Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the characters written here. They are own by their respective owners. Nuff' said.
Warning: This is rated M for a reason (blood, gore, extreme violence, language, and possible adult themes/lemons, etc.) Some of the characters will be a little OC.
Now on with the eighteenth chapter.
The Black Leaves
Chapter 18
Are we there yet? A bored-out-of-his-mind Naruto whined. Baby copying his whining tone before squealing in joy. She was happy that her daddy was back to his normal self.
We'll be there in an hour. So shut it, you little brat! Tazuna shouted at the blond. He and that floating blob had been annoying Tazuna for the past two hours with their constant whining and squealing.
Baby growled at the old man for insulting her papa and charged at the back of his balding head. But before she could teach the old man to respect her dad; said 'father' snatched her out of the air. Baby 'looked' up at Naruto and gave a soft, confused squeal at the sight of his stern face.
Naruto shook his head 'no' at Baby while giving a disappointed look at the fission metroid. Baby gave a sad coo and tried to apologize by nuzzling Naruto's orange covered jacket. He was really thankful that the group had passed by a lake an hour ago; allowing the team to refill their water canteens and giving Naruto a chance to wash off the blood and vomit off his body.
He leaned his head close to his child and whispered. "You can get him later. After our mission is completed. Okay?"
Baby gave an evil, yet oh so adorable, squealing laugh while wriggling out of Naruto's grip and floating next to him.
The group eventually reached the shore of a large river, with a small motor boat operated by a thin fisherman waiting for them with an angry glare aimed directly at the group. It's about damn time you got he- He stop his developing rant when the Prayer walked into his view.
Tazuna couldn't help but smirk at the paling man. You were saying? The fisherman gulped. Tazuna developed a new found respect for the Otherworld monster.
As Tazuna and Team Seven were about to board the small vessel; the Prayer placed a toned hand on Naruto's shoulder. She whispered into his ear. She also took the chance to flick the boy's left ear with her thin tongue. And with that, the Prayer literally dragged an unwilling Naruto behind several bushes.
"What is it? Is something wrong with Nightmare?" Naruto asked, worried over Empress's daughter. He walked over to the bed and parted the curtains to look at the laying Nightmare, looking right back at him.
The Prayer said as she poked her head between the gaps between the curtains. She said with a bit of a blush. The sound of crackling flesh and movement out of the corner of his eyes brought Naruto's attention back to Nightmare. His eyes widened in shock at the sight before him.
Nightmare was sitting straight up in her bed and had her arms outstreached before her in a fashion similar to a child asking for a hug. Surrounding her upper body were the pieces of burnt flesh that had been chipped off by her movements.
Wh-what are you doing, Nightmare? Naruto asked with no small amount of worry in his voice.
She...wants...travel...with you, The Prayer spoke for her creator.
"Um...Okay?" Naruto said, not really understanding what the Prayer said. "So you want me to carry you for a while, is that it Nightmare?" He asked his stupid question.
Nightmare slowly nodded her head and gave a soft grunt while motioning with her fingers her desire to be picked up by the blond.
Where the Hell is that idiot? And where could Nightmare be? Sakura nearly screamed while she and the rest of Team Seven sat waiting for Naruto in the fisherman's boat.
Patients is a virtue, Sakura. Sasuke said while trying to take a peek at the book Kakashi was reading. For some reason, Tazuna and the fisherman had the exact same book and were reading them as well.
Sakura just crossed her arms under her budding breasts and huffed in irritation. But not before being bonked in the head by an angry Baby. Sakura rubbed the impact spot and mumbled something about stupid floating blobs of hate.
S-sorry we took so long. Naruto apologized while coming out from behind the bushes. He was carrying something on his back. It was a human shaped figure clothed in a pure white make-shift robe with blotches of rust placed randomly on it. The robe had been made from bed sheets. The hands and feet of the figure were hidden by the over-sized sleeves, while an over-sized hood hide the person's face from view.
Naruto had his arms hooked underneath the person's legs, while their arms wrapped around Naruto's neck. The end result was the figure's head being right next to Naruto's.
"Who is that, Naruto?" Kakashi asked without any real concern in his voice. He did not even look up from his book to look at the figure.
Naruto started while shuffling the figure into a more comfortable position. This also caused the figure to let out a small, soft moan. Is Nightmare.
Everyone else simply stared at the figure. Since nobody but Naruto had seen the girl and only the Prayer, they had begun to think that the Prayer actually was Nightmare.
Naruto climbed into the small water craft and shifted Nightmare around so that she was sitting comfortably on his lap. He was completely unaware of the effect his proximity had on the burnt girl. If she could, Nightmare would have been blushing almost as much as a pervy Hinata masturbating while watching Naruto train.
"Are we ready to go now?" The fisherman asked impatiently. Nightmare turned her head to look at the man. Her single, yellow eye glowed from the darkness underneath the hood. The man pushed the small boat away from the lake shore and did not speak a single word for the entire trip.
Meanwhile, inside a not so well hidden hideout...
"So, the Demon Brothers got caught?" A short portly old man wearing a business suit and with dark gray hair asked. The man had on a pair of black glasses and a wooden cane in his right hand. He really did not need the cane, but it made him feel much more important than he really was. He sat in an over-sized, plush armchair.
Next to the man was a much taller, girl in her late teens wearing a bright red dress sat next to the man in another armchair. Her dark brown hair flowed down to the middle of her back. Her body had filled out well in the past few years and the dress showed it. Said girl had her head resting in her hand which was propped up on the arm of the chair; a bored expression etched on her pretty face.
"N-no, Gato-san, The thug spoke in a panicked tone of voice. They weren't just captured. The Demon Brothers were eaten alive by... something."
Gato stared down at the hired help. "What do you mean 'eaten'?" "Daddy, I'm bored!" Gato's daughter interrupted with a whine in her snobbish voice.
"I-I mean something attacked them in their sleep and tore them apart. Bite marks and pieces of skin and stuff were ripped off them. What's weird is that the bite marks looked like a person's." The thug said, ignoring his boss's spoiled daughter.
Oh well, Gato said while shrugging his shoulders. I was planning in offing them later, He said without any real concern heard in his voice. It was not like I was going to pay them the fee they asked for. Just who did they think they were; asking the great Gato to pay them such a price? I should have charged them for the honor of protecting me and my business!" He ranted.
"I'm going out daddy." Gato's teenage daughter announced loudly while getting out of her chair.
Gato sighed. "Alright dear." He then tapped his cane on the hardwood floor. Three men walked into the room in a triangular formation.
The man on the left was a tall, muscular man with a very slow expression on his face. He was dressed in blue jeans and a simple white tank-top. The man on the right was a much less muscular man of medium height. He wore a purple vest over a white dress shirt with a wide brimmed tan hat and shiny black dress shoes; he also had a thick leather whip holstered on his black belt.
The man in the middle of the group was the most distinguished. The man was of a very muscular build and wore a striped, purple suit with a red vest underneath and a red tie. He also had on a pair of shiny black dress shoes. His head, however, is what people would notice first thing. The man's head was almost completely cylindrical and had a messy mop of hair on the very flat top. The guy also had two large kunai launchers held in each hand.
"You called us, boss?" Flat top said in a gruff 1920's accent.
"Yes. I want you and your guys to escort my daughter to wherever she wants. Understood?" Gato said with an arrogant smirk.
The man with the duel kunai luanchers gritted his teeth in hidden rage. "Sure thing, boss." He said with barely hidden fury. "Ox, Montana." He spoke to his underlings. "Follow me."
"Yes, boss." The two stooges said at the same time as they followed their boss out of the room with Gato's daughter leading the trio.
Gato's smirk grew to a full blown wicked smile. I have got to say. Forcing Hammerhead to work for me was the best idea I everhad. Especially after all the grief he has given my ancestors."
"Y-yes, sir." The goon said, thinking his boss was talking to him.
Gato stood up and walked to the massive window behind the chairs. The window allowed a full view of the village that he had complete control over. In his mind, it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.
"You know? I was thinking of taking my ancestors name."
"What name is that, sir?"
"Kingpin."
Sasuke shouted as he watched his team's sensei become trapped in a watery prison; courtesy of one Momochi Zabuza. The genin of the team were in a protective formation around their employer, with Sasuke and Sakura protecting the front and sides and Naruto; still carrying Nightmare, covering the back.
"All I want is the bridge builder. I'll let your sensei go if you give me what I want," Zabuza bargained with the genin. He had his pawn, Haku, hidden just out of sight just in case of an emergency. After he saw that it was the legendary Copy-ninja, Hatake Kakashi, leading the mission; Zabuza just could not hold back the urge to face the legendary ninja.
Everyone was currently at a stand still. With Kakashi hostige and Tazuna protected by the genin of Team Seven; neither side was able to make a move without risk of loosing their target and their lives.
"I want to remind you all. Hatake here has a limited amount of oxygen in this water prison here," Zabuza said with mirth. To prove his point, the swordsman slowly started to allow water to fill the prison, effectively shortening Kakashi's air supply.
"Don't worry about me!" Kakashi shouted. "Just get Tazuna-san to safety and protect yourselves!"
Despite Kakashi's instruction, nobody made any movement. Sasuke and Naruto had been trying to come up with some sort of rescue plan, but every time they came up with one an obvious flaw would be seen by one or the other of the two. This continued for a good five minutes before Sakura lost her patience.
"Will you two shut the Hell up?" She shouted in a rather loud whisper, effectively shutting both Naruto and Sasuke up. "I've got an idea," Every member of the team, plus Baby and Tazuna, leaned in closer to the pink haired girl. "Idiots." She muttered to herself.
Several minutes later, the water had risen to level with Kakashi's neck, with his team suddenly becoming very quiet.
"Hmph. Have you finally decided to hand over the old man?" Zabuza asked without any real concern heard in his gravel-ish voice. He knew that he was either going to kill Kakashi then obtain the bridge builder, or vice versa. Either way, Zabuza was confident he would win.
Suddenly, Sasuke dropped out of his defensive stance and dashed towards the lake that Zabuza was standing on. As he ran, Sasuke reached into his back pack; which Naruto was kind enough to return to him before their boat ride, and yanked out a large fuhma shuriken.
He continued running until he neared the lake shore. Sasuke then pivoted on his right heel and twirled around to put more force into his arm before releasing the multi-bladed weapon. Said shuriken sailed through air as it headed for Zabuza's neck.
The swordsman's eyes widened in surprise just as the weapon nearly reached him. His left hand suddenly shot forward and caught the bladed weapon before it could make contact with his gray, muscled flesh.
"You honestly didn't think that would work, did you?" Zabuza mocked the group of genin. He was about to toss the weapon into the water, when a loud screech pierced the foggy air. Zabuza looked up just in time to lean back just far enough to dodge Baby's attack aimed at his head.
The metroid sailed past the gray skinned man and continued onward. Before Zabuza could right his self; six large scythe-like fingers burst from the water and dug into his strong chest. He felt the pale hands connected to the bladed fingers pull him into the water, and thus forcing him to let go of the water prison that held Kakashi.
Team Seven's sensei quickly leapt out of the water and back onto dry land as another pair of lurker arms grasped onto Zabuza'a arms and thus preventing him from reaching his weapon. Several more arms slithered out from beneath the surface of the water and grabbed Zabuza and helped drag him slowly under.
The swordsman did not go down quietly. He shouted out curses and threats as he was slowly pulled down beneath the water. After he was chest deep in the water; Team Seven turned their attention from the rogue ninja to their injured sensei and began to hit him with a barrage of questions.
"I'm alright," He coughed. "Don't worry about me. Good job with protecting Tazuna and taking down Momochi Zabuza," He tried to stand but found he was too weak from the fight with the rogue ninja. Before he had been captured, Kakashi and Zabuza traded blows and jutsu for a good five minutes. Kakashi even had to use his secret Sharingan hidden behind his headband before; with the use of water clones, Zabuza captured the legendary Copy-ninja in the water prison and you all know the rest.
He shakingly rose to his feet and was able to stand straight up before tipping forward and falling flat on his face. The slamming sound his body made when it impacted the Earth caused the surrounding people to flinch in false pain.
Kakashi chuckled painfully. "That hurt." He continued to lay there for a few seconds without moving an inch. "Feel free to help me at any time here, team."
Nobody showed any signs of movement; except for Baby, who had just rejoined the group and was hovering next to Naruto. Said father looked over to the metroid and smiled. "You did a good job, Baby. I'm proud of you." He praised.
Baby cooed happily and nuzzled Naruto's face while making soft squeals. Baby loved her papa and wanted to make him happy. She also wanted to make her mama happy too, so she was going to try and get her mama and papa together and have one big happy family. Maybe they will get her a little brother or sister too. Baby let loose another happy squeal at that thought.
Suddenly, Baby found herself alone and gave a frightened screech as she zoomed around the area in a desperate attempt to find Naruto.
"What are you doing, Baby?" Naruto called from a short distance away. "If you don't hurry up, you'll be left behind." Sasuke and Tazuna were supporting the sub-conscious Kakashi, while Naruto was still carrying Nightmare. Sakura was carrying her teammates packs, plus Kakashi's and Tazuna's. She did not appear to be troubled at all by the addition weight.
"Tsunami-chan, Inari-kun." Tazuna called out as the group entered his families home. "I'm home. And I brought friends."
Team Seven glanced at the old drunk with belittling expressions. With the way this man had been complaining, undermining, and outright being an annoyance; nobody from Konohagakure was willing to use the term 'friend' to describe Tazuna. Words like, , drunk old man and were just a few of many optional words Team Seven would use to describe their employer. Naruto was pretty close to making a snide remark to the old man's comment, but quickly reconsidered with the death glare Sakura laid on him.
"I'll be down in a moment, father. I have to finish cleaning your bedroom." A woman's voice shouted from upstairs. "I wish you wouldn't leave all your," She paused and the sound of her throat clearing loudly could be heard by the people downstairs. "Adult literature, all over the place." She finished.
Sasuke and Tazuna walked Kakashi over to one of the chairs in front of the kitchen table and set him down. Sakura simply dropped the back packs near the front door and closed said door after everyone was inside.
Naruto tried to set Nightmare down on another chair; but she refused to let go of the boy. So, instead of trying to force the burnt girl to do something that would probably cause her incredibly pain, Naruto surrendered and continued to carry Nightmare; much to her pleasure.
A few minutes later, a beautiful woman in her late thirties wearing a light yellow apron over a normal civilian's attire, made her way down the stairs and into the entrance of her home. Just as her feet left the bottom stair, a grayish blob flew directly in front of her pretty face and screeched loudly. This scared Tsunami and caused her let out a sudden shriek and to swipe at the thing with her hand.
Baby floated out of the way and gave a confused squeal.
Naruto said in an unfamiliar, fatherly tone. "That is not how we say hello." He scolded the metroid, who gave a sad coo. "Now say hello the proper way."
Baby gave a short bounce that looked similar to a nodding head and hovored back over to Tsunami and turning on her side. Tsunami looked at the metroid in confusion as Baby wagged one of her pincers back and forth.
"That's right, Baby. We shake hands when we great somebody." Naruto said while giving a short glance at Tsunami.
The women noticed Naruto's glance and returned her gaze to the floating alien. She hesitantly reached a hand out and took the wiggling pincer in her slightly shaking hands. Baby cooed happily and started to move her pincer frantically up and down in a very overly excited hand-shake, causing Tsunami to giggle.
The second the young woman released her grip on the small pincer, Baby zoomed around the room chirping merrily. This caused everyone else in the room to laugh lightly. It was a good way for everyone to release the tension the early fight had brought to them all.
An hour or so later, everyone had sttled into their temporary home. Kakashi was resting in Tazuna's alcohol-smelling bedroom and Nightmare finally let go of Naruto and was sitting next to him along with the rest of Team Seven and Tazuna. The old bridge builder's pretty daughter was fixing dinner for everyone in the household and was working hard.
Despite Nightmare agreeing to get off Naruto's back, she had pressed her self up against him and was resting her head on his orange clothed shoulder.
"Oh, dear." Tsunami said from her spot in front of the counter. "I appear to not have enough ingredients for tonight's dinner." She then threw her father a rather nasty glare. "I would have been better prepared if I had been told about our extra company."
"Fine, fine," Tazuna groaned while slowly getting up from his chair, and alcohol. "What do you need me to get?" His daughter handed him a lengthy list of what she needed for him to get at the shopping district. 'Women and their shopping...'
"I'll go with you, Tazuna-san," Naruto said while prying a whining Nightmare and Baby off of him. "I need you two to stay here and protect Kakashi-sensei and Tsunami-san." He said with a little bit of authority in his voice.
The two complied as Naruto and Tazuna left for the market distrect, Sakura went up stairs to tend to Kakashi and Sasuke, surprisingly, began to help Tsunami in the kitchen.
As they two made their way through the fishing village; Naruto was subjected to the pitiful and depressing sight of the villagers. Most, if not all of the villagers were dressed in rags and ranged from every age group imaginable.
The only other people that wore anything besides trash, were the prostitutes on every street corner. Just like with the rest of the villagers, the age group withen the protitutes ranged from eight to eighty. The whole sight disgusted Naruto to no end.
"See what I'm trying to get rid of?" Tazuna asked Naruto, a look of complete and total determination was etched onto his wrinkled old face. "I want this depression and pain my people are having to go through to end. That's why I'm so focused on completing this bridge." He pointed to a small group of children who were playing a game while a drug deal was going on not five feet away.
Strangely, Naruto had to admit: 'For such a drunken old man, he doesn't seem so bad after all.'
The two continued on their way and reached the poorly stocked super-market without any hassle. The shelves had almost no food on them and what little food that was on them was poorly treated and had parts rotting. 'This is horrible...' Naruto looked over in a slight bit of sadness as he saw an older woman with her two children trying to count what little money they had in their hands. While Tazuna sought out to complete the list, Naruto slowly made his way to the couple. He reached into his pocket and pulled out some change. Here. It's not much, but I think you'll need it more than I will. The family welled up with tears in their eyes, and hugged the yellow-haired ninja. Naruto smiled as they went on their way with their bit of food.
Tazuna purchased what he could and the two left the grocery store. As the young genin and old bridge builder left the shopping district, Naruto felt a sudden tug on the back of his collar. Before he could react, Naruto was pulled into a side alley. Naruto turned around to see a pale faced Tazuna who pointed around the corner at an attractive woman wearing a bright purple dress. She was accompanied by three attimidating looking men.
"That's Gato's daughter and his best body-guards, next to that swordsman you all faced earlier." Tazuna whispered.
Suddenly, Naruto thought up a brilliant (in his mind) idea. 'If I can somehow kidnap Gato's daughter then hold her for ransom, he will have to leave the village if he cares for his (slightly attractive) daughter.' Naruto smiled an uncharacteristic evil grin as he thought up a plan to accomplish his new goal.
"Tazuna-san," Naruto whispered to the terrified old man. I want you to find another way to get home. I'll distract these guys so that they won't see you. Tazuna did not make any move beyond shooting the ninja a questioning glance. "Go!" Naruto whispered through gritting teeth.
Tazuna decided not to argue and dashed out of sight.
'You hear me in there Venom?' Naruto mentally shouted at his inner-demon. 'It's time to pay your rent!'
"How do I look, boys?" Gato's daughter asked her entourage as she did a little twirl.
"Very nice, ma'am," The thug named Montanna said while the other two just grunted.
"And what do you two think?" She shot a glare at the two other men.
"Ya' look nice." Ox grunted.
"Ya' look like a dame. What otha' answer were ya' expecten'?" Hammerhead said.
Again, the woman glared at the two thugs. "You two could learn something about treating a woman from Montanna here." She scolded.
"Well we think you look good enough to eat!" Several demonic voices said at once from an unknown location.
The four individuals frantically searched around for the source of the voices. Gato's daughter inched herself closer to the biggest guy, Ox, in hopes of protection from the new persons while Montanna and Hammerhead prepared their weapons. The villagers decided to make some room for the inevitable confrontation but stayed close enough to actually see it. They couldn't wait for something awful to happen to Gato's bitch of a daughter.
"Up here people," The voices said from atop a building's roof.
Everyone looked up at the roof to see an unusual black figure standing ontop of it. The person's body was nearly completely covered in black, only a few random splotches of human skin could be seen on parts of the figure's body. The figure's left hand was relativily normal looking, except for the long talons that replaced the nails on said hand. The person's right hand was abnormally long, slinder, and bony. The hand was longer than the left as were the fingers; which all but the middle finger had become thick, twisting tentacles tipped with small claws. The middle finger had increased dramatically in size and length and had become a massive claw. The claw's size caused it to nearly reach the ground when the person's arms were held at it's sides. It's legs and feet were relatively human, except for the talons growing out of the toes and several thick pulsating veins that could be seen through the flesh.
A large, pulsating purple vein wrapped around it's right arm and across the figure's chest untill it reached the greatly inlarged heart. The heart was so big that it could clearly be seen, in detail, through the figure's pitch black skin. It also appeared that the figure possessed the rare condition dextocardia, or the heart being on the right side of the chest instead of the left where most human hearts are normally located.
The figures head was as the rest of it. It's head lacked any hair at all and instead had small, thin pulsating veins. The figure lacked any lips at all what so ever and it's humanoid teeth and gums were exposed for all to see. It's pure white eyes were relatively small compared to the size of it's human-ish head. It lacked any visible ears. It's over all build was of that of a male.
"Well hello there people." The figure said in it's mulit-voices. He lept down from the roof and landed on the street below with a loud thud. When he landed, everyone could see the exposed spine. It had grown too big for his muscle and skin to contain and had torn through his back.
The creature was an in-control Naruto. When he had tried to force Venom to hand over control, the symbiote did not like being forced and was fighting back. Thus the cause for the horrific sight was less about the evolutionary abilities and more about the mental fighting Naruto and Venom were currently engaged in over control. Naruto had to make this quick or risk Venom gaining control and killing a lot more people then was needed.
"What ta' Hell is this freak?" Montanna asked as he grabbed his whip and readied it for the fight. Ox simply grunted and pulled his fists up into a boxing position.
"Who cares," Hammerhead said as he raised his duel kunai luanchers. "Just waste the freak."
"How rude, not even going to allow somebody to explain their reason for appearing before you?" Naruto said as Hammer head launched a volley of kunai. Naruto lept out of the way and onto the wall of a building, digging the talons on his left hand into the wall.
Montanna swung his whip and caused it to wrap around Naruto's giant claw. The thug smirked in victory as he and Ox pulled on it hard, trying to dislodge the symbiotic ninja from the wall.
"Bad move," Naruto growled as he yanked back with his tentacle fingers wrapped around the leather whip. Ox, who had let go at just the right time, was knocked to the ground by a flying Montanna.
As the thug flew through the air, one of Naruto's tentacle-fingers extended along the whip and wrapped itself around the mans hands; forcing him to continue holding onto his whip. Naruto then proceeded to use the force already created by pulling on the whip to send Montanna flying into the side of a building across the street.
Naruto yanked the whip upwards and sent Montanna flying high into the sky. Then with a quick slick of the deformed wrist; sent the thug crashing to the Earth. Naruto yanked the whip to the side and sent Montanna sailing into a street lamp. The sound of cracking ribs was heard by the whole crowd. He was then slammed into the ground once more. Naruto then gave one final hard tug and sent the man flying directly towards him.
Naruto caught the man in three of his four tentacles and held him as his fourth tentacle wrapped Montanna's own whip around his neck. "Time to play with the piñata!" Naruto said while laughing almost maniacally. With the whip tyed around Montanna's scrawny neck, Naruto jumped over to the same street lamp that Montanna had been smashed into and tossed the man over across the horizontal pole. Montanna hit the ground hard while the whip was kept at an arc on the street lamp.
Naruto slowly began to pull on the whip and rise the prone and barely concious man to his feet. Montanna grasped at the whip around his neck as it choked him while being hoisted to his feet. Naruto continued to pull on the leather whip untill Montanna was hanging in the air, kicking and gasping for air.
Naruto simply laughed evilly. He couldn't help it; the combined mental state of the current Venom fighting with Naruto's was causing an incredible mental strain on the boy, thus causing him to act way out of character.
Naruto allowed Montanna to hang in the air for a minute or so before ending the man's agony. With a sharp yank on the whip, a loud crack echoed throughout the village. The body was allowed to hang for a few seconds before being dropped to the ground with a sickening thud.
"Awwww, our new toy is broken, Naruto said with an evil chuckle. He looked up at his three remaining targets. "Who wants to die next?"
Ox, being the idiot he was, became enraged that the closest thing he had ever had to a friend was just killed before his very eyes. He let loose an infuriated scream and charged directly at the deformed symbiote with his fist prepared to deliver a painful blow; who decided to copy him and do the same. Only, instead of having a fist pulled back, Naruto had his over-sized claw drawn back.
"I'm gonna' murdah you fre- urk..!" Ox atempted to shout, until the sudden jolt caused by a large, sharp implement impaling his chest interrupted him. The large man slowly looked down at the piercing claw with mouth agape and eyes wide.
Slowly, Ox was raised high into the air and held up there. Naruto held his slowly dieing foe in the air, like some sort of flesh trophy. Naruto non-chalantly tossed the dying Ox aside and faced Gato's daughter, who was hiding behind Hammerhead. She had tried to escape from the area but the surrounding villagers refused to allow her a way out.
"Wh-what do you want?" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
Naruto pointed his blood soaked claw directly between her eyes. "You."
Hammerhead lowered his weapons. "All ya' want is the broad?" He asked with a raised eye brow.
"Yes. She is our target" Naruto said.
Hammerhead shrugged his shoulders. "Go ahead. Take the bitch." He calmly walked out of the way. "I hate the fuck outa' that bastard Gato. So you taken' his daughta' will piss him off enough to make me happy." As Hammerhead began to leave the girl alone, she stared at him in horror and then fixed her eyes at the abomination that also had its eye on her.
"Really?" Naruto asked in shock with a dumbfounded look on his face. Hammerhead just nodded his deformed head. "Well, thanks."
"Fuck you, Hammerhead!" Gato's little girl shrieked. Naruto simply approached the girl and wrapped his four tentacles around her and used one to cover her screaming mouth. Quickly annoyed by her constant screaming, Naruto unwound a tentacle long enough to whip at the back of her head, effectively knocking her out. "I can see why they despise you so."
Naruto turned to face the thug and gave him a half-hearted salute. "Thanks again," Naruto said, only to receive a grunt from the departing Hammerhead. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and lept onto a roof and out of sight, leaving the villagers to wonder who and what exactly he was and to tend to the two corpses that would get the most disrespectful burial in history.