Ello
How's it goin?
Shout out to PinkiePieParty122894, Inzaneamaru (haha it's a bit too early to confirm, mah dude), Antex-The Legendary Zoroarc (thank you, I tried my best), Arraia, lord 7th, TheKing91, saiyan prince1, Banjo the Fox (thanks for the review, man), KakeruPB (ayyy thanks for your words, bud), EPIC-FEIRYWOLF, zasqas and xirons20. Your all effing brilliant :)
I'm not gonna lie, I didn't think this story would get past a hundred anything. I mean, I wrote the first three chapters in January, so…
Anyway, this chapter is pretty long.
Enjoy.
CHAPTER 4
Naruto's eyes closed and he exhaled.
He sat down with a huff on a seat presented to him by his student and waved for the four vigilant chunin to leave. The ninjas took positions outside of the sentry building, far enough not to hear the conversation going on inside but close enough to double back and provide support in case of an attack on their country's supreme leader.
Naruto adjusted his black Leader's robe and handed his wide brimmed white and black hat to his assistant-slash student-Ketsueki Sakenomi, fondly called-by only Naruto-Sueki or Su. The young white haired woman took the large hat and stood behind her leader, a little bit to the side, her eyes lowered respectfully. Naruto crossed his right ankle over his left knee and sat back, relaxing his shoulders, his hidden arms crossed underneath the sleeves.
He tilted his head to the side and examined the two ninjas sitting before him, his gleaming blue eyes not giving much
Across from the masked leader sat two of the three legendary Sannin.
"Hello Naruto." Orochimaru began and smiled warmly, his yellow and black snake-like eyes closed as he mirrored the other man. Tsunade didn't look up from her medical book, only scoffing and turning a page. Neither of them acknowledged the disrespect, especially since Naruto was technically their superior whether or not they were Sannin. "How have you been?"
"I've been well. You look…" the masked ninja answered, pausing to sweep his eyes over the other male. "Older."
"Time takes its toll on everyone." Orochimaru answered with a small laugh. Of course he was deeply offended by the remark on his age, seeing as he was dedicating his life to reversing the effects of age to his own benefit, but he was more than used to the Dark Leader's offhanded pot-shots at that point.
"I appreciate that you didn't bring Jiraiya with you."
"Ah, yes," the man said with a sigh. "My teammate is less than tactful in negotiations. I convinced him not to come out of respect for you, Lord Naruto." The snake Sannin stressed his former students title and Naruto hummed with his eyes unperceptively narrowed.
"I mean I would have had him arrested for his irritating attempts at infiltrating my country."
"Are you so confident you are able to apprehend him? An imbecile he may be but he is still the Toad Sage."
"I wouldn't say it if I didn't have my ways." The leader answered right away.
"Ah, of course. You are the dreaded Ghost, are you not?" the man said with a small snort, waving his hands a little above his head. "You have a reputation in Fire country, you know."
"…I know."
"You're now almost akin to the bogey man, Lord Naruto." The man closed his eyes and tutted. "I'll admit…I envy your infamy."
Naruto stared at his former teacher for ten long, painfully silent seconds, before he said. "I've got a very busy day ahead of me, Orochi, so why don't you cut the crap and tell me why you're both here."
Tsunade closed her book with a loud snap and looked up at the boy, her eyebrows twitching with suppressed frustration. "Is that how you talk to your teacher, brat."
Sueki looked up and her blood red eyes constricted, looking straight at the Slug Sage with eyes as hollow as a dead corpse. Naruto lifted his hand and she stood down but her fingers remained clenched, angered at the utter disrespect to her master. "Matter of fact, yes." He raised a single finger and then said. "And he's not my teacher anymore." His finger dropped and his eyes remained unchanged in spite of the venom seeping out of hers. His next question surprised them.
"Did the Sandaime send you here to strong arm me into submitting my country back under him or did he send you here to assassinate me?"
The frankness of his question visibly took them off guard and Naruto's eyes curved up into a smile.
"Which is it?"
"…How are you so sure we're not here for a peaceful alliance meeting?"
"Then, of course, I would have been notified through a message through any of my sentries a week prior to today." As per the unwritten protocol of countries attempting to ally with another country. "I can give three more reasons why you two are here for my head and my country," he said, lifting three fingers then flipping his hand airily. "But I'm sure you two can think of them."
"Lord Sandaime only wants what's best for Dark country." Orochimaru said and Naruto settled back. He could see the slight laughing tinge in the blonde man's cerulean blue eyes. "You see…there are a lot of bad people in the world, some who would resort to…underhanded means to steal, kill and rape your country." Naruto didn't move, silently listening. "Using any means necessary to take the bountiful resources of your naturally rich nation. My Hokage…all he wants is for such a prosperous country, like yours," here Naruto's head lowered and he looked at his former teacher with gradually darkening eyes. "To not fall into the hands of such…such…delinquents."
"…So…?"
"He, Lord Sandaime, wants Dark country to be under the protection of the Leaf." The snake man sharply raised his hands and clarified. "Not under Fire country but under Konoha. Konoha is known to successfully protect its friends, that is why many villages rush to ally with the Hidden Leaf…"
Naruto's pointer finger rhythmically tapped on his knee.
The snake man smiled widely and spread out his empty hands before him. "I'm not sure you've noticed, Lord Naruto, but there are some very greedy men and women eying your country's resources; the obsidian mines, the gold mines, the fish, the chakra trees, all of them…and they are poised, ever ready to ambush and take it all from you."
Sueki silently looked at her leader as he leaned forward and perched his forearms onto his knees, lacing his fingers together and looking straight at the duo. A bad feeling welled up in her gut…
And it wasn't from Orochimaru or Tsunade.
Her hands, hidden in her long sleeves, flexed and clenched.
"All we want is a small slice of your riches…an insignificantly small slice…you'll barely even know it's gone." The black haired man smirked. "Fifty percent of all your monthly profits, including obsidian steel gathered from your mines and trees cut down from your forests." The man dusted his hands and held them up, as if in surrender. "That's it."
Naruto's shoulders trembled briefly as he laughed under his breath. "Is that all?"
The duo looked at each other, then Tsunade nodded. "Yes, that's all."
"I want you to go back to Konoha and I want you to tell the Sandaime something. It's very important, ok?" the former teacher could see it coming, he really could, and he smirked in amusement and looked down, shaking his head. Naruto ignored the man and stood up, his glowing blue eyes boring burning holes into the top of the silently laughing man's head as he continued. "I want you to tell your Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi…to kiss my ass."
Tsunade shot to her feet in outrage but Naruto beat her to the punch.
"Get the fuck out of my country."
The leader turned around with a swish and Sueki deftly pulled his chair out of his path and he briskly walked to the exit. The girl bowed slightly as he passed her and she started walking beside him, a quarter of a step behind him.
Naruto ground to a halt.
He looked over his shoulder and said. "Do you really want to do that?"
In a blaze of speed, Orochimaru had slithered over to Naruto and wrapped his snake-transformed arms around his ex-student, his yellow and black eyes shining brightly as his jaw unhinged, elongating and wrapping around Naruto's neck once, his fangs just about to bite into the back of the Leader's head.
It happened so quickly.
Orochimaru hissed and his eyes curved up maniacally. "Assassination it is."
The masked man hummed. "Your White Snake Sage form truly is something to fear, old man." The man hissed, both in appreciation for the offhanded compliment and in offense at the shot at his age. "I bet you're also going to swallow me whole and imitate me huh. Sell Dark to Konoha, once again."
The position Orochimaru was in was inescapable; his fangs were less than a millimetre from the back of the leader's head, his arms and body were wrapped tight around Naruto's body and the sage chakra flowing through his body would prevent Naruto from dispersing into smoke so easily.
"You're forgetting someone."
"Tsunade has her covered." Orochimaru snarled wolfishly.
"Does she really?"
The man's eyes bulged when he felt a small poke to his side.
Sueki, as emotionless as ever, held a white senbon with a red liquid inside to the man's torso, between the bottom of his flak jacket and the top of his pants, and held out another senbon under Tsunade's chin.
The woman stood on her toes, trying not to get poked by the lethal medical needle, and her hands were open at her side. Her teeth were grit in frustration as the tip grazed under her chin; she suppressed her breathing and swallowed, ensuring not to touch it anymore.
"You have two options." The Leader of Darkness said as his student held both Sannin by their lives.
A drop of sweat rolled down Orochimaru's side the deadly sharp needle poked further. The bloodline of the blonde's student swirling at the ready in the white haired lay's body and the blood-filled needles. If the needle entered and Sueki's blood, which were in the needle, entered his bloodstream, sage or not, he should consider himself a dead man.
Tsunade seemed to know this too.
The fact that it was the dual bloodline user that taught the last Vampire Blood bloodline holder.
They only vaguely knew of the kekkai genkai, as it was one of the rarest on the planet, though they, as well as possibly everyone, knew of Sueki's reputation. The high A rank was nearly as infamous as her teacher.
She wasn't called Blood, The Vampire Empress for nothing.
"Either you let me go." Naruto said calmly, his expressionless student looked between both trapped ninjas. "Or…" he rolled out, his eyes glinting at the palpable tension in the small sentry building. "You don't let me go…and risk having your precious village razed to the ground by your own hands." his voice darkened and Naruto's loyal student stayed poised, less than a split second ready to plunge the needles into them.
In spite of the snake sage chakra ebbing from Orochimaru, thin black mist wafted from Naruto's body and his visage darkened.
Orochimaru realized something at that moment.
His ex-student had grown.
A lot.
Thirteen year old Naruto was very different from twenty four year old Naruto.
"You have till the count of two to make up your mind." the foundations of the building shook as Naruto's killer intent pulsed out of him in deadly waves, freezing Tsunade back in place as the older blonde was about to sealessly shunshin away from Sueki. Her eyes dilated in terror, her blood ran cold and her skin visibly paled. Of Orochimaru, it was like a boulder had settled in his throat.
He couldn't breathe.
His nature chakra remained but the fear-the terrible, unsettling, tormenting fear-still wrapped itself around his brain and squeezed his senses mercilessly.
He couldn't see.
The smoke pulsating from Naruto's rigid form blocked all view, filling up the interior of the sentry house and never once escaping outside to notify the chunin or his other ninjas.
He couldn't hear.
There was a palpable sound of nothingness ringing in the blackness. A horror inducing sound of being alone, alone with a being that-though he was wrapped around Naruto with the strength of a constrictor-could reduce him to ash.
He tongue flicked out, tasting the air, and he tasted nothing.
The snake man grinned.
This Naruto was very much different than the one he knew.
The killer intent he was feeling was choking the life out of him.
Sueki could not feel the effects of her master's carefully suppressed rage. Nor should she, for she was a friend to the dual bloodline holder.
"One-"
Orochimaru unwound from around Naruto but Sueki kept her needle to his abdomen. Naruto snapped his fingers and the smoke seeped back into his body, rushing noisily into his hands and his bright blue eyes, until there was absolutely nothing left, not even a trace of the Leader of the Dark's potent wrath.
Assassination mission: Failed.
The mission had always been to kill Naruto when he was off guard and pose as him as the Leader of the Dark but Orochimaru, feeling some sense of pity for the leader, wanted to give Naruto a chance to save his life by agreeing to the Sandaime's-admittedly-outrageous terms. The snake summoner didn't want to say it was because Naruto was his former student but because a talent like Naruto should not be snuffed out without being sufficiently utilized.
Dark's border has so far been impenetrable and the ninjas stationed to patrol the border have been formidable but Konoha was still a super power. Younger than Darkness, yes, no one could deny that, but they were more specialized than any other village, country or nation. They weren't the strongest hidden village for nothing.
Naruto turned around and glared at the scientist.
"If we go back to Konoha," Orochimaru said with a smile. "And we fail to provide a correct chain of numbers and letters to the gatekeepers, then they will automatically assume we are under her control." He said, nodding to the impassive girl holding his life at her fingertips. "If somehow she is able to figure out the code to enter the village, we will not be allowed in by the seals once they recognize a foreign, unwanted entity in our blood." Naruto's hands unclenched and his eyes cooled down. The snake could see the smirk in the ghost's eyes. "If she attempts to summon with our blood, which I'm sure would succeed, then my snakes and her slugs would immediately know something is off and activate a seal somewhere on our bodies that would take us down."
Naruto slowly nodded. "I see you came prepared to die."
No doubt the mission to subjugate Darkness was not documented.
No one was aware of their exit from the village.
The Hokage was ready with an excuse that he sent them to some obscure location to secure some obscure object.
Jiraiya could be a witness.
Konoha's allies would fall down on Darkness and not even their strong borders could withstand the joint attack from all of the Leaf's allies.
Not for long anyway.
If Naruto ended up killing them then Konoha would be justified in invading Dark country.
"You're forgetting something again, Orochi."
"And what is that, Lord Naruto."
Naruto smiled so much his eyes closed. "I've got it all on video."
The Konoha ninjas eyes snapped around and they saw a small glint at the top corner of the small building, behind the wall-to-wall long desk of the sentries.
Naruto chuckled deeply. "Did you think we were so poor as to not be able to afford security cameras?"
Darkness wasn't poor, not by a long shot.
No decent village, country or nation would want to stay allied to a village that would secretly-or openly, for that matter-bully small countries into submission, not after the cluster fuck that was the Second Great Ninja War.
Villages like Suna, Waterfall, Tea and Tree would pull out of Konoha's alliance immediately once they saw the video-seeing both the threat and the attempted assassination. Those villages made up a significant bulk of the Leaf's allies and without them, Darkness had a chance.
"I like your confidence, Orochimaru." Naruto said. "It is so entertaining to watch how you planned this covert mission so perfectly…yet it fell apart at how much Konoha looks down on my country."
Still, Naruto couldn't have his country fight another war, especially with the Uzushio alliance still fresh and primed with potential. The trauma of the past civil war was still on every Dark citizen's mind and the apprehension was the main emotion when it came to the oncoming alliances. There were also the many wonderful plans Naruto and Torune had in respect for the Dark-Whirlpool alliance. Naruto didn't want to throw all the development the alliance would bring away over another war.
Perspiration broke out on Orochimaru's forehead as Naruto grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and forced him to look into his eyes; sky blue clashed with bright yellow. Naruto was about the same height as the Sannin, so there wasn't much of an issue. The issue was that Orochimaru and Tsunade just might die over the greed of the Leaf.
The senbon poking the side of Orochimaru's stomach slid into Sueki's sleeve.
"Tell your Hokage," Naruto said in a low, dangerously calm voice. "That if any Konoha ninja ever comes near my borders…I will have them executed on the spot. They would be used as sport for the animals in the Dark Forest. Their blood would be used to nurture saplings."
Torture.
Agony.
Mayhem.
Death.
Orochimaru saw it all in the other man's serene blue eyes.
"There will be no mercy." Naruto promised, his demonically deep voice chilling the ninjas to the bone. Despite his terror, Orochimaru smiled shakily. "And if your Hokage is persistent…if he truly wants war…then I will be the one to have his head."
There was nothing after death.
Not by his hands.
Naruto solemnly promised, swearing on his own life, that he would show the Hokage the way into the void of death and ease him into the vortex of no escape.
The Leader of the Dark pushed the Sannin away and Sueki sheathed her other senbon with a muted click. Naruto's voice returned back to normal as he turned around once again to leave, taking back his leaders hat and placing it on his head. "Make sure you deliver my message."
Blood hurried after the Ghost, barely sparing the two legends another glance.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Ambitious Spirit Café
"Black coffee, please, no sugar, no cream." He looked at his student and the girl said.
"Green tea with honey, please."
"Right away, my lord, madam." The waitress said and bowed to Naruto and then to Sueki, scribbling down their orders.
"Oh and some hot buns too, we haven't had breakfast yet."
"Of course, sir." It was ten in the morning and they had just returned from their disastrous meeting with the Leaf envoy. The boat from Whirlpool had set off close to six in the morning and it had taken them three hours to sail back to Darkness, where the leader had immediately gone to speak with the two Sannin so as to stave off the risk of them getting impatient and storming past his defences somehow. They were hungry and they were tired but there was work to be done.
"We'll be in our booth."
The lady bowed again and hurried to the back to brew their orders, picking out a few fresh, steaming buns from the oven as the Leader of the country held open the curtain into a booth at the far back of the café and Sueki ducked inside, Naruto followed after and took his place on one side of the round table and his assistant sat down across from him, on the other side of the semi-circular chair Naruto too was sitting on. he gave her his hat, once again, and this time she sealed it away.
"Your reaction time was great, Su. Well done."
The woman bobbed her head appreciatively, hiding her glowing red eyes. "Thank you, sensei." She began to set up items on the table; several empty scrolls, a brush and a black ink pot, some letters and lastly she pulled back her left sleeve and checked her wrist watch. "I'm positive you would have handled it fine even if I wasn't there."
"It would have been troublesome escaping Orochi's snake form." Naruto shrugged, picking up the brush and twirling it in his hand. "What do we have today?"
"The daimyo of River sent you another letter," the fourth one. "That he wants the Dark-River alliance to stress more on trade but military and defence can be a secondary issue of discussion." She rolled open the letter the old daimyo sent and pointed at a few parts where the white haired assistant had helpfully circled where she had just spoken about. "He also said that he wouldn't be able to come himself because of his sickness, so he will be sending his eldest son for the alliance talks." She highlighted the River Lords fervent apologies for not being able to attend. "He has also invited you to the Annual River Festival next month; his son will formally invite you when he arrives."
"Tell him that I am saddened he is ill and I wish for him to recover as soon as possible. I do not mind a primarily trade-based alliance, as I can see active trade between Darkness and River will be to our mutual advantage. His son is welcome and I will have to hold my answer to his invitation for later, as I am not sure if I will be free by then. A few of my ninjas will be at the border waiting for them." Sueki jotted down his words and made a mental note to expand them into a full letter later that day.
The curtains swished open and the waitress came in with a tray. On that tray were two mugs, one of coffee and the other tea, and their hot buns. She graciously dropped them in the middle of the table, away from the letters and scrolls.
"We'll be here for maybe an hour. Please make sure we're not disturbed."
The woman noticed the scrolls on the table. "Take as much time as you want, my lord."
She left them soon after.
Naruto faced his student and said. "Send a message to Shiruba Hogo and Kin Gado." Two clan heads from the four northern clans that had bloodlines that specialized in defence. "To start increasing our border security. Tell them that we're pushing forward the date to close off our borders completely from non-allies."
Sueki left to deliver the message, leaving Naruto to his thoughts.
The border till that point had been powered primarily by Naruto's Smoke release and an array of seals from a fuinjutsu specialized clan, the Chui-Inku clan but that had been a short term plan so that the people still in Darkness that were from soon-to-be-allied nations could go back and forth with little difficulty but under strict border checks, but now that the threat of an imminent invasion from Konoha loomed over the Dark country, Naruto had no other choice than to create a stronger barrier with the support of the two defence-based clans.
It was going to be a wall built across the border of the country, curving from the west to east, thousands and thousands of miles long, and that wall would have a few openings on major roads leading into Dark country. These openings would be large gates manned by his ninjas to carefully check those that intended to enter the country. The Dark Forest would be the only place not encompassed by the wall, as the forest itself was a defence mechanism.
Dark citizens and Uzushio, as well as the soon-to-be-allied nations would be administered special, painless tattoos to the back of their hands that they would show to the gatekeepers when they wanted to enter or leave the country. The seal-tattoo would be verified by the gatekeepers and an invisible barrier they would have to pass to gain entry. Anyone that had a fake, forged tattoo or had somehow torn it from the skin of its real bearer would be immediately detected and taken out.
The seals on the wall would be harsh; Naruto's order was for no one to hold back in building or seal reinforcing the wall.
The Darkness Leader wasn't going to be taking any chances with Konoha, not when they still had a lot to do.
The wall would essentially prevent any ambush or surprise attack and ward off those that intended to set up a criminal underworld in Naruto's country.
Darkness used to be a quiet country that seldom involved itself in fights that didn't concern it. It was this relative peace that attracted nearly war torn villages like Suna and Kiri citizens, Uzushio joined in because Dark could have been a super power-with the six bloodline clans and their specialized ninjas-but had taken the comfortable position of staying in the background and allowing external events to run its course, much like Uzushio. Darkness never once planned for world domination or the invasion of another nation, the borders were essentially open to those that could keep the peace.
The civil war had changed that mindset.
A lot.
Darkness was an old country, almost as old as Uzushio, and the civil war from seven years ago had erased their trust in anyone but themselves.
Though Suna and River had not done anything bad to them, they hadn't done anything good either, especially not during the civil war. Kiri and Uzushio were the only places that helped evacuate people from Dark country to safety amid the chaos of the second ninja war. Naruto couldn't blame Suna and River for their inactivity though, and gradually the rest of Dark country couldn't blame them either.
Suna was in the thick of the second war and were painfully shorthanded, focusing their efforts on their own village not being destroyed from the skirmishes raging across their country, coming in from Ame, Stone and Rock. While River didn't have any fighters well-equipped to help in any way; they were a trading country. The most they could do was smuggle food into Darkness but that was few and far in between.
Naruto had a long term plan to revive his country and following the former plan of suppressing the Might of the Dark People was not in that plan.
He was going to make Dark country into a super power that far surpassed Konoha.
Konoha had seven clans-including Kurama clan to make it eight-so it would explain why it was the most powerful hidden village on the planet.
Naruto was an assassin.
Shinobi of the Dark specialized in assassination, and other quieter, more covert arts.
The Leader of the Dark was going to make Darkness a dominant country. Though, abiding to the specialization of his country, he wasn't going to publicize their rise.
Unlike before, they would rise in the shadows, in secret, and come out as dominant when the situation demanded it.
Sueki returned ten minutes later, after sending a messenger eagle to the two northern clans Naruto had directed to begin construction of the wall. The two clan heads of the Hogo and Gado clans would first meet the head of the Chui-Inku clan and inform him of their leaders command, whereas the Grim Ink Art bloodline clan would begin constructing a suitable seal to place on the walls and the Permission Tattoos on the back of the people's hands. The Defence clans would start construction as the Ink clan started designing seals.
They didn't question the command.
Not on why their leader had pushed forward the date for the construction or why he did it so suddenly, without prior warning.
The Chui-Inku clan would report to Sueki weekly on their progress.
From Naruto's investigation, Sueki-and her dead parents-were from the Chui-Inku clan, under a small subdivision of the clan that, instead of controlling and manipulating ink, controlled and manipulated blood. The majority of the blood users had been wiped out during the civil war by a bloody boldfaced attack from the Royal clan and Kiriagakure ninjas had only been able to aid Sueki and her parents escape to a small town on the outskirts of Ame, far from the warfare.
That was where Naruto and the others met Ketsueki Sakenomi.
Sueki or, as she was known in the bingo books, Blood, was a special case.
Both of her parents were civilians, though still blood users, and until she met her fellow Dark country refugee she had been resolved to being a civilian as well.
Orochimaru did not get the chance to see what Sueki could do, mainly because Naruto had put his foot down on involving the little girl in his teachers training, but he knew the bare basics of what she could do; control her blood.
It was much more than that.
Much more.
Like what her clan could do with ink, Sueki could use her blood to create various weapons and tools, only as long as said blood was outside of her body. While the blood was inside her body, she could use it to strengthen her muscles, harden her skin and, with a sharp increase of blood to her kidneys and her legs, shoot up her adrenaline and thus drastically increase her speed for a prolonged period of time. This was usually kill anyone else but for someone that could manipulate her own blood, she could easily filter out the excess adrenaline that hadn't been burnt away from the activity once she was done and store it in her body for later use. She also had control on whether or not the blood outside of her body would clot or not. Naruto had trained her to replenish a set of special senbon that she could fill with her blood and use as weapons. Once the needle jammed into its target, and her blood seeped into their victim's bloodstream, then she would have the white and red blood cells overcome that of the target, thus making them an extension of Sueki's will.
A human puppet she could control with an errant thought.
She could make them fight their comrades, gradually or rapidly destroy their internal organs, use them as spies behind enemy lines-as long as there were blood seals or sensors about-and she could extend her blood control to their chakra, but this took a toll on her so Naruto instructed her to do this only when she had no other choice. Having her blood readily in senbon prevented her from having to slit her wrist on the battlefield, an action that would take a considerable amount of time. She wasn't a sensor but she was able to pick up the smell of her targets blood in the air, differentiate them and deduce their heart rate, even if the blood was in their body.
As the woman unclipped her half face mask and rattled on with letters from the Kazekage and the Mizukage, Naruto noticed something linked to another branch of her abilities; her teeth.
Her pristine sharp, needle-like canines.
Now no longer than normal canines, she could extend them to be one and a half inches long and no less lethally sharp.
Naruto had once watched her suck the blood out of an Iwa Kunoichi till there was absolutely nothing left, leaving the attacking ninja as dry as a husk. This was at a stage of her development that she moved and attacked impulsively and instinctively. She was thirteen and Naruto had tasked her to knock out her first opponent, the Iwa Kunoichi, with only a set of kunai and shuriken.
Somehow, a drop of blood landed in her mouth.
She lost her mind.
Naruto had to subdue her before she succumbed to her blood lust.
When she came to, remerging from the forced unconsciousness from her master, she felt so much shame, she had been unable to look or speak to her teacher for days.
At her insistence, Naruto taught her how to sneak up on an unsuspecting target and she would only drain a little blood from his neck. The effects were the same as her using her needles to inject her blood into the victim's body, though with the added benefit of using the victim to utilize jutsu much easier.
One drop of her opponents blood, whether accidental or not, was enough to end any fight.
The problem was that even with her considerable amount of skills in sneak attacks, assassination, infiltration, subterfuge and hunting, biting the neck of her opponent became harder and harder as her opponents got stronger and stronger.
One fateful week, after a long string of victories, she became overconfident.
The memory was enough to make Sueki pause and groan, rubbing her forehead.
Naruto smiled slightly.
She was sixteen and she was cocky.
She challenged her teacher, Naruto, to an all-out fight.
Her reason for this was so as to prove to Naruto, her idol, and to herself that she could stand shoulder to shoulder with him in battle. Her idea was that after soundly defeating her master, she would convince him to retire forever and she would devote the rest of her life to protecting him.
That was the plan.
Her abilities were fairly overpowered, she thought, they should be more than enough to beat her master.
She had been so arrogant that day it took everything in Naruto's being to not laugh at her.
She was so damn cute, and the masked man kept reminding her of that fact as many times as he could.
Naruto had beaten her thoroughly.
After beating her into a ragged pulp and crushing her into the ground, he picked her up and subsequently put her into a somewhat simple but no less deadly standing submission hold-a choke hold using his arms and not his hands, standing behind her.
She put up a valiant struggle against his iron grip, clawing and scratching at his forearm, gasping for precious air but his arms stayed firm on her throat.
"Quit." He whispered darkly, tightening his hold. "I want you to quit."
In spite of the thrashing, the pained girl had refused to tap out and allowed herself to slip into blissful unconsciousness.
The next day, she came back to Naruto, penitent, humbled, and begged him for more training.
The beating had humbled her.
He acknowledged that even in her sorry state, after pounding her into the ground, she didn't tap out to his submission hold.
He gave her credit for preferring unconsciousness-and the slight risk of death by asphyxiation-than giving up.
Naruto was nothing if not a tough teacher.
It seemed master and student had the same pleasant-depending on how you see it-flashback.
Sueki bashfully coughed into her fist and continued her summary of the Kazekage's letter.
"The value of the ryu in Suna-and most of Wind country-is overinflated. Most food commodities are expensive; this is because the desert sand yields little to nothing for them to eat, so they have to import their food from Stone and Grass. The traders from Grass are too slow in transporting goods, as they have to pass around Ame and circumvent Fire country's borders, and the traders from Stone inflate the price of their goods." The day-walking, human food eating vampire scratched her right eyebrow and Naruto hummed, perching his chin in his pointer and middle finger, listening carefully. "That was what your spies were able to gather from a little digging; no interrogation or library studies. They observed it all from the buildings and the people."
She brought out a few black and white pictures Naruto's ninjas had taken.
The buildings were made out of clay bricks; they were small and huddled together. People did anything to get food and the poverty of the shinobi village was apparent. The Wind daimyo seemed not to careless for the state of his country's only ninja village.
Naruto felt sorry for them, but he wasn't obligated to help, per say, not yet anyway.
This was all information the Kazekage didn't want to divulge, though Naruto would be doing a great disservice if he didn't look into the Village Hidden in the Sands to confirm they wouldn't turn around and betray the Darkness.
Suna had a few ninjas but they were undisputedly strong.
Darkness was a closer neighbour to Suna-their western neighbour, to be more specific-so the trade routes would be shorter and more in number.
"What does the Kazekage want from the alliance?" Naruto asked and Sueki flipped through two newly delivered letters from the current Kage of Suna.
"A military and trade alliance." she answered, showing her leader where she circled the main points. "What he could say over the letter was that he will allow some of his puppet masters to teach in our schools if give Suna a loan."
"Did he say how much?"
"No." his assistant murmured after flipping through more letters. "But he did say he will go over the details at his arrival."
"What do you think, Sueki?"
"I think their intentions are honest." She nodded, rolling up the Kazekage's letters and setting them aside, saying. "Aside from the fact that we have a few of our people living in Suna, we have uncovered open plans for Suna to begin construction of a large-scale farm, one with loamy soil that can be used to grow crops that are able to weather the hot sun as long as there is the appropriate soil present. They do not have the funds or expert manpower to dig the sand and import the soil." She laced her fingers together as Naruto continued.
"The best place to set up this large farm aside from near Stone and Ame, is close to Dark country." he nodded at his analysis; Stone would leach off of the farm if it was near them and Ame was too secretive at the moment, Suna was wary. "If the farm is established, funds or not, they would still need the prolonged help of my people to maintain it."
Suna needed irrigation and Darkness could readily provide. Suna needed silos and Darkness could build. Suna needed capital and Darkness could provide.
"I know that if my ninjas are able to utilize the puppet arts it would be a great boost to my ninja force," Naruto said quietly, his assistant jotted down his reflective words, not for a future letter though. "But they really can't honestly think that I would pour in that much time and effort for just puppetry training."
"Suna has coal mines and oil fields." Sueki supplied.
"Oh?"
She nodded honestly. "They also have an abundance of medicinal herbs and medical ninjas."
Naruto pursed his lips and muttered. "Which would explain the low mortality rate mentioned in the report, despite the hunger and dehydration."
"Hai, they have been selling oil to Fire country and Iwa for years now but at a deflated price, because that is the highest they can get." The reason being other nations saw natural gas as superior to oil.
"Well that's stupid." Naruto grunted.
"Sorry?"
Naruto realized that his student couldn't read his former thoughts. "I mean them thinking natural gas is better than oil. Oil, when properly refined, can be of so much use."
"Of course, sensei."
"If we secure an alliance with Suna, we can tar all of our roads." Sparing some of his ninjas to build for Suna and a significant portion of his country's money didn't seem so unworkable after all.
The masked man could actually see a long lasting alliance with Suna.
"I predict the Kazekage would bring all of this up in our alliance talk."
"I have noted it all down, just in case."
"Thanks. We'll devise a strategy for handling the Suna alliance later this evening but for now," he rubbed his hands and sipped his almost forgotten mug of coffee. "Kiri."
Like with Suna and River, where they had allowed Dark ninjas to subtly scout out their territories but not divulging village secrets, and vice versa, the Mizukage had allowed Naruto's ninjas in to look around. The ninjas were respectful enough to not look for trouble by digging too deep.
Reports were first passed through Sueki and then to Naruto.
"There are only three locations that are…how should I say it…'blessed'…with bloodline users." The teacher said and Sueki scribbled in another jotter, her personal jotter, the one she used to write down any lesson he gave her. "Konoha, Kiri and Darkness." He listed them off with his fingers. "Any other place have at least one or two clans. Some have no bloodlines at all, like Snow and Kumo, but that doesn't make their ninjas any less dangerous." Kumo was among the strongest hidden villages, ranked second, and they had zero bloodline holders. "A village doesn't need bloodline holders to be strong, not necessarily, but if they do have them then they are to be treasured."
That was exactly what Naruto was doing with the six clans and the clanless in his country. They were all different yet they were all united.
"Sadly…Kiri doesn't truly honour their bloodline holders."
"Yes, sensei." The vampire brought out some reports and pointed with a slender finger at a few circled points. "It says here that there are numerous in-fighting, quarrels, squabbles, fights and whatnot between different clans at different times. The Mizukage is mostly concerned with keeping the conflict from spilling into the clanless and the civilians but has admitted that he encourages the fighting so as to 'strengthen their camaraderie'" she quoted. "I would admit…it is strange that after so many years of these internal fights, it has never once escalated to a full blown civil war. No lives were lost and not much property damage."
"'It all ends after only a few days'?" Naruto read. "Maybe I read them wrong?"
"Sensei?"
"I'm sure you remember our time in Kiri." She nodded slowly, unsure of where he was going. "I constantly saw people butting heads and yelling, so my assessment of them wasn't so positive." He was honestly surprised when he came to find out that the Kiri ninjas-or people from Kiri-were decent people, some had even helped refugees escape the bloodshed of the civil war. "But aren't they a village of hunter ninjas? Hostile emotions leaks and forms killer intent and that warns the enemy of their approach, isn't that Hunter Ninja 101? Suppressing their hostility should be their main priority."
His eyes widened and Sueki paused from her frantic writing, ravenously devouring her teacher's words.
"Or…" he looked down and sipped the coffee again through his mask, his shoulders shook with muted laughter. "They release their repressed negative emotions on one another but not to the extent that it would result in the loss of a life." The woman's eyes shone with hidden confusion. "You see…hunters are meant to suppress their emotions, mainly their negative emotions. Their target will sense their aggression from afar and flee, sensor or not. Killer intent is very potent. Storing up their negativity for up to a week takes a toll on even the best ninja, so they take out their bottled up anger on each other, while still considering how much they release. In other words, they violently blow off steam on each other." The student tilted her head to the side. "Do you ever feel angry, Sueki?"
"Of course, sensei."
"If for some reason you are to hold in your anger for a week, how do you deal with suppressed anger?"
"I hunt animals in the Dark Forest."
"Good. We all have our ways of expelling our pent up emotions."
"How do you do it, sensei?"
"I eat."
"…That explains a lot."
Naruto chuckled. "Yup." Two buns disappeared as they neared his mask. "The Mizukage's words make more sense now huh."
"They do." She wrote it down. "You taught me how to suppress my emotions long ago. You mentioned that it is an essential tool that most shinobi prefer not to learn."
"Emotions drive people to do rash things." He then pointed out. "If I succumbed to my emotions and killed Orochimaru and Tsunade, video or not, we will have been driven into a brick wall by Konoha. Uzushio would have helped but the devastation would erase any development we made and any development we would make." He leaned forward and tapped her forehead with his pointer and middle fingers, his bright eyes turning up into a genial smile. "As an assassin…bearing emotions while on a mission is detrimental to your health and the health of your comrades. Having them is not bad, not completely, but having them at the wrong time might cost you your life."
Her eyes glazed over as she looked at him. Adoration was plain on her pale, unmasked face, and her mouth fell open ever so slightly as he tapped her forehead again.
"Do you understand, Sueki?"
"H-Hai, Naruto-sensei." She said shakily.
He pat her head and sat back. "Great. What does Kiri intend to do that is of benefit to Darkness?" she blinked owlishly, trying to pull herself out of her daze, and the leader laughed to himself. "Su~"
"Oh…Ah…Uhh…" her lips wiggled in embarrassment and her heart fluttered in her chest, clamouring joyfully at the brief contact. She riffled through the reports and the official letters before her, fighting for control over her heart again, struggling to put a stopper over her wild emotions, and presented a neatly written summary she had made herself on the state of Kiriagakure. She cleared her throat and said, as he read. "They do not have many natural resources to spare in the alliance but he has insisted on both a trade and military alliance; he would share his ninjas with Darkness if Darkness is willing to set up businesses in Kiri. The Mizukage has acknowledged that Kiri doesn't have much information to share on being hunters," seeing as Darkness was a country of assassins. "But he is ready to compensate your lack of benefit in the alliance by sending thirty eight percent of their monthly mission requests to this country, an even split among all five classes-S, A, B, C, D and E class-and see to it that a railway to and from Kiri is built."
"Why a railway?" Naruto asked, recalling the map of the continent; there was a considerable distance between Kiri and Darkness, and there was also the notable fact that to directly reach Kiri, they had to traverse the ocean towards the east. "I remember you saying they don't have many resources to spare."
She shrugged. "Public transportation, completing missions easier, exchanging information…that's all I can think of."
"Hmmm…" the leader scratched his chin and thought deeply. "They do have a lot of mission requests." He noticed his student shrug. "Mission requests and a mysterious railway aren't going to be enough to solidify an alliance, especially with me having to set up shops in Kiri, shops that would increase revenue in Hidden Mist. Darkness would get its own spike in mission requests in a few years and our Uzushio alliance is beneficial enough to cover the three points the Mizukage brought up." Mission requests, railway and ninjas. "For this one…I'm not sure what the Mizukage would bring to the table." He leaned forward onto his elbows and nibbled on a bun, his eyes sparkled with intrigue. "I'm…interested to hear what he has to say."
Kiri was indeed the one asking for an alliance, like with Suna and River-and Uzushio before-and so it was the unwritten task of the village requesting for an alliance to properly write down, in full detail, what they would provide in the course and what they would like in return. The Hidden Mist would, at this point, know that there was little it could provide for a truly symbiotic relationship with Dark country, so Naruto honestly wondered what the Mizukage would come up with in the alliance.
The possibility of sharing knowledge of how to create the much fabled, Legendary Seven Swords of the Mist crossed his mind but he cast it aside.
Infamous hunter ninjas aside, their Seven Swords were what set them apart from the rest of the major hidden villages.
Iwa had their massive ninja population and their mountainous region.
Kumo were speed freaks and the village was super rich.
Konoha had their clans and the Will of Fire, as pointless as that sounded.
Lastly, Suna had the desert, people who could adapt to different terrains and their puppet masters.
Naruto reached for more buns and grasped at nothing, he looked down and sighed at the empty platter.
"Hey, Su." He called and his student looked up, twirling an inked brush in her thin fingers and trying to think of words eloquent and polite enough to address the current Kazekage to use in the letter that would be written later. "I was thinking we check up on the Tower's construction."
They still had nine and a half months before the Dark Leader's Tower was complete.
Whirlpool had wanted to help but Naruto had refused; the Tower would be Dark country's most important monument, an image of strength and power that could very well be seen and felt from far and wide.
It was the sole responsibility of the People of the Dark to build such a great monument.
"We can go now." She said, packing up the scrolls and letters and sealing them into a storage seal on her right inner upper arm. Using that same chance, she smoothly unsealed his wide brimmed hat and he popped it onto his head.
"Are you sure you don't want to rest a bit more?"
"I'm sure. Let's go."
They ducked out of the booth and as the waitress saw them, she waved, calling at them before they could approach. "It's on the house, my lord."
Naruto bowed slightly in appreciation and left the café, Sueki followed behind him with a flurry of her black robes.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The Hokage's Tower
Konohagakure
"He has a security camera? So what?" the Sandaime said through clenched teeth. He exhaled slowly and placed his elbows on his desk, lacing his fingers before him and closing his eyes serenely. "Why…didn't you kill him either way?"
"Two reasons." Orochimaru said as Tsunade slumped into one of the two chairs before the Kage's desk. "If I had moved for the kill and succeeded, then Naruto's damnable student would have control over us. We still don't know the full range of her abilities, whether or not she can use her blood control to steal information from our brains or not. Point is, we would be used as puppets to attack Konoha's allies and enemies, creating a whole new war for the Leaf." They were Sannin, meaning everyone knew they were from Konoha. If Sueki could manipulate them against their will to attack, say, Kumo and Iwa, then another global war would spark and Darkness would find a way to exclude itself.
The Hokage hummed. "…The second?"
"I…suspect…Naruto might have been impervious to the effects of being in close contact with my sage mode." Hiruzen silently looked at the snake sage and the pale man went on. "His killer intent was draining our life forces. If he is able to do that, then who is to say he wouldn't be able to escape. And when he escapes, and Sueki has her blood in our systems, he will raise hell in the village." Orochimaru crossed his arms and frowned lightly. "Your head would be the first to roll, not even ours."
"I…I see…"
"My advice to you, sensei," Tsunade piped up, finally entering the conversation. "Is to drop this feud you have with Naruto-"
"-Feud?" the snake man murmured, wondering if that was the right word to describe the situation between Naruto and Hiruzen.
The Senju ignored the interruption. "Whirlpool has no doubt allied with Darkness and any attack to Darkness would be passed on straight to Lady Mito, and we all know what will happen after that."
Konoha would lose the Kyuubi.
Konoha would lose Uzushiogakure.
Konoha would lose the subsequent fight.
Naruto had thought of that but decided not to press for war.
"How considerate." Hiruzen grunted to himself, sarcasm dripping from each syllable. His two students looked at him with confusion. "Fine. We leave Dark country alone…for now-"
Just then, the door slammed open and Kohoru rushed in. "Hiruzen, you have to hurry!"
The Hokage stood up abruptly and shouted. "What is it?!"
"Lady Mito!" Kohoru yelled, pointing frantically out of the window, to a dark, foreboding shadow leisurely trooping its way out of the Senju clans entrance gate and onwards to Konoha's south gate. A boy that looked to be in his teenage years with bowl cut orange hair skipped close behind her, carrying a few heavy looking bags, supported by an identical looking girl with straight, long orange hair. "She wants to visit Darkness! I can't hold her back anymore!"
Orochimaru sat down heavily into the second seat as Tsunade leaped out of her own, Hiruzen blazed after out of the door.
He brought his fist up to his lips and coughed soundlessly.
They just might be losing the Kyuubi already.
Authors note
That's that about that.
How is the story going so far?
I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. So leave a review, would you so kindly. Stay safe, wherever you are in the world, and I will see you when I see you :)
Foy.