Last Chapter
"Nice to meet you," the seven-year-old girl greeted. "My name is Toph."
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Chapter 6
With the new addition of the tired, seven-year-old Toph, the quintet took to walking alongside one of the many merchant roads that crossed the vast country. It was a dangerous plan, as a hunter nin may at any time spot them, and Itachi was most likely by now listed as an S-ranked missing nin, but walking through the forests was an even worse idea.
As they walked, Toph wondered, "So where exactly are we going?"
"To Wave," came the curt reply from Neji.
"Why?" the youngest member of the group asked.
"We need a place to stay, and Wave provides the best opportunity."
"Oh…"
The conversation tapered off for a moment, before Toph perked up and asked, "How long until we get there?"
The other four members of the group turned as one to glance at the curious girl before facing front again.
"We'll get there when we get there," Naruto told her.
"O-oh, ok…" Toph stammered, aware of the annoyed glances that they had shot her.
Silence ensued.
-
Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzt!
Yamanaka Ino woke up to the sound of blaring alarm. Groggily getting up, she slowly made her way to the bathroom. When she came out several minutes later, she her tiredness was gone, and a happy smile was plastered on her face.
Today was the day! Today was the day she would win Uchiha Sasuke's heart!
Quickly getting dressed, she dashed down the stairs to the kitchen, expecting to see her father at the table with a newspaper in hand and her mother at the oven, like every other morning.
Instead, this morning, her father's chair was empty, and his newspaper lay haphazardly on the table. Her mother's face was set in a grim frown, even as she tended to breakfast.
Hesitantly, she asked, "Mom? What's wrong?"
The only other time she had seen her mother like that was several years back. The occasion then was that a man from Kumo, a far off shinobi village, had tried to kidnap a girl from the Hyuuga family. It ended with the death of the Kumo shinobi and someone from the Hyuuga family. Ino remembered that time so vividly, as it had been the first time she had seen her mother like that.
But now, that grim frown was back again, a signal that something very big was wrong.
"I-Ino…" her mother started, before choking. The news was just too tragic. "Ino, there was a great tragedy earlier this morning."
"W-what? What happened? W-was it dad? Did something happen to daddy?" Ino asked, desperately seeking answers.
Her mother shook her head. "No, it didn't involve your father. It's the Uchiha clan…"
"Sasuke? What happened to Sasuke?"
Snorting darkly, her mother responded, "Of the Uchiha clan, only your crush Sasuke is still alive."
Ino's mouth dropped, her eyes widened. "What?! What do you mean?!"
"This morning…someone killed the entire Uchiha clan. The entire clan, save one boy!"
The young blond felt her knees collapse. "The entire clan?" she repeated. "Dead?"
"Yes…"
"Did they find who did it?" she asked dazedly.
"No, but they do know who did it."
"Who?" Ino asked desperately.
Shaking her head, Ino's mother told her, "I'm sorry, I don't know either. It's classified…"
Without another word, Ino ran out of the house.
Only moments later, a haggard Inoichi entered the house.
"Honey? Is that you?"
"It's me, dear," came the response from her husband.
Rushing out, she threw her arms around Inoichi. "How did this happen?" she murmured into his neck.
"You know I'd tell you, but it's been classified. It's top secret stuff, very hush-hush," Inoichi responded.
Sighing, she told her husband, "Did you see Ino run out of the house?"
Inoichi shook his head.
"I really worry about that girl sometimes…"
"I just hope she can move on from this," he stated.
"Me too…Do you think she's going to become even more obsessed with the Uchiha boy? You know, the one she already had a crush on?"
"I hope not," Inoichi grimaced. "I was there during the boy's psyche evaluation, and let me tell you, he didn't seem like he was 'all there'. The doctor said he'd make a full recovery, but I honestly don't think he will. His eyes had this dark look to them, like the eyes of a crazed madman."
"Oh my…"
A sudden knocking at the door stopped their conversation. Stepping away from his wife, Inoichi went to the door and opened it up, revealing an ANBU standing outside.
Before the man could say anything, Inoichi sighed. "No need, I know. I need to get back to work, right?"
The ANBU nodded.
-
"Please follow me," the mercenary grunted. His face, covered in nasty scars, was twisted into an annoyed sneer. The source of his annoyance came from the fact that he was tasked with bringing a group of kids to meet his boss.
Taking them through the foyer up a set of stairs, the mercenary quickly strode past countless items of value. The quintet was led past rooms and rooms and rooms full of wealth and opulence, causing those with less control over their emotions to gape and gasp.
After walking up two more sets of stairs and walking through dozens of hallways, the quintet was finally brought in front of a set of massive teak doors.
The mercenary that had led them up approached the doors and knocked twice.
"Enter," came a muffled voice.
The doors opened from the inside, revealing two more men standing there at the ready, their hands on their weapons.
Stepping in, Naruto's group silently approached the massive desk that Gato sat behind.
Tipping his black shades down to look at them, Gato spoke. "You wanted to see me, am I correct? I think you said it would change the way I'd look at shinobi."
"Yes."
Gato's gaze shifted from Itachi, who he assumed to be the leader, to Naruto, who was the one who answered his question.
"You...are a bunch of children. What skills could you possibly have that would make you valuable assets to my company?"
"How about this?" Naruto asked.
As one, Neji, Itachi, and Anko spun towards the man closest to them and killed them swiftly.
"So? I'm sure if I wanted to hire shinobi, I could find better. Hiring seems like a waste of money to me."
"Hire us?" Naruto grinned savagely. "Who said anything about getting hired? We're here to take over!"
Gato stared incredulously for a whole second before throwing his head back and laughing. After a moment, his laughter cut short, and his hand slapped against a button on the underside of his desk.
Alarms started ringing throughout the mansion, and almost immediately, the thudding of footsteps was audible. The door burst open, and a group of men came through the doors, weapons unsheathed.
Unfortunately for them, a hail of kunai from Itachi ended their lives right away.
"Is that it?" Naruto asked.
"Of course not. More will be coming. You may be good, but I doubt you can handle hundreds of people at once. You'll never get out of here alive!"
At that moment, a side door opened, revealing a clean shaven man. From the sheath at his hip and his swordsman stance, it was obvious that he was a samurai working for Gato.
Placing two fingers on his shoulder, Naruto channeled a small amount of chakra into the tattoo inscribed there, causing his puppet Shinobu to appear. "Go," he said. "Take care of the rest of the trash in this place. I'll clean up here."
As Itachi, Neji, Anko, and Toph got ready to leave, Naruto called back, "Oh, and Anko, keep Toph with you."
"Damn it, why do I have to keep the brat with me?" Anko grumbled as she ran down the stairs, followed by Toph.
With only three people in the room, the room finally fell silent. The samurai crouched and placed his hand on the handle of his katana. The two combatants locked eyes.
Their staring contest was broken by Gato's impatient voice. "Well? What the hell are you doing? Kill the kid already!"
With a fierce roar, the samurai unsheathed his weapon and dashed forward in one fluent motion.
With a twitch of his fingers, Naruto fired a dozen senbon from Shinobu's left arm. The samurai whipped his sword around like a master, deflecting the projectiles away from him and into the wall. As he got closer to Shinobu, the blond puppeteer changed his puppet's right arm to its flail form before taking a mighty swing.
The other man brought his katana up and placed it against the chain, making the head of the flail circle around behind him and hit a vase. However, he did not expect it to hit him in the back.
"Oomph," the man grunted as he pitched forward. Using his loss of balance, he dove into a forward roll before coming up with a horizontal slash that left a gouge across Shinobu's front. Continuing his assault, he quickly slashed the puppet diagonally. Thinking that the puppet was done for, he sidestepped the object before lunging forward with an overhead strike. The blade was stopped before it could hit Naruto though, making the man look back to see the puppet's hand wrapped around his blade.
The samurai let go of his blade and crouched to the floor, pulling a short knife from within his clothes. He spun around and quickly slashed the ankles of the puppet, hoping to limit its maneuverability. Shinobu jumped over the blade and used its heavy metal foot to slam against the samurai's arm, which had only been brought up at the last moment. The samurai was sent flying back, landing on his rear.
With a savage grin, Naruto forced Shinobu to jump forward and pounce on the fallen man.
"Good bye," the blond remarked.
With that as his parting comment, Naruto ended the samurai's life.
Turning towards Gato, Naruto grinned savagely. "It's your turn now," he stated with a smirk.
Gato stumbled back in fear. "S-stop! I'll give you whatever you want! Please!" the short man begged.
"Not interested. Besides, if I kill you, I can just forcefully take whatever you have."
Seeing that his begging wouldn't work, the shipping magnate switched tactics. "You don't know what you're getting into," he warned. "I'm part of a very powerful group of people! If you kill me, they'll come after you! They'll tear apart all of your little friends like they're nothing!"
"Bring it on!" Naruto exclaimed, right before he kicked Gato.
The pudgy man tilted backwards, swinging his arms like a windmill. Seeing him fall towards the massive glass mural behind the desk, Naruto smiled. He leapt up and delivered another kick, sending Gato into the glass.
"Ahhhhh!" Gato screamed as he fell down four stories. A dull thump sounded moments later.
Naruto glanced down to see the unmoving body of Gato. Turning back towards the entrance of the room, he was just in time to see the doors open, revealing his blood soaked group. Anko and Itachi, the ones covered in the most blood, felt nothing at all at the blood on them, while Neji was slightly uncomfortable and Toph was outright sick.
Turning an eye onto Toph, the blond asked Anko, "How did she do?"
"Unbelievable! Her bloodline kicks ass!" the purple-haired kunoichi exclaimed.
"How so?"
"You know how we saw her stomp the ground and make the earth move? Well she can do a whole lot more! She has this weird style that combines taijutsu attacks and earth ninjutsu. She can do all kinds of Doton techniques without handseals! She just...flops her hand or kicks her foot and it happens! It's so kickass!" Anko explained happily.
The aforementioned girl smiled shyly at all of the praise.
"One question. We're inside a building. Where did the earth come from?"
"Oh!" Toph perked up. "Well, this place is built atop the ground. I just 'feel' the ground with my feet and pull it up through the floor."
"Feel the ground?"
"Yeah, you see, I figured out that my bloodline can do a lotta things. Manipulating the earth like that is one of them. I also have this ability that allows me to read the vibrations in the ground. With this, I can see things without using my eyes."
"Very nice. I'm glad I invited you to join us," Naruto commented. "None of you have left survivors, am I right?"
The four nodded.
"See if you can clean the bodies and blood up. This is our new headquarters, and I don't want it reeking of something nasty. Oh, and be sure to take care of Gato's body. He fell out the window."
"What about this guy?" Anko asked, nudging the dead body of the samurai.
"I'll deal with it later. For now, I'm going to go over Gato's banking statements, his trade logs, and everything to see all of his assets. Besides, who knows? Perhaps I'll find something interesting here. Now go."
The group of young shinobi shuffled out to do the task as commanded of them by their de facto leader. As soon as they left, Naruto walked over to Gato's desk and grabbed the first thing he could find. With just a glance at the memo in his hands, he groaned.
'This is going to be really boring...'
-
Hours later, his work was interrupted by the entrance of Anko and Toph.
"Naruto-sama?" Toph asked, following in Anko's way of addressing the slightly older blond. "We couldn't find Gato."
"What do you mean? He should be just down there," Naruto replied, gesturing towards the window.
"He's not."
His eyebrows crinkling in confusion, Naruto got up and walked over to the window and looked down, only to find Gato gone from where he had been earlier.
"That's odd," he murmured.
"What should we do?"
"Eh, whatever. He must not be dead then. But by now, it no longer matters. Everything he owns is ours, and he has no power. He has signed over everything he has in his possession to me," he grinned, holding up an official piece of paper with Gato's seal on it.
"There's something else," Anko finally spoke. "We found a bunch of women locked inside a room. What should we do with them?"
"Hmmm...kill them."
"What?!" Anko exclaimed. "They're rape victims, captured by Gato and his men to use as sex toys!"
"And they know too much. I want to keep this place as a secret base, to be used for future operations. Releasing a bunch of women with knowledge of this place will only endanger our work here."
"But you let Gato go! He has knowledge of this place as well! What if he tells someone?"
"He won't," Naruto stated confidently. "He has too much pride in himself to do such a thing. More likely he'll somehow raise up an army and try and storm this place to reclaim it. With the security measures that I'm going to install, it won't matter."
"Then...then...why don't we keep them as maids? We need people to clean this place up, and they'd fit just fine! And that way, we wouldn't have to kill them," Anko added hopefully.
Naruto thought about that for a moment before nodding his head. "Fine. Get them the appropriate clothes. You'll be in charge of keeping them organized, Anko, since you seemed so eager for this solution."
Bowing stiffly at the waist, Anko proceeded to exit. Before she left though, Naruto called out, "Oh, and make sure that they understand that they can't leave."
With a minute nod, the student of Orochimaru then left the room, only to be followed by Toph moments later.
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Hours earlier
The pain was excruciating. His left arm was bent in the opposite direction. His right arm was dislocated. His left ankle was sprained. And he was sure he had a massive concussion. Not to mention, he could feel blood running down the side of his face. To top it all off, he was blind in his right eye!
With an agonizing groan, he managed to sit up. A few minutes later, he managed to push himself upright, leaning heavily on his right foot due to his injured left ankle.
"I fucking swear to God! I will come back and kill you!" the short man snarled angrily to himself. "I'll come back, cut off both of your arms, both of your legs, your nose, both of your ears...No, just one! That way you can hear the screams of your friends as I eviscerate them! Yes! That's what I'll do!" he cackled. "Or my name's not Gato!"
Ever so slowly, he trudged his way away from the mansion that was once his.
-
Elsewhere, three hours later, but not yet in the present
A man dressed in the blackest of colors rushed into a dark room. His eyes could see nothing of his master, only the shadows that formed his outline, and his master's comrades, none of whom were present in person. Almost immediately after entering, he dropped to one knee and kept his head down, eyes staring at the floor. "Master!"
A second man sitting in an impressive throne turned his eyes away from his associates, and looked down upon the messenger.
"What is it?"
"I have news for you about Number XIII!"
"XIII, hm? Speak."
"He has been dethroned from his place at the top of his corporation several hours ago. All of his hired army has been eliminated, and everything he owns now belongs to the one who dethroned him."
"And who exactly was the one who dethroned him?"
The master's associates all leaned in to hear the answer. After all, it was not every day that one of their number was defeated.
The messenger fidgeted, signs that he was nervous. This was usually not a good sign. "Well, master, ummm...it seems that it was a blond boy. He was no older than ten years of age. He was accompanied by four others, all children. The oldest one could not be older than twenty."
One delicate eyebrow raised on the master's face. "Is that so? A bunch of children managed to kill XIII and take over?"
"No sir, not kill. It seems that XIII has escaped."
"Well, my friends. You have heard what my messenger has said. We must have a trial. The defendant? XIII himself. His crime? Bringing shame upon our great organization! Jury, please vote."
The master looked at the person inside the first screen from his left. "Number II?"
"Guilty," Number II stated without hesitation.
"Number III?" His stare shifted from the first television screen to the second television screen.
"Hmmm...guilty."
"Number IV?"
"Never liked that arrogant bastard. Guilty."
And on it went. Numbers V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII all voted the unnamed XIII guilty.
As Number I, the master, he did not vote, but instead passed judgment onto the numbers below him. This organization was, after all, based on a specific hierarchy, with the person holding the rank of Number XIII being the weakest. Even then, power in this organization was not only based on physical strength, but economical and political.
"Gato of Gato Corporation, also known as Number XIII, has been judged guilty of his crime. His title is hereby revoked, and his punishment will be swift and merciless."
"Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!" the other members shouted triumphantly as they banged their fist on their desks.
Several muttered silently to themselves.
'So Number XIII was Gato? Should've guessed.'
"Now, before we end our meeting, there is one last thing to do. With XIII dethroned, we will need a new replacement. Keep your eyes out for someone promising and send a message to me right away if you do find someone," Number I commanded. "For the Order!"
The final cry of the mysterious Number I was echoed by the remaining eleven members. "For the Order!"
With that, all of them disappeared from the television monitors that they used to communicate, leaving Number I alone in his room (the messenger having left as soon as his report was done).
Slowly shuffling through the twelve folders on his desk, his hand came upon the final folder in the pile. He opened it delicately and looked down upon the gruff visage of Gato, known as XIII to his ex-comrades. With a flick of his fingers, the contents of the folder was ignited. He let it burn for several moments before throwing it to the side.
"Gato, defeated by a mere child, hm? This will necessitate a careful eye..." With a snap of his finger, his personal guard entered the room. "The ex-Number XIII has been removed from his place among us," Number I stated. "I want you to...take care of him. Leave no evidence of your presence. And do make sure you're quiet about it this time, hm?"
"Yes, master," the guard said, bowing at the waist. "Anything else?"
"Send a spy to keep watch over the one who defeated Gato. I wish to know more about him..."
-
As she strode through the magnificent and occasionally blood-soaked halls of the mansion, Anko's mind spun at an incredible pace.
Her "God" was not what she had expected. Yes, when she first plead her loyalty to him, she knew he was not a benevolent person. He was a man of destructive power, of vengeance, of anger! But she had never expected him to be so willing to sacrifice a bunch of women (women who had undoubtedly been abused repeatedly by thugs), just to keep the location of this place safe! And besides, how did the blond leader know that Gato had never shown other people this place? What if there were others who already knew? His reasoning for their execution was weak!
Perhaps...perhaps her choice in a leader was a mistake? Perhaps this would turn out to be just like her experiences with Orochimaru? She knew she couldn't take another blow of that magnitude again. After Orochimaru, the one she dedicated her life and soul to, abandoned her without a backwards glance, she felt as if her heart had been ripped out. She remembered crying in the small bedroom of her apartment for hours. She couldn't even remember why she had decided to stay in Konoha after that, seeing as her only tie to the place had been severed. Maybe it was due to a lingering sense of loyalty to the village that her sensei once shared?
No! Belief in her master was important. He was a God, and she was one of his angels! No matter, what she would stand by her master's side, and reap the benefits when he conquered the world.
And with that, the small frown on her face turned into a cruel smirk.
-
Walking into one of the rooms on the first floor, Anko (and Toph) met the kidnapped victims of Gato's mercenaries.
Upon seeing their rescuers, the women smiled and several offered their thanks.
"Unfortunately, you'll have to stay here," Anko announced.
The women did not react too greatly to this. They had seen their families and fellow villagers killed by Gato's men, so they knew they had no where to go. With this generous offer, they were safe from more predatory men who might seek to take advantage of them in their moments of weakness.
Anko, having given her announcement, left to report to her master.
-
The door opened once more, allowing the purple-haired kunoichi and her shadower to enter.
"It's done," Anko reported.
"That's good. Now, I've made a list of things that we need to do before we can focus on external matters. The first being to establish security measures. The second thing is to explore this place and see what Gato has hidden around here. After we've accomplished those two things, we'll start on recruiting more people. With only five of us here, we won't pose much of a threat, no matter how strong we are."
"So are we going to start with the security measures right now?" Anko asked.
Naruto nodded. "Toph, can you go and get Neji and Itachi and tell them to meet me outside?"
"Hai," she said, before leaving the room.
-
With a groan, Gato sat up in his small bed in a cabin he had broken into. It had been several weeks since he lost his place at the top of Gato Corporation to a bunch of kids. His anger and hatred still burned strongly, and he had planned every day to try contact Number I or find a way to communicate Number III, who he had a semi-friendly relationship with. However, he had no success so far in contacting them, but he was not yet discouraged.
Humming happily to himself, he let himself sink into pleasant fantasies of ripping apart that blond brat's friends and torturing them in the cruelest ways. He grabbed his clothes, a poor man's clothes, he thought to himself, and left the small wooden cabin to use the outhouse that was just outside. He was halfway there when suddenly, his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed to his knees. With the last vestiges of his consciousness drifting away, he only caught sight of a man dressed in black camouflage with a silver knife before his world went dark.
Approaching the now dead Gato, the black-clothed man grabbed the corpse by the hair and revealed the neck. With a grunt, he severed Gato's neck and sealed it into a scroll that he just pulled out from a pouch.
Looking down at the headless body, the man spared no pity for an ex-member of his master's organization, leaving the body to rot outside of an isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere. The man, having finished his job, disappeared from the site.
The animals in the area had a fantastic meal that week.
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A/N: Expect two chapters of The Band of Nine coming up soon.