Chapter One: Eighteen Years Later
"It's been eighteen years Kakashi." Minato said quietly as his silver haired student slipped into the Hokage's office. "Eighteen long years since I lost my wife and son. Is this how you felt when you lost Obito and Rin?"
Kakashi kept his mouth shut, Minato had that lost look in his eyes, the kind that told a person he was reliving some part of his past. He knew all to well why Kushina had attempted to run away, he was one of few, sworn to secrecy by the Hokage. Kakashi waited patiently for Minato to come back to reality, it was the anniversary of Kushina's death after all.
Coming out of his memories at the sound of steps outside his office Minato sat up straighter in his chair, "Anyway. I have good news Kakashi. Jiraya has turned up some lasting proof of Naruto's location."
Kakashi blinked in surprise, every time Jiraya had come up with proof that Naruto was alive, much less where the child was the trail went cold soon after Anbu were sent to investigate. He had thought that Minato had given up faith in Jiraya, not that the sannin was out looking for the child specifically anyway. Most of the time the silver haired sannin was keeping tabs on criminal organizations that were quickly becoming threats to the peace of the nation.
"Where is he?"
"Currently he's been in the Wind Country, moving southeast." Minato explained, "Jiraya found several boys who looked to be the age Naruto would be and share his characteristics. This could be another false lead, Naruto could look completely different now then when he was three years old but there should be some family resemblance left." The blond Hokage smiled to himself, letting a small glimmer of hope start to burn in his heart.
"Are you going to send me after them?" Kakashi asked, thinking it would be a good chance to get out of the Village for awhile. His students were becoming tedious pains in the ass the longer he stayed around them.
Minato shook his head, "No, I've already assigned it to Anko, she is already assigned to a mission the area. I'm having an Anbu deliver it to her specifically. What I want you to do is to visit regularly to keep tabs on her. She needs to confirm which boy is my son before bringing him back to the village." Minato pulled out a folder and handed it Kakashi silently before continuing. "This is the boy I'm sending Anko to investigate. Jiraya sent me the information, not that there was much more then a location and a general description with a picture. A couple of things about the habbits Jiraya learned about before he continued on with his current mission. Kami knows he's probably peeping on a woman's bath house at this moment. But I can't ask more from the old man. He is retired after all."
Kakashi opened the folder and glanced over the picture silently, true the boy looked as though he had some resemblance to Minato. Sun kissed blond hair was long enough to be pulled back into a small ponytail, the boy wore torn jeans and a orange hoodie, the sleeves had been ripped off however. Kakashi could make out studs in the boy's left ear, and a partial tattoo spreading from the left shoulder, to halfway down the bicep.
But it was the icy cerulean eyes peering over black sunglasses that made Kakashi hesitate. It looked as though the boy knew Jiraya had been taking pictures and was taking his own at that very moment, peering into the camera lens.
"Usotsuki* move yer ass over to the left some why don't 'cha?"
Usotsuki flinched at the sound of his superior's voice. "Hai Gakidou*!" He kicked his horse, forcing it to move in the direction the blond had asked. Although Gakidou was at least ten years his junior then twenty-one year old had already made a name for himself in the bandit world.
"Are you ready for this? The Skulls may have hired ninja to fight this battle for them."
Gakidou snorted, icy blue eyes watching the arrival of the Skulls in question with a demonic air of pleasure at the idea, "I can take on the weakling ninja those baboons would be able to hire. There is no threat in that. Besides it doesn't look as though they went to those extremes Pops, they have their own weapons on them this time."
"Jinmenjuushin* no Gakidou" Gakidou looked at the speaker who called him by his title so formally, "You have crossed the line this time. Because you are twenty one and young we were patient with your arrogant attitude, but not anymore. You will suffer a painful death for killing sixteen of our own."
"So you had me bring this lot as witnesses to my death?" Gakidou asked bordly, this wasn't the first time a battle like this had happened. For as long as he could remember the blond had lived with a group of bandits loyal to his father and now himself. Many had tried to claim his life but only ended their own in grotesque manners. "Fine whatever, what are your terms to this battle to the death?"
The raven hared speaker gave the blond a look of pure disgust as Gakidou dismounted his horse and lit a cigarette. "Mano 'a mano. Any weapon you want, no shirts or shoes, you against my best man."
Gakidou shrugged off his orange hoodie, excited at the idea of a one on one fight to the death. No interference from the spectators. He kicked off his shoes and pulled on a special set of brass knuckles. The top of each knuckle was adorned with a small but sharp stud, the metal reinforced so it wouldn't break should it make contact with metal or other hard objects that weren't human flesh. It was his weapon of choice for any fight. Despite the fact he carried a short sword with him everywhere in case he was faced with more then five opponents at once.
His opponent was large and built like a building. Tattoos of naked women running up and down his arms and back made Gakidou grunt in displeasure, obviously this man wasn't getting laid if he had to wear those tattoos to get any kind of interest from a woman, even if it was scorn.
"Are you ready to die today big guy?" Gakidou asked curiously, adrenaline pumping through his veins already. He couldn't wait to get started, it had been a week since his last bloody fight. This one was looking quite promising to be bloody.
Usotsuki turned to the older man sitting on a horse next to him, " Are the rumors about him true?"
The man gave Usotsuki a bored glance before going back to watch the fight, "Which rumors are you referring to?"
"Well is he really a demon? The rumors say he can move as fast if not faster then most ninja, but he's never trained a day of his life to become one. And that one punch can break people's skull's?" Usotsuki asked quickly, looking from the man to Gakidou fighting.
Gakidou crouched low under a enormous fist swinging harmlessly over his head, taking advantage of the opening he moved faster then Usotsuki could follow and delivered a series of hard punched to his opponents mid section, leaving behind bloody holes in the skin.
"Well since I'm the baka's father I can honestly say that he is not a demon, well at least not possessed by one. He's always been a tad bit blood thirsty at times I'm afraid." The old man grunted, lighting his own cigarette. "As far as I know the only training he's done has been how to pick pocket without being obvious about it, and of course he's had some training on how to fight." He chuckled, "Well if you call getting kicked around by the other bandits until he learned how to fight properly, training."
Usotsuki tore his eyes away from the sight of Gakidou holding the much larger fighter in a headlock, turning the man's face bluer and bluer the longer he was held. Gakidou's eyes shone with demonic glee, mouth twisted up in a leering grin.
"What do you think you are waiting around for onna! Kill him!" the man in Gakidou's choke hold demanded weakly. Gakidou frowned, what was he talking about?
Pain blossomed in the back of his skull, stunning Gakidou enough to loosen his grip on his victim. "Kuso!" the blond whipped around to glare at his attacker.
A purple haired woman stood behind him looked anything but intimidated by Gakidou's presence. Pale brown eyes bored into cold cerulean for a moment before they vanished. Gakidou blinked confused, the woman had been there a second ago.
"A bit slow ain't cha?"
Gakidou bit back a furious retort and spun around, the man he was fighting was now gasping for breath, hiding behind the woman who saved him from certain death. 'Coward,' Gakidou thought, memorizing the man's face, 'needing to be saved by a ninja, a woman nonetheless. I'll make sure to kill him later.'
"Well when compared to a ninja I guess I could be called slow." Gakidou grunted turning his full attention to the woman in front of him. "Now I guess you are my new opponent? Or has this battle been called to an early end and I am to come kill that big lug behind you later?"
The woman's lips turned up into a small smile, "You are smarter then you look." She ran forward, drawing a kunie with the full intention of slicing his throat to end it quickly.
"Hey that's-!" Usotsuki was cut off by Hirou's hand clapping over his mouth.
Hirou glared hard at he new bandit, "Urusai, cheating is part of the game. But Gakidou doesn't like cheating, at least not when there's a good fight involved otherwise. So if you have any plans to live another day don't get in the middle of this." Usotuki nodded, afraid the old man would kill him before Gakidou would have the chance.
Gakidou moved faster then she thought he could, obviously he had been holding back when fighting a common bandit. "So what's your name?" she narrowed her eyes at him, he had caught her wrist in a painfully tight grip, not that she was going to let him know it.
"Mitarashi* Anko*, and you are more then you appear to be." Anko growled, his grip was stronger then a normal bandits, but not quite as strong a a ninja's. If he had been properly trained in a ninja village, he would be a serious problem.
Gakidou chuckled, "I'm a simple bandit who has no reason to hurt a pretty face like yours. However you are working for the Skulls aren't you?" Anko kicked him hard in the middle, freeing her wrist.
'He doesn't look too affected by that kick at all. So why did he just let me go?' She watched him from a safer distance further away. The blond didn't move, but his eyes followed her everywhere she moved. Trying to get out of his sight. 'Simple bandit my ass, he shouldn't be able to follow my movements like that.'
"Baka, if you aren't going to kill her or kill the fool who started this then let's go. I'm thirsty and my butt is starting to hurt from sitting in this saddle for too long." Hirou called, this didn't feel right. If the Skulls had hired one ninja they probably had more hiding in case the woman started to have some trouble with Gakidou. And from the looks of it, the blond had lost his will to fight seriously after the woman had made her appearance. 'That's the last time I teach anyone chivalry.' He thought glumly, no man should lose his life over that.
Gakidou grunted in acknowledgment, he didn't want to walk away from an unfinished fight but something felt off. He couldn't put his finger on it but there was something defiantly off in the way Anko was moving. Circling him, trying to draw him into the trees like a predator luring her prey.
"They're running away!" Usotsuki shouted, breaking Gakidou's concentration for a split second. The Skulls were indeed running away from the fight.
Gakidou cursed furiously, running back to his own horse with the intention of going after them. "Where do you think you are going!" Anko demanded, throwing kunie at him.
"Damn onna." Gakidou growled furiously, ripping a knife from his shoulder without flinching. His vision started to take on a red tinge, Gakidou knew he had to leave before he ended up killing his own father by accident. "I'm leaving Porcupine!" He turned to Hirou, "I'll be back later, need to work off some steam."
Hirou nodded, understanding what he meant and let the blond race past him. He picked up Gakidou's shirt and shoes, and turned his back on the woman in the trees. If she was smart, she wouldn't chase after the blond.
Anko started to go after Gakidou, angry with herself for letting him get a head start on her, but was stopped by a hand on her arm. "Wait."
"Damn it. Fucking ANBU sneaking up on me like that. What do you want. I'm in the middle of a mission." Anko growled, watching Gakidou get farther and farther away while the ANBU took his time in getting a folder out of his cloak.
The ANBU 'tsked' and handed Anko the folder, "You cannot kill that man. If that is your current mission objective you are to abort immediately." Anko scowled, eyes silently demanding why. "That man is quite possibly Lord Hokage's missing son Naruto. You're new mission is to find out if he really is Lord Hokage's son. And if you cannot accurately confirm it but everything seams to say that he is indeed the missing son then you are to bring him to the Leaf Village as soon as possible so he can be tested to find the truth."
"You do know that that man is in fact Jinmenjuushin no Gakidou? I don't think there is any chance that he could be even remotely related to the Yondaime." Anko flipped through the mostly empty file, "He's a rising figure head in the bandit society. He could pose a problem to a lot of civilian villages in the near future if war breaks out."
The ANBU simply shrugged, "Don't tell me this. If you have a problem with it take it up with the Hokage. I mean if you really want to tell him that you aren't going to look into the closest chance of finding his missing son." Anko grimaced, "On the anniversary of Kushina's disappearance and everything."
"All right, just stop it already Yamamoto. You really suck sometimes you know that?" Anko replied, mind working to figure out a way to work her way into Gakidou's confidence now that he knew that she was a ninja already. "You can tell Lord Hokage that I've already made contact and will start working my way into his confidence if possible." 'He already knows I'm a ninja.'
Yamamoto nodded and vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving behind a grumpy Anko.
Challenge: 25oo words +
Word Count: 2611
Thank you HonorGuard Ra, Fenir, Vendetta419, and Floflo for reveiwing. And I know a lot more have favorited this story and added it to thier alert lists. I know becuase my email was spammed horribly by FanFiction telling me so. I want to hear from all of you too.
Review's are welcomed with an open mind by me. But needless insults that are not meant as constructive critisism are not welcomed.
FalseIdentity's Version: .net/s/5869456/2/Banditti_are_the_New_Ninja
4/25/2o1o - o1:39pm
Usotsuki* - Liar
Gakidou* - Hungry devil
Jinmenjuushin* - Beast in human form
Hirou* - Wickedness
Mitarashi* - A type of sweet rice cake
Anko* - Red bean paste
