Authors note: This chapter contains violence, gore, suggestive theme, unethical and insensitive jokes and as of such is not recommenced for any form of viewing by anyone. That said, enjoy!
A new dawns on the sizeable village hidden in the leaves. The morning sun passes through to the beating rays of midday with the usual hustle and bustle in the streets, though perhaps a little more so than usual.
Many of the people also push and shove with an almost desperate demeanour, which is highly unusual for Konohagakagure, a village that has not known high unemployment rates or famine since the Kyuubi incident, and the prior wars.
The unforgiving light glinted off many reflective objects, buildings, banners and the like, near blinding a certain blonde boy who was winding his way through the crowded streets.
The young Shinobi was slowly meandering towards the Kage tower; his pace due to the news received the previous day. Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku's Ramen stand, was dead.
Murdered by a spying Kumo-nin for discovering his true identity, Teuchi's funeral had been that very morning and Naruto missed it due to a simple and tedious mission.
The boy had found the Ramen stand to be just about the only public place where he could sit in peace, with two of the only people who had never hated him, even as a little child they had always been friendly and helpful to the Jinnchuriki.
Now he was gone, Naruto did not know what to think. First his friend Hinata leaving this plane and now old man Teuchi… it was getting to be a strain on his still young, impressionable mind.
The mission was a simple - D-rank garden hoeing, which was a good thing as Naruto butchered many plants as well as the weeds assigned for execution, earning a beating from the irate gardener. Gods be praised that he did not have to collect eggs from her chicken coop, a delicate process of not antagonising the chickens while removing their 'children.'
He moved through the entire morning sluggishly, without any real thought or direction from the cranium. His team noticed and, after a short conference from Ibiki, they cut him some slack, it was obvious the boy was not currently firing on all cylinders.
The entire village community was finding themselves with more to think morosely about, injury and death was on an incline, hostile Shinobi sneaking about all manner of places.
Bandit attacks were on the rise as well; Shinobi culling off the older bands did little to deter hungry farmers and poor folk from resorting to thievery. The Daimo (Warlord) of Fire country was a cruel man, in power only for the past six months after his predecessor died from 'off meat.'
The man was very greedy as well, squeezing the country folk for all they were worth, also raising a private army in the capital, apparently to 'guard against numerous outside threats.' In reality it was more alike to the Daimo not trusting the Konoha Shinobi, wanting a measure of security in case some (or many) revolted.
Though Konoha was still busy and bustling with missions and therefore strong in economy, the populace still felt the pinch of poverty on their behinds. Food was becoming increasingly scarce and expensive, hence the increase in farming around Konoha and D-rank missions based around that same pastime.
People were safer the closer to the village they were, so it was slowly starting to fill with those who had 'cut their losses' and ran with what they had from the country and other smaller villages into Konoha's increasingly overfilled arms.
Apparently this made Konoha potentially vulnerable for an invasion, hence the spying Kumo-nin. Although the Shinobi had been captured and incarcerated Naruto was nowhere near at ease.
The boy understood enough of the Shinobi life by now that vengeance solves little; it cannot bring back the dead. He was merely sorry to see one of his few true friends leave so suddenly, and at a loss oft how to outwardly express that particular feeling.
Naruto entered the tower after as long lingering outside as possible, he went to the Hokage's office and was summarily let in by the old man, who had been waiting outside, smoking his insidious pipe of doom… Ahem on with it eh?
As the Hokage, Sasuke Sarutobi sat down as his seat he stated calmly, a little too calmly in fact:
"Well Naruto, you have been doing well in your missions lately, your current feelings are perfectly natural though, it is best just to talk about them, rather than bottling them up and slaughtering some poor farmer's crops."
Naruto shifted guiltily, he sat after being waved into a seat by the old man.
"I… can't pretend that it does not hurt Oji-ji, it would be… an insult to a good man."
Sandiame nodded compassionately and Naruto continued.
"It is just so hard to see them go, knowing that there was no way to save them from… life. I understand that death is not the end, just a part of existence that we all meet one day.
This does not make it any easier to deal with though… hey Oji-ji, you are old, how do you cope with it?"
With a slightly unhappy tug of his kage hat, Sandiame puffed once on his pipe and spilled his guts.
"It is simple Naruto. I merely say goodbye and that I shall see them all again soon. It is not like we are severed from each other for eternity after all, we all die, therefore we all should go to the same place.
Teuchi lived long and well, raising a lovely daughter and insuring his family had a continued income for the future, his life was not over, but it had purpose. Many live and die without finding their purpose, I only truly grieve for those."
Naruto nodded at that, he looked slightly better from hearing a long-winded, yet truthful philosophy of death.
The blonde boy slept better that night, in the morning there was a report of bandit attacks along the highway road stretching all the way to Sunagakure.
Not too far from Konoha was the main band of trouble, hundreds of the hungry had resorted to pillaging those who were more fortunate. This process would in turn create more and more bandits and homeless folk.
Therefore the Daimo of the fire country gave the village of Konoha one-month to suppress the miniature rebellion, 28 days and counting. He was secretly hoping to whittle down the numbers of both fractious civilians and Shinobi in one fell stroke.
Naturally the Shinobi took the task seriously, mobilising all of their active Shinobi for the operation, dubbed 'Op: Sheepdog' by a former farmer in the creative department.
All Genin teams would encircle and herd the bandits towards a central area around three kilometres off the highway, a rugged place where they could be more easily split up.
From there the rest of the Shinobi would operate in 6-8 man cells, disarming or destroying all threats. It was the largest military mobilisation outside war in the history of Konoha.
Team 17 set out on Monday morning, Naruto grumbling, he could not go on the secret operation to find Princess Tsunade the Slug-Sennin to fulfil Obito's deal unless they finished inside two weeks.
The two weeks was for another team to locate and reacquire the other Sennin, Jiriyia, who would probably be the only one to find Tsunade, they being former partners in a Genin and later Sannin level team.
The boy also still felt for his two precious people, Hinata was his best and true friend, while Teuchi was like the proverbial missing uncle or literal in this case (missing I mean...)
Naruto set aside his brooding and decided to focus on his job, something many adults apparently do in cities to ignore domestic problems.
It took two long, wearying days to reach the troubled farmland where our little scuffle is to take place.
Team 17, along with eight other teams was taking the approach from the south, the crops hid their approach, and there were only a few scouts that the Jonin took out without even bothering the younger, relatively experienced Genin.
A military organisation the bandits were certainly not. What they did have was numbers and a few experienced fighters in the mob.
The sound of battle joining could be heard as Naruto, Danzo and Yuu crouched in the cane field. Not particularly pleasant sounds, the clash of steel on steel and the hollow sound of edged objects on armour.
As they approached squelching sounds added their lovely presence to the scene, as Shinobi blade met bandit flesh, the opposite was hopefully limited yet still likely evident.
Teams 17, 24, 31 and others burst out of the cane into a melee, the Shinobi had been harassing the flanks to bunch the Bandits in small groups of thirty or so, milling about and outflanked on all sides.
Unfortunately for that plan hidden traps in the ground had flooded the outlying area with more bandits still, turning the entire farming district into a huge melee.
Shinobi were using all the Nin, Gen and Taijutsu at their disposal to take down the mob, yet more than a few were totally swamped by numbers and the poorly thrown yet numerous projectiles.
One Genin in team 24 was too slow to avoid a flurry of Kunai, scavenged from the dead; her death rattle after one pierced her throat was lost in the chaos to all but Naruto, who flinched then carried on.
Jonin techniques cleared out entire sections of banditry, yet there were truly thousands and when some were cleared; they merely spread out or flooded the area over again.
Shinobi were slowly falling, one after the other, so they grouped together over the course of another fierce ten minutes of combat and started to fall back.
Carrying Yuu, Naruto hauled ass back, depositing the dead-pale boy at the MSSH (Mobile Shinobi Surgical Hospital) division and heading back to the line. Yuu had been fighting well when wolfish limbs sprouted where his arms and legs should have been.
A random bandit had stabbed the nearly helpless boy/wolf before the Shinobi could get to him, though Naruto did drag him to relative safety.
They could not just retreat, their supply line and medical ninja would be wiped out, so the Shinobi of Kohona retreated backwards one step at a time, saving all the wounded that could be saved.
Naruto reached the line once more; screaming bandits overtaking the left flank met his large Chakra no Tate. Naruto used a simple method, one Tate in front to push them onto another just on the ground, solidify that horizontal one, raise and drop.
After a while Naruto almost ceased to hear the screams and the squelching thud as the groups of luckless bandits fell fifty feet onto the unforgiving ground. The boy even dropped them onto their comrades as the opportunity presented itself, crushing and wounding still more.
Even the Jonin were tiring now, the defensive line was thinning and slowly creeping in towards itself, the bandits were close to flanking their tricky opponents.
One and a half hours in to the operation, an hour into their grinding retreat Naruto had a thought. It sparked in his head like the proverbial light bulb and refused to be quashed.
The blonde found Ibiki and quickly explained: "You and I could hold them at bay sensei, with an encircling Tate around us only letting in slow moving objects, like people, we could attack their centre and they would stall, giving the others time to get away."
Ibiki nodded, threw three kunai from a diminishing stock and said calmly
"We do need a distraction Naruto, but suicide is pointless unless you can hold the shield for ten minutes."
Naruto, fighting off his own burly, yet desperate opponents replied loudly and shrilly
"Damnit Sensei, I will hold the Tate for as long as is needed. You guard us and use a Doton, decapitating Jutsu to hide us, the others will go free and we can hide until the bandits leave or we die."
It did not take Ibiki long; he nodded tersely and hid a grin under his blood-drenched coat. 'This will be interesting', were his thoughts at the time.
"Alright men, Uzumaki and I shall fight a rearguard action, we will delay them so haul ass when they stall. Do not come back for us."
One battered Genin shouted out "But if this fails…"
"It shall not". Ibiki had his 'grim' face on, usually reserved for torture, now for a dance with death itself.
The two Shinobi took off into the mob, bandits flying as they crashed into a plow-like Tate, not stopping until they reached the dead centre.
Arms and legs flashed around the Tate's, which were circling, with solid edges and gluelike consistency in the centre, many bandits pressed in only to be smashed away, even suffering amputated limbs in the crush.
The entire bandit line crushed into its own centre, aided by a timely Genjutsu by Yuuhi Kureani, a senior Chunin. The Shinobi line disengaged and exercised a limping tactical repositioning (They hauled ass out of there)!
Naruto and Ibiki fought on, using any weapon that came to hand to slash and smash, annihilating the Bandits one by one: with extreme prejudice.
After an indiscriminate time, the shields started to buckle and a stray arrow pierced one in the centre, aiming right for Uzumaki Naruto's back. Ibiki saw the shot, with a grim determination he moved in frount of the boy, knowing their only chance was his Chakra no Tate Jutsu.
The boy snapped out of his daze and solidified the Tate's with the last dregs of his Chakra, hauled out of his body.
Naruto spun and caught the falling bear like figure behind him.
Ibiki looked out pensively at the boy on the battlefield for a moment that would be burned into the blonde's mind for eternity.
A slow moving hand brushed Naruto's blood-soaked and reddened hair away from his eyes
"Naruto… live well and strong. You are like me… tough, be strong for Konoha".
With that, the bear-like man crumpled into Naruto's arms, all breath left the body of Morino Ibiki, along with what little colour he had left.
Naruto gently set Ibiki down and stood, trembling slightly, ignoring the hammering of the Bandits on his flickering shield.
The blonde glanced up; whisker marks solidifying, his hair and body were stained red-black with blood, but now the previously cerulean eyes revealed a similar red, widening horrifically. Chaotically swirling, those burning eyes took in the now silent and unmoving bandit mob.
"You will pay… for this"
The boy snarled in a deep, guttural voice as his hand waved about the battlefield, nails extending into claws. The encircling Tate's glowed blood red before exploding outwards in a shattering display of raw power.
The slivers of Chakra rocketed around the field of battle, piercing ground, metal and flesh with equal impunity.
Everywhere the multitude of Chakra shards landed, a clone grew. This clone was not just any bunshin though; they all glowed with an unholy red light and slashed wildly at those daring to challenge the power of the fox.
Naruto stood in the centre for a second, after mouthing "Kitsune Kai" and forming a ram and Karana seal.
The bandits were suddenly on the off foot, facing down hundreds of mad as viper Demon-fox imbued shadow clones.
Many clones were pricked and destroyed, but as they went they imploded, sucking limbs, people and sundry objects into the miniature black holes.
Men died horribly defaced by glowing claws and smashed into paste by small, homing Tate's, glowing that sinister red. The original Naruto was not missing out either, he plowed through the mob in an effort for locate a real challenge, after all this was true power!
These insects deserved to be crushed for their arrogance in challenging Uzumaki Naruto!
Such were the boy's thoughts as burning red coils of Chakra roped and snaked throughout his body.
Finally he found a weary man who had the skill to dodge not one, but three mini-Tates. The blonde turned temporary brunette attacked with reckless abandon, completely ignoring a spring kick to the chest in his haste to gut the man daring to stand before his magnificent aura!
After much fruitless attacking, in which the man managed to avoid most of the damage with very quick footwork, the blonde growled out
"Well well, I did not expect to see you here, traitor."
The mystery man, a tall man with imposing eyebrows also spoke up, panting from the extreme force used in each and every single blow from the demon-ridden Shinobi.
"Sorry Naruto, my family had to eat and the dojo was not giving us any sustenance. This is for the best."
The boy snarled and attacked even faster "save the speech for the Shinigami, little man."
The man, who was of course one Maito Sai grunted and continued, swaying away from vicious undercuts and only just blocking obvious yet powerful overhead slashers.
After a time, Sai slowed down a little; it was then that the cunning fox struck.
A red haze appeared around the left arm, Sai did not notice and paid well for his folly. Blocking a blow to the throat, Sai found the red haze forming into a Chakra arm and tearing off his own defending limb.
The defeated man fell to the ground, screaming in agony as Naruto looked on, an inhumanly wide grin on his feral features.
"Please… spare me, my children nee-"
At this point Naruto's face went dangerously blank, he turned away and Sai relaxed. One red tail shot out from the boy's collarbone, wrapping around his neck faster than you can say 'jimmeny cricket!"
It sheared his head off as Naruto continued to walk away, muttering "Human filth all deserve to die."
Things descended into a red haze of death for a time, Naruto's 'primal' side just about taking over and delighting in the slaughter of desperate men.
When the blonde 'awoke', there was a curious-looking wooden snake attached to his face… The red haze drained away from his limbs and his Clawed hands became as normal for a young human male.
Naruto stumbled and fell, the same wooden snake looping around his body to prevent the face-crunch into the dirt, it lifted the Jinnchuriki up and took him over to a young Konoha ANBU member.
The ANBU was standing next to Kakashi and his father. The Cyclopean Jonin woke Naruto up and explained to him that the man utilising the wooden snake could suppress evil power with his Mokuton (wood release) Jutsu.
These techniques were copied from the First Hokage's power, the one praised with building Konoha. The man's name is Yamato.
Naruto naturally was a little in the dark on his evil power, until Kakashi reminded him of Obito's little announcement a while back. The boy grew quiet and moody, remembering the men he had slaughtered while the demon was strong.
This included one Maito Sai, a good man as Naruto remembered it. The boy's hands shook as he recalled how the desperate man had died, on his knees begging for mercy that would, nay could not come.
Noticing Narutos condition, Kakashi loudly (well in his usual bored monotone) explained how they had arrived in the area of battle. His father Whitey squatted down and put a hand on the blondes' shoulder.
Yamato, Kakashi and Whitey had been on the mission to find the legendary Sennin, Jiraiya when they heard of Konona's 'grand' mission oft bandit extermination.
Naturally they hurried with the mission and located Jiraiya, convinced him to return and went to the battlefield just in time to outflank the enemy, although Naruto 'going nuts' had already halted them.
Jiraiya was currently leading a large battle group of frog-warriors (At which Naruto did his best fish impression) to mop-up the surviving bandits.
The boy took a breath, swallowed and said
"OK then, thanks guys, really good timing. I was worried from the start when Yuu had to retreat, after that we were just being out-muscled for ages. Then I…"
Kakashi smiled, even though it could not be seen and replied
"Indeed Naruto, but even though Yamato can supress your little problematic power, you still purposely released the fox upon these bandits, are you sure you can still contain his spirit?
After all, he has tasted blood for the first time in nearly twelve years."
Naruto merely nodded.
"Yes indeed, he tasted blood, yet he is no stronger for it. Indeed, for the moment he is weaker from mister Yamato's cool technique and his own effort.
He is wearier than I at this moment and has gained no power today, never fear.
Speaking of weariness…"
At this Naruto slumped back into the embrace of the wooden snake, blissfully unconscious.
In time Jiraiya returned and the army of Konoha returned to their hidden village, permanently lessened in number.
Naruto awoke in a white bed two days later, swearing loudly (D'arvit!) he dressed and took off for the Hokage tower.
The boy managed to gain entrance, as Yamato was the guard outside the office door. Inside, the Third, Jiraiya and Whitey were holding a meeting, to discuss further the plan of one Uchiha Obito.
The Sandiame turned at Naruto's entrance and smiled warmly
"Hello Naruto, this talk affects you as well, so please sit down.
So, we are sure that this is truly Uchiha Obito?"
After receiving three nods, Sandiame continued.
" Very well, Jiraiya, you shall take Kakashi and find Tsunade, her skills are sorely needed here in Konoha besides she is the largest requirement for Obito's plan.
Make sure she comes here, even if you must marry her."
The elderly Sennin grimaced then spoke up:
"Firstly, marriage in not an option, she is too unsound with the finances to attach my considerable Icha Icha funds to. Second, I do not like Kakashi overmuch; even I think there is something… wrong with that man. No, if anyone comes, it will have to be the Gaki here."
At this point Jiraiya points to an excited Naruto, who jumps up and down exclaiming 'Yippee', before Jiraiya smacks him on the head in a careless manner.
Sandiame puffed on his pipe for a second, he was not fooled, Kakashi, Whitey and Jiraiya knew about Naruto and that his spirit would be down after the events two days prior. This mission would be an excellent way to take his mind off things.
"Yamato will accompany you both then, just in case, his unfortunately acquired Mokuton Jutsu can prevent another incident with Naruto's power, he is also in need of some more global missions, it does not do to have a ninja bound to one place for too long.
It can dull the skill…"
Insert frogs croaking and other such noises here as all in the room peer at the Sandiame's aged weather-beaten face.
Naruto broke the awkward silence with a cheery "Alright then old man, we will be off now, Ja Ne!"
Thus the adventure begins…
-
Here is where y'all can stop for a rest break, stretch your legs to prevent excessive blood-clotting and other such fun things.
No?
Well do not sue me when you have future amputations then. You have been warned. Back to our sponsored (really? By who?) Naruto fanfic, if you are still reading, your perseverance is truly appreciated.
-
The trio set off right away, despite the toad Sennin complaining of his lost last day of 'research' at the local Konoha baths.
Days and nights passed in a blur of cooking, hunting and belching. Not soon enough for Naruto they reached the sizeable town of Tie-condirowa. Jiraiya immediately left for a no doubt sleazy place muttering about "Intel gathering time."
Naruto felt a little off, for some reason. Searching his pockets for an evident answer, he cried out
"No, my Gama-chan has been taken!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…"
This is where a head-cradling blonde realises that the sneaky Sennin likely relieved him of his cash the night before.
"Alright, that stupid Ero-sennin will pay, ill go and bust his…"
A calm wooden hand to the backpack, courtesy of our very own ANBU restrained the charging boy.
Yamato spoke up lucidly "Well Naruto, we should probably book in at the inn eh?
It is not like Jiraiya-sama would take your money unless he needed it for a good reason, like finding Tsunade-sama.
Besides, the mission pay will more than cover you, probably many times over, come along now kid."
Yamato effortlessly dragged a still protesting blonde off to the cheapest looking inn, where he reluctantly paid the fee, seeing as Naruto was temporarily penniless.
Later on in the afternoon, with a still missing pervert, Naruto carefully (By which it is meant, loudly and sincerely) persuaded some money in the from of a loan from Yamato, at which point the boy ran out the door yelling "Ja Ne!"
The blonde ran from the inn into the bustling marketplace, wandering interestedly about the place.
He found many fascinating things to spent his now meagre funds on –
A simple card game where he lost a total of ten dollars…
Another simple-seeming game where you throw water balloons at a target for prizes; Naruto missed out on any prize due to his slight inaccuracy from his anger at the previous game.
The stall-owner laughed at the boy, calling him one hell of a terrible ninja in reference to his Konoha headband.
The man received one last balloon to the face as a parting present, Naruto then ran laughing from the scene with a small mechanical cat as his claimed trophy.
Pocketing his new treasure, the blonde scurried off to find more mischief.
This was found in the form of a fake ANBU mask, another five dollars down the proverbial drain, the boy took one step after donning the mask only to fall flat on his face and break the darn thing!
A man watching did comment that the masks were for decorative use only, walking with them on requires caution. By this point of course the blonde had already ran off, leaving behind a nonplussed observer talking to thin air.
This incident only slowed the boy down slightly; he still found a merry-go-round like ride, which he procured more rapidly vanishing money to ride.
After the slow, rather boring ride on the back of an odd winged horse, he took off again; finding a seafood stall the boy contemplated the last of his paper and coin.
Naruto ended up buying an adult sized and half-sized squid, thinking to find and coerce the elderly Sennin into trading it back for his wallet.
Chomping away, he looked around thinking which way would be the best to go.
Glancing into a foreign building, the boy discovered a disturbing scene. Jiraiya had evidently decided to go to a brothel, two hookers were currently attached to the man, his lecherous laughter echoed throughout the establishment.
This was not the disturbing part though, Naruto crouched at a small table and glanced at his wallet, Gama-chan, to see it completely and woefully empty. He then proceeded to prance about in an aggravated manner and scream at the top of his lungs:
"Ero-Sennin! How could you… I will kill you Shan 'Aro!"
Arms flailing wildly, the irate youngster accidentally tossed his adult sized squid behind him, onto an important looking man.
The man had one companion who, after seeing the look on his face, turned to Naruto and yelled.
"Hey Gaki (brat), you damaged Bro's shirt, now you have to pay for it.
Hand over the Ten grand right now, or else!"
Naruto merely stood there with a seemingly shocked expression, alike to the one a deer adopts when it sees the approaching car headlights. You can call them stupid beasts all day long but, looking into those eyes, you can tell they are thinking "Oh dear". Cough. Apologies, back to it neh?
As stated, the boy merely stood in place, mouth agape at the ridiculously priced piece of clothing.
The important man took a step forward, and his 'bro' called out rather menacingly
"Well Gaki you are in for it now, Bro was a Chunin in the hidden stone village, he will beat the damage out of you."
Ero-Sennin, A.K.A. Jiriyia got up from his wench-pile in a slow attempt to aid the blonde, but he promptly sat back down and smiled, muttering "poor buggers" as he went.
In any case the squid-suited man readied himself for the attack as Naruto clued in and shaped up for a fight.
There was silence for a moment as the two combatants attempted to stare each other down (Well one up, the other down), then the man moved swiftly… right into the air! (Like a ninja!)
Flying sideways, the man at first appeared in control, then his arms were flailing wildly and he made contact with a rather unforgiving stone wall, which was nonetheless damaged by the impact.
The foolish lackey muttered "bro…" before running off in the opposite direction, naturally everyone else face-faulted at this point.
Bouncing back to his feet, Naruto saw a young woman with long blonde pigtails panting slightly as she stared down the squid-man, now unconscious and leaking blood.
She spoke up as a teenage girl ran up to her side, also panting. The girl was of average eight, with middle length brown hair and matching eyes. She was wearing a black dress, chastely fastened well above her breasts, with a fishnet undershirt and black sandals.
"That will teach him to assault a Konoha Shinobi, especially such a short one."
Naruto frowned and attacked, yelling out "Hag" as he went, arms windmilling wildly only a few inches from her face, the boy strained before going limp, whereupon the finally mobilised Ero-Sennin dropped him.
"Ero-Sennin… I almost had her, why did you stop me?" asked a petulant Naruto, now pouting on the ground.
The teenager smiled and even Jiriyia and the other woman seemed less grave than they had a moment earlier, staring warily into the other's eyes.
"Because Naruto… this is Princess Tsunade, it would be a shame to attack her now, seeing as we went all this way to find her and she managed to find us!" Jiriyia proclaimed with a wide grin.
"Well, I could smell you as I was passing through Jiriyia, I would not help but notice your… subordinate picking a fight with that fool, not being a supporter of child abuse I stepped in as you seemed a little preoccupied." Tsunade replied.
The old man then replied, looking behind him "Ah yes, those lovely ladies… NO they have gone… gone."
This time it was the elder man's turn to slump on the ground in a petulant heap, Tsunade gave him a 'playful' punch, well and truly into the ground and said.
"Bah, let us go eat, after all it has been a while since I last saw your perverted self."
Tsunade explained as they walked that she was merely passing through the town, her teenage subordinate Shizune had been visiting her grandmother earlier that day.
They reached a restaurant/bar eatery, so naturally that was the place to be, in no way was that influenced by the adults desire to drink while eating…
Filing into their seats, Shizune and Tsunade sat in a booth facing the rear of the establishment, while Jiriyia and Naruto sat across them, facing the entrance. Naruto was across from Tsunade in the outer seat; the older woman leered unpleasantly at the blonde, who merely glared at the dot on her forehead.
"Hey hag (Insert a pained Naruto here) ouch what is with that dot on your head? Does it change colour when you get angry?"
At this, Tsunade leaned in closer, with a quite fearsome scowl on her face, she spoke up
"You tell me."
After a lengthy inspection, Naruto said
"Hmm, nope it looks like the dot is just a stupid decoration ouch."
They ate their meals as they came; Naruto had the seafood platter, giving Jiriyia a filthy look as he mowed through the Squid section.
"You are paying for this Ero-Sennin, I have not forgotten your actions earlier." The boy even managed to sound mildly menacing with sauce and food encrusted all over his pie-hole (mouth).
They all finished eating; Jiriyia explained why they were there, searching for Tsunade and all, they drank as the slug Sennin thought it over.
"I am not going back Jiriyia, We…"
At this point Naruto jumped up with an incoherent cry and Tsunade, thinking the blonde needed a good smacking, placed her head in her hands tiredly.
There was an odd sound, like a butchers blade cutting into a hank of meat, then two pinging sounds, as of an object rebounding off a solid wall. Tsunade looked up and gasped in horror.
Naruto was directly in front of her, with a huge blade sticking out of his chest, a Chakra no Tate was dissipating in front of the group, several more blades were scattered at the edge of the Tate.
Naruto had spied two men entering the eatery as the adults conversed. They had looked about, upon sighting Tsunade they pulled out weapons and threw them. Naruto threw two Shuriken at the men, jumped ion the fore and cast his Tate, only a moment too late to stop the first blade.
Both of the attackers slumped dead against the wall, necks spurting blood all over the nearest customers.
Naruto's aim had become near perfect after long training sessions with Anko. The boy saw the two men fall, he smiled a blood-tinged smile upon the staring patrons, then looked down slowly.
He saw the knife in his chest and a look of almost comical surprise came upon his face.
It then slackened and the world went dark for our young hero. The last thing Naruto heard was an anguished scream, as he muttered sleepily " loud hag".
-End of chapter-
Well, it took roughly two months didn't it, Hmm and to think I was going to give up, those last 1500 words were rather annoying to write, I hope it does not look as terrible to you as it still does to me.
Nether the less, I shall continue; this is an interesting challenge for my meagre skills, hope someone enjoys it.
(I could make excuses for the time it took, but there are not really any, I got lazy and unmotivated, hence the shortness of this chapter).
Next chapter: Evidently some information on young Naruto Uzumaki, does he live to be the valiant savoir of our not so young Princess?
Or shall he die, to join Hinata and Teuchi in the netherworld… I am considering both options in all seriousness people, being mortal I do love to write about life after death… a dream though it very well may be.
If it goes for life, he will have to take some time off to recuperate, sit on the sidelines.
Try and help out Teuchi's daughter with the struggling Ramen stand, fight off crazed assassins, the quiet life, you know?
With death, well it could go in any wacky direction… even starting up a Ramen stand inside the stomach of the Shinigami! Feel free to let me know the more attractive option as you see it, the views of others helps me to make this look like a story with an actual stable plot-line.
Ahem, either way, Juugo and Hidan will be back soon, with numbers of the fabulous, the lovely: Crazy Cultists of Jashim! (Like religious extremists, only with no excuse to do what they do… oh wait there is no excuse… hence the 'extreme' bit. Ah well you all get the picture.)
Tune in next time for a (Hopefully more prompt) chapter of Uzumaki Naruto: Pressure.
Good day/night to you all, be you sir, madam or something else entirely.