One fine day
Chapter 3
Disclaimer:- "……"
Authors notes:- Can't actually think of anything I need to put here at the moment. Though I would like to thank all the people who reviewed, I look forward to those. They help me make the story better, hint, hint. Oh, that was what I forgot to put in, this chapter is not for the faint of heart, there's gore, torture, slavery, and a number of other adult concepts; If you're easily offended I suggest you don't read this chapter.
I believe that I've kept everyone in character as much as possible, Gato, is a slimy coward, he'll kick you when he knows you can't retaliate but he'll run if you can. Naruto in parts of this chapter will seem OoC until you understand that he'd being guided by his guest. Okay I think that covers everything.
/ Land of Waves, Tsunami's kitchen \
Naruto nearly panicked as he grabbed two of his kunai, one in each fist, if that was the enemy finally coming to get them then they were probably in trouble. Though he had no intention of going down without a fight. Looking at the situation there was only one real way to get into the room and that was the door all three of the pre-teens were facing. There was a window on the opposite wall and it was certainly large enough to allow entry but it wouldn't be any kind of way to sneak up on three ninja.
His mind flashed through the possibilities as he heard footsteps approaching. If it were samurai they'd come rushing through the door, further examination told him that experienced fighters would be expecting ambush so they'd be expecting attack from the sides as they entered. Looking around the room he started to grin as he thanked his sensei for teaching him the tree walking exercise, they might expect attack from the sidds but what about above and behind. As is so often the case with Naruto he was already in motion before he even reached a decision, flipping in mid-air he adhered his feet to the ceiling and crouched down(or is that up) with his back against the wall.
Sasuke remained silent as he gave Sakura her instructions via hand-signs. She was a little non-plussed that she'd been relegated to covering the window, it didn't take long for her to figure out why either. Sasuke didn't think she could fight with just the one hand. Noting swat Naruto had done she decided that it was a pretty good idea and leapt into the corner of the room and looked down at the window from the side, knowing that she was highly visible and might give an enemy warning she tried for a single handed henge. A moment later a bright pink cob-web fluttered in an errant breeze as her chakra manipulation didn't quite work the way she wanted it to, though no-one knew it as they weren't watching her. Sasuke stayed on the opposite side of the table from the door knowing it'd give him a little more time to deal with the enemy as they'd have to come around the rather large piece of furniture first.
They were all slightly disappointed a moment later when The familiar figure of Tsunami bolted through the door, Naruto wasn't quick enough to stop his reflexive descent that put him directly behind the older woman.
"Hey Tsunami, you should know better than to run around like that," he trailed off as he spotted the totally panicked expression on her face, "What's wrong?"
"He took them! I've got to hide, I've got to get off of the island…" Sakura slapped the older woman.
"Slow down and tell us what's wrong." Even though she'd just been slapped Tsunami appeared a lot calmer as she took a breath in preparation to explain.
"I was in town with Inari, we were making preparations for my father's funeral when Gato's men marched into town and began rounding them up," she sobbed a little as she remembered the shock as people had started running almost immediately.
"Who? Who were they rounding up Tsunami?"
"The women, anyone between the age of fourteen and thirty they just grabbed them. Anyone who protested or tried to stop them they killed, it didn't matter. They dragged mothers away from their children, killed the men who tried to stop them."
"Why? What do they want them for?" Naruto asked with a shocked expression on his face.
"I overheard some of them talking, they said they were going to enjoy breaking in the older ones for Gato's brothels." The two boys didn't know what she meant by 'breaking in' but if the expression on Sakura's face was anything to go by then it couldn't be anything good.
"Those bastards, I'll kill them…"
"What are we going to do, there's still too many of them."
"We're going to act like ninja that's what, we're going to make them regret what they're doing, but not for too long," Sakura's voice was as cold as ice as she bvegan outlining her ideas. Twenty minutes later the three were on their way into town, they'd start small and work their way up.
// \\
Naruto dashed across the road, he was moving quickly but nowhere near as fast or silently as he could, that wasn't what he needed here. He smirked as he heard the men shout out for her to stop.
"Damn it, I thought they'd done a thorough sweep of the town."
"They did," the second samurai said as they started chasing after the woman who contrary to their orders hadn't stopped, instead she'd thrown a panicked look over her shoulder and sped up.
"Then how'd they miss a looker like that?" he pointed at the voluptuous blonde who had just turned into an alley up ahead, "don't let her get away or Gato'll have our balls. She'll be worth a fortune." The men grinned at the thought of the bonus they'd get for her as well, if they were lucky she wouldn't be a virgin and they'd have the right to break her in as well, but the added bonus for a virgin would suffice if it came to that.
Running into the alley the five men clattered to a halt as they surveyed the situation with wicked grins on their faces as they watched the blonde back up against a tall wall and watch them approach.
"Don't worry little girl, we won't hurt you," the lead man cooed as he approached her with his men spread out behind him, there weren't any gaps so the girl wasn't going to escape. His viscous leer widened as he got a closer look at the blonde and decided that maybe they could have some fun after-all, Gato never need know that she was a virgin. So intent was he on making sure there was no chance of an escape that he barely felt the tug on his shoe as he sprung a trap, he whirled around with his sword in his hand ready to face the weapons that were even now whistling as they approached at high speed. He even managed to block several kunai while his men fell around him in sprays of blood where the blades nearly tore through their bodies. He didn't even hear the approach of Sakura as she rammed a knee into his spine knocking him flat on his face and resting her full weight between his shoulders.
He landed on a couple of the blades that had hit him and yelled as they were forced even deeper into his body, he knew that if he didn't get medical help he'd be dead of blood loss very shortly.
"How's it feel?" a females voice hissed close to his ear, he could see pink hair out of the corner of his eyes as he whimpered as the body on top of him shifted its weight into an even more uncomfortable position.
"Please," he whispered hoarsely feeling the life drain from his body, "have mercy."
"Of course," she said casually, " the same mercy you showed the people of this village." The man didn't even have time to scream as the heavy bladed kunai punched into the nape of his neck and severed his spine as it was pushed up into his brain. Sakura wrenched the blade making a sickening crunching sound as she withdrew the blade and wiped it on the mans tunic.
Naruto who'd dropped the henge approached carefully, she'd been like this since the fourth group they'd killed, a little dangerous to get near until she was paying attention to her surrounding again. This group brought their tally up to forty six samurai so far and they hadn't even made a dent in the estimated troops that Gato kept. They were keeping Sasuke in reserve for the moment so that when they needed to take out a lot of troops they'd have his fire jutsu to do it.
"Sakura? Sakura? You can get up now," he stopped a couple of metres from her, he'd been surprised earlier when she'd gone for him and didn't want a repeat.
"Huh?"
"You can get off him now Sakura, he's as dead as he's going to get," Sasuke said as his head appeared over the edge of the roof. Both of the boys watched as Sakura stood up, she grabbed the mans wakizashi from his belt and attached the weapon to the bandolier over her right shoulder. Not that she was the only one to take weapons from the bodies of their victims.
"Right," she said resolutely, "Lets go." They walked away leaving the bodies where they lay, when they were found it would send a message to the rest of Gato's forces.
// \\
Across town the leader of the occupation forces was just starting to get reports of the resistance movement. Gato frowned as he listened to the latest reports, and after this mornings raid had gone so well. Sixty five women would bolster his hold on the red-light districts especially as they were now slaves and didn't require a share of the money.
He'd giggled at the prospect of all that money in his pockets when he'd ordered the move this morning, but now it was no longer funny.
"Sir, another group has failed to report. That's eleven groups in under an hour. At this rate we're going to be in trouble shortly, what should we do?"
"Move the men back to the compound and prepare the defences," he frowned, that sounded much more defensive than he wanted to be at this time, he was the aggressor not the victim, "Hold on that, I say if they want a fight then we change the rules and give them what they want. Send out a town crier to call a meeting of the villagers, tell them they either come to the bridge or we'll start killing whoever ignores the call." He wasn't expecting much in the way of resistance but you never knew, stranger things had happened in the three years he'd been crushing the spirit of the people here in the Land of Waves.
"Yes sir!" the man left to do his employers bidding.
// \\
Sasuke peered over the edge of the roof at the squad passing below, it was becoming the standard the samurai were using since they'd lost so many four man teams, they doubled the size, pity they didn't do anything about the quality. So far none of the genin had even broken a sweat or had to push themselves, of course most of their strategy had involved simple little ambushes. This looked like it might be different since there were enough that they might be surprised by an unknown variable. He snorted at the thought before making a few hand-signs.
'Member 2, member 3, hold, back-up, Member 1 strike,' short simple and sweet until member 3 across the street flashed back.
'Member 3, query, where?' He almost sent back a query himself but chose to look around and see if he could find the pink-haired kunoichi instead, and swore under his breath as he watched her ghosting the patrol. "Damn it Sakura that wasn't part of the plan." The plan had been that he'd take the men down himself while the others watched on suitably impressed with his inborn superiority.
He was seeing a whole new side of Sakura-chan and he wasn't sure he liked it, he'd been much happier with the fan-girl, this new persona she was showing un-nerved him. Never mind the fact she'd been royally pissed since they'd sealed Tsunami and Inari behind a henge'd door so that the mercenaries wouldn't find them and separate them.
She hadn't spoken very much since they left Tazuna's place, she'd been curt and precise. Sakura had also spoken in a tone that said, 'Do not argue, do as I say. I'm angry and you won't like me if I get angrier,' her eyes had spoken volumes about her intentions if they failed to follow that unspoken rule. Neither of them had even thought in the deepest recesses of their minds about the possibility that it might be that time of the month. So far they'd followed her orders explicitly since neither Sasuke or Naruto were prepared to find out what she was willing to do to them if they refused. There was also the fact that after her first plan had gone off flawlessly they'd figured it wasn't broke so it wasn't worth trying to fix it. That was changing with this last group, she hadn't even voiced her intention to attack before she recklessly endangered them all.
He had to concede that she wasn't the only one willing to take risks at the moment either, they'd gotten close enough to overhear the pronouncement that Gato's men were spreading through the village and that was when they'd decided that the business magnate had gone too far and they would stop him no matter the cost.
The two males hadn't really paid attention to what the other academy students studied when they were all together in class, one thing they were sure of was that none of them had picked up a blade larger than a kunai unless they had done so at home. Something that was unlikely in Sakura's case since she was a first generation kunoichi.
That was probably why they were asking themselves where her current proficiency with the wakizashi came from. In normal terms she was as fast as any of the kunoichi in their year group, except for Hinata Hyuga, so that would give her an advantage over the average samurai, but the pink haired kunoichi had just waded into a group of enemy troops without even second guessing her ability.
The blade came clear of its sheath with a near silent hiss and eviscerated the last man in the squad as he spun to meet the attack he'd sensed, a flick of the wrist and the second mans attack was deflected away from her body only to flick again and remove a hand before reversing and taking the mans head off. The next attack was a horizontal slash that would have bisected her body if she hadn't already been moving into a spinning crouch, a muffled crunch was heard as the heel of her shoe met the mans knee even as a swath of pink hair began to fall around her from the near miss. The sword in her hand punched upwards into the samurais chest and lifted him off his feet. The solid kick to his chest lifted him even higher as he flew from her sword tip and into the five remaining men sending three of them sprawling.
Sakura leapt into the air and somersaulting to come down on a hapless soldier who was just rising to his knees, the sword went in just below his shoulder blade and her momentum tore it out of his body again as she rolled back to her feet. A quick exchange of blows sent the sound of swords clashing echoing across the square as the two men who'd remained on their feet surged to the attack. The shorter blade had a large advantage as she could reposition it with much greater speed than the longer katana they were wielding, though that shortness was also a handicap as she couldn't get within their swings. She cast a murderous glare at her two stationary comrades as Naruto launched a kunai into the man nearest him, it wasn't enough to kill the man but it distracted him long enough for Sakura to switch her lead foot and pirouette around his defence driving the wakizashi into his exposed arm pit and out through the opposite shoulder. Ripping the blade out she neatly avoided the spray of blood as she riposted the blade of the second man.
One of the men who'd been knocked over decided to play dead and had that status confirmed as he couldn't defend himself in time as the kunoichi rammed a foot down on his neck producing a sharp crack as it splintered. That left two of the original eight man squad and neither was willing to face her, the first turned and tried to bolt but another advantage of the wakizashi came into play, it was balanced and short enough to be thrown and his back arched as it went in underneath his left shoulder blade killing him instantly as it pierced his heart. The last man didn't even see her draw a kunai from her pouch and throw it at him as he struggled under the weight of two of his dead comrades, the slicing sound as it met his throat and the gurgling sound as he tried to staunch the blood flow were the last sounds to be heard.
Sasuke watched the girl who'd been a fan girl of his for nearly four years with a wary expression on his face, since the expression on hers didn't change as she walked forward to reclaim her weapons. The only word that came to mind to that adequately described the look in her eyes was rabid
"Sakura put the sword down," Sasuke spoke softly, coaxing the kunoichi to at least relinquish the blade before someone important got hurt, such as himself, he still had the ambition to rebuild his clan at some point and he wouldn't be able to do that if he lost his head here, "There's no one else here to hurt." Naruto didn't say a word, he didn't have to or want to just in case she remembered something he'd done to make her angry.
Once there was nothing left to kill Sakura gradually came back to herself and realized what had happened, wiping the blade carefully on the tabard of one of the fallen samurai she placed the blade back in its sheath much to the relief of her friends.
"Good, now we'd better get out of here before those reinforcements arrive," the loud tramping of many feet could be heard coming from somewhere on the other side of the square. With a flick of his wrist Sasuke sent a kunai towards the approaching men and watched in satisfaction when the blade sank into the wall near the corner he suspected the men to appear around shortly. "Naruto, leave a clone. Give them something to look at and take their attention away from looking for traps."
"Kage Bunshin! Alright you, you get to bait some samurai so they fall for the teme's trap," the clone in question grinned as he watched the three man team dash away before turning and watching as a group of about twenty guards came around the corner. The lead figure stopped when he saw a young boy look like he was sneaking away from the bodies of some of the mercenaries they'd sent out earlier.
"Oi you! Stop where you are!"
"Who me? You gotta be kidding fatso! You want me you're gonna have to come get me! No wait a second, how about I come get you?" The clone laughed at the confused expression on the mans face as he tried to process the sheer stupidity it took for a kid to threaten to charge twenty heavily armed men, or at least he would have if there hadn't been a flash of light at his back that quickly expanded to encompass the world.
"Woooah!" the clone exclaimed as he watched the explosion expand outwards and upwards. The men closest to the blast merely disappeared as the explosion literally tore them apart, those furthest from the blast were thrown through the air as the flames washed over them and landed a good forty metres from where they'd started. None of the men were going to prove to be a problem. The clone didn't even have time to react before a stray piece of shrapnel dispersed him and the memories of what had happened hit Naruto like a sledgehammer. The blast had been much bigger than any of the genin had expected from their limited experience with explosive notes.
Naruto wondered if that was just something to do with Kakashi or whether genin as a whole were given lower powered explosive notes, whatever it was he fully intended to find out when they had some time.
Over the next hour they accounted for another three teams, with only the last one giving them any trouble. Naruto had stumbled suddenly and given their position away, but that was alright as Sasuke used another of Kakashi's explosive notes and watched the awesome fireball expand outwards, his team-mates had to literally drag him away as the flame threatened their position.
"Oi, Naruto, what's your malfunction? That's the third time you've flinched like that," Sakura glared at her team-mate, she hadn't commented the other times but this time it had compromised their safety.
"Hey it ain't my fault! Something keeps dispersing my clones!" It was true too, all he knew was there was a sudden scream and then nothing. No kind of warning and no idea what the hell was going on.
// Over the forests of Land of Fire \\
High above the trees a dark speck circled, waiting patiently, enjoying the feel of wind ruffling through its feathers as it soared out of a thermal and began to watch the ground far below.
It didn't have long to wait as a tiny speck of white against the sea of green appeared and moved slowly into position. The hunter folded its wings and plummeted like a stone making tiny adjustments to its flight path. A hundred metres above its target it flared its wings and began to level out, now travelling at close to a hundred miles an hour. Reaching forward with grasping claws it struck the target and allowed the mass of the white bird to slow it down, until it disappeared in a puff of smoke. The startled hawk suddenly found itself less than fifteen metres from the tree tops and descending at eighty miles an hour as it disappeared through the leaves with an undignified squawk. A moment later there was a crunching sound as it met the forest and the forest won.
// Gato's headquarters \\
"Strip them!" came the command as his men moved forward into the sobbing crowd of women, their hands had been tied behind them earlier when they'd first been captured so they couldn't even defend themselves if they wished. The men cut the clothes from their bodies leaving them naked, open to the lust filled eyes of the men who didn't hesitate to touch what they could see. They were left to the tender mercies of the men for almost a quarter of an hour before the leader called a halt to the torment.
"Bring forth one of the prisoners," he waited as one of the elder women were dragged forth, "On you knees!" he ordered, and smirked when the woman gave him a defiant look and refused. The harsh sound of her breath being driven from her lungs as his fist slammed into her stomach was the only sound as she collapsed to her knees in agony.
"This morning you were free, and you took that freedom for granted," he called out, "This afternoon you are not free, you are slaves, my will is your will, my wish is your command. You will heed all orders given to you, or you shall be punished," he reached down and grabbed the woman at his feet by the hair and held her down, "Show them what I mean Ameru, give her four."
The crowd of women watched fearfully as a man, obviously the named Ameru stepped forward and drew a coil of braided leather from a hook on his belt and allowed it to un-coil to the floor. With a flick of his wrist the whip rose into the air, with another it came down with a crack directly in the middle of the woman's back. She let out a shriek as the agony she'd been feeling before went beyond anything she'd ever felt before, she tried to jerk away from the pain but the grip in her hair wouldn't allow her to move, and then she heard the whistling sound as the leather descended again and she tensed as white fire again licked through her body. After the fourth strike she could feel the world around her begin to fade but a sharp jerk on her hair forced her to her feet and she was dragged over to an open door
/ \
Gato watched in satisfaction as the first of his new slaves was pushed into his audience chamber, he smiled when she was told to kneel in the first square drawn on the floor and she hastily did the mans bidding. She never looked up so she didn't see him leaning back into the pillows strewn on the dais he favoured. This day made him a very happy man, it was the culmination of three years of planning, of systematically crushing the spirit of the villagers of the Land of Waves, it was the beginning of a new era. One in which the Elemental countries would have no part, this was his land and he would have more.
From beyond the open doorway there was another crack followed by a stifled scream, and a short moment later another of the women were pushed through the door, she too knelt where told without any hesitation. It'd be a while before the men were finished teaching them the consequences of failure to do as they were told so he sat back and allowed the pleasure of a well planned take over wash through his mind while he sipped a cold drink.
"Sir?" the captain of his guard stepped forward to regain his attention some time later when all the slaves had been processed. Gato straightened up and paid attention to the hundred or so women that were going to fuel his business empire when they were taken to his brothels.
"Some of you think you know my name, you think of me as Gato. Well I'm here to tell you you're wrong, my name has changed, at least where you're concerned. My name is Master….What is my name?" A number of the women looked up and a few of them even murmured 'Master'
"I can't hear you! What is my name?" he yelled out over the cowering women.
"Master." The ragged cry came back.
"Good, remember it, any man who gives you an order goes by this name and you shall call them by it." He stepped down from the dais and strolled in amongst the prone figures, stopping to look at one or another of them. Reaching down suddenly the young girl flinched as his hand caressed the welt on her back from where she'd been whipped.
"In this hand I hold your life, and I tell you your life means nothing to me. You are what ever I tell you, you are," he straightened back up and continued walking, "Your life is what I tell you it is. You own nothing, you are owned. You, how old are you?" he looked down at one of the younger girls who looked back at him with wide green eyes.
"Fifteen," she yelped in pain as Gato reached and pulled her hair to hold her in place as he punched her.
"What was that? Fifteen, what?" he yelled in her face.
"Fifteen Master!" she whimpered as he smiled at her almost benevolently.
"My and you're such a pretty thing too," his fingers caressed the growing bruise under her eye, the terrified girl didn't dare to flinch in case he unleashed more pain on her.
"Sir!"
"What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?"
"Sir, the villagers have gathered where you told them."
"Oh good, secure the slaves in the cells. Oh and have this one taken to my private quarters, I'll see to her training myself." His smile widened as he watched the girls widen in shock as understanding blossomed in her mind.
/ \
"Are the men gathered?"
"Yes sir, everyone's in position and waiting for the order," the captain of his personal guard said as they walked out along the bridge to confront the peasants of his land, just a pleasant stroll with a few hundred of his samurai. As he got closer he could see that the bridge, which was eighty feet wide was crammed with people, many times the number of guards he'd brought with him but that would change when the rest of his forces got into position.
"You're probably wondering why I called you here today. You're probably thinking, 'Why all the way out here?' And I have to say the answers simple. I wanted you to see this, this wonderful, marvelous bridge that old man Tazuna built….Oh, I'm sorry, that's right he didn't get to complete it did he? He failed you, and left you to face the consequences."
"At first I thought I'd destroy this structure, and all the hope that was built up with it, but then I thught to myself, 'Why not leave it, leave it as a reminder, a symbol of your failure,' So that's what I'm going to do, I'll leave it so that everyday for the rest of your lives you'll know that there's nothing you can do. I've given you your chance and from now on anyone attempting to leave this island will die."
"Before I continue and outline what life will be like under my command I hope you people will choose to help me with solving a little problem. You see there's a small matter of three genin that are proving to be a thorn in my side, not a big thorn but a thorn nonetheless. Now of course you're asking yourselves why you should help me in this matter," he stopped speaking as six of his men ran forward and grabbed three of the quailing villagers and dragged them back so they were behind Gato, "and the answer is that if you don't then I shall kill these three villagers, and then an hour later I shall kill another three, one for each of the genin, and I'll keep killing each hour until they are handed over. Kill them!" he commanded, the men lifted small daggers and slit the throat of the villager their partner was holding and then gasped as the person they had just killed turned into a cloud of smoke.
Gato's head snapped back to the crowd as it parted and the three he'd been looking for stepped forth.
"I told you it wouldn't work dobe," Sasuke scowled at the blonde.
"Not work? Not work? How can you say that, it was beautiful, did you see the look on their faces? And, and all of his men are here so it did work!"
"No it didn't, this isn't all his men."
"Hey boss! That ship you told me to watch is almost level with us and heading for the far end of the bridge."
"Alright you know what to do," the Naruto's exchanged nods as the clone pulled its jacket aside to show them all that it did indeed know its part of the plan before it leapt over the side of the bridge.
"Was that…."
"Yep, that was all the exploding tags we had," Naruto smirked as the whole bridge shuddered under the backlash of the explosion below. Sasuke rushed over to the side of the bridge and then leapt back in time to save his eyebrows from the fireball that rose from the shattered freighter below, the next time he got to the side of the bridge he watched the bow of the small freighter sink beneath the cold waves of the Western Sea amongst the flotsam that'd been blown from the deck of the ship. There weren't too many bodies down there but then he guessed that those who'd been unlucky enough to be wearing armour had probably already sunk.
"Holy shit!"
"So you ready to give up Gato?"
"Give up? You've got to be joking, I've still got the advantage, I've got over two hundred men at my back, while all you've got is villagers that you'll have to protect."
"Villagers? Didn't you learn anything from those three? Alright guys you can drop the henge," the first few ranks disappeared in smoke as they began to yell for the clones further away to drop the henge, and the samurai were left staring in horror at the mass of shadow clones they faced, "Nope, ain't no villagers here. You know what to do guys," the three pre-teens watched as the orange stream of Naruto's streamed past them as they walked over to Gato and his two body guards.
The host of samurai watched the clones approach and decided that they'd seen enough over half of them had routed by the time the front ranks were engaged and both clones and samurai started to die. A few of the samurai decided to throw themselves on the mercy of the kid by divesting themselves of weapons and surrendering, that was when they found out that Naruto was taking advice from a demon. 'Never leave an enemy behind you, never allow an evil man to live and continue his evil,' a simple ethos but still the men died for all its simplicity. A minute later the disciplined core of Gato's army dissolved swept away in the tide of orange as it washed inland in search of runners.
"Sakura, you take the man on the right, Sasuke you take lefty, Gato's mine," Sasuke turned to him about to protest when his voice dried up when he caught sight of the red glow in Naruto's eyes. Maybe just this once he would listen to the dobe.
Sakura growled as she drew the wakizashi and lunged for the man on the right and twisted the blade down wards to block the first thrust, smirking the man drew his second sword and swung it down on her only to watch stunned as she raised the sword and blocked the blow with the hilt. Tilting her blade further she drove the tip through the mans larynx and twisted it out in a spray of blood.
Sasuke didn't even slow down as he finished the hadn-seals of his attack and allowed the ball of flame to engulf his target, when he landed the ash from his late foe was still falling.
Naruto wasn't going to bother with any weapons, he was going to take great delight in tearing this fat man apart with his bare hands.
"No!"
'No? I'm gonna kill him!'
"Don't, he has something we want,"
'What the hell could he have that I want?' he yelled at the source of his vexation.
"Money," Kyubi said succinctly, "If you kill him then the only people who benefit are the men who're left at his headquarters." Naruto's hands stilled where they were wrapped around the business mans throat.
"You've got one chance to live," he repeated what the fox told him, "How much is you life worth to you?"
"You can't let him live after all he's done!" Sakura yelled at him as she turned from the man she'd just killed.
"I can if he does what I want, other wise it gets messy. I don't remember how long Kakashi told me he could keep someone alive while killing them slowly, but I'm willing to figure it out as we go along," both Sasuke and Sakura stared at him, they hadn't heard Kakashi say anything even remotely like that, and then it struck them what was happening.
"I can pay! I've got lots of money."
"Yeah, we know. So why don't you stop talking and show us? Walk in front, don't try to run, you don't need both your legs to get where we're going." Gato went pale as he understood just what he'd been threatened with.
"How do I know you wont just kill me when you get what you want?"
"I give you my word, and I never go back on my word, that's my nindo!"
// An hour later \\
The last of Gato's men had fallen as they tried to stop the three genin from pushing through the smoldering gates of the compound.
"Lead the way, and don't try anything funny, we've already done a lot of killing so far today and I've got no problem continuing," Naruto snarled.
"Okay, okay, it's this way," Gato almost ran as he led them through wide hallways and down stairs, "Here, it's in here." Pushing the door open he strode into his private quarters. Unfortunately he'd forgotten the young girl he'd ordered to be brought to his room, she was chained to the foot of his bed still unclothed and bent so that they could see the condition of her back.
Naruto had to use chakra to adhere his feet to the ground when he grabbed Sakura as she sailed past him sword drawn.
"Sakura! Stand down…..I promised we wouldn't kill him," he grunted as she shifted her weight, "Besides I need you to find the other women and free them."
"But I…"
"I'll take care of it, now go and do as your told," Sasuke assured her quietly, that was all it took for Sakura to regain control, her Sasuke promised to take care of it. She moved towards the door, "Hey Sakura?"
"Yeah?"
"Be careful. Oh and when you find them bring them to that large hall we saw."
"Sure," Sakura turned for the door and disappeared.
"You are one lucky bastard," Naruto said conversationally, though he didn't explain what he meant, "Now how about showing me where this money is."
Gato walked over to a painting and pushed it aside revealing a wall safe, "It's in there."
"Open it," Sasuke watched impassively as the fat man fumbled the combination three times, "Do it right or we find out how many fingers you actually need to twirl that tumbler," the next attempt to open te safe resulted in a click and the door swung open to reveal piles of Ryo notes.
"Nice," Naruto breathed as he picked up a wad of money and riffled it through his fingers, "What do you reckon Sasuke?"
"I'd say about twenty million give or take."
"I'll take your word for it, the question is, is it enough to spare his life?"
"I don't think so, he's caused a lot of pain and suffering."
"Yeah, you know when you're right, you're right. So how about it Gato, old buddy old pal?"
"But I don't have anymore money here," Gato began to sweat as he found himself gazing into a pair of intense blue eyes.
"You know my friend, I'd really like to believe you. I really would, but you see my friend here has an interesting bloodline. You know what they are don't you? Great, well you see Sasuke here is one of the Uchiha's, probably doesn't mean anything to you since you're not from Konoha, but they can tell when someone is lying to them, amongst other things. Go on Sasuke show him that neat thing you do with your eyes, go on." Naruto nattered on like an over-enthusiastic idiot and Gato could feel himself relaxing a little, he could tell the pre-teen was bluffing.
"Well if you insist Naruto, I really don't like to use it like this but…." Gato looked up in time to see the Uchiha's eyes turn from solid black to red with black tomoes circling the pupil, and felt the blood in his veins turn to ice.
"See, see isn't that just so cool? Now why don't you answer that question my friend? You are my friend aren't you? You wouldn't lie to a friend now would you? Because that wouldn't be a very friendly thing to do now would it?" Gato was shaking his heads for all he was worth.
"Answer my question. Is there another safe you use to store large amounts of money in?" Sasuke allowed his voice to deepen as he spoke and his eyes began to spin as he fed them more chakra.
"No," Gato stammered as he spoke but tried to sound like he meant it.
"So, he told the truth didn't he Sasuke?" he paused to let Sasuke speak, "Please tell me he didn't lie to me."
"I can't do that Naruto, he lied to us."
"Noooo, now I'll have to do something unfriendly to him to balance things out again. Now what is it those Yakuza types do when they lose honour? Oh yeah that's right," Naruto flicked his wrist and the kunai flew straight and true, taking off one of Gato's fingers. "There we're all friends again now aren't we Gato? So when he asks you a question the next time you know what will happen. I really don't want to but bonds of friendship are like that aren't they?" Naruto looked truly forlorn as he spoke to the man now grasping his hand as he tried to staunch the blood flow from his severed finger as he sobbed in pain, he hadn't been subjected to any kind of pain during his life which is why he had no appreciation for other peoples suffering. Now he was playing catch up as it were and he wasn't enjoying the sensation.
"Now shall we try that again? We know you're a multi-billionaire, we know you're not legit and as such wouldn't use the banks in any of the Elemental countries. We know you wouldn't trust anyone else to keep your money safe. Therefore the money must be here somewhere. Now believe me, even if you don't tell us we'll find it, it'll just take more time and make us angry. You don't want to make us angry, we've got a kunoichi who's just itching to use you for target practice. Which reminds me," Sasuke moved over to one of the wardrobes and pulled it open to reveal lots of suits which weren't very useful, the kimono at the far end on the other hand would do until the girl could find some more clothes.
"Here put this on," he said to the girl who was no longer cowering expecting horrible things to happen to her at any moment. She had just watched as someone took the fat pig down a peg or three and enjoyed seeing it immensely, which was why she could only point as Gato slipped into a hidden passage while the two genin were busy with different things, both thinking the other was watching the man. A thrown Kunai slid through the gap just in time to stop the doors from closing fully and engaging the locking mechanism.
"Shit, What the hell were you doing dobe. You were supposed to be watching him," he gave a sharp grunt as he tried to pull the leaves apart but the heavy metal doors refused to budge. "Are you listening to me Naruto?" He turned to find out what was going on with the teams resident idiot and promptly wished he hadn't, he'd felt this chakra on several occasions and found the sheer intensity of the energy to be unsettling.
"Move!" Naruto's eyes had gone that strange red colour again, but that wasn't all, the chakra was leaking from his body in waves so potent that loose items of clothing that had been strewn on the floor in his search for suitable clothing was being pushed aside and even starting to singe due to the heat being released. Whatever was happening Sasuke wasn't willing to get in the way as aura formed two 'arms' that sprang forward and wedged themselves into the small crevice. He watched stunned as Naruto flexed his shoulders and with a shriek of protesting metal the doors gave out and smashed through a wall before coming to a stop at a crazy angle. Even before the doors had stopped moving, almost before they started moving the blonde was in motion through the gap he'd created.
The last Uchiha followed his team mate carefully as he pondered the questions that flooded his mind as he tried to figure out just what had happened. Whatever it was that certainly hadn't been the dobe he'd always known from the academy, that was something or someone else and he needed to know just what they were dealing with. They were a long way from home and their jounin sensei wasn't around to protect them. Past the doors he found a set of steps heading even further underground, poorly lit as they were he headed down them figuring that after the team 7 had had that nothing as mundane as a set of stairs would do him in, so he headed down them as fast as he could. About thirty metres down the stairs ended in a long corridor that was even worse lit than the stairs had been. For the first time he got a clear look at the aura around Naruto that had been so vague in a full lit room, here he could see the thing clearly. It appeared nothing like you'd expect, it looked almost fox-like, in a rabid sort of abstract way. Whatever it truly was it had the business man pinned against one of the walls and was about to smear him.
"Naruto! Don't…." he wasn't even sure why he was trying to stop the blonde he just knew it was important that he didn't kill the man in cold blood like this.
Naruto turned to face the insignificant bug that dared to question its right to kill this slimebag. One glance though was all it took for his team-mates fear to penetrate the haze of rage that had descended when Gato tried to leave like that, the aura that had enveloped him faded as fast as it had appeared and the nerveless body of the businessman slid to the floor as he watched the monster who'd caught him.
"You weren't leaving were you Gato?" Naruto's voice sounded hoarse as he spoke with his normal voice. Looking around for the first time he saw the doors that led off of the corridor and wondered what they were all about, "So where's that money you promised me?"
Gato hadn't managed a response to either of the questions other than to point slightly to his left where the two ninja could see several bags, a backpack and two silver slim-line briefcases.
"Well that looks promising," Naruto murmured before he whirled at the soft scuff of a shoe on the stone steps behind them. Looking up he found Sakura panting a little as she approached, "Heya Sakura-chan, what's up?"
"I felt a massive chakra spike over this way, but it's gone now."
"Er, yeah that was me," he admitted sheepishly while he scratched the bacdk of his neck.
"Oh," Sakura was surprised by that admission, she'd known that the blonde had large chakra reserves but she hadn't thought they were that large. It did go a long way to explaining his stamina though so she was willing to let it go for the moment, but only for the moment as she had a number of questions she wanted answers to. By the look of him Sasuke had a similar list but the situation stopped him from asking them as well.
"So what do we do now?" Sasuke asked cautiously.
"Did you find the women he took Sakura?"
"Yeah they're in the main hall."
"Great, then that's where we're going next. Come on Gato, lead the way," Naruto leaned down and hefted both of the briefcases while Sasuke grabbed the back-pack and swung it on. When they got to Gato's bedroom no one was surprised that the girl Sasuke released was gone and no one blamed her either. A five minute walk later and Sasuke shoved the fat man through the door, where the murmuring sounds of hushed conversation died a sudden death.
"Hey Sakura?"
"Yes Naruto?"
"Can I borrow your sword for a moment, I'd do this with my kunai but having a longer blade will make it easier."
"Er, sure," she was a little hesitant to let the blade out of her hand but relinquished it nonetheless. She'd never had a blade like it and she had enjoyed wielding it, even the sound the blade made as Naruto drew it was pleasant in her mind. Gato never suspected a thing as he hesitantly approached the women his men had brought in earlier, it was one thing to be cruel and nasty when they were tied up and helpless, but it was something else when those same people were free and looked like they'd enjoy nothing more than tearing him apart, slowly.
His eyes never leaving the crowd he waited for the young genin to enter the room and protect his life like they said they would. That's why it was such a surprise when the blade of Sakura's sword sliced through his Achilles tendons, dropping him to his knees as he yelled in pain. Naruto moved in front of him as he flicked the small smear of blood off of the blade and looked down at the man who'd caused this land so much pain, his cold blue eyes penetrating in their intensity and hatred.
"But why? You said you wouldn't kill me….."
"You should really listen to what people say. For a business man you're pretty stupid. I said I wouldn't kill you," Gato felt a little hope at that, it died a quick death as Naruto continued, "I didn't say anything about maiming, wounding or torturing you. I didn't say I'd protect you from others who wanted to kill you. I didn't say that I wouldn't give those people some weapons so they could do so. What about you guys? You willing to donate some weapons so that these nice ladies can pay Gato back." Sasuke gave a chilling grin as he nodded slowly, he appreciated the macabre humour of Naruto's solution. Sakura nodded as well, feeling that justice would be served by it, inner Sakura wasn't anywhere near as reticent as she yelled, "Hell yeah! Shannaro!"
The crowd had perked up at the suggestion that they'd be able to get some of their own back on the man. Team 7 moved away from Gato and began to drop weapons on the ground, though none of them left all of their tools, and Sakura wasn't leaving the wakizashi she'd found, not for anything.
"You can't leave me here! They'll kill me!"
"Yeah, funny that, seems you've been a very bad boy. Bad boys need to be punished and it should always fit the crime. Now if you'd freed us from our oath we could have made it quick and clean, but you didn't so we're going to go now and let these ladies have a long talk with you about your evil ways."
"I take it back, you don't have to keep to that oath," Gato said his eyes pleading.
"Oh no, I just wouldn't feel right about depriving them of justice like that. You know what though, if it were my place I'd start by beating him, then move on to whips if you can find them. Keep it nice and slow before I used knives on him." Sakura said, she'd seen how they'd been kept, and what had been done to them by the guards.
"Please!"
"Let's go Team 7, we've got other things to do," Sasuke led the way from the room leaving the crime lord to the tender mercies of his own victims.
// Tsunami's house \\
Sakura stepped back from the door as she dispelled the genjutsu they'd anchored to the room, knocking she opened it slowly to reveal mother and child blinking in the renewed light.
"It's over Tsunami, there aren't anymore people belonging to Gato's organization left. Or if there are it's only a couple," Sakura held out her hand to help the woman to her feet and suddenly found herself in a crushing hug.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she sobbed as she held on to the pinkette as tightly as she could. Inari watched wide eyed, he'd felt a massive sense of betrayal when the bad men had killed his grand-father and Team 7 hadn't kept their promise to protect him but that had changed now. He was still sad at the loss but he knew that sometimes bad things happen to good people and that sometimes justice isn't in time, but karma always gets its man in the end.
"You're welcome Tsunami, I'm just so sorry we couldn't save Tazuna."
"Don't be, please. We knew, we knew he wouldn't live through this. It was always just a matter of time before Gato sent men after him. It was just that when they got so close to the end of the bridge, they hoped they could do it, finish it that is." The tears that had refused to fall all day began to roll down her cheeks as she began sobbing again, Inari moved closer and clung to his mothers leg.
"Well that's all we wanted to tell you, so we'll be going. We've got to find somewhere to stay the night."
"Don't you dare move! You're staying right here, for as long as you like. You saved our country and I for one am happy to have you here!" Tsunami said fiercely, Inari echoed the sentiment with a definite nod.
"Um, thanks," just those simple words didn't seem adequate to express what Sakura was feeling but she was immensely grateful to the older woman. "Um is there any chance we could get cleaned up?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, of course. I'll just put the water heater on. While I'm gone if you're hungry help yourself to whatever you like." Tsunami rushed from the room trailing Inari who decided to help.
"So what now?"
"Food!" Naruto declared as he dragged his team into the kitchen, neither of them resisted too hard as they'd just realized that it had been eight hours or more since they'd last eaten. It took half an hour before Naruto finished eating and patted his stomach contentedly.
"Kami you're such a pig Naruto," Sakura yelled, her nose had been twitching for a couple of minutes now and she found that they all smelled really ripe, they'd never have been able to sneak up on an academy student the way they smelled, "Ergh, oh we smell so bad! That's it, you guys are going in the bath first," it was true that the boys smelled the worst, they'd been in the thick of most of the fighting early on and they'd all been covered in their share of blood and other bodily fluids throughout the day and now they smelled like a butchers shop, a very badly run butchers shop.
"Hey that's not fair, you smell too!" Naruto said, he'd had to deal with it all day since his sense of smell had been enhanced by his new status of a Hanyou. Sakura couldn't resist clipping the boy around the ear for pointing out that she smelled, after all if she didn't correct him how was he ever supposed to learn that it's not polite to point such things out to a woman.
"Yes, but I intend to soak afterwards and I don't want to be rushed because you need a bath too."
"Oh," Naruto calmed down, 'Girls are really strange," he thought as he rubbed his ear absently, he wasn't the first male to think so and he definitely wouldn't be the last.
Having said everything they felt they felt they could for the moment they sat badck and watched each other, hiding their inner thoughts. Naruto got the feeling that the others were both watching him very carefully. That was when the fourth unofficial member of Team 7 decided to speak up.
"Looks like they're suspicious," Kyubi said in a snide voice.
'Yeah, well I didn't do a real good job of hiding you did I?'
"So what are you going to tell them?"
'I dunno…' he admitted, he'd never thought about this kind of scenario, he'd hoped perhaps naively that he could live his entire life without acknowledging the fact that he was a demon vessel.
"You'll have to tell them something. You know the Uchiha boy is going to demand answers and he wont take no for an answer."
'Yeah, I kind of figured that. I suppose I'll have to tell them the truth,' Naruto felt Sasuke's attention sharpen as his shoulders slumped in defeat.
"I don't think that'd be very wise kit, but if you wish it you'll have to live with the repercussions."
'I know, I didn't mean I'd tell them everything, just about the villages big secret, I'll have to make sure they know its got to remain a secret too."
"It's a better plan than telling them everything I suppose, and now that you know what you're going to tell them I'd suggest you answer the pink furred vixen before she hits you again."
"Huh?"
"I said, Tsunami said the bath is ready. Sasuke's already gone ahead so you'd better catch up," Sakura folded her arms across her chest as she watched him scramble for the door.
"See ya Sakura!" Naruto wasn't stupid enough to get between a kunoichi and a bath when she wanted it. When he finally caught up with Sasuke the other boy was nearly finished washing himself and was about to head for the hot-tub to soak a little.
"Hurry up dobe or I'll make sure Sakura knows to make your life a living hell."
"Already there," Naruto murmured quietly, though obviously not quietly enough if Sasuke's raised eyebrow was any indication, "Uh, I'll explain in a while okay?"
"Hn, whatever. Just hurry up." He gave a little hiss of appreciation as he sank into the steaming water. Sasuke eyed Naruto as he divested himself of his orange jump-suit, or to be more accurate he eyed the hated outfit and planned to burn it along with his own since it was filled with dried blood. He was so focused on the eminent demise of their clothes that he missed the exuberant blondes entrance to the bath, he didn't miss the wave of hot water that smacked him in the face and slopped over the rim of the bath.
"Damn it Naruto, the water's supposed to stay in the bath!"
"Oops, sorry," Naruto wiggled his backside as he sat down gingerly, he wasn't used to proper baths like this since he'd only ever had access to a shower and the hot water was always a bit iffy. Meaning 'if he' was in the shower then it was none existent, hot water seemed to be something that only ever happened to other people. The blonde let out a groan as he settled fully and felt the heat seep into his aching muscles, "Oh, that feels good!" as his head leant back against the wooden tub and he closed his eyes for a couple of minutes. Until he heard the outer door open slowly which was strange since Sasuke was on the opposite side of the tub still. Naruto opened an eye and watched in stunned disbelief as a yukata clad Sakura walked into the wash area.
"Sakura-chan! What are you doing? We're still in here you know?" Naruto asked frantically, scared in case she had missed their presence. He'd noted that it didn't matter what was happening between the team-mates, but when something went wrong it was always his fault.
"I know, I just cant wait anymore," the boys watched as she turned her back and sat down on one of the wash stools, opening the light weight robe she allowed it to slip from her body and to the floor leaving two buy-eyed boys staring at her naked back as she began to scrub her body. Neither boy could take his eyes from her slender form as when she finished she lifted a pale of water over her head and allowed it to sluice the soap suds from her body leaving her skin glistening damply. Neither boy was able to stop their bodies reaction to the sensual sight of the girl as she let her hair down and began to wash the long silky strands carefully combing her fingers through the wet hair as she massaged her scalp with a slight moan of pleasure that had a distinct effect on both Sasuke and Naruto. A second bucket of water and Sakura had finished washing, leaning forward to retrieve her yukata drew their eyes to the swell of her hips and as the wet fabric slid over her body both boys realized that the flimsy materiel was going to do nothing to hide her body from them especially when she turned around and headed for the bath.
Sakura knew the effect she was having and kept the smile on her face hidden as she entered the water with a sigh, "Oh Kami that feels sooooo good," she managed to hide a wicked grin when she noted that she'd had a definitely good reaction from her Sasuke, not even the towel he'd hastily placed in his lap could hide that fact. Unfortunately Naruto seemed to have had the same reaction. "Damn it Naruto, you'd better not be having naughty thoughts about me! Only Sasuke-kun can do that," she looked at the boy in question and smiled at Sasuke for a moment before she decided to get serious and get down to the real reason she'd decided to join the two boys in their bath.
"Alright, now that we've got your hormones out of the way. Oh grow up Naruto. We've got more important things to discuss."
"Such as Sakura?"
"There's the matter of what we do with all that money we took?"
"That's easy, we give it to the Hokage," Naruto asserted quietly.
"Why?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, the way I figure it, the people here will need help to rebuild and the Hokage is the best person I can think of to help them. We can't leave this much money here, the villages have no one to protect them from bandits."
"Okay I can see what you mean, actually that's a good idea."
"You don't have to act so surprised about it teme!"
"He's not the only one Naruto, just what's going on here? You weren't this smart in the academy."
"Yes I was, you just didn't appreciate my kind of smart. You think all those pranks just happened without any planning? You think I evaded all those people chasing me without some kind of skill? And you call me dumb?"
"Naruto!" Sakura seethed, 'No one calls me dumb and gets away with it! Shannaro!' She was about to reach over and dunk him when Sasuke broke into her thoughts.
"He has a point Sakura. Okay I'm willing to concede you aren't as stupid as I've always thought you were. That leads us to another issue though. Care to explain what's with you chakra?"
"Um," Naruto paused, of course he didn't really want to explain but knew that he didn't have a real choice, these were his team-mates and Kakashi-sensei had been right, they had the right to know about him, "Not really, but I'll tell ya. Just let me tell you without any interruptions okay?"
Sakura nodded slightly as Sasuke grunted his normal assent.
"Hn."
"Not good enough, I want your word or I don't talk at all. This is too important to me. No interruptions, okay?"
"Okay Naruto, I won't interrupt you," Sakura looked into the depths of his blue eyes and caught a flash of gratitude from the blonde.
"I give you my word as an Uchiha," Sasuke sat back against the wooden tub and closed his eyes prepared to listen to whatever Naruto had to say.
"Right, thanks guys. What I'm about to tell you is an S-classed village secret, you understand what that means?" he waited for a nod of assent from each of them and frowned at Sakura's puzzled expression. "It means that if you talk about this to anyone other than each other and me then you're committing treason. The only people allowed to talk about this to who ever they choose are myself and the Hokage. This secret carries the death penalty for revealing it to someone of our generation so…So just don't okay?"
By this time he had their rapt attention, that was some opening statement he'd made. What could he possibly know that was that important?
"This all starts with my birthday," he paused for a second, "Which you don't know, which is surprising because the whole village celebrates it every year with a big festival, or at least they have for the last eleven years," it'd be another couple of months before they celebrated it again, "It was a very good day for Konoha, a not so good day for me." He could tell that their sense of puzzlement was growing as they couldn't figure out where this was going, they knew that the Yondaime Hokage had killed the demon fox nearly twelve years ago, so why did Naruto bring it up now?
"Everyone was told that the Fourth killed the demon that attacked that day. But it was a lie. One that was never meant to be revealed. Most of the adults in the village know about it though, they just can't speak of it," he watched as a suspicion arose in the eyes of his team-mates, "He couldn't kill it, but he could seal it away. The old man explained it to me a couple of months ago. No one can kill a being that is solid energy, you can't destroy energy. You can only change the energy from one form into another, or store the energy. With the weaker tailed beasts they could trap them in almost anything, Suna supposedly has a demon possessed priests soul trapped in a kettle. For the stronger demons though it takes a special kind of vessel. That's where I come in," Naruto allowed a little of his chakra to flow into the seal on his stomach thus revealing it to his team-mates for the first time, "I was the only vessel suitable to contain something as powerful as Kyubi. Not because I'm special or anything but because my chakra pathways were still forming and thus flexible enough to adapt to the extra power. In fact if I'd been a few hours younger or a few hours older the Hokage admitted that the process would have killed me and the demon would have been free again."
Sasuke and Sakura shuddered at that thought, they'd been taken, along with the rest of an academy class to see the battlefield for themselves, there were still massive scars in the forest, scorched ground where nothing would ever grow. The damage had been horrific and that was after eight years of villagers trying to restore the area to its former state.
"So you're the Kyubi?" Sakura said fearfully as she pressed against Sasuke, a bittersweet moment for her to be sure.
"No! I'm not the damn fox okay? I'm the prison that holds it!"
"But that chakra," Sasuke trailed off as he watched the expression on Naruto's face change. He'd only seen him genuinely angry several times in the time he'd known the boy, most of them had been today. Most times he looked like he was trying to be angry he just came across as petulant, this time was different, it might have been the dull red glow that lurked in the depths of his blue eyes.
"Yeah, that chakra! It's Kyubi's alright? It happens when I get angry, or when I really need it so that I can survive a bad situation. I can steal his power, or at least a little of it for a while, though if I take too much it gets real bad."
"So that's why you got chakra poisoning," Sakura looked at him carefully to judge his response.
"Yeah, I kind of used way too much of his chakra and that's why I collapsed instead of kicking Zabuza's ass." He glared at Sasuke when he heard the boy snort, "Don't laugh Sasuke, that chakra makes me a lot faster and stronger than I normally am. After you collapsed in that ice dome, I got angry enough to take out Haku with one blow."
"One?"
"Yeah, I kind of went ballistic when I thought he'd killed you, he didn't even see me coming until it was almost too late to react, he tried to escape to another mirror and I punched him straight through his own mirror, tore down half the dome with the chakra I released as well."
"Y-you did that because you thought he'd killed me?"
"Course I did! Baka, you're my team-mate, I'd kill for you, and I'd kill for Sakura. You're the only real family I've ever had, even though I know you guys don't feel that way. I've got some other precious people, but I can count the people I count as friends but I'd only need one hand to count them, and only Team 7 and the Hokage are like my family."
"I never knew Naruto," Sakura was reeling a little from the revelations. She'd never thought about how it would feel to be alone like that. She'd always had her family, no matter how much they annoyed her now and again. Even Sasuke had known his family for most of his life before Itachi had decimated them leaving only his little brother alive.
"Yeah, well, it wasn't like I wanted to run around yelling, 'woe is me! My life's shit,'" Sakura had the grace to blush at that, she'd never thought he was putting up a façade to hide his true self from being rejected and she'd gone and made his life worse, she could have been nicer to him for all those years, "Ah don't sweat it, it's not like anyone else ever guessed either. Um, if you guys don't mind I'm kind of tired so I'm gonna go to bed now." Wrapping the towel firmly around himself as he rose from the water he exited the bathroom with what dignity he could muster, he'd dry himself and get changed when he got to the room he was sharing with Sasuke.
Back in the bathroom Sakura was on the verge of hyperventilating as she considered the situation. 'I'm in a bath, nearly naked with Sasuke! Oh my god!'
Sasuke sitting opposite her watched as a blush spread down her face and down her neck, for a second he wondered how low that blush went and then blushed himself. His next thought was, 'If she starts squealing like a fan-girl I'm so out of here.'
// Later that night some six hundred miles away \\
Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konoha was snoozing lightly, um, reading scrolls intently by the light of a pedestal lamp when he was startled by the sound of beating wings in the room. Looking around quickly he spotted a white bird settle down on his desk and glare at him with a red gimlet stare.
"Well my aren't you an ugly fellow. You know you're a long way from home aren't you?"
"Heh, Sakura-chan said nearly the same thing old man. Besides I'm not as far from home as you think," the bird in question opened its beak as it laughed at the shocked expression on the Hokage's face.
"Naruto?"
"Yep it's me! Well a clone anyway," the seagull added sheepishly.
"So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit too. I hope Kakashi didn't ask you to do this?"
"Um, no Kakashi-sensei doesn't know about this," Naruto's clone trailed off uncertainly as it tried to figure out how to continue, it might be an exact copy of Naruto's mind but it couldn't do anything the original couldn't either.
"I see I'm going to have to have words with you sensei when I see him," Sarutobi said sternly.
"Not unless you hold a séance you won't," the seagull used a wing to cover its beak as it heard what it'd just said, though the Hokage didn't seem to react as he read between the lines.
"Perhaps you'd better start at the beginning and tell me what has happened?" All in all it took the clone nearly an hour to re-tell the tale of their trip to the Land of Waves, Sarutobi kept interrupting to ask for clarification of certain points or to get more information when Naruto attempted to gloss over certain facts. By the time the clone finished there were a number of other seagulls sitting on the Hokage's desk looking at the old man in an unnerving way.
"I see…..It's a lucky thing Kakashi isn't around to answer to me for this."
"But sensei…."
"Should never have continued such a mission once he knew the client had lied about the conditions to expect. He should have at the very least sent messengers requesting back-up. Knowing all that you've told me, I would have been happy to talk terms with Tazuna after helping the Land of Waves back on its feet."
"But it's not Kakashi's fault! We all wanted to continue, he left it up to me and Sasuke."
"Exactly, he was a veteran of the last shinobi war, he fought with the Yondaime against the Kyubi, he's an experienced jounin and one time ANBU captain who allowed his hubris to draw you and your team into an extremely dangerous situation. He should have known better," he pinched the bridge of his nose as his frustration threatened to overwhelm him, "These are my instructions, you are to hide for as long as you can, don't engage the enemy. I will dispatch two teams of ANBU immediately, they should arrive in roughly twelve hours, I will also send a team of tactical engineers to help finish the bridge once this Gato fellow has been neutralized. Now just sit tight and wait for help. Oh I hope you haven't done anything rash in the meantime. As soon as your relief arrives you are to make your way back to Konaha at your best speed. Now if you'd be so kind as to relay that to the original."
"Yeah we'd better get going, it's a long way back," the bird made to flap its wings and take off when Sarutobi interrupted.
"You mean you don't know?"
"Know what?" the bird asked a little irritated that it'd been stopped from flying away.
"Well everything I just told you will be transmitted to Naruto the moment you disperse. Didn't you read that part of the forbidden scroll?"
"Nope, must of missed that," it's very hard for a bird to appear sheepish but somehow the seagull managed it nonetheless before it 'poofed' out of existence.
"What about us?" the other twelve clones asked.
"Well the more of you that disperse in one hit the more intense the memory will be." A moment later the office was filled with a rapidly dissipating smoke from the clones. Sarutobi sighed as he called for his ANBU guard to get the ball rolling. It was going to be a very long night now that he was wide awake, but at least he had a relief mission to organize to occupy his time.
/ To be continued? \
Authors notes:- Okay that was a little longer than the other chapters hence the delay. I also tried to make the fight scenes as good as I could, don't know if it succeeded, perhaps you'll tell me in your reviews.
Yep that's right, I expect some reviews from you guys to help me figure out if I'm doing things right.