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This chapter starts one week later. It's purposely a steady build that will ultimately end in…
Read to find out :P
Enjoy…
CHAPTER 30
04:23AM
Leader's Residence
Dark Capital
Dark country
Naruto's eyes snapped open with a sharp exhale.
He sat up and ran a hand through his unruly blonde hair, closing his eyes to centre himself once again. He looked around once he had calmed down and recalled that he was back home with the two women in his life.
The man breathed out and looked to his sides, to the two beautiful women, unaware that he had risen up and had their legs curled around each of his own.
Naruto reached over Sueki's sleeping form and picked up his half mask from the bedside stand, clicking it onto his face.
He stroked Kushina's head and the woman purred, stretching like a cat and Naruto used that chance to retrieve his leg, pushing a pillow into her embrace. He did the same thing with his vampire student and the reaction, though somewhat slower, was exactly as the man predicted.
It surprised even him how much he knew them.
The man flipped out of the bed and landed with a silent crouch, looking back and tossing a warm blanket over the two women before they were roused from their sleep at the shift in weight on the bed. The weather was lowering and the thermostat in the house was at full blast, making sure that those inside the house didn't notice the drastic dip in the temperature outside.
Besides, nothing could replace snuggling under a blanket.
The man crept to the corner of his room, to where his, Sueki's and Kushina's wardrobe was, and he slipped on a plain grey T-shirt and a pair of equally grey sweatpants with white flip-flops, patting down his stomach with a relieved sigh as soon as the soft material washed warmth over his body. Their casual clothing weren't seal reinforced like their shinobi clothing, though if the right material was used and it was made into the right size, then it would be a comfortable addition to the mutely humming thermostat flooding heat into the house while the inhabitants slept.
Naruto normally only slept in a pair of boxers because Sueki, though being a vampire, purposely increased her body temperature as she slept, especially during winter. Now that Kushina had packed into their room after their return from Snow seven-or eight-months before, the redhead added her bonfire like body heat to the mix. Naruto had to order for a builder to make adjustments to the houses ventilation so that none of them baked to death. There were vents sweeping air out of the room and out to the house, as heat from the Thermostat seal circulated warmth around the house from downstairs and filled the bedrooms ever so gradually.
Though thin sheets of snow fell in the south eastern part of Dark country and the weather was dropping by the day in the whole country, the blizzard wasn't due to strike for another three weeks or so. People were still able to go about their day but under thick clothing, appropriate for the season.
Very soon, Naruto's son would be moved into the house. The boy spent most of the day fast asleep and if he wasn't sleeping, he was animatedly watching the people walking about around him with unfocused vulpine eyes. Naruto knew it wasn't true but he always felt like his fox-eyed child seemed to be well-aware of his environment, despite being only a week old and born two months premature.
Benimaru was still at the hospital, in the Maternity Ward where prematurely born children were being kept for careful observation. Yuma Nakamura, Naruto's family doctor, and his people at the hospital were watching the child's system so that they didn't take Benimaru out of the incubator to early or too late.
A problem came to Naruto's mind as he left the room, closing the door after him and briskly walking to the bathroom; their humble home in the capital's suburbs might be getting to cramped for them. As the Dark Leader took off his mask and turned on the tap of his sink, he stared at his grisly reflection with a contemplative look in his blue orbs. He dropped his mask on the edge of the sink.
The contractor that had helped build the Leader's Tower had submitted an alteration to the initial blueprint midway through the building of the Tower, providing accurate details for a building behind the tower, nestled in a copse of trees and plants but within the general vicinity of the Tower, where Naruto and his family would live in. This building was crafted with the purpose of making the trip to and from the Leader's Tower less stressful for Naruto.
Sueki had ironically named the place Haunted House, seeping into Naruto's infamy as the Ghost and at how massive the place was.
Naruto splashed water on his face and fished out his toothbrush from a plastic cup on the sink, squeezing out toothpaste onto it and passing it under the tap before he scrubbed his serrated maw. He was sceptical of whether or not he would need a place that big to live in.
He had been swayed when Sueki and Kushina told him that when their family became bigger and their friends too brought their own children to visit or to have sleepovers, they would need more rooms, more bathrooms, a larger kitchen and a more spacious living room to accommodate all of them.
The Kazekage's wife was expecting to give birth to their first child in six months-give or take a few weeks-and Naruto wasn't going to restrain his children from making as many friends as they wanted, just as long as they weren't flippantly throwing about their trust.
Sabaku no Rasa, the Kazekage, was going to be Benimaru's godfather and Naruto was going to be Rasa's first child's godfather. Kushina wanted Shimara, her former teammate, to the godmother. The default choice for the godfather of Naruto's other children was Rasa, the same being with any other children Rasa and his wife had.
Naruto noted to himself to begin packing up their things once their doctor gave them the green light to take Benimaru home.
He spat into the sink, a hard task to do when he didn't have lips, and rinsed out of his mouth, dropping his brush back into the plastic cup, where two other toothbrushes were assembled, and he rubbed his eyes, splashing water onto his face again and rubbing his face down with a hand towel that had been neatly folded on the edge of the bathtub. He folded it and put it back, clicking his mask back onto his face and leaving the bathroom for his kitchen.
The blonde man briefly branched back into his bedroom and snagged his glasses, fixing them on, and also a dark, zipperless hoodie, in case he wanted to leave the house in his plain clothes. There were already shoes arranged by the entrance of the house.
Once again, he left the bedroom, slinging the hoodie over his shoulder. He carefully stomped down the stairs and turned into the kitchen, flicking on the light and haphazardly dropping his hoodie onto the counter, making his way to the cabinet above the stove. He retrieved a sealed cup of ramen and a pair of chopsticks. He then dropped them onto the counter and pulled out a kettle from a separate cabinet under the counter; different from the place they stored their non-perishables. He went to the sink and let the water rush into the kettle till it was half full before he clicked the knob of the gas stove twice and set the kettle onto the blue flame.
The blonde rubbed his eyes and silently watched the kettle, his cerulean orbs turning in thought.
Naruto was a simple man.
He wasn't extravagant and he didn't throw about his uncountable infamy to ensure people complied with his demands.
In his solemn moment of self-reflection, the world's fastest man sighed tiredly; there was a certain image people had of him, people that weren't allied to his country and had grown up hearing Ghost stories. They imagined him to be ten feet tall with fangs for teeth, blood crazed eyes and a constant thirst for the insanity of war, some were somewhat nicer to him by retelling-with just a few alterations-his calmer adventures while he was undergoing personal training outside of Amegakure.
Naruto purposely didn't think much of these assumptions; let people think what they wanted to think.
He couldn't and wouldn't control their thoughts or their words, and it was primarily his fault for being so ruthless on the battlefield.
Well…for that one, he didn't regret.
Uncalculated mercy on the battlefield meant certain death in the future.
People chose not to think of the few people Naruto had allowed keep their lives, because that wasn't what they assumed the Ghost would do. Mifune, for example, wasn't decapitated just because Naruto didn't want the cycle of hatred and resentment to continue after the man had fallen. Samurai were fickle and entitled, from Naruto's past experiences, and the Nation of Samurai would feel like their pride and honour has been attacked if Naruto had decided to kill their Leader, whether or not it was Mifune that demanded the duel for the honour of hundreds of Samurai Sueki had killed when she was a teenager.
Messing up Mifune's face was out of the question.
The old samurai should be glad he only got away with a crushed nose and a small handful of swallowed teeth.
One instance of people assuming the worst of Naruto was during his dinner with the Bear country Daimyo, hours after the Martial Arts Competition, of which Shimara Kuma, a Boxer, had taken second place.
The Bear Daimyo served Naruto raw, blood soaked buffalo meat.
The man had even sincerely apologized for having not served raw human meat.
Humouring the man, Naruto had spat at the bloody meat and made to swipe off the Daimyo's arm in compensation for not having human meat to eat. Thankfully, the confusion was cleared up promptly and Naruto had to patiently explain that he preferred cooked animal meat. If possible edible animal meat.
Alcohol wasn't even a factor, as Naruto hadn't had a drop of alcohol in twenty seven years, and he didn't plan on having some any time soon. Sake and other alcoholic drinks didn't work with Naruto's rigorous metabolism, as his stomach acids would dissolve them before they could even settle in his stomach, but the blonde didn't like the person he became during his time in Kiri.
The bespectacled blonde jumped when the kettle whistled shrilly.
He picked it up, tore off half of the sealed top of the cup ramen and sealed it back up completely once. He took his time dropping the kettle back on the stove, turning the stove off and taking his cup ramen and chopsticks to the counter, leaning against it and looking straight out into the early morning.
The sun wasn't yet up and it was mostly dark outside, besides the street lights.
He suspected that the only people outside at this time and in this cold weather were DC Officers stationed in the capital doing their morning rounds. Those shinobi usually did those rounds while they did their morning jog, getting a healthy circulation of heat while still vigilantly looking about them for anyone that needed help. The Police, in the capital or in their respective regions, patrolled around and inside the market places, dissuading thieves and pickpockets with their presence.
Naruto tore off the sealed lid of the cup ramen and swirled his chopsticks in the broth, snagging a few strands of noodles and lifting the cup close to his mask. He blew at it and took them into his mouth, oddly bypassing the solid black half mask and into his lipless mouth.
Naruto's 'normal' ninjas-that is shinobi and Kunoichi that weren't in the Police Force, the Dark-Sand Joint Task Force, the Defence Corp or BLAK operatives-had reported to him that while they were on missions in Fire country, they had caught sight of a group of Uchiha coming from Konoha's direction and leading them was Fugaku Uchiha, the supposed Head of the Clan.
Out of morbid curiosity, the Dark Leader had some of those 'normal' ninjas watch to see what the Uchiha were up to. Those Dark Ninjas stealthily followed the Uchiha through Fire country, keeping their distance and warily remaining out of detection, and surveyed those Konoha ninjas as they switched direction from north of Fire country to south east, as if they were heading south of Sunagakure. There, they came across one of the freeways going back and forth from Suna to Darkness, and they had trouble convincing the 'normal' shinobi stationed to watch that road to allow them to cross it to pass into Suna.
Their papers weren't in order and no matter how much Fugaku roared that he was the clan head, Uchiha clan head no less, they barred them from entry unless they paid the standard fee to get new passports and to sort out their reason for visiting Suna among themselves; 'Just passing through' wasn't going to cut it, Konoha's ally or not.
Needless to say, Suna's relationship with Konoha had become stricter and more formal ever since the millions in Dark ryu loan the Leaf had taken out. The contract before the money and the supplies was even lent out was so in-depth that it detailed what would happen if Leaf was dissolved before they could repay their loan.
There would be a five percent interest added to the five percent interest and it would be passed onto the Fire Daimyo, Lady Wakono.
Four straight days of arguing and threating war didn't faze the 'normal' ninjas-Suna and Dark country chunin, from what the report said-until Fugaku gave up and registered himself and his band of clan mates. There were twenty Uchiha in total, plus Fugaku-twenty one-and they were permitted to tread the road into Suna but the money they had on them was only enough to allow them stay in Suna for a measly one month.
The reports then detailed how Fugaku and the Uchiha stalked through Suna to the outermost south western areas of the sandy village, in the direction of Hidden Mountain.
Curiosity struck Naruto again and he sent a few more 'normal' ninjas to go to Konoha and investigate the reason for the Uchiha to leave.
Some hours later, they communicated to him that those Uchiha had defected.
Branded as missing ninjas, had their Uchiha names and entitlement stripped of them by Mikoto Uchiha, the clan head.
The reason for this was when Fugaku had informed his wife of his intentions to track down Minato, now that he had gotten a lead. A shaky, mildly suspicious lead but a lead nonetheless.
Mikoto wasn't brave enough to face Minato and she didn't stop those Uchiha men and women Minato had convinced to follow him to hunt down Minato in Hidden Mountain. Matter of fact, she encouraged people to go with them, at the cost of being cast out of the clan, have their properties and wealth seized by the clan and have their Uchiha names worthless in the outside world, which would partly explain why the Suna and Dark ninjas weren't in the least bit concerned when Fugaku tried to use his Uchiha name to coerce his way into Suna.
Another reason they weren't afraid was simply that they weren't afraid; if they were attacked, then they had all right to retaliate, and they knew-oh, they knew-that their Leaders, Naruto and Rasa, would rain fire and brimstone down on the Leaf.
Strangely enough, those chunin guarding the freeway had gotten wind of the renegade Uchiha losing their names and the file for this report was deep under a pile of more important things.
Naruto didn't give a pigeon's fart if a few Uchiha were stripped of their entitlement, and his Office Assistants knew that.
Tsunade stamped them as defectors and Mikoto seized all of their property, that is, their money, any clothes they weren't wearing, their houses, their land, their titles, everything. If they wanted to walk to their death by Minato's hand, their things would be of better use in reviving their village.
The only reason Fugaku and his band of merry men had been able to afford a month of stay in Suna for all twenty one of them was from going back into Fire country and doing odd jobs, coming back two days later to pay for the passports and continue their journey, which had now reached six days. Their journey would have taken two days max if they had the papers to use Dark-Suna roads and the money to have a horse drawn carriage take them to a town a handful of miles into Hidden Mountain from Suna.
Fugaku and his people were presently to reach Clover Mountain, which Minato and Tsume had made their home on, in approximately ten hours, given they were taking their time and conserving their energy and that they had to cross several miles of mountain ranges before they could get to where Minato was.
Right about sunset, yesterday, after back-to-back Council Meetings and scheduled appointments, Naruto had phoned the Ringmaster of a Travelling Circus from River country that was closer to Clover Mountain that Fugaku. The blonde told the Ringmaster to find Minato and warn him of Fugaku's coming.
Hopefully the message had gotten to Minato in time.
The man tipped the broth into his mouth and wiped his mask with the back of his hand. He tossed the empty cup into the dustbin and took a few seconds to aim properly to do the same with his chopsticks, pumping his fist to the side when it swished in.
He exhaled and tapped his fingers on the counter.
Antsy, that's how he felt.
That dream made him uneasy.
He couldn't remember what he had dreamt…but he just didn't like it.
He couldn't sleep anymore.
His eyes looked to the clock hanging on the wall over the entrance to the kitchen; 04:51AM.
Naruto then straightened up and murmured to himself. "I need some fresh air."
He stalked to the fridge and pulled out a pen from the seal in his pocket, scribbling on a yellow note that he was going out for a walk, he would be back whenever. He fastened it to the fridge with a magnet and turned around picked up his hoodie, throwing it on and pulling his sleeves back a little to check the storage seals on the back of his hands. He unsealed his wallet, confirmed that he had enough money inside and checked for his ninjato. When he was sure he had what he needed, he slid his feet into a pair of black sneakers with white soles, bending down to tie the laces. He turned to the waist-height table the landline was placed on and looked up onto the wall, tapping his finger on the white circular knob on the wall. The knob, the Thermostat Seal, beep thrice at the short pulse of chakra from the man to keep it on for the better part of that day.
Naruto flipped up his hoodie and opened the door, closing it after him.
The Leader immediately encountered the harsh cold morning of Dark country, and he tucked his hands into the pockets at the front of his hoodie, lowering his head and walking up the straight, to wherever his feet took him.
The wind howled and the chill bit at the corners of his hidden face.
No snow just yet but the cold was bone deep.
Naruto appreciated the distraction; he wasn't sure why his unknown dream had affected him this much.
He wondered if he had died in the dream…
The hooded blonde shook his head.
He wasn't afraid of death.
Partly because that the total number of times he had encountered death, and summarily overcame it, had desensitized him from feeling the panic that normally hit a person before death arrived. During his days before Orochimaru had taken him under his wing and taught him how to defend himself, Naruto had seen plenty of things and had endured plenty of strokes with death to base a movie off of.
His very first kill was when he was seven; a raggedy old man had snuck into their hiding spot and kidnapped Nagato, while the rinnegan holder was still in his catatonic state. Yahiko, Konan and Sueki too were unresponsive, unable to come to terms with the death of their parents and the way their lives had fallen apart. Naruto, forcing himself to not fester in the pain of loss over his parents by looking after his friends, chased the man.
He hadn't eaten in four days; he could remember exactly how much his stomach gnawed on itself. Every morsel of food he found, or stole from Iwa or Kumo camps-and was summarily flogged and released if he was caught-he hand fed his friends and left nothing for himself. Naruto was less than five percent as he chased the also starved man. The man might have wanted to sell Nagato as a slave to the enemy or sell parts of the child to those in the frontlines that needed spare organs.
Or eat him.
War and hunger brought out the primal desperation in humanity.
Anything to survive.
Regret was for later, now was to find a way to keep body and soul together.
To conserve the little energy Naruto had, he maintained a firm, steady jog while the tired, weak man was weighed down by Nagato's seven year old, semi-starved weight.
When the man finally collapsed out of exhaustion and made to tear off flesh from Nagato's stomach, Naruto rushed to him and bashed his head in with a rock.
The seven year old blonde didn't stop smashing the man's head until there was nothing by cracked pieces of his skull and brain matter all over the rocky ground, all over Naruto's body and splattered on Nagato.
The things Naruto did to protect them…Yahiko, Konan, Nagato and Sueki…
The world of pain and torture he had to endure…
He couldn't take it back and he wouldn't take it back.
They were his friends.
They were all he had.
Sueki pulled out of her depression, using her teacher as her only anchor and her entire reason for not simply killing herself. Yahiko and Konan followed after, and Nagato was the last to think of self-preservation over the death of his parents.
The Sannin came.
Akatsuki was formed.
The rest is history.
For years now, his affairs had been in order; on the occasion he had abruptly died, then Sueki was to take over as Leader in his stead, though if the vampire was adamant in her promise to die with him then Kushina would take the reins of Leadership. The Dark Council will support her until they were certain she could properly rule with absolute centralized power.
There shouldn't be a big National Mourning for him.
Naruto didn't want anyone crying for him, though some days he felt like this would be the only 'last order' that his people would defy.
Half way through the Civil war, when the rebels of Dark country had found out of one of their own in Ame ripping holes through Konoha shinobi, they used him-the Ghost, Naruto-as a rallying cry to reinvigorate their fighting spirit to overcome their oppressors.
Naruto was the Leader of Dark country before he even entered the country.
To put it bluntly, Naruto had been ready to die since the moment he lost his parents.
His one condition before he could allow himself to die was to do it for his friends.
Naruto loved the life he lived and he couldn't hope to have surrounded himself with better friends and family, but he wouldn't hesitate in the least to throw his life away to protect them.
His blue eyes flicked up when a pair of joggers entered his line of sight. Naruto flicked his left hand into the Kurono hand sign and both of the winter cloak wearing; DC Officers flashed the country's hand sign back to the hooded man. There was no ill will or killer intent coming from the hooded man and no alert was going round to capture him, so they passed by him.
Naruto didn't know when forty minutes rushed by him and he was well out of the capital and in the snowy south eastern areas of his country.
His feet left tracks in the thin blanket of snow as he tread down a Shinobi Stop street, buying himself ten sticks of Dango and chomping on them with gusto.
The country was gradually waking up, as dim beams of orange light shone from the horizon and bathed Darkness in early sunlight. Naruto stood and watched the light shine from the top of a roof, cushioning his feet with chakra to stay silent and not disturb the occupants of the residential house beneath him.
Like clockwork, shinobi-genin, chunin and jounin-crept out in the dim lighting and sluggishly went to the different stands in the Shinobi Stop street, buying takeout food from the vendors. Shinobi Stop was appropriately named to accustom for the fast paced lifestyle of ninjas, there weren't like restaurants and cafes that had seats about but more like portable shops with about five cooks tending to customers, among the numerous other cooks in the numerous other vendors stands.
There was a stand for anything; vegetarians, carnivores and those that want a little bit of both. Ninjas that weren't patient enough to eat from home, came by and bought what they wanted, eating it on their way to the Leader's Tower to get mission requests. They were smart enough not to stuff themselves, else risk a cramp or bellyache while out on the field, and they were also smart enough to not starve themselves, else collapse and leave themselves defenceless.
Dar ryu was the only currency used in Dark country and with the abundance and availability of missions; there were more opportunities to earn their pay while at the same time adding to their mission quota to rank up.
That week was Naruto's day off from work; his two Office Assistants could handle paperwork that didn't need his urgent attention and those that did need his immediate attention had already been taken care of by Naruto. The chunin that distributed the mission requests on the ground floor of the tower could handle their assigned roles well enough, maintaining a steady stream of pending missions to those that requested it and confirmed missions to those that had completed theirs.
05:42AM
Naruto idly twirled a Dango stick in his left hand as he tramped down the snowy roads, hiding his presence from the ninjas making their orders to the stands at the Shinobi Stop. They weren't many at that moment, but more were coming.
"Jinny!" Naruto's eyebrows shot up into his hairline when he heard the call. "Jinny! Where are you?!"
He turned towards the voice, just as two more people added their own calls.
"Here, Jinny, Jinny, Jinny!"
"Here boy!"
The hooded Leader walked to the young teenagers. Two boys and a girl and they were wearing forehead protectors and bearing the holstered standard shinobi weapons-kunai and shuriken.
One boy turned to the girl, who was apparently the Squad Leader. "We should tell sensei-"
"No, we can handle this."
"What seems to be the problem?" Naruto asked as he stopped before the three genin.
The three junior ninjas warily looked up at the tall, hood wearing, masked man and Naruto sweat dropped at how sketchy he might look at that moment, so he flipped off his hood and smiled genially.
He looked familiar…
Could he be…?
Nahhhhhh.
He has better things to do than to be talking to them, their minds collectively summarized.
The girl, still wary of him, slowly supplied. "We're looking for a dog…Djinn. We were walking him but Kato," she snapped a hard glare to the other boy, and said boy looked away and whistled nonchalantly, making Naruto chuckle. "Thought it would be a good idea to let him off his leash…Djinn spotted a cat and…"
"Ah." Naruto waved his hand flippantly. "I understand." He looked to the ground, his hands perched on his knees. "Is this the place you lost Djinn?"
The other boy, the one that wanted to call their jounin-sensei, bobbed his head. "Yes, sir."
Naruto fixed the last speaker with a curious look, then he asked. "You're from the Panther clan, right?"
The yellow eyed boy seemed surprised at the guess. "I am."
"Why don't you use your nose?"
"The wind 's blowin Djinn's scent. I…I can't…"
Naruto then looked to the other boy. "Suzumebachi?" the blonde man laughed lightly at the hesitant back step from the boy. "Your glasses…and you're buzzing." He finally jutted his chin to the girl. "I know your uncle, Komodo."
"Y-Y-You're creeping us out, sir…" Komodo Dragon's niece stuttered, taking her own step back and slowly reaching for her kunai. "Who are you?"
Naruto's smile brightened and he looked back down, ignoring her question. "Let's look for your dog." His eyes sparked and he pointed to the shallow snow. "Prints."
The dark glasses wearing boy from the wasp clan spared a look to the ground. "H-He's right."
"Since your dog was chasing a cat, I doubt he was running in a straight direction." The genin nodded to that logic, albeit slowly as the gears in their heads turned. "And since it was a cat Djinn was chasing, it probably ran into where there's a high perch to get it off the ground, or at least high enough from the dog." Naruto spoke to the Suzumebachi boy. "Your eyes can see the footprints clearer. You could use them." He straightened up and dusted the knees of his sweatpants, pointing to the side of a store.
Drowned out by the gradually increasing buzz of the ninjas in the Shinobi Stop, the dog the three genin had been walking was barking at a black cat hissing down from the top of a trashcan.
"Dogs might have heightened hearing and he might have heard you lot calling him, but all he cares about it getting that cat." He flipped his hoodie back on and stuffed his hands into the front pockets, saying. "Next time…don't panic."
"Ohhhhhhhhh…" the genin muttered in unison.
The taste sensor girl then bowed appreciatively. "Thank you, mister!"
"Hey, hey, are you a ninja or sumthun?" the panther boy asked, as the Suzumebachi ran and tackled the dog before it could escape. The children lowered their apprehension, only just a little.
Naruto flicked their foreheads and smiled invisibly. "Or something." He backtracked and waved. "Tell your teacher I said 'hi'"
Just as Naruto said that, and just as the man turned a corner onto another street, the three genin's jounin-sensei dropped down from the roof and looked at his students questionably.
Yuma and Yumi Nakamura's older brother folded his arms and asked.
"Where's Djinn?"
The older sibling of Naruto's family doctor and Kushina's former Academy teacher smirked when the Komodo girl presented Djinn to him, a dark brown sausage dog that wiggled in her grasp.
"Well done. Time to give Madam Kinchou her dog and head back to the Tower for another mission, don't you think?"
Meanwhile, Naruto squinted his eyes up onto a streetlamp as it dimmed and turned off, staring straight at the masked Kunoichi perched atop it.
"Shi-Bear." He said with a slight smirk, leaning back to fully see the dark clothed, animal mask wearing Kuma boxer. "I see you finally made it into BLAK."
The black operative sat down on the streetlamp and tumbled backwards, neatly landing on her feet. She pushed up her Red Panda mask and smiled brightly to her ex-girlfriends husband. "Finally."
He patted her shoulder. "Congratulations." He walked past her and she joined him. "What team are you on?"
"BLAK Team Ninety One, sir." She tapped her fingers together and muttered. "My Squad captain is a hard ass though."
"Nothing you can't get through, Shi-Bear." Naruto familiarly ruffled her dark brown locks and the young woman laughed, pushing his hand away. She laced her hands behind her back and her black boots crushed the snow underfoot with each solid step. The bespectacled blonde gave her another brief smile. "Seven years of trying finally paid off…I'm proud of you, kid."
"Pshhh, I'm just stubborn is all." She took off the mask on the top of her head, at his beckoning, and handed it to him. "I chose the mask…I'm kinda surprised no one picked Red Panda yet."
The man looked at the Red Panda BLAK mask. He gave it back to her and she took it with both hands. "Wear it with pride, kid."
"Yes, sir. I will."
Naruto was glad that him marrying Kushina, Shimara's ex, didn't put a dent in their friendship, whether it was between Kushina and Shimara or Naruto and Shimara.
The Kuma was a nice girl and Naruto had watched her grow up.
Spending countless times having sleepovers in Kushina's bedroom, and if Ran Tomo-or Epic Mist-was to sleepover as well, they would do so in the public space of the parlour.
Since she had gotten her chunin vest, she had been training long and hard to become a Dark country black operative. Every time she would apply, she would be sent back soon after with demands to develop her skills.
BLAK were the elite shinobi of the country; they had a high standard to set.
It was when Shimara Kuma had fine-tuned her fuinjutsu skills and mastered her hand-to-hand that the operative in charge of the Eastern Regions BLAK Recruitment Exercise, Captain Octopus, gave her the green light to begin the intensive BLAK training that would take place in the Headquarters in the Night Forest.
"Captain Squid said that he was going hard on me cuz I was close to you."
"Is that so…" the Dark Leader mumbled.
"He said that…since I'm close to you, then I'm in a better position to protect you, Nana and Lady Su when the time comes."
"Did you tell them that we can take care of ourselves?"
"I told him that…that that's the whole reason I wanted to join BLAK…so I can become the best and protect you guys."
"Look at you. Being so serious." He tousled her hair again and she shoved him away with a wide smile.
"I'm not always serious." She rolled her eyes, watching as her Leader folded his hands behind his head and their feet took them northwards, towards the Northern Region, which would be roughly four hours away if they continued at that leisurely pace and an hour if they ran or took a carriage. "I'm seeing someone now."
Naruto looked to her with a larger than life smirk. "Oh really?"
"Ha, yeah…" Shimara scratched the back of her head, nervous. "I met her at a mixer last month. She writes children's stories and she wants to open a publishing company in the country."
Naruto waggled his eyebrows at her. "Any plans to get married? Kids?"
Her exasperated groan was music to his ears.
He shrugged. "I'm just saying…you're at that age now."
"Ugh, don't even start. I hear enough of that from my mom." The man hummed out a pleased laugh.
"I'm joking, Shi-Bear. Lighten up." she huffed. "You're twenty two…you've still got your whole life ahead of you. Don't forget to have fun."
"I won't, sir."
The man looked down as the crunch of snow was replaced by the crunch of gravel. They were inching upwards, away from the harsher cold. "I…want to go and see someone. The place I'm going isn't far from here." He pointed up the wide road going up from the south eastern area to the eastern region proper. Some distance away were houses constructed on plateaus and hills, and a great distance from the Chui-Inku's main clan compound. "On that hill over there."
"You want me to accompany you?" the boxer asked.
"Unless you have somewhere you have to go."
"No, I'm off-duty for now, till the blizzard anyway." She sealed her mask into her pitch black jounin flak jacket. Naruto kept walking with a lazy lean and his hands behind his head; his hood was down to show his radiant blonde hair and his sky blue eyes sparkled pleasantly in the orange sunrise. "Are we visiting someone?"
"It won't take long."
They walked off the road and treaded up the hill, having to use the stone staircase that shot straight up to the top. On the top of the hill was a familiar face.
"Tsuki, hey." Naruto waved.
The Kurama woman jumped in surprise and whipped around, almost toppling her painting canvass and nearly pouring away her palette. She hastily dropped the palette onto the ground, close to some different coloured paint cans and undid her colour stained apron, rushing to Naruto and diving at him with an unrestrained hug. She grinned. "Hey, hey, hey~"
The man chuckled and patted her back. "What are you up to?"
She grabbed his hand, purposely ignoring how paint stained her fingers were, and dragged him to the canvass. The constructed stone top of the hill, done so for the holder of Mania, gave the slipper wearing woman traction to not trip over. "I was busy with this piece."
On the canvass were blue roofed houses built atop hills and plateaus as far as the eye could see. The colours she used didn't match the real image, as she deliberately used only the colours red, blue and black.
"Whaddya think, Lord Naruto?"
"It looks great." He gave her a thumb up and Tsuki puffed out her chest proudly, threading the fingers of her left hand with his right, holding it up to her nose. Naruto sweatdropped and coughed into his free hand, motioning to the BLAK non-mask wearing operative. "This is Shimara Kuma."
Tsuki only spared the Kuma girl a short look. "Sup."
"Uhm…nice to meet you…" Shimara contemplated going in for a hand shake but rightly judged that the ditzy painter wouldn't release Naruto's hand to reciprocate. "That's a really nice painting, Tsuki."
"I know, Lord Naruto already said it was 'great'" Tsuki replied factedly, lowering her eyebrows as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. "You didn't hear him?"
"Sorry, kid." The man turned to Shimara apologetically, saying. "She's like this with everyone. I want her to have more friends, you see."
Tsuki was affronted by this, holding Naruto's hand to her chest and standing on her toes to match Naruto's height as much as she could. "I have lots of friends-"
"Name one." The man challenged, lifting a finger and dropping it before she could grab onto it. "Except me and your mom."
The ditzy Kurama deflated. "No fair."
Naruto smiled brightly, petting her head. "The first step to making friends is to admit you're a loser." Shimara cracked a smile and hid her tittering laugh behind her hand when the blonde Leader almost literally, and mockingly, looked down on the Kurama painter. The Leader of Dark country swept his hand over the scene Tsuki was painting, indicating the houses, the towns and the villages all over the country. "There are millions of people in this country, Tsuki, and now that you're out of Konoha and there are so many places to see, you have every chance to make friends."
The Kurama Curse couldn't be blamed anymore.
The Uzushiogakure Fuinjutsu Research Facility partnered up with prominent seal masters from the Chui-Inku clan to devise a way to make the Kurama Curse a non-factor.
Three months of studying and experimenting and the Uzumakis and the Chui-Inku came up with a huge loophole in the condition to keep Mania from breaking out of Tsuki, or any future holder.
The previous assumption was that there had to be a majority of the clan around the Mania holder at all times, to keep the beast awake, but the reality was that the only thing they needed was enough Kurama chakra surrounding the seal to simulate a living person.
The seal looked simple but was actually a thousand different seals stacked over each other to form a complex seal. This seal was applied over the Mania holding seal on Tsuki's upper back and that seal would cover the seal that housed Mania with a constant stream of Kurama chakra, which in turn would be replenished over month, just to be safe. A layer of fifty seals in the thousand seal acted as a countermeasure to shroud Tsuki with Kurama chakra if on the rare occasion the seal wasn't refilled. The seal itself acted as a force field over the Mania holding seal, providing a two inch gap between the Kurama chakra and the Holding seal, so that the condition for no Kurama contact was fulfilled.
Unfortunately, Kurama people still couldn't touch Tsuki, though that didn't mean she had to have them around her at all times.
Like now, she was hundreds of miles away from the nearest Kurama and that family of Kurama were in the distance on a hill, preparing for breakfast in their house. Not nearly enough people to prevent Mania from breaking out.
It was surprising that no one had thought of this seal before.
Tsuki puffed out her cheeks and silently played with Naruto's larger hand.
"You're being mean, Lord Naruto." She said with a dour pout, then her attention went back to his hands. The man laughed nostalgically when her weirdness drove her to drag her tongue up from the base of his palm to his ring finger, taking half of that finger into her mouth and mumbling. "You ate…Dango recently…didn't you?"
Shimara suddenly felt uncomfortable at the innocent radiance in the Kurama woman's eyes and the uneasy chuckle from the more than uncomfortable Leader. He gathered himself and looked at her, half-stern, half-shaky. "Now, Tsuki, what have I told you about licking other people's hands?"
"…It's…rude…?" she replied slowly, sucking on his finger. "B-But I only lick your hand, so its fine."
"It can make people misunderstanding."
"But your hand is sweet…and soft…"
The man palmed his face and motioned to Shimara, who didn't know where to look at that point. "You're making Shimara very uncomfortable."
"She's not complaining. Besides," Tsuki said with a casually shrug. She took his finger out of her mouth; a thin string of saliva connected it to her lips. "I'm not hurting anybody. Am I, Lord Naruto…?"
Naruto didn't know what else to say, to get out of this situation.
He wasn't a religious man, but at that moment, he prayed for something, anything, to happen-
The bespectacled blonde's knees almost buckled in relief when a DC Officer from the Southern region ran up the hill and promptly fell onto his before him. "My Lord Naruto!"
"What is it?"
"There are two people at the western gate that want to see you."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. He shivered when Tsuki licked his pointer and middle finger next, doing so tortuously slowly and with her pure eyes wide with guiltlessness. He gently pulling his fingers out of her mouth, though unluckily not out of her hands, and asked the kneeling man. "Who are they?"
"They say their names are Konan and Tsume Inuzuka."
Naruto's heart stopped for a fraction of a second.
The man looked up when he was met with silence. "My Lord?"
"…Tell them…I'll be there in a minute."
Pomf!
His disappeared in a burst of smoke and reappeared before his house.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Defence Corp's Refugee Protection Unit Command Centre
Outside of the Northern Region, within Dark country territory
Dark country
Naruto was greeted with the hushed, anxious murmuring of the refugees under his protection.
The glasses wearing Leader took his first step into the camp, the first one he had ever taking, and a force of roughly fifty dark brown and white cloaked shinobi and Kunoichi rushed up before him and created a path for their Leader, snapping into crisp salutes and keeping the nervous refugees behind them.
There were refugees from as far as Snow country to as close as Hidden Mountain.
In the beginning, when Naruto's conscience permitted him to allow refugees onto his lands but not through the gates of his great country, there used to be two refugee camps that was built to accommodate the thousands that flocked over from their war torn villages and countries for safety. Their number had gone down from about fourteen thousand to eight thousand by the resolution of the war due to the Wealth Nations signing an all-binding Neutrality Pact that will and has been affecting the manner of relations on the continent for months now. The Neutrality Pact of the Wealth Nation Daimyos was meant to reinforce the Non-Aggression Agreement of the Five Kage in the Kage Summit but the Neutrality Pact had taken point for the undeniable widespread effect it had on smaller, less wealthy nations, thus all over the continent.
There was a considerable amount of spending going into the Refugee camp from the National Bank, signed off by Naruto himself, and this was gradually used to develop the camp, making it so that tents and tarps were replaced by quaint, two bedroom houses and boarding houses. There was a clinic to tend to the sick and basic education was provided by volunteers from Darkness. They were at liberty to make mission requests to Darkness, but at a price, and they were also free to rebuild their lives inside the refugee camp. The market place in the refugee camp, though smaller and less visited than the ones in Ghost town or the Dark Capital, was a good source of income for some refugees that were brave enough to venture out and bring in goods.
The one condition that would ensure refugees lived relatively happy, prosperous lives in the developing refugee camp, and that was they were not to dare try to enter Dark country.
They would be caught and kicked out, and at worse they would be shipped off to the Super Maximum Security Prison in Kiriagakure.
Darkness was synonymous with secrecy.
Darkness valued its privacy.
As long as they followed that rule and lived their lives as decent human beings, Naruto was more than happy to have his Defence Corp safeguard the lives and livelihood of the refugees.
For that, they couldn't complain.
Those people stared at the man that had been so kind to him with respectful silence, looking over the shoulders of the DC Officers keeping them back.
Naruto wasn't wearing his white with black trimmed Leader's robe or his wide brimmed hat. Rather, he was in a dark, short sleeved shirt and black pants that stopped at his ankles with a pair of black sandals with clean white soles. The short sleeves of his shirt showed off the black line tattoo that had appeared on his body when he first activated his Smoke release, the storage seals drawn on the back of his hands and the mysterious looking ink art etched onto his inner left forearm. He wore a pair of dark rimmed rectangular glasses and a plain black half mask, both of which made his sky blue orbs sparkle with silent laughter and showed the crinkle of time on the corners of his eyes.
He had turned forty, they had heard from the Defence Corp Officers they were friends with, and one of his two wives had given birth to his first child an hour after his birthday.
Naruto was young, by shinobi standards, but after all he had done for Dark country as a whole and the Refugee camp, he was a certified old man.
Not that many people could do what he did, and yet the blonde Leader didn't claim all the credit; the people that executed his commands to the letter and without faltering took the majority of Naruto's acknowledgement.
Everyone kami fearing person was grateful to be connected to Dark country in some way, whether as one of Darkness's only four allies or as a non-ally merchant in a remote village that regularly re-sold Dark products after purchasing them from a Dark trader or non-allies that had submitted mission requests and had gotten what they wanted right down the finer details.
Naruto's spikey, radiant yellow hair tousled with the light wind and the Leader walked with his hands in his pockets, following the cleared path to the Command Centre.
The stiff backed DC Officers didn't dare look Naruto in the eyes, keeping their eyes straight ahead and their sharp salutes unshaking.
At the end of the path, Makoto Gado, the Director of the Northern Defence Corp, took one smooth step out of the ranks and stood before Naruto, stamped his left foot on the ground and threw up a respectful salute. The scarred clay man snapped his hand down to his side when Naruto smiled lightly at him, standing about four feet away from his subordinate, and Makoto bowed deeply.
"Lord Naruto, sir!" he shouted and the other Defence Corp Officers brought down their hands in unison, but didn't break ranks or shift out of their stiff-backed attention stand. Makoto continued. "Welcome to the Refugee Protection Unit. I am honoured to be the one to welcome you."
"No need to be so formal, Makoto."
Luck had been on the Gado's side, as it was during his shift to oversee the Refugee Protection Unit of the Defence Corp that Naruto had arrived on. The Clay release user made a mental note to thank his ancestors later when he returned back home.
"I heard I have visitors?"
"My apologies, my lord, I could not bring them into the country-"
"No apologies needed, old friend. They're neither citizens nor allies; they have no right to enter Darkness." The masked assassin said casually, without feeling for the refugees hearing their conversation, as they too one day dreamed to enter the great country that was Darkness. "You have performed excellently."
Makoto bowed forward once again, deeply humbled by Naruto's words and hiding his proud smirk under several layers of professionalism. "I am grateful, my lord."
He stood up straight again and turned to the side, moving his hand to the entrance of the Command Centre and Naruto nodded appreciatively, entering the building and Makoto followed after, treading a step behind his Supreme Commander. The receptionist area was empty for the most part, except for the female Defence Corp receptionist that rose off her high stool and dropped onto her left knee, bowing her head and placing her right hand over her heart. Naruto, making an accurate guess, that he was supposed to go through the doorway directly behind the receptionist. Makoto reported as they walked through the hall of doors and up a few flights of stairs.
"Their names are Konan and Inuzuka Tsume." He began. "My female officers have searched them and stripped them of their weapons and belongings. The one called Konan reported that she had come in a rush, and so was unable to pack more than the bare essentials; spare clothing, ration packs, water and bandages. Tsume informed us that Minato Namikaze helped seal all of their things into a large sized sealing scroll. We are currently searching it for traps. There are no traps on their person and all the money they have on them is sixty thousand, five hundred and five Snow ryu (60, 550 Snow ryu)."
"Ok…" Naruto mumbled as he opened the door to a room that simply had the numbers '07' nailed onto the door with a bronze plaque. Inside was a room about the same size as the guest bedroom of a residential building, though this one had a steel table bolted to the ground and three chairs made out of the same iron as the table, one chair on one side and two on the other. There was also a pair of surveillance cameras position in two corners of the room and a pitch black, one way glass behind the single chair, facing the two chairs on the other side of the table. This was the room they interrogated refugees from relatively affluent countries and villages to make sure they weren't spies or shinobi wanted for war crimes. By interrogate, one didn't mean torture-as refugees have already suffered enough, whether or not they were from richer nations or poorer nations-but rather, there were experts in the DC that could analyse micro-expressions and discern truth and lies. Naruto sat down on the single chair on one side of the bolted down table and crossed his right ankle over his left knee, relaxing as Makoto rounded up his report. "They are currently in separate holding cells."
Naruto turned his head to Makoto and the man felt the impulse to fall onto his left knee and bow his head. "You are aware that Tsume Inuzuka is expecting, right? She is with child."
"Yes, sir. We made sure to move Tsume Inuzuka to the holding cell for expecting mothers."
It was much more common than one would want to acknowledge; about half of the refugees that fled to Dark country's protection were comprised of pregnant mothers or mothers of very young children. The few fathers, or men, that came with them had run away compulsory conscription by way of being too weak to hold a weapon. Given that some of the women that begged to be allowed into Naruto's protection were pregnant, there had to be dozens of remodelled holding cells to humanely cater for them; fresh air, plenty of sunlight, a medic on standby within earshot of their cells and the privilege of not being separated from their children, if they had children.
The purpose of the interrogation-or questioning-was, as said before, to prevent spies and war criminals from seeking asylum.
The Defence Corp, whether it was during Makoto Gado's shift or Nanako Hogo's shift, had captured more than their fair share of shinobi that had tried to capitalize on Darkness's patronage to sneak into the country and gather information.
This wasn't even paranoia.
It had happened before.
Among the first two hundred asylum seekers that came into Naruto's lands, about sixty of them were spies and ten had committed some sort of heinous crime during the Third war, wherever it was they were coming from.
Pregnant women, young teenagers, crippled old men…basically anyone you would least expect. Half of the credit went to Iwa, some to Snow, some to Konoha and the rest from small, lesser known villages that had a bone to pick with Naruto, or Sueki, for whatever reason. One spy from Snow had even admitted that Doton had had a small chunk of his Kunoichi impregnated and sent to Darkness to beg for entry.
Little wonder why Snow had suffered great losses during the Third war, despite being the First Wealthiest Nation. Women that didn't want to be forcefully impregnated fled the country and men that didn't like this treatment, and thinking that their family members were next to be targeted by their Daimyo, took their families and left the country. There was widespread discontent in Snow and three years into this practice of making women pregnant, insemination or otherwise, Doton wisely stopped, as that tactic didn't work on Darkness.
Appealing to Dark country's humanity by having heavily pregnant women seek asylum didn't work and worse still, those that had been impregnated and turned away from Darkness refused to return to Snow, reducing Snow's general population and weakening its place among the Wealth Nations.
Suna and River though was willing to welcome them in Dark country's stead, and so Naruto sent those women and mothers to his allies.
It would only be during the tenure of the next Leader of Darkness, long after Naruto had died, that those refugees that had peacefully camped and settled outside of Dark country's borders but within its lands would be acknowledged and welcome wholly into the country, where they would live their lives with the same privileges of Dark citizens.
Naruto waved once. "Bring them in."
"As you wish, sir."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The first person to be led in was Konan.
She had come in without any shackles, handcuffs, chains or any restraint of any kind, but the woman's steps were slow and tired. She was in a sleeveless purple dress that reached her knees, tight black pants and a long sleeved black turtleneck shirt underneath to hide her ghostly pale arms and neck; lastly she had on a pair of blue shinobi heels. Konan also wore a white origami rose on the top side of her head, complimenting the look Naruto had known since he was a kid.
The sides of her heels had stray blades of grass and woman's hands looked like she had washed them recently.
One of the two female DC Officers pulled out Konan's chair for her and the Paper Angel clasped her hands together on her lap and lowered her eyes, pointedly looking at a spot on the table and avoiding eye contact with the blonde man.
Naruto sat forward on his seat and placed his forearms onto the table, lacing his fingers together and leaning into the bolted down table ever so slightly.
The two Officers left the room soon after.
He stared at the woman with an even expression.
He didn't say anything and she didn't opt to speak either.
His blue orbs churned at the submissive, weak appearance of the purple haired lady.
Two minutes of this stark, nearly unbearable silence later and the door buzzed open again, and two different female Officers escorted Tsume into the interrogation room.
Naruto didn't take his eyes off Konan.
The Inuzuka was helped into her seat and Naruto flicked his right hand over his shoulder. The two Officers saluted and left the room, those watching from the one way glass behind Naruto also left and finally, the red, blinking lights on the surveillance cameras clicked off, effectively deactivated.
Tsume felt panic rise up in her gut as she noticed that they were completely alone with the most feared man on the planet, without the-false-protection of Minato's sword or a majority of Konan's paper bombs. Her nose told her that the nearest person in the entire building were the Officers on the ground floor, six floors beneath them, seeing as those in the holding cells on their floor-the top floor-were few and far in between.
The bespectacled blonde then pushed his glasses up his nose and placed his hands flat on the table, an unspoken shinobi way of telling them he meant no harm.
He smiled gently and looked to Tsume. "I have to apologize for the harsh treatment. You can't be too careful these days, y'know."
The seven months heavy Inuzuka's lips were in a straight line, unsure of how to respond to the sincere statement. Konan responded on their behalf, her face still lowered in dour expressionlessness. "I understand…you don't trust us…me…"
Naruto looked to her and placed his chin on his right palm, saying. "No, Konan, I don't trust you."
The purple haired woman frowned invisibly and her shoulders sank further. "…Your honesty is as refreshing as ever, Naruto."
"I take it you don't trust me either."
It was Tsume's turn for Naruto to face, and he said. "Frankly, I don't trust anyone that crawls out of Konoha. You should have been killed the moment you stepped foot on my lands. But…" he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "The reason neither of you are dead is because of Minato."
Tsume cleared her throat and asked in a low voice. "You're afraid of Minato?"
Naruto chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, no, no, no…he has already seen his own fair share of suffering. You, Tsume Inuzuka, are Minato's weakness and I don't see the use in killing his weakness."
"So you do have a conscience…" the heavy woman said with a sharp smirk.
"…Don't misunderstand me, Tsume Inuzuka," Naruto then said as he leaned forward on his forearms. He closed his eyes and the corners of his eyes turned up genially. "Make any sudden moves and I will kill you." He opened his eyes and the sheer darkness and maliciousness warbling beneath the surface drove chills down the dog woman's spine. It was Naruto's turn to smirk sharply. "Cool?"
Tsume grit her teeth, hating how much she was afraid at that moment. She lowered her head and nodded. "I understand."
The masked man then looked back to the silent Angel of Ame and said. "Let me see your hands, Konan."
The woman's lips screwed to the side and under the table her hands closed into tight fists. "Why?"
"You being here and not in Ame with Nagato can only mean one thing. I want to confirm it." He hummed and motioned to her. "Let me see those hands, Konan."
Konan sighed. "Fine." she placed the back of her hands onto the table and Naruto scoffed when he saw what he guessed he would see. "There."
Konan's right ring finger was missing, cut to a stump.
She also didn't have on any of her piercings.
"Huh." The man murmured, his smirk struggling not to show. "Defected from Akatsuki…Nagato's not gonna be happy."
"…He isn't…" she looked to his own right hand and her eyebrows slightly furrowed when she noticed that his ring finger was well-intact. "What did you do to get your ring off?"
"It's quite simple really; my chakra burnt it off."
The purple haired Kunoichi's eyebrows lowered. "Of course."
Naruto then said, entering the thick of the matter. "Another guess is that the Akatsuki are after you and that the River Circus Ringmaster delivered the message that Fugaku and his shinobi are close to Clover Mountain." He chuckled again, amused. "What a mess, huh."
"We need your help, Naruto."
"Oh, and what do you need my help for, Konan?" the man asked with a raised eyebrow. "Are you not the 'Angel of Ame'? I'm sure you can take care of the Akatsuki by yourself."
"One or two S ranks, I can handle, but there are five people-plus Nagato-" making eleven with his paths. "Are tracking us down."
Konan and Tsume had flown a fair portion of their journey to Darkness, keeping low and away from detection and at time having to walk on foot to reduce their chakra print in the environment. This alternating between flying and walking, as well as coming directly to Darkness, instead of entering Suna, before Darkness, cut the time of their journey by dozens of hours.
"He," as in Nagato. "Probably thinks that you and Tsume know too much." The man made a flippant hand motion. "If you're looking for protection here, then I'd be willing to accept, as long you neither of you even dream of entering the country." he smiled gently. "My border seals are capable of handling those upstart S ranks, however many they may be, and I'm confident my shinobi can keep you two safe."
"Thank you, Naruto. I'm…I'm happy you're willing to protect us…after all these years…" the purple haired woman's eyes ventured up and they were glazed over with unwept tears, then she quickly looked back down when she didn't find the kindness in Naruto's eyes, the one she was used to seeing. What she saw was staunch indifference. "B-But…I promised Minato I would safely get Tsume to the Fire Lady. They have a long standing friendship."
"And where is Minato now?"
"He stayed back." Tsume bit to herself. "Dumb blonde wants to take them all by himself."
"Why didn't he just 'flash' you to Wakono?" Naruto directed this question to the angrily mumbling Inuzuka.
"He said teleportation isn't good for me in my state."
Naruto shrugged. "Inconvenient but he's the expert, I guess." He pointedly looked at Konan. "You want me to help you escort Tsume to the Fire capital."
Konan hastily said, her eyes frantically wide. "Y-Y-You don't have to go yourself. Just a few of your ninjas will be fine-"
"I never said I'd go with you." He watched as the woman visibly and emotionally deflated, her eyes losing what little light they had left and her soul sinking to new depths of depression. "I am bored though. I'll use this chance to stretch my legs." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I might even see how I'll fare against the S ranks of these days."
Konan placed her hands onto the table and bowed deep, so much so her forehead touched the table. "I can't thank you enough, Naruto." Naruto's only reply was a small nod. Konan sat up and, more bravely, looked up to the blonde Leader. "W-Where is Sueki?"
"She's on her way."
Unlike Naruto, who Nagato and Konan had known were leaving, Sueki following her teacher was something they didn't expect. They could have guessed the wide eyed vampire girl would follow her idol, wherever he was going, but the girl had not even informed them of her departure.
Sueki simply…left.
No goodbyes.
"Is she…well?"
"She's ok."
"I mean…a-are you two…"
"We're together, if that's what you're asking." Naruto answered. Tsume looked between the two former friends, confused but wisely kept out of the conversation. "I'm with Kushina too…just so you know."
"O-Oh…" a sad smile came onto Konan's face. "I see you finally got that harem you've always been dreaming of …"
Naruto smirked a little. "I don't think two women can make it a harem, Konan."
"…Naruto," she opened her mouth to continued but closed it, unable to say anything. She frowned at her traitorous emotions, threatening to spill out of her, threatening to make her jump over the table and tackle the man before her in a tight hug, threatening to make the tears swimming in her eyes rush down for not acknowledging his feelings for her all those years ago. "N-Naruto…I'm sorry…for everything I've done."
The man silently crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
"I-I led you on...I took advantage of your kindness and-and I took you for granted." Her lips trembled and her eyes shook. "You had my back-our back-and we didn't even know. I was a bad friend, Naruto. I'm sorry."
You never know what you have until you lose it.
A memory surfaced in their minds.
A nine year old Konan walked around the corner of a lone wall, what was left of a building, and gasped in horror as the boy she was searching for took off his shirt to allow the Amegakure rain wash off the dirt and grime from his body.
She made to apologize, but her pale face paled even more and her blood ran cold as she saw all the angry, violent, purple-yellow-red-and-blue slashed that crisscrossed over Naruto's bony back.
They looked new.
They looked like they had been dealt thirty minutes ago.
The mask wearing blonde looked over his shoulder, pausing in his action and his face reddened with morbid embarrassment. "What the hell, Konan!"
"I-I-I-I'm sorry!"
He quickly put his tattered shirt back on and faced forward, where there only lay a high pile of rocks from the house that used to stand before him. He spoke without looking back at her, keeping his masked face neutral and his voice even. "I gave Su something to do. Can you help me watch her? I'll be done in a minute."
A bomb went off close by, though not close enough to take them off their feet, and certainly not close enough to alarm Naruto.
Konan's mouth flapped voicelessly.
Her hands went up to her heart as the image of bloody slashes went through her head.
"…It's nothing."
Some minutes ago, Naruto had returned with a whole goat's leg and he was making preparations to smoke it so they could have food for the next four days or so, if they conserved it well.
The purple haired child bobbed her head quickly and covered her eyes, running away with a deep blush.
The image of horror on her friends back was replaced with the embarrassment of almost seeing him naked.
The Dark Leader still didn't speak.
"I…I know things will never go back to the way they used to be, between me you and, b-but….but…please, Naruto, will you ever forgive me?" The woman sobbed mutely. A single tear dropped landed on the table.
Naruto was Konan's emotional buffer and his departure from Ame also resulted in the departure of her emotions.
Konan then closed her mouth and averted her eyes.
"…When do you two plan on leaving for the Fire capital?"
Konan's heart shattered.
Tsume, noticing that Konan wasn't in the right presence of mind to answer, said. "Now, if you can."
"Me and Sueki will go."
Tsume visibly brightened up at Naruto statement.
Two Legend class ninjas-Naruto and Sueki-and an S rank Kunoichi-Konan-would be more than enough fire power against any threat.
Who knows, maybe Minato would get impatient, meet Fugaku, take him out and then meet them in the capital. The bearded Namikaze had given her Raijin no Ken to defend herself with, but Tsume wasn't too worried about Minato's chances against Fugaku and his group.
"This is more than I can ask for. Thank you so much!"
"It's nothing, don't worry about it." he rose onto his feet, saying. "You both must be hungry, right? I'll send for food. Eat and rest up; we'll move out in thirty minutes." He was about to leave through the door again but halted when he finally noticed something amiss. He snapped his fingers and asked Tsume, who jumped in her chair at the attention. "What happened to Kuromaru, your ninken?"
"He's in Konoha showing the new clan head the ropes. I told him to stay."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Flashback: Thirty Minutes Earlier
"Konan has betrayed us." Pein stated darkly, seated on his throne at the head of the meeting room. His rinnegan eyes glowed ominously, with shaded grief and pronounced anger as he turned a single finger in his right hand, which glinted with a simple silver band. The crippled Kage clenched the seats of his throne and said, his tone deep and foreboding. "She bypassed the blood contract and cut off her finger. Our plans are now at risk of falling apart."
The gathered members of the red cloud organization looked across at each other, and one of the two less than intimidated shinobi among them raised his head and asked with a slight hiss. "What do you propose we do, Lord Pein?"
The man was silent for a moment, reflecting on how he had indirectly caused his last childhood friend from leaving his side; if he had not crossed the unsaid line and painted a target on Minato, Tsume and their unborn child, the woman would have been as obedient as she had ever been. Pein frowned, saying. "We move onto Plan B."
The god of Ame moved his eyes to the second less than intimidated person in the room and Tobi spoke up. "We at first wanted to gather the beasts one at a time, starting next month, but now that people will be made aware of Akatsuki if Minato, Tsume and Konan escape, we will have to take out prominent shinobi on the continent so that there is no possible threat and hidden villages that have tailed beasts would be weaker. Then we gather the Bijuu."
"What do we do about Konan?" Sasori ventured to ask.
"She dies."
"Minato will no doubt be with her."
"He will be too preoccupied with Fugaku." Orochimaru said with a sinister smirk. "While he was in Suna, I had Kabuto…slip something into his drink."
Diedara didn't appreciate the Sannin's cryptic words. "The hell does that mean un?"
"It means that Minato will have a harder than normal time against his old friend." Kisame snapped shortly, facing the mad bomber and the corners of his lips curled up into a similarly evil smirk, turning his head to his right, to the orange mask wearing S rank to his side. "Possibly even kill him for us."
"Fucking sucks." Hidan spat with disdain. "That stupid ass blonde fag gets on my fuckin' nerves, thinking he gets to fuckin' come and fuckin' go as he fuckin' well pleases while we bust our fuckin' asses to keep this hellhole running-"
"Mind your mouth, priest." Tobi muttered, facing the man with his lone, coal black eye. "This isn't the time."
"She will run to Naruto for help." Pein said, commanding silence as he reintroduced himself at the head of the meeting.
The Konan he knew, the Konan he grew up with, always first ran to Naruto for help.
He envied Naruto on how much Konan depended on him.
He envied him.
He envied how reliable Naruto was.
Oh how he envied Naruto.
"Wherever Naruto is, Sueki isn't far behind." He finished grimly.
Sasori spoke up. "That means we have a problem-"
"No…leave Naruto to me."
"What about the vampire?" Orochimaru asked eagerly.
"You need her heart to acquire her immortality, correct?" it might have sounded like a question but it was a direct statement.
Orochimaru had implanted Kakuzu's Jiongu into his own body, amplifying the black threads with his sage chakra and his snake summons. The scientist had also harvested roughly fifty different hearts from unfortunate civilians and shinobi outside of Ame, and surgically reduced their sizes to that of a golf ball. Jiongu took those fifty hearts and arranged them in Orochimaru's gut.
The Snake Sage might as well be immortal already.
Though Naruto's volatile remained in his chakra network, ever eroding his lungs and his unnatural snake heart. Those fifty hearts only elongated his time on earth.
Acquiring Sueki's heart would evidently purge Naruto's chakra from his body.
"I work alone." Orochimaru reminded the man, and Pein hummed to himself, tapping his chin reflectively. "Allow me to get it myself."
"…Do so."
A broad grin stretched on the man's pale cheeks and he bowed appreciatively.
"Sasori and Diedara, you two take care of Konan."
Hiruko's hulking frame rumbled and the puppetmaster inside settled back, the chakra springs sprouting from his fingers controlled the puppet shell to bob its head once. "Alright, Lord Pein."
"I will take the fight to Fire country," Seeing as the fortress that was Darkness couldn't be infiltrated to be used as a battleground. "While you three, Hidan, Tobi and Kisame," the Leader of the Akatsuki said, pointedly looking at the two men. "Draw the Dark forces away from us and into Suna. That shouldn't be too much of a problem."
Hidan only giggled evilly, Kisame didn't reply to the order, but Tobi nodded silently.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Present time
Thirty miles from Dark country marked border, and inside of Fire country's side, stood six people in a large, uninhabited field of ankle length, cold-hardened grass.
The Paths of Pein.
They emotionlessly stared at the people standing a fair distance away from them, calmly feeling the wind blowing against their Akatsuki cloaks.
Tsume stayed behind Naruto, by his silent command and rigid hand gesture once they had seen the Six Paths, but Sueki and Konan were at Naruto's side. Konan and Tsume had only bathed and freshened up, their clothes slightly rumpled but more presentable, while Sueki was in a dark red, long sleeved shirt, black combat pants and red shinobi sandals. She had on a pair of black gloves, her black with white design jounin flak jacket laid neatly on her torso and her Dark country forehead protector glistened on her head. Her waist length white hair was tied up into a loose ponytail, thrown over her left shoulder. Unlike her teacher, she visibly carried the basic shinobi weapons on her person; a kunai holster on her right thigh and a shuriken holster on her left hip.
The last article of clothing on her was a black bandanna around her neck; though it didn't reach her ruby red lips it did cover her chin. This bandanna was an echo from the past, from the times she was a young child and started tying her hair around her mouth when she first met, then she upgraded to a tattered, hole-ridden scarf when their lives fell apart and finally she settled on a featureless black bandanna when she was thirteen and inducted into the Akatsuki by her teacher. As of when she arrived in Darkness with Naruto, she no longer covered her lower face.
The corners of Naruto's eyes dipped down a little and he barely turned his head to Konan. "Take Tsume and fly to Fire country. Sueki will protect you two." His head swivelled to the vampire and he said with grit teeth. "Don't argue."
The pale vampire ground her teeth defiantly, meaning to open her mouth and snap right back at her husband that she wasn't ever going to leave his side, but the man smiled at her, soft enough to deflate her rising fists.
"Don't worry about me." His smile brightened and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I can handle myself."
The woman mutely stared at the blonde.
Her will to defy him reduced to nothing and her stoic mask broke into a frustrated sigh.
"I'll drop them off and come right back, ok?"
Naruto laughed quietly. "Sure."
The white haired beauty grabbed Naruto by his jounin vest and stood up on her toes, planting a kiss on his mask.
Konan turned away, hiding her jealousy.
She summoned a swarm of white sheets of paper from her arms, forming a blanket of paper that levitated off the ground. She hopped onto the paper, held out a hand for the pregnant Inuzuka and then took off into the sky, taking a route to the capital that widely went around the rinnegan bearing paths, just as Sueki finally separated from her teacher and sped after the Paper Angel and Minato's weakness.
Naruto and the paths watched them leave, then the Deva path said.
"Sueki won't live long enough to make it to the capital."
Naruto smirked invisibly. "You don't give her enough credit."
Ketsueki Sakenomi was his student.
It would do well not underestimate Blood, the Vampire Empress.
"…Perhaps not." The Deva path, formerly Yahiko, admitted. "You understand what is about to happen now…right, Naruto?"
"…Trust me, Nagato," Naruto warned with a small shake of his head, holding his hands as if to surrender. "You don't want to do this. Not with me."
"You talk too much, Naruto."
The blonde closed his eyes, inhaled deeply and then slowly exhaled through his nose, opening them again.
There was a white flash that glinted over his cerulean blue orbs, vanishing as quickly as it had been seen. The blonde's eyes darkened and the shadows beneath his eyes covered his face, illuminating his cerulean blue eyes even more.
His right arm snapped to his side and Night Terror appeared in his hands, ebbing dangerous black smoke. He held the lethally sharp blade laxly, pointed downwards to the ground. Six long tentacles made out of smoky blackness slithered out of his back and shoulders, fluidly passing through the seams of his shirt and his vest without tearing the material, and waving about him hypnotically, as if they had a mind of their own.
He didn't lower himself into a stance, standing upright with his ninjato pointed downwards and his long smoke tentacles swaying about him. The extreme tips of those ten black tentacles crackled and glowed with white electricity. A deadly union between Naruto's Lightning release bloodline and his Smoke release bloodline.
A bright spark passed over Naruto's blue eyes, then they ignited with white energy, turning his blue orbs an angry, blazing shade of white and expanding his ocular sensitivity.
The Six Paths of Pein watched Naruto become the Ghost.
Nagato, when he was much younger, had sparred with Naruto while the blonde was in this form-white eyes, electricity-tipped smoke tentacles and with a face devoid of care and emotion-but the Rinnegan god was wise enough to know not to compare any spar they had ever had in their youth to now.
This fight would dwarf any fight they had when they were kids.
The sky light blue became darker, turning dark red. Black clouds slowly populated the heavens and the wind became stronger against both men.
The two men expelled chakra from their bodies, Nagato doing so from all his paths, and a light shower of rain drizzled down on both men and the black clouds covering the sun crackled with white lightning, threading visibly through the clouds.
Then and there, under the blood red sky, the pitch black clouds that blocked the bright yellow sun, the light shower of Nagato's chakra rain and the crackle of Naruto's white lightning, Naruto made a vow to the Six Paths of Pein.
"After this…I'm coming for you, Naga."
The crippled Kage, all the way back in Ame, coolly faced his glowing purple ringed eyes out of the window of his office, watching the rain of his village pitter patter against the cold glass and the people at the bottom, unaware of the earth shattering battle that will soon take place.
The Rinnegan god felt a ghost of a smile slide up his face and he bowed his head.
"…You can try…Naru."
Two Ame Orphans.
Two childhood friends.
The Ghost and the Six Paths of Pein.
The Ghost lifted his sword bearing arm and pointed Night terror at the rinnegan puppets. The Deva path lowered his centre of gravity, flattening his feet on the ground as the other paths got into their own preparatory stances, ready to attack with all their might.
There would be no holding back.
No history book or storyteller could possibly describe that battle, the one that reshaped history forever.
Authors note
…But I'll try my best.
Good thing I'm the one telling this story huh :D
My advice for you all, my dear readers, is to not use the canon fight between Naruto and the Six Paths as a reference for this one.
One thing's for sure…the fight scenes in the coming chapters are going to be effing fun to write.
My hands are shaking.
Who's ready for the next chapter?
Drop a review, would you so graciously. Please stay safe, wherever you are, and I will see you when I see you.
Foy.