūbi.}
There were only nine members of the Kurosuki Clan left, excluding Raiga, and the macabre parade had just completed their march to this field of degradation. One, who was leading the procession, four, were carrying the coffin, two, were following along as mourners, and two more, were hidden on the other side of the graveside: one was concealed in the ground, and the other was in a tree. So, they're ready for me, or so they believe, Naruto mused, as he went through a couple of hand signs, and made a leap over the Kurosuki gang, landing exactly above the gang member concealed in the earth, "Dotonjutsu: Miburi (Earth-style technique: Tremors), he whispered, and there was a localized earthquake directly below him, which pushed the earth together, squashing the hapless man like a bug. As he was doing this, he drew Tokichi and enveloped the blade with his wind, and Naruto's draw, was combined with an upward, slashing motion, slicing off the limb of the tree, and sending the blackguard in the tree plummeting, headfirst into the ground.
Naruto's fox-keen ears heard the distinctive snapping of neck bones, and the man's head had been driven to be even with his shoulder-blades. May the Pillars have mercy on their souls, he would never allow himself to view killing as pleasurable, like many other ninja he had met, I vow to never allow myself to revel in the slaughter of even the most evil of my adversaries. Because the bar with which I judge them to be evil, shall be used against me, when I stand before the Three, and I will be prepared to answer for every soul I send to them. I swear by the Three Pillars of Existence.
{ Naruto's Sharingan was spinning rapidly as he gazed into the eyes of every man present, he flicked the blood off of his blade, and in a demonic voice put the fear of the Three into each man's souls, "You vermin, are all going to die. There is no escape, you have sentenced good men to a fate worse than death, but I will be merciful to you and grant you all quick deaths."
Many of them were scared, some were even quivering, the way their intended victim had trembled earlier this morning, only one of them did not seem affected by fear. Masami spat, who is this kid, who is he to threaten us…," there was a blur of motion in front of him, as Naruto appeared and Tokichi passed between his ribs and punctured his heart, and such was the precision and speed of the strike that Masami barely felt any pain before he passed to the Three. Naruto withdrew the blade, reversed grip, thrusting behind him between the same ribs as the first man, with the same precision as before. He withdrew the blade before moving into a 270-degree arc, bringing his sword around into a horizontal slash through the next man's throat.
Four of them, managed to unleash two sets of three steel claws from their gloves, which opened their stances. They obviously thought that maneuver would be necessary to keep them alive, and all it did was make them more vulnerable to the young ronin. One of them, sent an uppercut strike at Naruto's body, but Naruto moved inside his attack and slashed open his wrist, but before the pain could register, Naruto slashed him across his brachial artery. Another tried to deliver an overhead strike toward the crown of Naruto's head, only for the thirteen-year-old to duck under the attack and thrust down into his attacker's femoral artery, and the red-head was gone before the first drop of blood spurted out. Naruto's next two opponents tried trapping him between them, they used jumping and leaping tactics to try and confuse him, but he was not confused. As they passed the apex of both of their leaps, Naruto made a lightning fast slash upward, which sliced the heart in half. Naruto focused his Scorch chakra into his lungs, while following the arc of the leap and the last conscious Kurosuki, who had not yet figured out, that he was all alone in his attack, Naruto opened his mouth and a beam of incandescent, white flame burst forth in a laser straight line that connected itself to the head of the gang member. The last member of the Kurosuki Clan completed the arc of his leap, as a smoking headless corpse.}
The Kurosuki gang members were all blinking, as if waking up from a horrific nightmare. "What happened," one of them gasped in horror, "I just saw all of us die horrible deaths?"
Masami suddenly gave a great groan as blood, spurted out of the wound, and Naruto slung his blood off Tokichi. He was wearing a grim smile on his face, it almost resembled a fox baring his teeth, as the light of vengeance filled his eyes. His eyes were hypnotic, it was as if they were compelled to continue looking into them, no matter how hard they tried, they simply could not look away.
{ Naruto's Sharingan was spinning rapidly as he gazed into the eyes of every man present, he flicked the blood off of his blade, and in a demonic voice put the fear of the Three into each man's souls, "You vermin, are all going to die. There is no escape, you have sentenced good men to a fate worse than death, but I will be merciful to you and grant you all quick deaths."
Naruto withdrew the blade, reversed grip, thrusting behind him between the same ribs as the first man, with the same precision as before. He withdrew the blade before moving into a 270-degree arc, bringing his sword around into a horizontal slash through the next man's throat.
Four of them, managed to unleash two sets of three steel claws from their gloves, which opened their stances. They obviously thought that maneuver would be necessary to keep them alive, and all it did was make them more vulnerable to the young ronin. One of them, sent an uppercut strike at Naruto's body, but Naruto moved inside his attack and slashed open his wrist, but before the pain could register, Naruto slashed him across his brachial artery. Another tried to deliver an overhead strike toward the crown of Naruto's head, only for the thirteen-year-old to duck under the attack and thrust down into his attacker's femoral artery, and the red-head was gone before the first drop of blood spurted out. Naruto's next two opponents tried trapping him between them, they used jumping and leaping tactics to try and confuse him, but he was not confused. As they passed the apex of both of their leaps, Naruto made a lightning fast slash upward, which sliced the heart in half. Naruto focused his Scorch chakra into his lungs, while following the arc of the leap and the last conscious Kurosuki, who had not yet figured out, that he was all alone in his attack, Naruto opened his mouth and a beam of incandescent, white flame burst forth in a laser straight line that connected itself to the head of the gang member. The last member of the Kurosuki Clan completed the arc of his leap, as a smoking headless corpse.} Another one of the Kurosuki gang reeled back from the ronin, clutching his throat before stumbling over the coffin to lay face down on the other side of it, and Naruto slung his blood off Tokichi. He was wearing a grim smile on his face, it almost resembled a fox baring his teeth, as the light of vengeance filled his eyes.
{ Naruto's Sharingan was spinning rapidly as he gazed into the eyes of every man present, he flicked the blood off of his blade, and in a demonic voice put the fear of the Three into each man's souls, "You vermin, are all going to die. There is no escape, you have sentenced good men to a fate worse than death, but I will be merciful to you and grant you all quick deaths."
Naruto withdrew the blade, reversed grip, thrusting behind him between the same ribs as the first man, with the same precision as before.
Four of them, managed to unleash two sets of three steel claws from their gloves, which opened their stances. They obviously thought that maneuver would be necessary to keep them alive, and all it did was make them more vulnerable to the young ronin. One of them, sent an uppercut strike at Naruto's body, but Naruto moved inside his attack and slashed open his wrist, but before the pain could register, Naruto slashed him across his brachial artery. Another tried to deliver an overhead strike toward the crown of Naruto's head, only for the thirteen-year-old to duck under the attack and thrust down into his attacker's femoral artery, and the red-head was gone before the first drop of blood spurted out. Naruto's next two opponents tried trapping him between them, they used jumping and leaping tactics to try and confuse him, but he was not confused. As they passed the apex of both of their leaps, Naruto made a lightning fast slash upward, which sliced the heart in half. Naruto focused his Scorch chakra into his lungs, while following the arc of the leap and the last conscious Kurosuki, who had not yet figured out, that he was all alone in his attack, Naruto opened his mouth and a beam of incandescent, white flame burst forth in a laser straight line that connected itself to the head of the gang member. The last member of the Kurosuki Clan completed the arc of his leap, as a smoking headless corpse.}
Naruto suddenly felt as if he was being watched, he looked around quickly, expecting an ambush, when he spotted two glowing orbs suspended in mid-air. He focused on them and it was as if the Sharingan could perceive what was on the other side of those orbs, like wormholes in an apple, he followed the opening back until an unexpected face came into view. The little boy's face suddenly took on a surprised and frightened countenance, as if discovering something new and terrifying. Naruto hardened his heart, for now, against the boy and the tomoe begin to spin a little faster, as he sent the little boy a not so welcome present, the image of the Kyūbi in all kyūbi's terrible glory, before the aperture was closed without warning.
Naruto turned back to his current prey as he brought them out of the Izanagi genjutsu. One of the strongest genjutsu known to the ninja world, it has historically, only been used as a defensive genjutsu, because the Uchiha who used it in the past would lose the use of one of their eyes for a time. However, if the user has access to some Senju DNA and its grafted into their body, the time of recuperation of that eye is reduced by the quantity of DNA entering the body. On the other hand, Naruto being a natural possessor of that DNA, and adding in his Uzumaki DNA, may use Izanagi, and Izanami, its counter, as many times as he chooses, and as an aggressive weapon.
The Kurosuki gang returned to awareness, and the other man that Naruto stabbed between the ribs, suddenly roared out in pain, and puked up blood before pitching forward to land face first in the mud. The other men recoiled from the sudden commotion, before realizing that they had just witnessed the demise of every one of their members. They ran their hands over themselves to assure them that they were indeed alive, but then they looked around and found two of their members dead, and from the exact same method of their demise as they had just witnessed. They looked around to the kid who only just smiled, "I could do this all day, gentlemen, well, at most five more times, before this becomes unnecessary, or until you get a clue and decide to leave. The choice is yours, individually or as a group, or as permanent residents of Raiga's Garden, you will leave this place and never look back," Naruto delivered his ultimatum, these hardened, adult men began to look at this thirteen-year-old kid like he was Shinigami made flesh.
One of them, however, was made of sterner stuff, or he was more arrogant than the others, began saying, "Come on, this is bullshit, he's just some punk kid…"
{ Naruto's Sharingan was spinning rapidly as he gazed into the eyes of every man present, he flicked the blood off of his blade, and in a demonic voice put the fear of the Three into each man's souls, "You vermin, are all going to die. There is no escape, you have sentenced good men to a fate worse than death, but I will be merciful to you and grant you all quick deaths."
Four of them, managed to unleash two sets of three steel claws from their gloves, which opened their stances. They obviously thought that maneuver would be necessary to keep them alive, and all it did was make them more vulnerable to the young ronin. One of them, sent an uppercut strike at Naruto's body, but Naruto moved inside his attack and slashed open his wrist, but before the pain could register, Naruto slashed him across his brachial artery. Another tried to deliver an overhead strike toward the crown of Naruto's head, only for the thirteen-year-old to duck under the attack and thrust down into his attacker's femoral artery, and the red-head was gone before the first drop of blood spurted out. Naruto's next two opponents tried trapping him between them, they used jumping and leaping tactics to try and confuse him, but he was not confused. As they passed the apex of both of their leaps, Naruto made a lightning fast slash upward, which sliced the heart in half. Naruto focused his Scorch chakra into his lungs, while following the arc of the leap and the last conscious Kurosuki, who had not yet figured out, that he was all alone in his attack, Naruto opened his mouth and a beam of incandescent, white flame burst forth in a laser straight line that connected itself to the head of the gang member. The last member of the Kurosuki Clan completed the arc of his leap, as a smoking headless corpse.} This time, two members of the gang had blood spurting from their bodies, one from two slashes on his arm, which began gushing blood like a fountain, and the other one, from a single puncture through a major artery in his leg.
"They'll be dead in about a minute," Naruto clinically informed the rest of them, "and there is nothing anyone can do to save them, unless they're, Tsunade Senju, no other doctor can save somebody once those particular arteries have been cut, all you can do is give them a merciful death." Naruto suddenly brandished Tokichi, and with only a small burst of speed, and two flashes of the Titan's Tongue metal, both men were decapitated, ending their suffering. Naruto slung their blood off Tokichi. He was wearing a grim smile on his face, it almost resembled a fox baring his teeth, as the light of vengeance filled his eyes.
The one who had spoken up earlier had looked on with astonished eyes, he had expected to be the one to die when he opened his big mouth. Which would have been preferable in his opinion, than to live down the shame of their gang getting decimated by a little kid. He turned his outraged eyes on the boy, "why did you do that, they were not challenging you," he shouted, "it was me, I'm the one who should've felt the brunt of your wrath when I spoke up before? Me, not them."
"Because you were the one that asked the question," Naruto answered, "it's the one who asked the question that should get answers. Believe it!" Naruto took a look around at the nearly full graveyard, "and who are you to chastise me about justice," he growled, "this place we're standing in, is filled with the lingering despair of your untold victims? Where was your righteous fury when you condemned them to slowly suffocate and die," Naruto whirled upon him and sent the last two members of the Kurosuki gang into another round of Izanagi?
{ Naruto's Sharingan was spinning rapidly as he gazed into the eyes of every man present, he flicked the blood off of his blade, and in a demonic voice put the fear of the Three into each man's souls, "You vermin, are all going to die. There is no escape, you have sentenced good men to a fate worse than death, but I will be merciful to you and grant you all quick deaths."
Naruto's next two opponents tried trapping him between them, they used jumping and leaping tactics to try and confuse him, but he was not confused. As they passed the apex of both of their leaps, Naruto made a lightning fast slash upward, which sliced the heart in half. Naruto focused his Scorch chakra into his lungs, while following the arc of the leap and the last conscious Kurosuki, who had not yet figured out, that he was all alone in his attack, Naruto opened his mouth and a beam of incandescent, white flame burst forth in a laser straight line that connected itself to the head of the gang member. The last member of the Kurosuki Clan completed the arc of his leap, as a smoking headless corpse.}
The man to the right of the man that spoke up in outrage at Naruto's tactics, his head was suddenly not there, and each of Naruto's targets lay exactly where they were in his genjutsu vision. Naruto was not just casting an illusion, he was rewinding time and excluding certain events from his protection, when he returned it to normal, temporal speed. Naruto turned to the man he had been arguing with, "you're the last, dumbass, soon the only lesson to be had will be for me," he informed his prey, he was neither smiling nor glowering, his eyes expressed only neutral resolve for what he would be called to do if he was pushed. "You will leave here, now, you will remember my face, and if I so much as catch a glimpse of you in a glass window after today, you, will, die," he said that last word with a whispered growl, and when the last conscious Kurosuki Clan member looked into Naruto's eyes, he knew that his words were not just a threat, they were a promise.
He immediately turned and started to run, and Naruto also turned and regarded his handiwork, the graveyard was now a butcher's yard. There was a sudden rush of air behind him, "you little bast…," and Naruto made a lightning fast slash, which sliced the heart in half, he flicked the blood off of his blade, and returned Tokichi to its scabbard. The last member of the Kurosuki Clan died, before he could take another step, "May the Three bless you and your companions, in the next life," Naruto said solemnly, without turning back. Naruto walked over to the metal coffin and it began to slowly peel apart at the lid, he found the man unconscious from fainting, and administered what aid was required for the man to revive.
Rokusuke came to with a start and a yell, until he saw the carnage laying around him, and looked at Naruto in astonishment, "did you do this, young man?"
Naruto just nodded solemnly, "The name is Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, and I tried to spare as many as I could, but they just would not listen to wisdom."
Rokusuke looked at Naruto, then smiled a grateful smile, "thank you, and I wouldn't beat yourself up about it too bad, if not for you, I would be dying as we speak. May I assume, that you were the one that rescued my best-friend, Kanpachi," he asked, and Naruto simply nodded.
"You will find him at the Curry of Life Shop on the road to here, he is being nursed back to health by one of the reformed Kurosuki gang, a local who seems to have been misled by the honeyed words of the wicked." At Rokusuke's doubtful eyes, Naruto finally smiled, "trust me, his mother will make sure he is thoroughly punished, for his foolishness. If you wish to see your friend, head up that way or head home, I'm going to tidy up here, then go find Raiga-teme," Naruto informed him, "I am not feeling inclined to be merciful toward him, it is time for him to go meet the Pillars." There was a sudden crack of thunder, lightning rolled through the mountains, and the sky let go with a catastrophic level of rain, as if Kami-sama was weeping for all of the blood spilt on this ground.
Naruto worked diligently, even in the pouring rain, and had finished his housekeeping chores in the graveyard. After sending Rokusuke off the Grandma Sansho's, Naruto removed the heads, to turn into the Office of Law Enforcement, for any bounties they may have on their heads, and ransacked the bodies for any belongings that could be sold for profit. This may sound morbid and even a little hypocritical after praying for their souls when he killed them, but in the way of the ninja, it was standard practice. It would not even be frowned upon if people learned about it. After going over their bodies and coming up with quite a few coins, and other trinkets, he stacked them near the wall of the escarpment, and incinerated their corpses, cloaks, and all. The heads were placed in a storage scroll, which, along with Tokichi, was placed within the Uzumaki Scroll. He banished that scroll to a safe place to prevent theft, then Naruto looked up into the high cliffs surrounding the rift valley, and with a smirk, said to nobody in particular, "Good luck, Boss," before dispelling and sending whatever remaining chakra back to his creator.
